Today's Teamster News 12.30.12

Congress, federal workers to get raise  The Hill   ...Under an executive order issued by President Obama on Thursday, members of Congress will join federal workers in seeing their pay rise by 0.5 percent after March 27...
Judge rebuffs feds' secret arguments on no-fly list  Politico   ...A federal judge in California has rejected the Obama administration's effort to use secret arguments and evidence to defeat a lawsuit relating to the so-called no-fly list designed to keep suspected terrorists off of airline flights...
City council leaders say deeper cuts will spark civil unrest  The Guardian   ...Alarming predictions of social unrest and the break-up of civil society have been delivered by the leaders of three of England's biggest cities, amid new evidence that government policies are widening – rather than narrowing – the economic divide between north and south...
French Court Says 75% Tax Rate on Rich Is Unconstitutional  Bloomberg   ...President Francois Hollande’s 75 percent millionaire-tax is unconstitutional because it fails to guarantee taxpayer equality, France’s top court ruled today...
Newtown Police Officers, Traumatized And Not Working, At Risk Of Losing Pay  Associated Press   ...Some of the police officers who responded to the school shooting in Newtown are so traumatized they haven't been working, but they have to use sick time and could soon be at risk of going without a paycheck, a union official said Wednesday...
Florida's Long Lines On Election Day Discouraged 49,000 People From Voting: Report  Huffington Post   ...About 19,000 of those people would have backed former GOP nominee Mitt Romney, while the rest would have gone for President Barack Obama, according to Allen...
Michigan governor signs new emergency manager law  Raw Story   ...Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) on Thursday signed several bills related to economic matters, including one to replace the emergency manager law that was recently repealed...
Judge issues ruling in NLRB charge against UAW leadership and Ford contractor -- illegally displaced employees to be returned to work with full back pay and benefits  Teamsters Local 89   ...Voith and the UAW (collectively) conspired to terminate the employment rights of approximately 166 individuals already employed in the receiving operation at the facility.  The intent of the actions taken by the UAW, Local 862, and Voith was to disgracefully strip the fair wages and benefits paid to any employees holding those jobs...

Today's Teamster News 11.15.12

If Entitlement Programs Are Your Top Priority, the Fiscal Cliff Is Your Friend  Baseline Scenario   ...the expiration of the Bush-Obama tax cuts will, on its own, eliminate roughly half of the long-term gap between federal government revenues and expenses.* Higher tax revenues (raised through the individual income tax, which is the most progressive part of the tax code) will reduce the pressure to do something about entitlement spending...
Debt crisis: Eurozone in double-dip recession - live  The Telegraph   ...The eurozone has entered its second recession in four years, official data show, as the Dutch economy contracts sharply and Spain's job-killing recession drags on for a fifth straight quarter...
Zillow: 1.3 million fewer U.S. homeowners were in negative equity in Q3  Calculated Risk   ...Slightly more than 14 million U.S. homeowners with a mortgage were in negative equity, or underwater, in the quarter, owing more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. That was down from 15.3 million in the second quarter...
61 Super PAC Donors Gave as Much Money as 1.4 Million Small Donors to Campaigns  Center for Media and Democracy   ...Approximately $1.28 billion was reported as being spent on the 2012 elections, almost half of it coming from the Super PACs made possible by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. FEC...
The Real Scandal Surrounding the Petraeus Resignation  Huffington Post   ...The FBI, if they thought they had a reason, could find out where you are and read your email, with relatively little oversight...
Michigan should avoid right-to-work sideshow (opinion)  Detroit Free Press   ...The ink's still drying on Tuesday's election results, but already there's word that the push to make Michigan a right-to-work state -- following the defeat of a proposed constitutional amendment to protect collective bargaining -- is gaining steam...
Teamsters, Esber settle dispute  Canton Repository   ...Members of Teamsters Local 92 approved a three-year contract Wednesday to end a strike that started Monday. The agreement includes pay raises and a higher health care premium...