The crushing load of student debt

People are being buried under the processes and payment of student loans, a new report released by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFRB) finds, pushing a quarter of the nation's 41 million people with student loans toward default.

The stunning findings of the CFRB are pushing the agency towards crafting new rules for the $1.3 trillion student loan market. It notes the problems are particularly acute in the servicing of student loans, which CFRB described as being unfair in part because borrowers are often mislead and assessed with unexpected fees.

As detailed in the report, the student loan market lags far behind other areas of consumer debt when it comes to defaults. And a lack of standards is a big reason why:

Student loan servicers are a critical link between borrowers and lenders. Servicers manage borrowers’ accounts, process monthly payments, manage enrollment in alternative repayment plans, and communicate directly with borrowers, including borrowers in distress. There are no consistent, market-wide federal standards for student loan servicing and servicers generally have discretion to determine policies related to many aspects of servicing operations.

This is no way to help prepare our next generation if we want it to lead this country. As the Teamsters and others have noted, the soaring cost of higher education is a major concern. The U.S. needs to make it easier for those seeking a college education to earn one, not saddle them with a lifetime of debt.

Government needs to do more to ensure student loan rates remain low so students can better afford their post-secondary schooling. And candidates for the 2016 election need to find innovative ways to address the problem. Some already have. But the hard work then needs to be done to implement the changes.

We can't allow America's future to drown in debt.

Jobs just don't pay to cover college costs

The cost of college has traveled the fast track to unaffordable in recent years. There was a time when students worked in the summer to help defray some of the costs. But even that has become less and less of a reality in today's world.

It's getting harder for students to afford college.

With more and more adults filling low-wage jobs, there just aren't as many opening for those looking for seasonal employment. A recent Pew Center study found that while summer jobs bottomed out for teens during the height of the Great Recession at 29.6 percent, it has barely grown since, only reaching 31.3 percent last summer. That's down from a high of 58 percent in 1978.

The report notes there are many possible reasons for the decline, including fewer available jobs, more students taking unpaid internships and/or enrolled in school during the summer as well. But it's clear that even for those who do work, the dollars earned aren't covering their need.

Back in 1981-82, for example, the average full cost to attend college was $2,870. That included tuition, fees and room and board. To earn that making the-then $3.35 minimum wage required them to work about 857 hours a year, which was certainly possible, especially if the student worked a bit during the year as well.

But those numbers have become basically impossible for a student today, even if he or she qualifies for a Pell Grant, as NPR found:

In 2014-2015, the school year just ended, the total of tuition, fees and room and board for in-state students at four-year public universities was $18,943. The maximum Pell Grant didn't keep pace with that: It was $5,730. That left our hypothetical student on the hook for $13,313. 

A student would now have to work 35 hours a week, every week of the year, to get by. To cover today's costs with a low-skilled, minimum wage summer job? Over 90 days, a student would need to work 20.24 hours a day.

Why work if the numbers don't work? Or maybe, why go to school at all? That's the decision millions post-secondary aged people are now weighing. The college payment model is simply not working. That's why you are starting to see some 2016 presidential candidates start to address it.

To fill 21st century jobs, workers need the skills employers seek. For many, those can be attained by attending college and earning a degree that prepares them for the working world. But there needs to be ways for students to cover those costs. More jobs is part of it. But Congress also needs to do more to ensure student loan rates remain low so students can better afford their schooling.

Today's Teamster News 02.18.15

Teamsters
Teamsters Call on CEOs Of Six Companies To Denounce Anti-Union Tactics Used By Compass Trans.  teamster.org   …In a letter to the CEOs of six East Bay-area companies, Rome Aloise, International Vice President and President of Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif., called on the executives to denounce alleged assertions made by management at Compass Transportation to its drivers that the six companies would likely end their service agreement with them if they voted for a union...
Judge Approves Agreement Ending Government Oversight Of Teamsters Union  teamster.org   …Today, Chief Judge Loretta Preska of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York approved an agreement that ends more than 25 years of government oversight of the Teamsters Union...
Trade
Let's Roll! February 17, speak out for Good-Paying Jobs & a Healthy Environment by Saying NO to "Fast Track"  Washington Fair Trade Coalition   …To voice opposition against the disastrous impacts Fast Track would have on the Pacific Northwest’s economy, environment and public health, the Washington Fair Trade Coalition, the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign, and their partners from the labor, environmental, public health and human rights movements are getting on a bus called the “Blue-Green Machine” for two action-packed days of rallies, press events and briefings that need your support...
Our Opinion: Skepticism about TPP, and no to its fast-tracking  Berkshire Eagle   …There is ample reason for doubt about the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), although its tenets have not been fully determined. There is more than enough reason to oppose its fast-tracking. Demonstrators in Pittsfield, Springfield and Washington, D.C. will lobby First District Congressman Richard Neal, a Springfield Democrat, to oppose both the agreement and its fast-tracking today. The senior member of the Massachusetts delegation, Mr. Neal anticipates taking part in talks on the TPP and wants to reserve judgment…
Letter: Polis should vote no on TPP, Fast Track  Coloradoan   …Our representative, Congressman Jared Polis, has not publicly voiced his opposition to TPP, which is a shame...
State Battles
Missouri Senate leader skeptical ‘right-to-work’ will make it to governor  PoliticMO   … Senate Majority Leader Ron Richard said despite last week’s vote by the House of Representatives to pass “right-to-work,” he sees a tough road ahead in the upper chamber...
Right-To-Work debated again  New Hampshire Union Leader   …The House could vote to approve the bill, but the Senate is currently tied 12-12 on the right-to-work issue.Whatever the Legislature does, Gov. Maggie Hassan has vowed to veto the bill and neither the House nor the Senate has the two-thirds majority needed to override...
West Virginia workers rally on statehouse steps  West Virginia Metro News   …The snow and bone-chilling temperatures didn’t stop state-wide union workers from rallying against the prevailing wage law change at the State Capitol Monday afternoon in Charleston...
War on Workers
Student-Loan Delinquencies Rise in U.S.  Bloomberg News   …Data from the New York Fed released Tuesday showed 11.3 percent of student loans were delinquent in the final three months of 2014, up from 11.1 percent in the prior quarter. The share of auto loans at least 90 days overdue also rose…
How rich conservatives bilk the rank and file into making them richer  Washington Post   … I like to call [it] the circle of scam. Organizations like the Heritage Foundation and FreedomWorks pay radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity big money to offer on-air endorsements that are the radio equivalent of “native advertising.” Future presidential candidate Mike Huckabee sells his email list on “miracle cancer cures” hidden in the Bible. Conservative media figures like Dick Morris solicit contributions that somehow are never turned to the political ends they claim. Nobody wants to upend the system, because too many people are getting a taste...
Worker dies at Shelbyville Tyson plant  WSMV   …A worker with a contract cleaning company was killed at the Tyson Food plant in Shelbyville early Tuesday morning...

Today's Teamster News 02.03.15

Teamsters
Dutchess County LOOP Strike Averted As Negotiations Continue  Daily Freeman   ...The potential strike by the union representing Dutchess County LOOP bus drivers, mechanics, office employees and bus washers has apparently been averted. Teamsters Local 445 Business Agent Jerry Ebert said ... the company said it would resume negotiations, resulting in the union calling off its threat to strike.....
City Of Monroe Reports On Feb. 1 Snow Removal Efforts  Monroe News   ..."I am proud to report that all 15 Teamster personnel, both of our 2 supervisors, and our Superintendent of Public Services, Bill Walters, have all already been involved in our efforts today to combat the winter storm...
Leslie Marshall Show Features Teamsters Fight At Allegiant Air  teamster.org   …Teamsters Local 1224 President Daniel Wells talks with Leslie Marshall about the more than 500 Teamster Allegiant Air pilots and their fight for a fair contract...
Sysco Offers To Sell 11 Facilities To Win Merger Approval  New York Times   ...Sysco said on Monday that it had agreed to divest 11 distribution centers in a bid to obtain the blessing of regulators including the Federal Trade Commission. Sysco will sell the centers for an undisclosed sum to Performance Food Group, which will be its nearest rival after the deal for US Foods closes...
Trade
TPP negotiators agree on copyrights protection  NHK World News   …Negotiators of the Trans Pacific Partnership free trade pact say they are a step closer to reaching a deal on copyright duration in principle. The plan is for copyrights to last for 70 years...
Let's Take Apart The Corporate Case For Fast Track Trade Authority  Economy In Crisis   …an argument that TPP and similar agreements will “expand trade” masks what the bulk of these agreements are really about, which is getting governments off the backs of the giant corporations and protecting their profits from competition and democratic regulation...
Syriza-Led Greek Parliament ‘Will Never Ratify TTIP’  EurActiv   ...After making its voice heard in the debate over sanctions on Russia, the new government in Athens is now making its opposition known to the EU-US trade deal, TTIP...
State Battles
Legislation is detrimental to Missouri workers (opinion)  St. Louis Post Dispatch   …Missouri House Speaker John Diehl wants to make so-called worker freedom a key emphasis for the Legislature by passing right-to-work and “paycheck protection” bills. This legislation has nothing to do with workers’ rights or workers’ protection. Actually, these bills attack both. They undermine the ability of workers to have a voice and to organize opposition to the out-of-state, well-heeled efforts of extremists and the 1 percent...
Right To Work bill introduced in Senate  The InterMountain.com   …Proposed legislation would make West Virginia a Right To Work state...
Scott Walker To Cut $300 Million From Universities, Spend $500 Million On A Pro Basketball Stadium  Think Progress   ...Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) will unveil a budget Tuesday night that aims to slash hundreds of millions of dollars from the state’s public universities over the next two years....
War on Workers
U.S. workers strike for second day at nine refineries; one to shut  Reuters   …Union workers were on strike for a second day on Monday at nine U.S. refineries and chemical plants as they sought a new national contract with oil companies covering laborers at 63 plants...
Croatia just canceled the debts of its poorest citizens  Washington Post   …the government scheme aims to help some of the 317,000 Croatians whose bank accounts have been blocked due to their debts. Given that Croatia is a relatively small Mediterranean country of only 4.4 million inhabitants, the number of indebted citizens is significant and has become a major economic burden for the country…
World Bank Declines Child Labor Investigation World Bulletin   ...The World Banks internal watchdog has decided to pursue and investiage the link between the banks' loans and the Uzbek government-organised forced labour. The request by human rights campaigners to investigate the use of forced labour and child labour was declined, even though it has acknowledged that farms benfitting from its assistance might be forcing both adults and children against their will...
The Mental And Physical Toll Of Student Loans  The Atlantic   ...“Cumulative student loans were significantly and inversely associated with better psychological functioning,” according to the results. That means, generally speaking, student-loan debt was not great for the mental health of study participants...
Portland strippers head to Salem to lobby for better work conditions  Associated Press  …Tired of watching well-meaning strangers impose their own visions for improving the plight of the dancer, some of Portland's seasoned strippers are working directly with state lawmakers and professional lobbyists...
Uber Opening Robotics Research Facility In Pittsburgh To Build Self-Driving Cars  Tech Crunch   …Driver-on-demand service Uber is building a robotics research lab in Pittsburgh, PA to “kickstart autonomous taxi fleet development,” sources close to the decision have confirmed to TechCrunch. They say the company has hired talent from Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute, including lead engineering and commercialization experts...
The New Face of the Koch Campaign  The Daily Beast   …A father of two was sentenced to 55 years in jail for selling pot. The Koch brothers want to help set him free and make him the face of their new campaign for criminal justice reform...
Worker Dies On The Job At Chattanooga's Wrigley Plant  News Channel 9   …A worker died while on the job at Chattanooga's Wrigley Plant in Tuesday's early morning hours…This is the second time someone has died on site of the Wrigley Plant…
Cops: Social Worker Killed to Cover Up Embezzlement  Newser   …In a case that Philadelphia police say has left them "angry and confounded," a social worker allegedly gunned down a colleague in broad daylight after she discovered that he had embezzled tens of thousands of dollars from an after-school outreach program...
Miscellaneous
Keystone XL Pipeline Bill House Vote Eyed For Next Week  International Business Times   ...The House can either vote on the Senate version of the bill as is or write its own bill, pass that and then go into a conference committee with Senate leaders to hash out compromise legislation. A compromise bill might take too long, especially because eight agencies have a Monday deadline to weigh in on Keystone, according to Politico...

Today's Teamster News 06.28.14

Teamster News
Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency, Employees' Union Reach Deal  Daily Freeman   ...An agreement between the Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency board and 21 agency employees who are part of the Teamsters union gives the employees raises of 2 percent per year for 2014, 2015 and 2016 and, for the first time, mandates employee contributions to their heath insurance costs....
Parking Employees Can Seek Arbitration To Regain Jobs  Scranton Times-Tribune   ...The Commonwealth Court said Lackawanna County Judge Vito Geroulo erred when he ruled Teamsters Local 229 had to first obtain the judge’s permission before it could seek an arbitration hearing on behalf of garage maintenance workers who lost their jobs after a private firm, Central Parking, took over operation of the city’s five parking garages...
Costanzo's Bakery Sales Drivers Join Teamsters Local 264  teamster.org   ...route sales drivers at Costanzo’s Bakery overwhelmingly voted to join Teamsters Local 264 in Cheektowaga, N.Y. despite a concerted effort by the company to discourage unionization that included weekly captive audience meetings and intimidation...
Teamster Local Union Leaders Endorse Proposed AEI Agreement  teamster.org   ...Leaders of Teamster local unions that represent workers at Air Express International (AEI) met today and unanimously endorsed the proposed National Master AEI Agreement and the company’s final offer...
Trade
Obama TPP Trade Officials Got Hefty Bonuses From Big Banks As “Reward” For Joining Government  America Blog   ...Officials tapped by the Obama administration to lead the Trans-Pacific Partnership [TPP] trade negotiations have received multi-million dollar bonuses from CitiGroup and Bank of America, financial disclosures obtained by Republic Report show...
State Battles
Paycheck Deduction Bills Advance In Pa. Legislature  CBS Philly   ...Controversial legislation that would limit union deductions from the paychecks of public employees is in position for a possible vote as lawmakers wrap up work before summer recess...
Meeting In Providence, Unitarians Join Protest For Fair Wages  Providence Journal   ...In his opening prayer, Rodriguez said low-wage workers have to make “terrible decisions between paying their rent and feeding their families. … Pay them enough to live.” By mid-rally, the crowd had grown to more than 250. The signs they held included “Minimum Wage is a Moral Outrage.”...
War On Workers
U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Seen Unlikely To Alter Past NLRB Decisions  Reuters   ...A Supreme Court ruling on Thursday raised questions about the validity of more than 1,000 U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decisions, but any cases the board reconsiders will likely end with similar decisions, labor lawyers said...
Investors Who Bought Foreclosed Homes in Bulk Look to Sell  New York Times   ...The single-family home market, after a wave of acquisitions by companies backed by Wall Street money, is changing as institutional buyers now focus more on expanding their operations to manage tens of thousands of homes across the United States...
To Get A Fair Share, Sharing Economy Workers Must Unionize  Al-Jazeera America   ...Only four years after the service debuted in San Francisco, Uber drivers nationwide are getting organized and demanding better treatment...
No, The Long-Term Jobless Aren't 'Catching A Break'  FiveThirtyEight   ... Only about 11 percent of the long-term jobless find jobs each month, little better than in the depths of the recession. Moreover, even those who do find jobs are often able to find only part-time or short-term work...
Miscellaneous
Report: Mexican Military Chopper Crosses Into US, Shoots At Border Agents  CBS Las Vegas   ...Mexican authorities were conducting a drug interdiction operation when the incident happened early Thursday morning on the Tohono O’odham Indian Nation. The Mexican chopper fired at the agents and then flew back into Mexico....  
PRISM, Local Edition: NY DA Employs 381 Secret Orders to Gather Complete Digital Dossiers from Facebook  Electronic Frontier Foundation   ...The DA was looking for evidence of disability fraud, and saw Facebook as a treasure trove.  … Perhaps some of them, after claiming a disability, would post a windsurfing selfie or write about their marathon training, and evidence their fraud...
6 Groups That Are Reinventing Organized Labor  Think Progress   ...while in this changed economy just 11.3 percent of the nation’s wage and salary workers — about 14.5 million people — belong to unions, millions of other American workers are also organizing and uniting for better conditions, in a manner outside of the union structure created by the National Labor Relations Act...
U.S. Government, Not Banks, Should Service Loans, Professors Argue  Chronicle of Higher Education   ...Student-loan servicers are not doing enough to help borrowers. Mr. Fink and Mr. Zullo argue that the federal government should consider moving the responsibility to an agency with the capacity and inclination to help manage the student-loan crisis...

Today's Teamster News 06.14.14

Teamster News
SEPTA Commuter Rail Union on Strike  NBC10   ...Four hundred workers at the Southeast Pennsylvania Transportation Authority's regional rail system (including Teamsters BLET and IBEW members) went on strike Saturday morning, shutting down 13 train lines that carry commuters to the suburbs and Philadelphia International Airport...
Town Of Clinton Approves 2 Percent Raises For Police, Public Works Unions  NJ.com   ...Elected officials approved this week contracts with the town's public works and police unions, giving members of each 2 percent raises. The new PBA contract calls for that raise each of four years and is retroactive to Jan. 1. The Teamsters contract does the same, but is in effect for five years...
De Blasio’s Approval Rating Improves, Poll Finds  New York Times   ...His plan to terminate the carriage-horse industry in Central Park remains broadly unpopular, with two-thirds of voters saying he should allow the horses to stay, an opinion that cut across gender, racial and political lines...
Trade
What Do You Think About Trade? The WTO Wants to Hear from You  AFL-CIO Now   ...The World Trade Organization (WTO) is conducting a “public forum”—a short poll with leading questions about what people think about trade and how it affects their lives. While it’s sad that this is what passes for public involvement in trade policy, it is important to let the WTO, a powerful international institution, know what you think...
Council Calls on Japan to Alter Position on Trans Pacific Partnership  ThePigSite   ...The National Pork Producers Council says, unless Japan significantly alters its demands, US agriculture will not be in a position to support the Trans Pacific Partnership, Bruce Cochrane writes...
How Big Pharma (and others) began lobbying on the Trans-Pacific Partnership before you ever heard of it  Sunlight Foundation   ...In 2009 ... 28 organizations filed 59 lobbying reports mentioning the (TPP, the) then far-off trade agreement. Almost half of those organizations were pharmaceutical companies or associations...
State Battles
Fighting To Increase The Minimum Wage To $15 Per Hour, Wage Action Protest Held In Worcester  MassLive   ...Chanting rhymes the likes of, "Low pay is not okay!" a few dozen advocates for increasing the minimum wage gathered in front of the Tobias Boland Way Walmart for one hour Thursday night in hopes of bringing attention to the issue...
North Carolina is still suing Facebook, wants to pass law banning public from knowing what else it’s doing  Pando   ...legislators in North Carolina — whose $86 billion public pension fund is the 7th largest in America – are proposing to statutorily bar the public from seeing details of the state’s Wall Street transactions for at least a decade. That time frame is significant: according to experts, it would conceal the terms of the investment agreements for longer than the statute of limitations of various securities laws...
AFSCME Helping Chicago Cab Drivers Push For Greater Voice  Chicago Tribune   ...The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union is joining up with Chicago cab drivers to try to help give cabbies a stronger voice in negotiating with Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration to raise fares, lower costs and push for greater regulation of the nascent ride-share industry...
Map: How A $10.10 Minimum Wage Could Affect Workers In Every Congressional District  Washington Post   ...Raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 would have widely varied impact on the nation’s congressional districts, according to a new report. There is a more than fourfold gap between districts where the impact would be largest and smallest...
War On Workers
Federal regulators cite contractors after worker's death in Amazon warehouse  Fortune   ...Federal regulators have cited five companies for “serious” labor violations after a temp worker died at an Amazon warehouse in New Jersey six months ago, according to a statement released on Friday...
Remember the Problems With Mortgage Defaults? They’re Coming Back With Student Loans  New York Times   ...“robo-signing” is making a comeback, this time in student loans. Robo-signing refers to a practice in which bank employees signed blizzards of documents selling mortgages to another investor without properly verifying who actually owned them...
What If Your Ability To Stay In This Country Depended On Your Employer?  The Nation   ...Every year, US companies invite thousands of special guests from abroad into the labor market, and they arrive clutching visas that will provide them short-term jobs in food processing, farmwork and other seasonal sectors...
HowardCenter Workers Speak About Wages, Work Conditions  Burlington Free Press   ...Allison Segar has worked at the HowardCenter for 16 years, and said she is paid less now than she was 17 years ago when she immigrated to America from England...

Today's Teamster News 03.07.14

Teamster News
Listen to Teamster Nation News for March 6-12  teamster.org   ...McKesson CEO takes a $45 million cut to his pension after shareholders raised a stink at annual meeting, but is still set to make $114 million in retirement while some workers can’t afford healthcare.  Thanks for listening to this podcast episode and be sure to subscribe...
Teamsters and Sarasota County agree on raises  Herald-Tribune...After two and half years of negotiations, Sarasota County and the Teamsters Local 173 in Bradenton, Florida signed off on a new collective bargaining agreement for nearly 400 workers...
A Cuomo-de Blasio Airport Partnership (opinion by Joe Sitt and George Miranda)  New York Daily News   ...De Blasio must now take up the mantle as well — and use his powerful platform and microphone to drive improvements at our airports...
Mayor de Blasio Falls Short on Job Approval, But Handled Snow OK: NBC4 Poll  NBC4   ...Two months into Mayor de Blasio's first term, fewer than four in 10 voters approve of his job performance as mayor, but a majority applauds his response to a series of storms during one of the snowiest winters in New York City history...
Teamsters: Ending Currency Manipulation Will Bring Worker Security   teamster.org   ...Efforts by other nations to keep the value of their currency artificially low are killing U.S. jobs and is a major reason why this country currently has an annual trade deficit in excess of $700 billion, a new Economic Policy Institute (EPI) report explains. Changing the system, the document states, would create 5.8 million jobs here...
Trade
Protesters oppose trade agreement   Wisconsin State Farmer   ...The group Family Farm Defenders organized a march to Rep. Ron Kind’s office in La Crosse Friday to urge him to oppose “fast track” authority and the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) a trade agreement with Pacific Rim countries...
Radioactive Imported Dog Food Bowls.  Trade Reform   ...Petco has determined that one of its foreign suppliers used stainless steel mistakenly containing small quantities of Cobalt-60 when fabricating certain orders of certain SKUs/models of stainless steel pet food bowls. Cobalt-60 is a radioactive material commonly used in industrial gauging equipment and other uses...
State Battles
Conservative group Alec trains sights on city and local government  The Guardian   ...It has already quietly set up, and is making plans for the public launch of, an offshoot called the American City County Exchange (ACCE) that will target policymakers from “villages, towns, cities and counties”. The new organisation will offer corporate America a direct conduit into the policy making process of city councils and municipalities. Lobbyists acting on behalf of major businesses will be able to propose resolutions and argue for new profit-enhancing legislation in front of elected city officials, who will then return to their council chambers and seek to implement the proposals...
Miss. House passes bills meant to restrict unions  Clarion Ledger   ...Mississippi lawmakers are moving ahead with a package of bills to restrict some labor union organizing and picketing practices...
Republican Governor Will Protect His State’s Residents From Food Stamp Cuts  ThinkProgress   ...Gov. Tom Corbett (R-PA) will be the third governor (and the first Republican) to block Congress's food stamp cuts in his state...
10,000 state workers still without back pay  KOAT 7 Albuquerque   ...As much as $50 million has yet to arrive after a union beat state in a case that went to the New Mexico Supreme Court...
Illinois Legislation Supports Interest-Free Student Loans  WIFR News   ...Students nationwide are graduating college on average, up to $30,000 in debt and now new Illinois legislation could help offer interest-free loans...
Nebraska bill could benefit low-income parents  Associated Press   ...Some low-income parents would have a greater incentive to seek raises and promotions at work and to save for a child's college education, under a bill in the Nebraska Legislature...
No, Connecticut’s History-Making Paid Sick Leave Law Did Not Hurt Business   ThinkProgress   ...When Connecticut was considering whether to become the first state to require employers to offer their workers paid sick leave, businesses raised concerns that it would create an unbearable cost, forcing some to close, and that abuse would be rampant. But a new survey of employers in the state a year and a half after the law took effect shows those fears were unfounded...
Louisiana lawmakers seek to cap payday loan rates  Associated Press   ...Louisiana organizations that represent the elderly, the poor and others on fixed incomes want stiffer regulation of payday lending businesses that offer short-term loans with high interest rates of no greater than 36 percent annually...
Oklahoma House votes to make trooper dash cam videos public records  News OK   ...The Oklahoma Highway Patrol would be required to make trooper dash camera videos available for public viewing under a bill passed Wednesday by the state House of Representatives...
West Virginia House Passes Chemical Storage Bill In Effort To Prevent Future Spills ThinkProgress   ...Nearly two months after Freedom Industry's leaky chemical storage tank on the Elk River in West Virginia contaminated the drinking water supply for 300,000 people, the House of Representatives passed a new bill late Wednesday night regulating chemical storage tanks...
War on Workers
Real World Evidence That Increasing The Minimum Wage Doesn’t Cost Jobs  ThinkProgress
 ...Last month, conservatives seized on a Congressional Budget Office report showing that increasing the minimum wage could result in job loss to argue that President Obama’s push to pay workers more would undermine the American economy and stifle growth. But a growing body of real world experiences is already proving the nonpartisan economists wrong...
'Paycheck protection' is bad for unions, good for free-riding deadbeats (Opinion)  Penn Live   ...Once again, legislation has been proposed to prevent the automatic withholding of union dues from public employees' paychecks (House Bill 1507). This legislation serves only to undermine the timely, efficient payment of monies which are rightfully due to the union...
Miscellaneous
Bernie Sanders: ‘I Am Prepared to Run for President of the United States’  The Nation   ...he says his political instincts tell him America is ready for a “political revolution.”...
Meet the Company That Can Track Everywhere You've Been and Tell Police About It  AlterNet   ...A security company collects data from license plate readers and shares it with police and federal law enforcement, no warrant needed...
New Report Says Rich Are Richer And Spending More Than Ever  AlterNet ...A new report released this week by the elitist property management firm Knight Frank confirms the ranks of the rich are expanding, and they're spending their money with the gilded abandon so characteristic of our era... 

Today's Teamster News 02.06.14

Teamsters Back Legislation Reining in Anonymous Campaign Money  teamster.org   ...Yesterday, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters threw its support behind new legislation that seeks to reform the political campaign finance system and return government to everyday Americans...
Airline Professionals Association Teamsters Local 1224 and Silver Airways Partner to Begin Addressing Pilot Shortage  Teamsters Local 1224   ...Silver Airways and its pilots, represented by the Airline Professionals Association Teamsters Local 1224 (Local 1224) and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Airline Division (IBTAD), today announced that they have successfully partnered to reach an agreement that will help address pilot shortages at the airline and provide Silver’s pilots with pay increases and quality of life improvements...
CN conductors' strike averted after company and Teamsters union reach new tentative labour agreement  Wall Street Journal   ...CN (TSX: CNR) (NYSE: CNI) announced today that it has reached a new tentative collective agreement with the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference - Conductors, Trainpersons and Yardpersons...
Contract has one year added  News Transcript   ...Officials in Colts Neck, New Jersey have inked a one-year contract extension with Teamsters Local 11 covering several white-collar employees of the township...
Court of Appeals Hands Victory to U.S. Workers  Economic Policy Institute   ...The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled yesterday that the Department of Labor’s H-2B visa wage methodology regulation is valid, handing a defeat to a coalition of employers who want to keep wages low for employees in forestry, seafood, hospitality, landscaping and other physically demanding jobs...
Labor board tries again to change union rules  Associated Press   ...Labor regulators are trying once again to streamline the process in which workers decide whether to join labor unions, a move sure to reignite the bitter debate between union advocates and employers that seek to discourage workers from unionizing...
Biden: Unions 'only guys keeping the barbarians at the gate'  Detroit News   ...Vice President Joe Biden defended the role of organized labor, saying opponents are mounting a long-term war to attack unions. “These guys on the right — they know without you there — they call every shot,” Biden told more than 1,000 UAW members and retirees on the final day on its four-day annual political conference here. “You guys are the only guys keeping the barbarians at the gate...”
Over 1 in 6 Men in Prime Working Years Don’t Have a Job  Naked Capitalism   ...The duration and severity of unemployment among men in their peak earning years suggests that there is both more suffering than is readily apparent, and that this group is also likely to wind up impoverished in their old age. These men, with their sense of identity often strongly vested in being producers and breadwinners, face a grim future in psychological as well as financial terms...
Korea Passes ‘U-Turn’ Law With Generous Incentives For Companies To Bring Manufacturing From China Back To Korea  Trade Reform   ...It includes generous incentives and subsidies for companies to return production to Korea...
Top UK Regulator: People Have Good Reason Not to Trust Currency Rates Set By Big Banks  Wall Street on Parade   ...Global investigators have accumulated evidence that strongly suggests that traders at the too-big-to-fail banks have been rigging foreign exchange rates in much the same manner that they rigged the interest rate benchmark, Libor...
Just before Lac-Mégantic, railways sought to reduce inspections  CBC News   ...The Railway Association of Canada, whose major members include CN and CP Rail, asked the federal transport minister at the time, on June 7, 2013, to repeal rules that require certified rail car inspectors to do detailed examinations of brakes, axles, wheels and car components before they are loaded...
That’s cold, Whole Foods: Polar vortex firing spurs Chicago strike  Salon   ...Workers walk off the job to support a co-worker who stayed home in the snowstorm with her special needs son...
Turkish Unionists: 'We Are Not Terrorists'  Portside   ...The right-wing government is using anti-terror laws to crack down on an old enemy—the union movement. But unionists could lead Turkey's development in a democratic and secular direction...
New surveillance technology can track everyone in an area for several hours at a time  Washington Post   ...As Americans have grown increasingly comfortable with traditional surveillance cameras, a new, far more powerful generation is being quietly deployed that can track every vehicle and person across an area the size of a small city, for several hours at a time. Although these cameras can’t read license plates or see faces, they provide such a wealth of data that police, businesses and even private individuals can use them to help identify people and track their movements...
Judge Markson Declares Administrative Code Unconstitutional, Dismisses Charges  Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative   ...Dane County Judge John Markson dismissed charges against political dissidents arrested during Scott Walker’s failed crackdown on unauthorized singing in the Wisconsin State Capitol...
Student Loan Companies Face New Scrutiny For Bad Practices Against Borrowers  Huffington Post   ...Companies that collect student loan payments may have a financial incentive to stymie borrowers who wish to quickly repay their debts, a top federal regulator said Monday...
A High School In A Poor Neighborhood Closed Down. These Folks Reopened It And Kicked Some Butt. How?  Upworthy   ...When a school on the West Side of Chicago closed its doors, people from the business world, labor unions, government, and the community came together to reopen the doors and transform it into a model for others. The best testimony of their success? The kids themselves...
Report: For-profit probation industry hurts America’s poorest  Salon   ...A report released Wednesday by Human Rights Watch (HRW) highlights how private companies charged with overseeing the probation of hundreds of thousands of misdemeanor probation sentences every year “trample” some of America’s poorest with “discriminatory” penalty fees...
CCA to pay Idaho $1 million for understaffing privately run Idaho prison  Associated Press   ...Corrections Corporation of America will pay Idaho $1 million for understaffing the state's largest prison in violation of its contract, the AP reports, according to a settlement agreement announced late Tuesday...

Today's Teamster News 12.04.13

2014 Teamsters Leadership Academy (TLA) Course Summary  teamster.org   ...Below is a list of the 2014 Teamsters Leadership Academy programs available from the IBT Training and Development Department for Teamster leaders. Download the schedule here...
Report: ALEC faces financial, possibly legal, problems  UPI   ...A conservative U.S. lobbying group critics say has undue influence on public policy faces a funding crisis and possible legal trouble, internal documents show...
Ill. Legislature OKs fix for $100B pension crisis  Associated Press   ...A coalition of unions known as We Are One Illinois, which lobbied heavily against the bill, issued a statement saying the legislation is unfair to workers and retirees who for years made faithful contributions to retirement systems but now will see benefits cut because of government mismanagement. "This is no victory for Illinois, but a dark day for its citizens and public servants," they said. "Teachers, caregivers, police and others stand to lose huge portions of their life savings because politicians chose to threaten their retirement security..."
Judge: Detroit eligible for Chapter 9 bankruptcy  Associated Press   ...Detroit is eligible to shed billions in debt in the largest public bankruptcy in U.S. history, a judge said Tuesday in a long-awaited decision that now shifts the case toward how the city will accomplish that task...
Missouri Extremists Get an Early Start on Attacking Working Families for 2014 Legislative Session  AFL-CIO Now   ...Extremist pro-corporate Republicans in Missouri are getting an early start on attacking the rights of working families by pre-filing a "right to work" for less bill for the 2014 legislative session. While there undoubtedly will be similar attacks in other states in 2014, Missouri is the first state to take formal steps to strip working families of their rights...
Scott Walker campaign aide fired after tweets demeaning Hispanics  Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel   ...For the second time in less than four months, Gov. Scott Walker has fired an aide for making demeaning comments about Hispanics on social media...
Fast Food Strikes Will Hit 100 Cities On Thursday  ThinkProgress   ...Fast food workers will stage a one-day strike against their employers in 100 cities on Thursday ... Strikes will take place for the first time in some cities, such as Charleston, SC; Providence, RI; and Pittsburgh, PA.
They’ll also stage protests in an additional 100 cities, activists say...
Fast food CEOs exploit despicable tax loophole  Salon   ...Outrageous: In two years, fast food corporations paid out $183 million in deductible "performance pay" to top brass...
Making One Do the Work of Three: My Years at Wal-Mart  CounterPunch   ...This is the text of a speech given on November 29, in Raleigh, North Carolina by former Wal-Mart worker Patrick Snipes...
Cisco Says NSA Costing Them Major Business Abroad  firedoglake   ...Cisco Systems, one of the largest networking equipment sellers in the world, has been losing major business in the wake of the NSA spying scandal. The company has publicly blamed the NSA for sowing distrust between American technology companies and the rest of the world – potentially costing them billions...
Race to the Bottom: Declining State Corporate Tax Rates  CounterPunch   ...Behind the decline in the corporate income tax as a share of total tax revenues lies the growing proliferation of corporate tax exemptions, credits, deferral of payments, and various other ‘loopholes.’...
Global Elites Getting Nervous About Skyrocketing Inequality (But Won't Spare a Nickel to Fix It)  AlterNet   ...There’s a lot of handwringing, but will elite anxiety bring any changes?...
Survey: Rich kids reap benefits of online courses  Bloomberg News ...An international poll casts doubt on the idea that the free online classes will benefit disenfranchised students...
As Hospital Prices Soar, a Single Stitch Tops $500  New York Times   ...Hospital pricing is often convoluted, and hospital charges represent about a third of the total United States health care bill...

Banks screwing students the way they screwed homeowners

Once again, family finances are in danger from big banks.  Thousands of students with loans are complaining their student loan companies are breaking laws in the same way mortgage servicers did during the foreclosure crisis. That's according to a newly released Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) report that warns of increased fees and financial trouble to come:

Many of the private student loan complaints mirror the problems heard from consumers in the mortgage market following the wake of the financial crisis.

In the past year, CFPB received 3,800 complaints from student loan borrowers. Eight servicing companies received 87 percent of the complaints, including Sallie Mae, Wells Fargo, Citi and JPMorgan Chase.

Lenders pay other companies, called servicers, to process loans.  These subcontractors make the least money when people pay back the loan on time -- and the most when people are struggling, since the subcontractors keep all of the late fees for themselves.

CFPB's report suggests a pattern of lawbreaking by student loan servicers. And why not? Wall Street saw how profitable foreclosing on families was.  Although millions of Americans lost their homes due to criminal behavior, banks were just handed tax-deductible fines and banned from messing with the housing market like that again.  But the student loan market remained open -- and  too-big-to-fail banks knew they could get away with it again.

As David Dayen points out in Salon: 

the past performance of regulators on mortgage servicing has been pretty toothless. And that’s why student loan servicers believe they have a license to steal.

Here's what the student loan services are up to, according to the CFPB report:

• Violating the Truth in Lending Act by charging student lenders fees for prepaying their private student loans. 
• Forcing military borrowers -- including those in combat zones -- to resubmit unnecessary paperwork and then charging higher interest rates when they can't come up with the paperwork.
• Making it too complicated and difficult for most struggling graduates to refinance their loans.

It's no surprise over 14 percent of 2010 graduates defaulted on their loans within three years. Without reform and actual enforcement of lending laws, the default rate is only going to rise.  We just wonder why this is still legal.

Today's Teamster News 10.19.13

Teamsters Stop FMCSA Attack on Truck Drivers  teamster.org   ...The Teamsters Union helped score a victory for truck drivers this week when H.R. 3095 was signed into law compelling the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to follow the formal rulemaking process to set strict guidelines for when they can require screening, testing and treatment for sleep apnea...
Star-Ledger unions ratify new 4-year contracts, agree to buyouts   Star-Ledger   ...After months of negotiations under the cloud of a threatened shutdown of the state’s largest newspaper, the Star-Ledger’s production unions, including the Teamsters Union, have ratified new four-year contracts, agreeing to buyout packages for at least 55 workers...
Since End of U.S. Recession, More Seniors in Workforce  Gallup   ... There has been a three-point increase since 2010 in the percentage of Americans aged 65 and older who are in the workforce -- employed full time through an employer, self-employed, working part time, or unemployed but actively searching for work. At the same time, there has been a two-point decrease in the percentage of Americans aged 18 to 29 who are in the workforce...
Millennials still lag in forming their own households  Pew Research   ... most Millennials (adults ages 18 to 32) are still not setting out on their own. As of March 2013, only about one-in-three Millennials (34%) headed up their own household...
Is The Debt Still Worth The Degree?  zero hedge   ...The price of a college education has increased 1,000% or more over the past 3 decades...
You Thought the Government Shutdown Was Over. You Were Wrong. New Republic ...It was an awful time. Federal employees had to take unpaid furlough days. Beneficiaries were thrown off of federal programs. Courthouses had to be sold. Federal agencies like the FBI, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health strained to meet commitments, leading to more crime, more outbreaks of disease and less basic research, among other horrors. This may sound like a description of the recent government shutdown, which ended October 16. But this describes the fallout from sequestration...
Pro-Coal Kids' Pages Pulled from Government Site as Public Pressure Increases Alternet ...The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity has removed coal-related educational sections from its website, less than two weeks after the launch of a grassroots campaign demanding that the pages be taken down...
Food Stamp Outage Highlights Problems With Privatization of Public Services  Truthout   ...Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), a subsidiary of Xerox since 2000 that specializes in privatizing government administrative services for the most economically vulnerable Americans, has taken heat in the past for siphoning excessive fees from welfare recipients, mismanaging Medicaid payment systems, and failing to complete multimillion dollar contracts for public agencies...
"Fix the Debt's" "Fix the Debt Q&A" needs to be fixed (hilarious)  Storify   ..."Fix the Debt" decided to have a Twitter Q&A about fixing the debt. I'm not sure it went the way they wanted...
How Mexico is upending the U.S. auto industry  Washington Post ...More U.S. automakers have been shifting their plants south of the border, attracted by Mexico's lower wages and dense industrial clusters…
States Clamping Down on Workers Mislabeled as Contractors  Bloomberg News   ...When construction slowed during the recession, some companies hired workers and wrongly designated them as independent contractors to avoid paying insurance, taxes, fair wages and overtime...
Scott Walker Steers State Funds to Union Busters  PolicyMic   ...Scott Walker (R-Wisc.) made headlines in 2011 with his plans to bust public sector unions and strip unions of their collective bargaining powers, which led to mass protests in the Madison Capitol building. Now he is back with his latest contribution to increasing jobs in Wisconsin: making them up and steering them to his supporters...
Moral Monday Leader Comes To Boone Oct. 28  High Country Press   ...Moral Monday leader Rev. William Barber II will address “The Necessity of a Moral Movement in North Carolina and the Nation” on Monday, Oct. 28...
BART strike: About 400,000 S.F.-area commuters to be affected  Los Angeles Times   ...Bay Area residents were without commuter rail service and facing a morning of frustration Friday as BART workers went on strike after a week of marathon negotiation collapsed overnight...
Michigan Walmart worker says he was fired for helping assaulted woman  Associated Press ...A Michigan man says he was fired from his job at Walmart after he tried to help a woman being assaulted in the parking lot of one of the retail giant's stores and ended up fighting with her attacker...
Wal-Mart workers on strike, defying firings  The Salon   ...In protest of paltry hours and defiance of firings, over 80 Wal-Mart workers in Hialeah, Florida walk off the job...
The U.S. Blows Everyone Else Out Of The Water In 1 Key Way  Huffington Post   ...That one way? We're really, really good at creating really, really rich people -- like, $50 million-plus rich. Just ignore the fact that our 400 wealthiest people are worth more than the entire bottom half of the country combined. Look at the chart…
Krugman on GOP’s “top-down class warfare”  The Salon   ...The New York Times columnist explains how the GOP policies have stalled a true economic recovery...
McDonald's Has Their Hands in All of Our Pockets  AlterNet   ...Do you want to pay for billion dollar companies to make more money? Of course not, but in recent studies, we learned that we are, in fact, playing billions of dollar to support low-wage fast food workers for America's top seven restaurant chains...
Euro Capitals Tighten Fiscal Leash as EU Polices Cuts  Bloomberg News   ...Even with the 17-nation euro area projecting economic expansion next year, policy makers are keeping a fiscal leash on growth by maintaining austerity policies to save the euro...

Today's Teamster News 08.02.13

Teamsters Strike at  Pennsylvania Convention Center  Philadelphia Inquirer   ...Trade union members went on strike Thursday at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in a dispute over proposed changes in work rules...
Additional Meetings for MTD Emergency Transit Service Reduction Plan  Santa Barbara Independent   ...MTD drivers, mechanics, and utility workers are represented by Teamsters Local 186, which has concerns about the impact of California’s Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA) on bargaining rights...
Teamster Funeral home workers near one month on strike at Montclair-Lucania Funeral Home  Pioneer Local   ...Since July 2, funeral home workers have been on the picket line outside the Montclair-Lucania Funeral Home, one of 16 in the Chicago area owned by SCI and managed under the name Dignity Memorial. That’s when he and other members of Teamsters Local 727, made up of funeral directors, embalmers and hearse drivers, voted to go on strike...
Pay Freezes on Tap for Some CUSD Employees, Not Teachers  San Juan Capistrano Patch   ...Nonteaching employees won't get their automatic pay raises at all next year, while management and Teamsters will have to wait six months...
McKesson Directors Re-Elected Amid CEO Pay Controversy  Reuters   ...Shareholders re-elected all of McKesson Corp's board members on Wednesday, defying the recommendations of influential proxy advisers and investors who object to the inflated compensation and dual roles of Chairman and CEO John Hammergren...
Maine’s DOT plans for possibility of rail shutdown  Hilton Head Island Packet   ...Contingency planning is underway in case Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway stops service following a runaway train explosion and fire that claimed 47 lives just north of the Maine border, state transportation officials said...
THUD Amendment Targets New Driver Hours of Service Rules  Journal of Commerce   ...The latest changes to the truck driver hours of service rules are being challenged by Rep. Richard Hanna (NY-R), who is expected to introduce an amendment to the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development bill that would block changes to the HOS rules that took effect July 1 from being “implemented, administered or enforced...”
Backyard Shock Doctrine: Wall Street's Destruction Comes Home  Common Dreams   ...Since 2007, the foreclosure crisis has displaced at least 10 million people from more than four million homes across the country...The displaced are young and old, rich and poor, and of every race, ethnicity, and religion.  They add up to approximately the entire population of Michigan...
Former Trader Is Found Liable In Fraud Case  New York Times   ...Five years after Wall Street risk-taking nearly toppled the economy, the S.E.C. has taken only a handful of employees to court in connection with the crisis; most cases have been settled. The agency has not leveled fraud charges against one top executive at a big bank...
Congress Votes to End Fixed Interest for Student Loans  Bloomberg   ...The U.S. Congress gave final approval yesterday to a bill that pegs interest on government-sponsored student borrowing to a market-based rate, ensuring that almost 9 million undergraduates will pay 3.86 percent on their next loan...
Judge to serve 28 years after making $2 million for sending black children to jail  Rolling Out   ...Ciavarella worked alongside owners of private juvenile facilities to ensure that the prison remained occupied. The more prisoners equated to more profits for the owners of the prison. As a result, Ciavarella would sentence offenders with small offenses to months and, at times, years behind bars. He once sentenced a teen to three months in jail for creating a MySpace page that mocked her school’s assistant principal...
A Day’s Strike Seeks to Raise Fast-Food Pay   New York Times   ...From New York to several Midwestern cities, thousands of fast-food workers have been holding one-day strikes during peak mealtimes, quickly drawing national attention to their demands for much higher wages...
Despite fast food protests, Congress in no rush on minimum wage  CNN   ...Fast food workers striking for higher wages in seven cities Monday are bound to be disappointed. On their last week before vacation, Congress isn't likely to raise the minimum wage. They're not even close to critical mass on that issue...
Tax reform would fuel U.S. economy (opinion)  Politico …The current tax rules were fine when U.S. exports dominated a global economy, but they are ill-suited for a digital age of intense competition. While other countries have modernized their international tax systems, the U.S. remains mired in the past. The U.S. tax system isn’t working for American businesses, workers or the economy as a whole...
D.C. Baptist Convention Weighs into Battle Against Large Retailers  AFRO   ...Religious leaders have gotten into the fight against large retailers in the District of Columbia in support of ensuring residents of the city are making living wages...
Phoenix Bus Drivers Reject Contract  Associated Press   ...Hundreds of bus drivers overwhelming rejected a proposed labor contract offer from First Transit on Wednesday, setting the stage for a midnight strike that would shut down service in the Phoenix-area...
Kansas Democrats want to re-examine voting laws  Associated Press  ...Some Wichita Democrats want Kansas legislators to use the special session in September to fix a problem they say exists in the state's new voting laws...

 

Today's Teamster News 07.28.13

Funeral homes win ruling to hold striking Teamsters at bay  Chicago Tribune   ...A judge has granted a temporary restraining order to prevent Teamsters Local 727 from picketing funeral homes and halting alleged harassment of grieving families in its dispute with SCI Illinois Services Inc....
‘Made in Vietnam’ a concern for Teamsters   Cumberland Times-News   ...Teamsters union President James P. Hoffa, along with human rights leaders, say there’s a bleak reality behind imported clothing: Forced labor, child labor and gender discrimination, among other issues...
Will U.S. Face Trade Sanctions for Anti-Smoking Law?  Public Citizen   ...As the World Trade Organization (WTO) deadline passes today for the United States to comply with a WTO ruling against a U.S. ban on sweet-flavored cigarettes targeting youth, the spotlight shifts back to the WTO, which could now authorize trade sanctions if requested by Indonesia, the country that won the WTO challenge...
Prison Labor Booms As Unemployment Remains High; Companies Reap Benefits  Huffington Post   ..."nearly a million prisoners are now making office furniture, working in call centers, fabricating body armor, taking hotel reservations, working in slaughterhouses, or manufacturing textiles, shoes, and clothing, while getting paid somewhere between 93 cents and $4.73 per day..."
SPLC secures release of Alabama man jailed after failing to pay $88 trash bill  Southern Poverty Law Center   ...Though debtors’ prison is supposed to be a thing of the past, a 60-year-old man in Baldwin County, Ala., spent two weeks in jail after failing to pay an $88 trash bill...
You Want a Living Wage With That? Fast Food Workers of N.Y.C. Prep for Another Strike  Village Voice   ...The strike will be their third since November, when fast food workers from Domino's, McDonald's, Wendy's, Taco Bell and other chains organized a massive walkout...
Fast Food, Low Pay (opinion)  New York Times   ... Workers with nothing to lose are demanding a living wage of $15 an hour, and gaining strength and confidence...
Evidence Mounts Agent Provocateurs Used by Brazilian Police  Common Dreams   ...Police sent infiltrators and agent provocateurs into crowds of protesters in Rio de Janeiro Monday—the first day of the Pope's visit to Brazil— as extensive video footage and witness testimony strongly suggests...
Where's the Beef?: The First Thing Obama Can Do By Himself to Create Good Jobs (opinion) Next New Deal   ...He can start with an executive order to boost job quality for at least 2 million workers whose pay is financed by the federal government...
Minimum Wage Hike Would Boost Kids and Workers Out of Poverty  AFL-CIO Now   ...26% of kids younger than 3 are poor and the rate for African American children is 39%. Yet two-thirds of children living in poverty have at least one parent with a full-time, year-round job and many of those are minimum wage jobs...
What parents really think about school reform  Washington Post   ...most parents want strong neighborhood schools — not choices of schools for their children to attend. They don’t want public money diverted to private-school vouchers, or low-performing schools to be closed, or resources being taken away from traditional public schools to be used for public charter schools...
Student Loans Tied to Rise in Market Rates While Wall Street Banks Have Received a Fixed 6% Return from the Government for the Past Century  Wall Street on Parade   ... Loans taken out after July 1 of this year will rise to 3.9 percent for undergraduates; to 5.4 percent for graduate students; and to 6.4 percent for parents taking out the student loans...
The tax break that corporate America wants kept secret CNN Money   ...Oracle, Google, and Amazon are just a few of the hundreds of large companies that have cut confidential deals with the IRS to help lower their tax bills, and critics want the agency to disclose the details of these complex pacts...
Apple’s record cash haul could repay Detroit’s debt eight times over  Quartz   ...Apple now has $146.6 billion in cash and marketable securities on its balance sheet, with some $106 billion kept offshore, the company said during today’s earnings call. That’s a record for the poster-child of tech companies maintaining mountains of overseas green. It’s enough to pay off bankrupt Detroit’s $18.5 billion in debt about eight times over...
New $444 million hockey arena is still a go in Detroit  CNN Money   ...Detroit's financial crisis hasn't derailed the city's plans to spend more than $400 million in Michigan taxpayer funds on a new hockey arena for the Red Wings...
Armed, Masked and Dangerous: the Militias of Privatization vs. the Public Good  TruthOut   ...Wisconsin, the battleground state where Governor Scott Walker has wielded his power with the grace of an elephant in a Crate and Barrel outlet store, has become the scene of armed, mask wearing, camouflaged security outfits patrolling the backwoods on the lookout for eco-terrorist types at the behest of a mining company more than willing to defile the environment for profits...
A voting rights showdown in North Carolina?  CBS News   ...North Carolina, a battleground state that's sure to be one again, is putting in place a new package of measures for voter ID requirements and - importantly - changing its early voting periods, among other measures, steps that many believe have it headed for a voting rights lawsuit...

Today's Teamster News 07.02.13

Fast-moving Arizona wildfire leaves 19 firefighters dead, destroys more than 200 homes  Associated Press   ...Gusty, hot winds blew an Arizona blaze out of control Sunday in a forest northwest of Phoenix, overtaking and killing 19 members of an elite fire crew in the deadliest wildfire involving firefighters in the U.S. for at least 30 years...
Paid via Card, Workers Feel Sting of Fees  New York Times   ...A growing number of American workers are confronting a frustrating predicament on payday: to get their wages, they must first pay a fee...
Interest rates on new college student loans double, but Congress could restore low rates later

Washington Post   ...The interest rates on subsidized Stafford loans doubled from 3.4 percent Monday and could stay doubled unless Congress fulfills its pledge to restore lower rates when it returns from the Fourth of July holiday...
Will the Trans-Atlantic Spying Scandal Kill the Trans-Atlantic "Trade" Scandal?  Public Citizen   ...The revelation has sparked ire from European officials, unleashing a torrent of warnings today that TAFTA negotiations, slated to start next week, may be doomed before they begin...
Local man found not guilty in chalk vandalsim case  ABC 10 News   ...A 40-year-old man was acquitted Monday of 13 misdemeanor vandalism charges that stemmed from protest messages he wrote in chalk in front of three Bank of America branches in San Diego...
Lawmakers push U.S. government to buy flags made in America  WQAD News 8   ...Illinois Congresswoman Cheri Bustos and Iowa Senator Bruce Braley are pushing the federal government to only purchase American-made U.S. flags...
Brunswick Council and Chamber split over relevancy of right-to-work resolution  Sun News   ...In spite of opposition from the Brunswick Area Chamber of Commerce, a resolution opposing the state's anti-union "right to work" laws in Ohio passed by a 3-1 vote. Ward 4 Councilman Anthony Capretta, whose father was a Teamster, said his vote in favor of the legislation was a matter of principal...
Maine should not accept low-skill, low-wage future (opinion)  Portland Press Herald   ...Researchers found that most new jobs in the next decade will be low-wage, low-skill positions that won't require even a high school diploma...
Florida privatized prison health services leaves nearly 1,800 public employees out of a job  Miami Herald   ...The nation’s largest outsourcing of prison medical care is underway in Florida with the state turning to a private company with a history of problems in other states...
Amendment's OK boon to Penn. liquor privatization effort  Meadville Tribune   ...An amendment approved by the Pennsylvania state Senate early Saturday morning is a victory for proponents of privatization as it agrees to take a greater step relinquishing control of the lucrative wholesale liquor business...
BART strike on after talks fail  San Jose Mercury News   ...After a breakdown in contract talks Sunday evening, BART workers are on strike. About 15 workers from the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 announced at midnight that their contact had expired without a new offer from BART, and then started their picketing…
UNITE HERE and Hyatt Reach National Agreement  UNITE HERE   ...Hyatt Hotels Corporation and UNITE HERE, the union of hospitality workers in the U.S. and Canada, announced a national agreement that resolves longstanding disputes between the two organizations...
SCI Funeral Directors Vote to Strike  IBT   ...Funeral directors and drivers represented by Teamsters Local 727 overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike against Houston-based funeral giant Service Corporation International yesterday evening.  The strike is set to begin this morning...
ABF Members Approve National Contract and Most Supplements  IBT …The national master portion of the ABF National Master Freight Agreement has been approved. This means the national contract is not open for renegotiating. Most of the supplements were also approved—21 of the 27. The six that did not pass are open for renegotiating...
Private Equity Firm Warburg Pincus' Greed Harming First Responders In Western New York  IBT   ...On June 28, Rural/Metro Medical Services (Rural/Metro) of Buffalo presented its final wage and benefit offer to paramedics and medical technicians, who are members of Teamsters Local Union 375...
7-Up strike settled  Press-Enterprise   ...A Teamster strike that began last Monday at the Riverside distribution center that ships 7-Up and other beverages to retailers in the Inland area was resolved Friday afternoon, a union leader said...
On The Waterfront With Labor  Rick Smith Show   ...The show heads to the Pacific Northwest and talks to several members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) in Portland, Ore., and Vancouver, Wash. about lockouts and the state of the union. Listen here. Come back to the People’s Tour of America page daily to hear the latest from his road travels...
Sign Up for the 2013 Teamster Women's Conference  IBT   ...The Teamster Women’s Conference will be held September 19-21, 2013 in New Orleans. Register now to join your Teamster Sisters and Brothers!...