TEAMSTERS
Teamster Pilots at Kalitta Air Authorize Strike Teamster.org ...Pilots employed by Kalitta Air, LLC, have voted overwhelmingly, 213-7, to authorize a strike against the Ypsilanti, Mich.-based cargo airline. Kalitta Air operates a fleet of Boeing 747 aircraft in support of the global network of DHL Express, a division of the German logistics company, Deutsche Post DHL. Ninety-two percent of eligible pilots voted...
Decision to Close N.C. MillerCoors Brewery Draws Scrutiny at Senate Antitrust Hearing Teamster.org ...At a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing yesterday, concerns were raised about the recent decision by MillerCoors to close its Eden, N.C., brewery by the end of 2016. The decision to close the Eden brewery, which would eliminate roughly 10 percent of MillerCoors’ total production capacity and destroy about 450 Teamster jobs, was announced on Sept.14, 2015...
Teamsters Announce Fund to Assist San Bernardino Victims, Families Teamster.org ...Teamsters Joint Council 42 has created a support fund for the victims and families impacted by the San Bernardino shooting. Three Teamster members were killed and two were wounded in the shooting. “This is a tragic loss for the families of the victims and for our union family. Our Teamster brothers and sisters and their families need our support and we are here to help them,” said Randy Cammack...
Reyes/Great Lakes Coca-Cola Outside Workers Reject Contract Offer Local 727 ...Outside workers at Reyes/Great Lakes Coca-Cola Distribution rejected the company’s four-year contract offer while inside workers overwhelmingly voted to ratify their new contract on Sunday, Dec. 6. Before the outside workers take a strike vote, the Teamsters Local 727 Bargaining Committee will ask the company to return to the bargaining table in good faith in order to avoid a labor dispute...
University Teamsters voting on tentative contract Workday Minnesota ...Members of Teamsters Local 320 (link is external) employed at the University of Minnesota are voting on a tentative contract settlement that includes a 2 percent wage increase and six weeks of paid maternity leave. Members are voting by mail, with ballots to be counted Dec. 21, the union said. The Local 320 contract covers some 1,100 custodial, food service, animal and land care workers...
Significant Wage And Benefit Gains For Facebook Drivers In Teamsters Contract Labor Press ...Silicon Valley drivers who shuttle Facebook employees have joined Teamsters Local 853, ratifying what the union says is a strong labor contract. The Teamsters contract includes significant wage and benefits improvements. Teamsters International Vice President and Local 853 Secretary Treasurer says the Teamsters are moving "to bring drivers in the entire shuttle bus industry into the Teamsters Union"...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Canada: Cabdrivers Stage Uber Protest NYTimes ...Cabdrivers seeking a legal crackdown against Uber, the ride-sharing service, snarled traffic on expressways and downtown streets in Toronto on Wednesday. The disruption began during the morning rush hour with slow-moving convoys of taxis. Later, cabdrivers blocked a major downtown intersection. A police officer on a bicycle suffered minor injuries...
“No one has ever tried this before”: Mexican, U.S. Workers Bring Employer Charges Under NAFTA In These Times ...A transnational coalition of labor unions and community groups in the United States and Mexico charged multinational retail corporation Chedraui Commercial Group with violations of municipal, federal, and international labor law on November 12, filing unprecedented dual claims under compliant mechanisms embedded within the North American Free-Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)...
Lawmakers strike deal on key trade legislation The Hill ...House and Senate lawmakers on Wednesday announced a deal that would bolster U.S. customs enforcement, among the key trade items on President Obama’s legislative agenda. After months of behind-the-scenes negotiations, top lawmakers said they had reconciled their differences on the measure that funds the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency...
Levin urges Dems to oppose customs bill deal The Hill ...A top House Democrat is urging his colleagues to oppose a deal on a customs enforcement measure, according to a letter obtained by The Hill. Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.), the ranking member on the House Ways and Means Committee, expressed serious concerns about climate, human trafficking, immigration and currency provisions in the final House-Senate conference report released Wednesday...
Laid-off Newberg paper mill workers protest trade deal Business Journal ...Roughly 250 workers lost their jobs when a Newberg paper mill closed Nov. 17. On Tuesday, many returned to the mill to protest the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, which they said would move U.S. jobs overseas. We don’t want other hard-working Oregon families to suffer the same hardships we have," said John Haslett, in a news release...
Three ways TTIP will violate your human rights Independent ...TTIP is promoted as being focused on the “shared values” of the USA and EU, including “upholding and promoting human rights”. However, the USA and EU prefer to protect corporations from human rights law; they were the strongest opponents of a UN move to create a binding mechanism for holding corporations accountable to international human rights law...
TTIP is a disaster for the Left. But Brexit would be worse (opinion) New Statesmen ...Combined with this trade agenda Cameron wants to cut the ‘burden’ of regulation. We should not be under any illusions: a UK outside the EU and governed by the Tories would lead to even further trade liberalisation, even more damaging trade deals and a deregulated corporate free-for-all...
'Austerity is hitting poorest children hardest', Welsh researchers claim Wales Online ...Austerity policies across Europe are hitting the poorest children hardest and local councils should do more to protect their rights, say researchers in Wales. The Wales Observatory on Human Rights of Children and Young People, which is based at Swansea University, has compiled a report on the effects of austerity polices based on evidence drawn from across Europe...
Ghana: Port Drivers' Union Want Burkinabe Counterparts Out All Africa ...According to the drivers, an illegal document called 'Bond de Chargement' has been imposed on them and failure to pay usually results in them being assaulted at the Burkinabe border. The chairman of the Joint Association of Port Transport Union, Husein Isahak said if the authorities fail to come to their aid, they will be forced to retaliate...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
NY Board Upholds $15 Minimum Wage for Fast-Food Workers ABC ...A state oversight board on Wednesday upheld the decision by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration to gradually raise the hourly minimum wage for many fast-food workers to $15. The New York Industrial Board of Appeals rejected the National Restaurant Association's arguments that that the wage order was unconstitutional, arbitrary, unsupported by the evidence and focused improperly on fast-food chains with more than 30 locations...
The public doesn’t support restrictive voter ID laws, but many new ones will be in force in 2016 Reuters ...Defenders of photo ID laws regularly cite public opinion polls that show widespread support for their arguments. Yet these polls reveal no such support, and they prove nothing about this new restrictive legislation because the polls’ questions cover a far broader range of IDs than the actual laws accept as proof of identity. The Texas photo ID law and recent polls in Texas offer a telling example of the disparity between the laws’ actual content and what poll respondents can assume are in them...
Michigan Senate delays bill that would impact minimum wage for people under 20 WSBT ...The minimum wage in the state is $8.15 an hour right now. It will increase to $8.50 in January. Right now 16 and 17-year-olds can be paid 85 percent of the current minimum wage. The bill being considered would allow employers to put 18 and 19-year-olds in that same category. Supporters say fewer 16 and 17-year-olds are applying for jobs...
Puerto Rico Legislature Approves Bill to Expand Paid Sick Leave Use Lexology ...Seeking to allow non-exempt employees to use paid sick leave for the illnesses of their family members and others, the Puerto Rico Legislature has sent a bill to Governor Alejandro García-Padilla to so amend the Commonwealth’s existing paid sick leave law. If House Bill 695 is approved, the amendments would become effective immediately. The Governor has 30 days to approve or veto HB 695...
Massachusetts’ Plan To Force State Prisoners To Pay Room And Board Will Do Far More Harm Than Good Think Progress ...Massachusetts currently spends at least $53,000 a year on every inmate — $1.2 billion in total. On Tuesday, the senate minority leader proposed a bill that would make 10,000 prisoners bear some of that financial burden. Under Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr’s (R-Gloucester) latest proposal, inmates would have to pay $2 a day for their food and housing...
U.S. LABOR
Talks continue between UAW, Kohler Sheboygan Press ...Talks are continuing between the Kohler Co. and the union representing about 2,100 striking production workers, company officials confirmed Wednesday, though neither side has indicated whether progress has been made toward a new labor pact. The talks come as United Auto Workers Local 833 members continue their more than 3-week-old strike, which has surpassed the duration of the union's last strike in 1983...
Chicago Teachers Union plans to vote on potential strike Washington Post ...Chicago Teachers Union members plan to begin voting Wednesday on whether to authorize a strike, setting in motion the latest in a series of political challenges for Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The teachers’ contract expired in June, and efforts to reach a one-year contract agreement with Chicago Public Schools fell apart during the summer...
Coalinga hospital workers join SEIU-UHW Business Journal ...Health care workers at Coalinga Regional Medical Center recently voted to join SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West. Approximately 200 hundred health care workers voted to join the union, lending their support to SEIU-UHW’s campaign to fully fund Medi-Cal as well as the statewide ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2021...
Capitol Food Workers Escalate Protests in Senate Roll Call ...Dozens of Capitol food workers went on strike Tuesday, demanding to negotiate higher wages with their management and taking their message to other Senate workspace, specifically calling on Sen. Ted Cruz, who sits on the committee that oversees their contract, to support their push for better pay and union representation. The workers flooded the Texas Republican’s office, and the hallway outside, to award Cruz the “Golden Grinch” award...
AFSCME Plans Rally As Contract Talks Drag On Northern Public Radio ...The state's largest public employee union remains at odds with Governor Bruce Rauner's administration on a new contract. Negotiators for the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees have been meeting with the governor's staff about twice a month since the summer. But AFSCME spokesman Anders Lindall says there's been little movement toward a deal...
Walmart’s Imports From China Displaced 400,000 Jobs, a Study Says NYTimes ...Imports from China by Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer and biggest importer, eliminated or displaced over 400,000 jobs in the United States between 2001 and 2013, according to an estimate by the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive research group that has long targeted Walmart’s policies. The jobs, mostly in manufacturing, represent about 13 percent of the 3.2 million jobs displaced...
Here's How Much the U.S. Middle Class Has Changed in 45 Years Bloomberg ...In the age of rising income inequality, the task of preserving America’s middle class has been taken on by politicians across the ideological spectrum. A new report from Pew Research Center shows just how much the economic fortunes of this group have changed since the 1970s. In every decade since then, the percentage of adults living in middle-income households has fallen...
Unwarranted Outcry: NLRB Browning-Ferris Decision Re-establishes Employer Responsibility CAP Action ...A recent decision by the National Labor Relations Board, or NLRB, that attempts to more clearly define who is a joint employer—and therefore responsible for bargaining and respecting workers’ rights—has triggered the predictable conservative backlash. However, a closer look at the facts indicates just how unwarranted this backlash is. Unfortunately, these latest criticisms are merely the continuation of conservative attacks on the NLRB and its efforts to uphold workers’ rights...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Showing How US Can Stand Up to Wall Street, Europe Advances 'Robin Hood Tax' Common Dreams ...Ten European Union countries agreed on Tuesday to some aspects of a so-called "Robin Hood Tax" on financial transactions, offering a model for U.S. politicians who have thus far showed little resolve on standing up to Wall Street high-rollers. As Reuters explains, a financial transaction tax (FTT) "is intended to recover some of the public money used to support banks [and] to curb speculative trading"...
Immigrants Say They Suffered Abuse And Neglect At This California Detention Center Think Progress ...Ten men filed a complaint against an immigration detention center in California this week, alleging physical abuse, medical neglect, and retaliatory transfers while they were detainees. The complaint, filed on behalf of the ten former and current immigrant detainees by the immigrant advocacy group Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC), alleges multiple incidents of physical assault...
"It's Going to Burn Our Planet": Hundreds Protest "Unacceptable" Draft Climate Accord Inside COP21 Democracy Now ...It’s the final stretch of negotiations at the United Nations climate change summit, COP21, as representatives from nearly 200 countries attempt to reach a final deal before the weekend. A draft text released Wednesday has nearly 100 outstanding points of disagreement that still need to be resolved, including the role that wealthy and more advanced developing countries should play in helping vulnerable nations cope with the impacts of climate change...
The Psychology of the Affirmative-Action Backlash The Nation ...The Supreme Court re-hears Abigail Fisher’s case against the University of Texas today. If the High Court rules in her favor, Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin will shake affirmative-action policy to its core. According to court documents, 49 students with lower scores and grades than Fisher were offered provisional admission to UT through the summer program. Only five of those arguably under-qualified students were black or Hispanic; the other 42 were white...
Showing posts with label trade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trade. Show all posts
Thursday, December 10, 2015
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
TPP is a big, bad deal for workers
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| Rep. Marcy Kaptur called out TPP as bad for workers this morning. |
Lawmakers rolled out a copy for the 12-nation Pacific Rim trade deal on a dolly -- all 5,600 pages of it -- and said it will take more than 90 days for lawmakers to fully dissect and digest the agreement. But they added what they've read thus far is worse than they imagined.
When it comes to American jobs, trade deficits, expanded rights for foreign investors and food safety, the TPP is a loser for everyday Americans, elected officials stated. It's time for the U.S. to learn from past history on trade deals, Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) said:
The Trans-Pacific Partnership is more of the great sucking sound of jobs out of this country. Not a single one has resulted in a trade balance...We are going to lose even more jobs. TPP is just more of the same.House members said bipartisan opposition to the deal is growing on Capitol Hill. Now that the document is public, lawmakers can delve into it to get the details of the pact. And many are not liking what they read.
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| The TPP document in all its largeness. |
TPP also does nothing to curtail currency manipulation, which would lead to even larger U.S. trade deficits with member countries. And investor-state dispute resolution language actually gives investors a great ability to sue these Pacific Rim countries to have their laws overturned.
As Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) said, TPP is "too big to pass," given that only five chapters of the agreement even deal with trade. It's just another attempted corporate takeover sanctioned by member governments.
That's why Congress needs to say no to the TPP.
Friday, September 18, 2015
Repatriated taxes will get America working
Banking titan Jamie Dimon shared his thoughts on how the rev up the American economy yesterday in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, saying a bipartisan group of lawmakers need to come together and tackle such issues as infrastructure investment and education.
Dimon, despite his sordid history as CEO of J.P. Morgan Chase, makes a few good points. As the Teamsters have stressed in our new "Let's Get America Working" campaign, infrastructure is an ideal place to start. These jobs, unlike those in other sectors, can't be outsourced. They improve living standards for all Americans, including the men and women who help to repair and maintain roads, bridges, ports, airports and mass transit systems, along with those who earn a living transporting goods. And a vast majority of Americans use our transportation networks everyday.
As Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa wrote in The Hill newspaper earlier this month:
But Dimon gets it wrong on several fronts. Most significantly, his view that lousy trade deals like the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership are going to help workers is not backed by facts. Quite frankly, it's the exact opposite of the truth. Millions of Americans have lost their good-paying jobs thanks to deals like NAFTA. U.S. workers can't compete when nations like Vietnam allow their workers to be paid as little as $4 a day.
And despite Dimon's assertions, American tax policy isn't hurting corporate America. In fact, it's taxpayers who are getting fleeced by big business. Companies are running up huge profits and paying little in taxes while everyday workers are forced into low-wage jobs. That's the real problem with today's economy.
If this country wants to get its economy situation straight, it needs to crack down on U.S. businesses and get what's rightful ours. Taxes on repatriated profits earned overseas could fund infrastructure and education improvements pushed by the Teamsters and Dimon.
Now that's how we make America stronger!
Dimon, despite his sordid history as CEO of J.P. Morgan Chase, makes a few good points. As the Teamsters have stressed in our new "Let's Get America Working" campaign, infrastructure is an ideal place to start. These jobs, unlike those in other sectors, can't be outsourced. They improve living standards for all Americans, including the men and women who help to repair and maintain roads, bridges, ports, airports and mass transit systems, along with those who earn a living transporting goods. And a vast majority of Americans use our transportation networks everyday.As Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa wrote in The Hill newspaper earlier this month:
Improving the outlook for U.S. workers isn’t about creating millions of minimum-wage jobs. It is about creating sustainable, skilled union employment that allows Americans to earn a fair wage with benefits that pay for housing and food on the table, makes education affordable and sustains a comfortable existence.
... By building roads, power plants and water treatment facilities, for instance, this nation can improve the fortunes of both working people and big business. And by focusing on such issues as worker rights, education and retirement security, policymakers can ensure the future is bright for all people.The Teamsters also agree that partisanship needs to be checked at the door to accomplish these goals. These are issues that shouldn't be divided along party lines -- they are American values, something elected officials should all be able to support. Lawmakers must move beyond today's broken model of government to find solutions.
But Dimon gets it wrong on several fronts. Most significantly, his view that lousy trade deals like the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership are going to help workers is not backed by facts. Quite frankly, it's the exact opposite of the truth. Millions of Americans have lost their good-paying jobs thanks to deals like NAFTA. U.S. workers can't compete when nations like Vietnam allow their workers to be paid as little as $4 a day.
And despite Dimon's assertions, American tax policy isn't hurting corporate America. In fact, it's taxpayers who are getting fleeced by big business. Companies are running up huge profits and paying little in taxes while everyday workers are forced into low-wage jobs. That's the real problem with today's economy.
If this country wants to get its economy situation straight, it needs to crack down on U.S. businesses and get what's rightful ours. Taxes on repatriated profits earned overseas could fund infrastructure and education improvements pushed by the Teamsters and Dimon.
Now that's how we make America stronger!
Monday, September 14, 2015
Corporations holding onto more of their profits
Everyday Americans continue to struggle to earn enough to keep a roof over their heads and pay the bills. As has been stated repeatedly in this space, part of the problem is the thousands-upon-thousands of jobs that have been shipped overseas due to lousy trade deals. In return, displaced workers are forced to accept low-wage employment, making it nearly impossible to make ends meet.
But that's not the entire story. Evidently, it seems corporations have been holding out on their employees. A new Economic Policy Institute report finds that less company income is going to pay workers in the last 15 years:
But that's not the entire story. Evidently, it seems corporations have been holding out on their employees. A new Economic Policy Institute report finds that less company income is going to pay workers in the last 15 years: Between 2000 and the second quarter of 2015, the share of income generated by corporations that went to workers’ wages (instead of going to capital incomes like profits) declined from 82.3 percent to 75.5 percent, as the figure shows. This 6.8 percentage-point decline in labor’s share of corporate income might not seem like a lot, but if labor’s share had not fallen this much, employees in the corporate sector would have $535 billion more in their paychecks today. If this amount was spread over the entire labor force (not just corporate sector employees) this would translate into a $3,770 raise for each worker.
How is this right or just at a time when many are slipping out of the middle class even as they work full-time or in some cases multiple jobs? What is shows, unfortunately, is the outsized role that big business' campaign cash plays in the policy-making process.
Workers deserve dignity and respect in the workplace, and the chance to earn a fair wage for an honest days work. That is happening less and less, unfortunately. Which is why the Teamsters rolled out a platform earlier this month called "Let's Get America Working" that addresses the needs of creating better paying jobs and protecting workers in the job, among other things.
The U.S. cannot afford to leave the majority of its citizens behind. But that's what is happening right now. Only when a bipartisan majority of lawmakers come together to challenge corporate America and ensure that more good jobs are made available will that change.
Workers deserve dignity and respect in the workplace, and the chance to earn a fair wage for an honest days work. That is happening less and less, unfortunately. Which is why the Teamsters rolled out a platform earlier this month called "Let's Get America Working" that addresses the needs of creating better paying jobs and protecting workers in the job, among other things.
The U.S. cannot afford to leave the majority of its citizens behind. But that's what is happening right now. Only when a bipartisan majority of lawmakers come together to challenge corporate America and ensure that more good jobs are made available will that change.
Monday, August 3, 2015
TPP wipes out in Hawaii, and why it's good for workers
It seems the Teamsters and fellow fair-trade allies aren't the only ones who have problems with Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Several of the 12 nations currently negotiating the pact are raising concerns as well.
The U.S., Canada, Japan and Mexico are among the nations who still have major problems with the deal. Dairy, auto trade and medicines are some of the outstanding issues, the article stated. And now the future of the deal is in doubt, The New York Times reported:
It's time the productivity of American workers showed up in their paychecks, and that means no more unfair trade deals. Now Congress needs to ensure that happens.
The U.S., Canada, Japan and Mexico are among the nations who still have major problems with the deal. Dairy, auto trade and medicines are some of the outstanding issues, the article stated. And now the future of the deal is in doubt, The New York Times reported:[T]he failure to complete the deal — eight years in the making — means the next round of negotiations will push the United States ratification fight into 2016, a presidential election year. Most Republican candidates are very likely to back it, but a final agreement would force the Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton to declare her position, which she has avoided.This agreement is not a good deal for this country, Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said today. He noted that some 30,000 good-paying Teamster dairy jobs could be jeopardized, while in return store shelves in this country will be littered with cheap products and unsafe food. There are real moral implications if the deal is approved, he stated:
The Teamsters and other fair trade advocates have taken a staunch stand against the TPP because of how this far-reaching proposal will affect workers across the globe. It will result in thousands of U.S. jobs being shipped overseas, and does not adequately address forced labor and human rights violations that continue to be an issue in nations like Malaysia and Vietnam.
Those worries are still very real. That’s why even if this Pacific Rim trade pact is eventually approved, Congress must do the right thing and reject it.The TPP also would do nothing to halt the practice of currency manipulation, which drives up the cost of American products abroad and drives down the price for foreign goods sold here. The practice has taken a toll on the U.S. automobile industry, stifling sales of American vehicles overseas. Yet the agreement does nothing to stop it.
It's time the productivity of American workers showed up in their paychecks, and that means no more unfair trade deals. Now Congress needs to ensure that happens.
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Today's Teamster News 07.01.15
Teamsters
Danafilms Workers Join Teamsters Local 170 Teamster.org ...Production workers at Danafilms, a plastic film manufacturer in Westborough, Mass., voted to join Teamsters Local 170 in an election held in April. Ballots impounded after the vote were counted yesterday, resulting in a 23-13 count in favor of representation. There are 44 workers in the bargaining unit...
EVSC, Teamsters haven't reached agreements, current contracts expire at midnight Courier & Press ...The midnight deadline to reach an agreement was not met between the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. and Teamsters Local 215 negotiating teams, meaning the school corporation's contracts with secretaries, special education assistants, bus aides, custodians and bus drivers are expired...
EVSC, Teamsters Still Deadlocked on Contract Tristate ...The Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation and Teamsters Local 215 remain deadlocked on contract negotiations as the eleventh-hour approaches. The talks have started and stalled for months, and at midnight Wednesday the contract will expire, leaving an uncertain future for nearly 700 employees and their union representation...
Global Labor & Trade
Australian politicians slam TPP for ‘excessive secrecy’ RT ...Australian lawmakers have slammed the country’s deal-making process as one lacking transparency and oversight. They’ve particularly criticized the currently negotiated Trans-Pacific Partnership for its “excessive secrecy.” The report, entitled the “Blind Agreement,” was a joint party report from the Labor, Liberal and Green parties...
Secret TPP Negotiations Denounced as “Undemocratic” in Peru TeleSUR ...On Tuesday, a group of Peruvian members of Congress and analysts denounced the secret negotiations of the US led Trans-Pacific Partnership Treaty – or TPP – as undemocratic and an attempt by elites to force decisions on Peru. Together with 11 other countries, Peru has been negotiating TPP in secret, a trade agreement which could become the largest on the planet...
How the Trans-Pacific Partnership Will Hand Corporations the Reins to Our Government In These Times ...critics argue that within the hundreds of pages of esoteric provisions, the deal—like similar ones before it—includes a glaring double standard: It provides legal rights to corporations and investors that it does not extend to unions, public interest groups and individuals. Recently leaked drafts of the agreement show the pact includes the kind of “Investor-State Dispute Settlement” (ISDS) provisions written into most major trade deals...
Administration objects to Israeli-linked provision in trade bill Politico ...A day after President Barack Obama signed a key trade bill, his administration publicly stated its objection to a provision of the measure that critics say appears to legitimize Israeli settlements in Palestinian-claimed territories. The amendment to the trade law instructs U.S. trade negotiators to try to discourage foreign governments, especially in Europe, from signing on to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement...
Austerity ‘condemns’ children to poverty – report to UN RT ...Young people in the UK risk falling deeper into poverty if the government continues to make cuts to welfare programs, Britain’s four children’s commissioners have said. In a report for the United Nations, the commissioners say austerity policies have already pushed 2.3 million children into poverty with the figure set to hit 4.7 million by 2020...
Tube strike: RMT and TSSA union workers vote to go on strike BBC ...More London Underground workers have voted to strike in a dispute over the new all-night Tube service. Members of the RMT and TSSA unions backed industrial action following a similar vote by drivers. Workers in these unions will now join a planned 24-hour walkout by members of the drivers' union Aslef, which begins at 21:30 BST on 8 July...
GM Korea workers vote in favor of strike over pay, output Reuters ...General Motors Co employees in South Korea voted on Wednesday in favour of a strike over wages and production volumes, prompted by uncertainty over the U.S. auto maker's output plans as its labor costs in the country rise. South Korea's National Labor Relations Commission is expected to meet on July 6 to decide whether to order a 10-day arbitration period, according to the company and the workers' union...
Greece debt crisis: Tsipras in new bailout 'concessions' BBC ...Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has offered new concessions to the country's creditors. A letter to creditors sent by Mr Tsipras says he was prepared to accept most conditions that were on the table before talks collapsed and he called a referendum. On Tuesday, eurozone finance ministers refused to extend the previous bailout...
State & Living Wage Battles
Paid Sick Leave Law Gives California Employees More Time Off CBS ...Paid sick days are no longer an option for California employers as a new law takes effect this week. Baristas Kyla Wiegand and Eduard Andrusyak are part-time employees at Chocolate Fish Coffee Roasters in East Sacramento. But come Wednesday, a new benefit is brewing at work—paid sick leave...
A Chris Christie presidency would be 'very disturbing', New Jerseyans warn The Guardian ...As he prepares to unveil his presidential campaign on Tuesday, Chris Christie is promising American voters that he will tell it to them straight – New Jersey-style. New Jersey has a straight message for American voters, too: run away. Criticism of Christie in his home state, where a Monmouth University poll last month tracked his favorability rating at a record low of 35%, is not confined to teachers. In a blistering editorial published at the weekend, the Newark Star-Ledger warned, bluntly: “He lies”...
Inside The Push To End A State’s ‘Ugly Policy’ Targeting Poor Mothers Think Progress ...In most states, when a family in need has a new child, their welfare benefits increase to cover the extra costs that come with a new family member. But 16 other states operate differently, limiting benefits after a certain number of children. There’s no evidence that these limits have the desired result — in fact, people on welfare have the same sized families as those who don’t enroll, and there is strong evidence that these caps increase poverty...
The Curious Case of Puerto Rico, And Why Default Poses A Risk To The U.S. Huffington Post ...U.S. lawmakers have no firm plan to help more than 3 million American citizens living 1,000 miles off the coast of Florida under a government staring down the barrel of a $73 billion debt crisis. Those U.S. citizens live in the territory of Puerto Rico. Thousands of them are fleeing each month to the U.S. mainland in the search of economic opportunity, compounding the island’s financial crisis...
West Virginia's prevailing wage set to temporarily expire WOWKTV ...West Virginia's prevailing wage is set expire Tuesday at midnight, as WorkForce West Virginia and economists with West Virginia University and Marshall University continue to work on a new calculation method. During the 2015 regular legislative session, state lawmakers passed a bill to change the way prevailing wage is calculated...
Minimum Wage Increase Takes Effect in Chicago NBC ...Minimum wage employees in Chicago will begin earning $10 an hour Wednesday as the first part of a yearly incremental minimum wage increase takes effect in the city. The $1.75 hourly bump is part of a plan aimed at raising the minimum wage in the city to $13 an hour by 2019...
Starting today, the D.C. minimum wage jumps to $10.50 Washington Post ...D.C.’s minimum-wage workers will get a city-mandated increase in their paychecks beginning Wednesday, when their hourly wage bumps from $9.50 to $10.50. The hike is part of legislation signed into law in January 2014 that brought the District’s minimum wage from $8.25 to an eventual $11.50 per hour in 2016...
Minimum wage ordinance upheld by judge Courier-Journal ...Louisville workers can expect a pay raise starting July 1 after a Jefferson County Circuit judge on Monday upheld an ordinance raising the city's minimum wage to $9 an hour over the next three years. In a four-page ruling, Circuit Judge Judith McDonald-Burkman said state law establishes a floor for wages that does not expressly authorize or forbid a local government from raising workers' pay rates...
U.S. Labor
Obama and labor reconcile, sort of, on overtime Politico ...What a difference a day makes. Last week, President Barack Obama was a traitor to progressive groups and unions for pushing his trade agenda through Congress. This week, he’s their hero for putting forward a regulation to expand overtime, which would give an estimated 5 million Americans a raise...
The Rise Of Anti-Union Rhetoric In The 2016 Race Think Progress ...This week, the Supreme Court agreed to take a case that could spell doom for public sector unions, with the potential to make the entire country so-called “right-to-work” territory. If that effort fails, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has vowed to make every state a “right-to-work” state if elected president. But while Walker may be the loudest and proudest union buster in the 2016 race, his fellow candidates are also striving to prove their anti-labor bona fides...
Supreme Court will hear case on public sector union fees Aljazeera ...A case that will soon be heard before the Supreme Court has the potential to institute a de facto right-to-work regime across the entire public sector. The Court said on Tuesday it would soon hear arguments in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association (CTA), a case concerning government employee unions' ability to gather fees from non-members...
With New Overtime Rule, President Obama May Have Given an Estimated 5 Million Workers a Raise In These Times ...President Obama’s administration took another promised step on Tuesday towards raising the living standards of American workers, and Republicans and business groups are not likely to be able to stop it. Using the administration’s power to update workplace rules regarding premium pay for overtime work, the Department of Labor on Tuesday began taking steps that could bring higher pay or more leisure time to an estimated 5 million middle-income workers by next year...
Santa Clara County, SEIU Reach 11th Hour Deal to Avoid Strike San Jose Inside ...Hours before thousands of workers planned to walk off the job, Santa Clara County's largest employee union reached a tentative four-year agreement after 72 straight hours of bargaining. The 11th hour deal reached at 4:30am today came in time for Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 521 to call off the 6am strike...
USW Offers to Remain at Work at ATI While Continuing to Bargain for a New Agreement PR Newswire ...Late Tuesday evening, the United Steelworkers (USW) offered to continue working following the expiration of the current labor agreement with Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (ATI), and to continue negotiations for a fair agreement. While the differences between the parties are quite significant, the USW believes the company should depart from its current, nonsense course of hiring temporary replacement workers and security goons...
Milwaukee County bus drivers strike, scrambling commute St. Louis Post-Dispatch ..Hundreds of Milwaukee County union bus drivers went on strike early Wednesday, leaving tens of thousands of commuters scrambling to make alternative plans to get to work and elsewhere. The roughly 750 drivers walked off the job at 3 a.m. Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 leaders said the strike would last until Saturday...
Victoria’s Secret Is Getting Rid Of On-Call Scheduling In Stores Buzzfeed ...Victoria’s Secret is ending the use of on-call scheduling in its stores, employees were told yesterday — a major reversal of a policy that wreaked havoc on the lives of tens of thousands of retail workers across the country.
The chain told employees it would no longer use the controversial scheduling practice, which requires staff to be available for shifts that can be cancelled at the last minute...
GOP's New Attack on Social Security's Disability Benefits: Exaggerate Number Of Claims Alternet ...Congressional Republicans are trying to block a routine reallocation of funds to the SSDI Trust Fund, insisting that they will only allow reallocation if “reforms” to SSDI are implemented. The intellectual underpinning for their demands is that there is an unfolding fiscal crisis caused by workers who are able to earn a living but are instead choosing to claim disability benefits. However, a closer look at the evidence shows that SSDI benefits have become, if anything, less generous...
Miscellaneous
Ruling Against "Three Strikes" Sentencing Law Opens Door to Reform Truthout ...Friday's Supreme Court decision in Johnson v. United States highlights the complicated nature of sentencing provisions that result in lengthy prison terms, a leading cause of mass incarceration. The ruling struck down a sentencing provision that lengthened prison terms for certain federal prisoners and potentially impacts the lives of thousands of people who have received enhanced federal sentences...
White Racism, NIMBYism, And The Surprise Supreme Court Ruling That Could Finally Desegregate Cities Think Progress ...The people who fight housing discrimination and residential segregation in America were bracing for a defeat last Thursday when the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruled on Texas Department of Housing v. Inclusive Communities Project. But instead of gutting a decades old legal theory known as “disparate impact,” as court watchers had predicted, Justice Anthony Kennedy penned a strong defense of the anti-racism tool on behalf of a 5-4 majority...
High Court's Ruling, Say Critics, Endorses 'Torturing People to Death' Common Dreams ...In the most closely-watched death penalty case in years, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled 5-4 (pdf) that Oklahoma can use the controversial and experimental execution drug midazolam that was behind the last year's horrific killing of 38-year-old man Clayton Lockett—who writhed and groaned for 43 minutes before ultimately succumbing to a heart attack...
U.S. and Cuba to Re-Establish Diplomatic Ties, Reopen Embassies After 50 Years Slate ...The gradual warming of relations between the U.S. and Cuba continued on Tuesday with the news that the two will formally restore diplomatic relations and reopen embassies. The final agreement is expected to be announced on Wednesday and the U.S. embassy is Havana should be up and running in July. U.S. diplomatic ties with Cuba were severed in 1961 following Castro’s ascent to power during the Cuban revolution...
US police killings headed for 1,100 this year, with black Americans twice as likely to die The Guardian ...Police in the United States are killing people at a rate that would result in 1,100 fatalities by the end of this year, according to a Guardian investigation, which recorded an average of three people killed per day during the first half of 2015. The Counted, a project working to report and crowdsource names and a series of other data on every death caused by law enforcement in the US this year, found that 547 people had been killed by the end of June...
Danafilms Workers Join Teamsters Local 170 Teamster.org ...Production workers at Danafilms, a plastic film manufacturer in Westborough, Mass., voted to join Teamsters Local 170 in an election held in April. Ballots impounded after the vote were counted yesterday, resulting in a 23-13 count in favor of representation. There are 44 workers in the bargaining unit...
EVSC, Teamsters haven't reached agreements, current contracts expire at midnight Courier & Press ...The midnight deadline to reach an agreement was not met between the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. and Teamsters Local 215 negotiating teams, meaning the school corporation's contracts with secretaries, special education assistants, bus aides, custodians and bus drivers are expired...
EVSC, Teamsters Still Deadlocked on Contract Tristate ...The Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation and Teamsters Local 215 remain deadlocked on contract negotiations as the eleventh-hour approaches. The talks have started and stalled for months, and at midnight Wednesday the contract will expire, leaving an uncertain future for nearly 700 employees and their union representation...
Global Labor & Trade
Australian politicians slam TPP for ‘excessive secrecy’ RT ...Australian lawmakers have slammed the country’s deal-making process as one lacking transparency and oversight. They’ve particularly criticized the currently negotiated Trans-Pacific Partnership for its “excessive secrecy.” The report, entitled the “Blind Agreement,” was a joint party report from the Labor, Liberal and Green parties...
Secret TPP Negotiations Denounced as “Undemocratic” in Peru TeleSUR ...On Tuesday, a group of Peruvian members of Congress and analysts denounced the secret negotiations of the US led Trans-Pacific Partnership Treaty – or TPP – as undemocratic and an attempt by elites to force decisions on Peru. Together with 11 other countries, Peru has been negotiating TPP in secret, a trade agreement which could become the largest on the planet...
How the Trans-Pacific Partnership Will Hand Corporations the Reins to Our Government In These Times ...critics argue that within the hundreds of pages of esoteric provisions, the deal—like similar ones before it—includes a glaring double standard: It provides legal rights to corporations and investors that it does not extend to unions, public interest groups and individuals. Recently leaked drafts of the agreement show the pact includes the kind of “Investor-State Dispute Settlement” (ISDS) provisions written into most major trade deals...
Administration objects to Israeli-linked provision in trade bill Politico ...A day after President Barack Obama signed a key trade bill, his administration publicly stated its objection to a provision of the measure that critics say appears to legitimize Israeli settlements in Palestinian-claimed territories. The amendment to the trade law instructs U.S. trade negotiators to try to discourage foreign governments, especially in Europe, from signing on to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement...
Austerity ‘condemns’ children to poverty – report to UN RT ...Young people in the UK risk falling deeper into poverty if the government continues to make cuts to welfare programs, Britain’s four children’s commissioners have said. In a report for the United Nations, the commissioners say austerity policies have already pushed 2.3 million children into poverty with the figure set to hit 4.7 million by 2020...
Tube strike: RMT and TSSA union workers vote to go on strike BBC ...More London Underground workers have voted to strike in a dispute over the new all-night Tube service. Members of the RMT and TSSA unions backed industrial action following a similar vote by drivers. Workers in these unions will now join a planned 24-hour walkout by members of the drivers' union Aslef, which begins at 21:30 BST on 8 July...
GM Korea workers vote in favor of strike over pay, output Reuters ...General Motors Co employees in South Korea voted on Wednesday in favour of a strike over wages and production volumes, prompted by uncertainty over the U.S. auto maker's output plans as its labor costs in the country rise. South Korea's National Labor Relations Commission is expected to meet on July 6 to decide whether to order a 10-day arbitration period, according to the company and the workers' union...
Greece debt crisis: Tsipras in new bailout 'concessions' BBC ...Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has offered new concessions to the country's creditors. A letter to creditors sent by Mr Tsipras says he was prepared to accept most conditions that were on the table before talks collapsed and he called a referendum. On Tuesday, eurozone finance ministers refused to extend the previous bailout...
State & Living Wage Battles
Paid Sick Leave Law Gives California Employees More Time Off CBS ...Paid sick days are no longer an option for California employers as a new law takes effect this week. Baristas Kyla Wiegand and Eduard Andrusyak are part-time employees at Chocolate Fish Coffee Roasters in East Sacramento. But come Wednesday, a new benefit is brewing at work—paid sick leave...
A Chris Christie presidency would be 'very disturbing', New Jerseyans warn The Guardian ...As he prepares to unveil his presidential campaign on Tuesday, Chris Christie is promising American voters that he will tell it to them straight – New Jersey-style. New Jersey has a straight message for American voters, too: run away. Criticism of Christie in his home state, where a Monmouth University poll last month tracked his favorability rating at a record low of 35%, is not confined to teachers. In a blistering editorial published at the weekend, the Newark Star-Ledger warned, bluntly: “He lies”...
Inside The Push To End A State’s ‘Ugly Policy’ Targeting Poor Mothers Think Progress ...In most states, when a family in need has a new child, their welfare benefits increase to cover the extra costs that come with a new family member. But 16 other states operate differently, limiting benefits after a certain number of children. There’s no evidence that these limits have the desired result — in fact, people on welfare have the same sized families as those who don’t enroll, and there is strong evidence that these caps increase poverty...
The Curious Case of Puerto Rico, And Why Default Poses A Risk To The U.S. Huffington Post ...U.S. lawmakers have no firm plan to help more than 3 million American citizens living 1,000 miles off the coast of Florida under a government staring down the barrel of a $73 billion debt crisis. Those U.S. citizens live in the territory of Puerto Rico. Thousands of them are fleeing each month to the U.S. mainland in the search of economic opportunity, compounding the island’s financial crisis...
West Virginia's prevailing wage set to temporarily expire WOWKTV ...West Virginia's prevailing wage is set expire Tuesday at midnight, as WorkForce West Virginia and economists with West Virginia University and Marshall University continue to work on a new calculation method. During the 2015 regular legislative session, state lawmakers passed a bill to change the way prevailing wage is calculated...
Minimum Wage Increase Takes Effect in Chicago NBC ...Minimum wage employees in Chicago will begin earning $10 an hour Wednesday as the first part of a yearly incremental minimum wage increase takes effect in the city. The $1.75 hourly bump is part of a plan aimed at raising the minimum wage in the city to $13 an hour by 2019...
Starting today, the D.C. minimum wage jumps to $10.50 Washington Post ...D.C.’s minimum-wage workers will get a city-mandated increase in their paychecks beginning Wednesday, when their hourly wage bumps from $9.50 to $10.50. The hike is part of legislation signed into law in January 2014 that brought the District’s minimum wage from $8.25 to an eventual $11.50 per hour in 2016...
Minimum wage ordinance upheld by judge Courier-Journal ...Louisville workers can expect a pay raise starting July 1 after a Jefferson County Circuit judge on Monday upheld an ordinance raising the city's minimum wage to $9 an hour over the next three years. In a four-page ruling, Circuit Judge Judith McDonald-Burkman said state law establishes a floor for wages that does not expressly authorize or forbid a local government from raising workers' pay rates...
U.S. Labor
Obama and labor reconcile, sort of, on overtime Politico ...What a difference a day makes. Last week, President Barack Obama was a traitor to progressive groups and unions for pushing his trade agenda through Congress. This week, he’s their hero for putting forward a regulation to expand overtime, which would give an estimated 5 million Americans a raise...
The Rise Of Anti-Union Rhetoric In The 2016 Race Think Progress ...This week, the Supreme Court agreed to take a case that could spell doom for public sector unions, with the potential to make the entire country so-called “right-to-work” territory. If that effort fails, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has vowed to make every state a “right-to-work” state if elected president. But while Walker may be the loudest and proudest union buster in the 2016 race, his fellow candidates are also striving to prove their anti-labor bona fides...
Supreme Court will hear case on public sector union fees Aljazeera ...A case that will soon be heard before the Supreme Court has the potential to institute a de facto right-to-work regime across the entire public sector. The Court said on Tuesday it would soon hear arguments in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association (CTA), a case concerning government employee unions' ability to gather fees from non-members...
With New Overtime Rule, President Obama May Have Given an Estimated 5 Million Workers a Raise In These Times ...President Obama’s administration took another promised step on Tuesday towards raising the living standards of American workers, and Republicans and business groups are not likely to be able to stop it. Using the administration’s power to update workplace rules regarding premium pay for overtime work, the Department of Labor on Tuesday began taking steps that could bring higher pay or more leisure time to an estimated 5 million middle-income workers by next year...
Santa Clara County, SEIU Reach 11th Hour Deal to Avoid Strike San Jose Inside ...Hours before thousands of workers planned to walk off the job, Santa Clara County's largest employee union reached a tentative four-year agreement after 72 straight hours of bargaining. The 11th hour deal reached at 4:30am today came in time for Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 521 to call off the 6am strike...
USW Offers to Remain at Work at ATI While Continuing to Bargain for a New Agreement PR Newswire ...Late Tuesday evening, the United Steelworkers (USW) offered to continue working following the expiration of the current labor agreement with Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (ATI), and to continue negotiations for a fair agreement. While the differences between the parties are quite significant, the USW believes the company should depart from its current, nonsense course of hiring temporary replacement workers and security goons...
Milwaukee County bus drivers strike, scrambling commute St. Louis Post-Dispatch ..Hundreds of Milwaukee County union bus drivers went on strike early Wednesday, leaving tens of thousands of commuters scrambling to make alternative plans to get to work and elsewhere. The roughly 750 drivers walked off the job at 3 a.m. Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 leaders said the strike would last until Saturday...
Victoria’s Secret Is Getting Rid Of On-Call Scheduling In Stores Buzzfeed ...Victoria’s Secret is ending the use of on-call scheduling in its stores, employees were told yesterday — a major reversal of a policy that wreaked havoc on the lives of tens of thousands of retail workers across the country.
The chain told employees it would no longer use the controversial scheduling practice, which requires staff to be available for shifts that can be cancelled at the last minute...
GOP's New Attack on Social Security's Disability Benefits: Exaggerate Number Of Claims Alternet ...Congressional Republicans are trying to block a routine reallocation of funds to the SSDI Trust Fund, insisting that they will only allow reallocation if “reforms” to SSDI are implemented. The intellectual underpinning for their demands is that there is an unfolding fiscal crisis caused by workers who are able to earn a living but are instead choosing to claim disability benefits. However, a closer look at the evidence shows that SSDI benefits have become, if anything, less generous...
Miscellaneous
Ruling Against "Three Strikes" Sentencing Law Opens Door to Reform Truthout ...Friday's Supreme Court decision in Johnson v. United States highlights the complicated nature of sentencing provisions that result in lengthy prison terms, a leading cause of mass incarceration. The ruling struck down a sentencing provision that lengthened prison terms for certain federal prisoners and potentially impacts the lives of thousands of people who have received enhanced federal sentences...
White Racism, NIMBYism, And The Surprise Supreme Court Ruling That Could Finally Desegregate Cities Think Progress ...The people who fight housing discrimination and residential segregation in America were bracing for a defeat last Thursday when the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruled on Texas Department of Housing v. Inclusive Communities Project. But instead of gutting a decades old legal theory known as “disparate impact,” as court watchers had predicted, Justice Anthony Kennedy penned a strong defense of the anti-racism tool on behalf of a 5-4 majority...
High Court's Ruling, Say Critics, Endorses 'Torturing People to Death' Common Dreams ...In the most closely-watched death penalty case in years, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled 5-4 (pdf) that Oklahoma can use the controversial and experimental execution drug midazolam that was behind the last year's horrific killing of 38-year-old man Clayton Lockett—who writhed and groaned for 43 minutes before ultimately succumbing to a heart attack...
U.S. and Cuba to Re-Establish Diplomatic Ties, Reopen Embassies After 50 Years Slate ...The gradual warming of relations between the U.S. and Cuba continued on Tuesday with the news that the two will formally restore diplomatic relations and reopen embassies. The final agreement is expected to be announced on Wednesday and the U.S. embassy is Havana should be up and running in July. U.S. diplomatic ties with Cuba were severed in 1961 following Castro’s ascent to power during the Cuban revolution...
US police killings headed for 1,100 this year, with black Americans twice as likely to die The Guardian ...Police in the United States are killing people at a rate that would result in 1,100 fatalities by the end of this year, according to a Guardian investigation, which recorded an average of three people killed per day during the first half of 2015. The Counted, a project working to report and crowdsource names and a series of other data on every death caused by law enforcement in the US this year, found that 547 people had been killed by the end of June...
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
The war against bad trade deals continues
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| The Teamsters joined fair trade advocates earlier this month in protesting TPP. |
It is discouraging to lose this battle. More than 57,000 contacts with lawmakers were made through the Teamsters' phone and e-mail tools in recent weeks to tell them to stick up for American workers. But it wasn't enough. As Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said:
History shows it makes no sense to give a quick up-or-down vote to bad trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership that will only ship jobs overseas and lower wages in the U.S. Yet again, workers have been tossed aside by some lawmakers who are more interested in pleasing their corporate cronies than doing what’s best for their constituents.But the trade war isn't over. Not by a long shot. The fast track fight has been a galvanizing battle in the effort to build a fair trade movement for the 21st century that protects American jobs and the environment. The momentum is on the side of the hundreds of thousands of people who are now engaged in this effort, organized in the states and intent to fight for their rights.
The battle now turns to the TPP. Americans have not yet seen the text of this lengthy and complex agreement and even elected officials have limited access to the document. How can Congress approve such a trade deal when it doesn’t know everything that is in it?
What the public does know, however, isn’t good. Several TPP chapters have been unveiled by WikiLeaks, and they show the 12-nation Pacific Rim trade deal would result in lost American jobs, bigger U.S. trade deficits due to the currency manipulation practices of other countries and even the possibility that this country’s laws could be challenged by foreign corporations and overturned by an international tribunal.
That’s why the Teamsters and other advocates plan on keeping up the pressure to build real and enforceable labor and environmental standards. A process also needs to be established that includes and informs the public, rather than keeping people on the outside of the negotiating process.
TPP backers have made big promises about how the trade deal will change the lives of Americans for the better, even though The Washington Post found it won’t create any new U.S. jobs. Now they have to make good on those promises. American workers need to get something from these agreements. The corporate class insists they will. The Teamsters and those standing up for workers will hold them accountable for their promises.
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Trade bill blitz must be stopped cold
Trade-a-palooza is about to begin in the House. But unlike the famous music festival, there is nothing to enjoy when it comes to the consideration of these series of bills that could be voted on this week. Instead, these measures could hurt both American producers and workers.
It starts with consideration of legislation in the House that could repeal U.S. country-of-origin labeling (COOL) for meat, which informs consumers where an animal was born, raised and slaughtered. The move was necessitated by a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling last month that stated American labeling puts Canadian and Mexican goods at a disadvantage.
Consumers have been up in arms about the forced policy change, and rightfully so. In fact, some 283 rural, food and agricultural groups signed onto a letter calling on the House to reject the effort to repeal COOL rules.
As they stated in the letter:
As Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa wrote in the Huffington Post:
This is it, brothers and sisters. The critical moment is upon us. The House will soon vote on these measures that will shape the U.S. economy for decades to come. To that end, it's time to contact your lawmakers (again if necessary) and remind them to only support fair trade measures that put people before the powerful.
 |
| Trade bills should help workers. But these don't. |
Consumers have been up in arms about the forced policy change, and rightfully so. In fact, some 283 rural, food and agricultural groups signed onto a letter calling on the House to reject the effort to repeal COOL rules.
As they stated in the letter:
It is premature for the Congress to unilaterally surrender to saber-rattling from our trading partners in the midst of a long-standing dispute. COOL opponents have highlighted Mexico and Canada’s threats of retaliation as if their aspiration to seek billions of dollars in penalties were already approved by the WTO. But these unapproved, unrealistically high retaliation claims are merely aggressive litigation tactics designed to frighten the United States — a standard practice in WTO disputes. Congress should not fall for it.Of course, that is only the start of the trade-related madness. In back-to-back votes that could come as soon as tomorrow, the House will vote on Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) and fast track measures that could lead to tens of thousands of U.S. jobs being shipped overseas and leave the workers left jobless with little support.
As Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa wrote in the Huffington Post:
TAA will be considered concurrently as the House mulls fast track. That's intentional, as it's supposed to give cover to those who vote in favor of fast track to show they are looking out for workers who are going to be hit hard by agreements like the 12-nation TPP that will be implemented if the trade promotion vehicle is approved. But all that will happen is workers will get hammered even more.
We can't allow that to happen. That's why the Teamsters and many other unions signed onto a letter sent to House lawmakers yesterday. It lets elected officials know they are not doing hardworking Americans any favors by supporting TAA in this form.And of course, there's fast track. It allows Congress to give a quick up-or-down vote on lousy trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership. It is the gateway to a perilous future for American workers and consumers.
This is it, brothers and sisters. The critical moment is upon us. The House will soon vote on these measures that will shape the U.S. economy for decades to come. To that end, it's time to contact your lawmakers (again if necessary) and remind them to only support fair trade measures that put people before the powerful.
Friday, May 8, 2015
Fast track flunkies go all out to try to force vote in Senate
Earlier this week, the Senate's top Democrat Harry Reid put his foot down on the fast track trade bill, saying he would not allow supporters to quickly jam the measure through the chamber. Well, not surprisingly, corporations and their lawmaker cronies didn't like that. So they are pushing back hard.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is forcing the issue by calling for a procedural vote known as cloture as soon as next week. If he can get 60 votes, the Senate can end debate on the matter and take a final vote on fast track. But whether he can get those 60 votes is the big question.
It could take a bipartisan effort to stop cloture. A handful of Democrats have decided to side with big business already on fast track, which means any vote will be very close. For U.S. workers and those who support fair trade, there is no margin for error.
Just in case anyone needed a reminder on why stopping fast track is essential, he is a primer: it would allow quick votes to be taken on bad trade deals like the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), with no chance to amend the deals. That is particularly insidious when details of trade agreements are shielded from public view.
Yet supporters are doing everything they can to push for fast track and the TPP. Today, President Obama is in Oregon to visit Nike Headquarters, and the company is doing all it can to shill for the trade deals. The company says it could create 10,000 new U.S.-based jobs at Nike if the Pacific Rim trade pact is approved. This is the shoe manufacturer, mind you, that is the poster boy for sweatshops worldwide.
Well the Teamsters aren't buy it, and the American public shouldn't either. As Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said today:
It's time to take a stand against these big business bullies. If workers want to protect American jobs and their wages there is only one answer -- say no to fast track. Make sure to let the Senate know they should be doing the same.
 |
| Protesters took a stand against fast track on Capitol Hill in April. |
It could take a bipartisan effort to stop cloture. A handful of Democrats have decided to side with big business already on fast track, which means any vote will be very close. For U.S. workers and those who support fair trade, there is no margin for error.
Just in case anyone needed a reminder on why stopping fast track is essential, he is a primer: it would allow quick votes to be taken on bad trade deals like the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), with no chance to amend the deals. That is particularly insidious when details of trade agreements are shielded from public view.
Yet supporters are doing everything they can to push for fast track and the TPP. Today, President Obama is in Oregon to visit Nike Headquarters, and the company is doing all it can to shill for the trade deals. The company says it could create 10,000 new U.S.-based jobs at Nike if the Pacific Rim trade pact is approved. This is the shoe manufacturer, mind you, that is the poster boy for sweatshops worldwide.
Well the Teamsters aren't buy it, and the American public shouldn't either. As Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said today:
The promise of job creation as a result of these unbalanced trade agreements is a just a broken record replaying the same corporate lies. We’ve heard it all before – and the middle class is tired of bearing the brunt of these unfair trade agreements.
Before NAFTA was passed, General Electric promised more than 10,000 new jobs would be created. Instead, GE eliminated 11,675 jobs directly due to increased competition from imports and offshoring under NAFTA. Chrysler promised 4,000 new jobs and it eliminated nearly 18,000 jobs. And just last month, Caterpillar announced it will move two production lines from Joliet, Illinois to Mexico, costing the community 230 jobs.
With a track record like this, you can understand why working men and women are skeptical of trade agreements. Global corporations like Nike take advantage of the rules outlined in trade deals like NAFTA and TPP. The system is rigged to benefit companies that move operations to countries where they can take advantage of low wages and weak labor protections. Nike alone employs 990,000 workers in low-wage countries.
We must not repeat the mistakes of the past by passing TPP and watching more manufacturing jobs leave our country while the middle class suffers.
It's time to take a stand against these big business bullies. If workers want to protect American jobs and their wages there is only one answer -- say no to fast track. Make sure to let the Senate know they should be doing the same.
Monday, April 20, 2015
Slow down on fast track now!
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| Teamsters raised their opposition to fast track at a Capitol Hill rally last week. |
With the House Ways & Means Committee as well as the Senate Finance Committee holding hearings on the legislation this week, it is clear many want to "fast track" fast track trade promotion authority. It doesn't seem to matter what's in the bill or what it will ultimately mean for tens of millions of working Americans.
If approved, this legislation is the vehicle that will ultimately be used to push the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) through Congress. You know, the TPP, that still largely secret (to most of us) trade deal that will ship jobs overseas, lower wages at home, and result in unsafe food and products being imported onto our store shelves.
Those on Capitol Hill shouldn't move with all deliberate speed just to ram a measure through before the public can see it. It should be vetted by the public as well as lawmakers. After all, if supporters truly believe fast track will enable good trade deals that will benefit this country, they shouldn't mind giving people a little extra time to figure out what it's all about.
But in a surprise to no one, that's not happening. Instead, supporters know that if they have any chance to get this through, it has to be done quickly. Despite the protestations of those who say the Congress needs to take more time to review the fast-track bill, corporate cronies are moving ahead.
It's not too late to let those on Capitol Hill know they should slow down on fast track. Reach out to your elected officials and tell them it's not acceptable to push through this legislation or lame trade deals like the TPP without adequate review. U.S. workers shouldn't have to pay the price for more big business profits.
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Join the #NoFastTrack Twitterstorm for Thursday, April 2, from 1-2 pm
An unprecedented number of real progressive organizations that aim to stop fast track are embarking on dozens of press conferences, rallies, bird-dogging, canvassing and phone banking over the next few weeks. Let's kick off the action with our best #NoFastTrack Twitterstorm yet! Sample tweets below:
Sample Tweets
(For Thursday)
Join the #NoFastTrack for the #TPP Twitterstorm TODAY fr 1-2 pm Eastern. Sample tweets here:
http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2015/04/join-nofasttrack-twitterstorm-for.html
pic.twitter.com/KX8YxNAXAJ
There's nothing sweet enough to make lost jobs and lower wages from #TPP easy to swallow http://on.wsj.com/18iJEvf via @WSJ #FightFastTrack
Why on earth does the US want a trade deal with Vietnam, a country whose economy is centrally planned and rigged #NoFastTrack #TPP
Seattle says #NoFastTrack in unanimous City Council vote. Congress needs to stop #TPP in its tracks too http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/city-council-opposes-fast-track-for-pacific-rim-trade-pact/
Trans-Pacific Partnership deal will screw workers and consumers alike @KatrinaNation http://wapo.st/19F4CEc #NoFastTrack #TPP
Another TPP myth: post-NAFTA improved US trade deficit. Not quite! shar.es/1gpEFd via @EconomicPolicy #NoFastTrack #TPP
Learn from history: Fast track leads to trail of broken promises http://thehill.com/opinion/op-ed/237227-broken-promises-on-trade#.VRl1ugRXIeo.twitter #NoFastTrack #TPP
Fact check @USTradeRep: @sierraclub @greenpeaceusa & other enviro orgs say #NoFastTrack #TPP: http://bit.ly/1AO239B pic.twitter.com/PSplqzU80F
.@USTradeRep tells another 4 Pinocchio: #TPP will help women. Take action for #NoFastTrack: http://stopfasttrack.com pic.twitter.com/ai3KfcPGn7
US farmers join chorus, say free-trade lemmings are perilously close to the cliff @NFUDC http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-budget/237508-free-trade-lemmings-are-perilously-close-to-the-cliff #NoFastTrack #TPP
If the #TPP really has the 'strongest' labor and environmental standards, why does @USTradeRep keep the text secret? pic.twitter.com/bNSpze4Xro
Unions and enviros aren't the only ones who say #NoFastTrack for #TPP. So do the Nuns on the Bus. pic.twitter.com/pKnJemznCP
Jim Hightower calls #TPP a wage-destroying, environment-killing, sovereignty-sucking scam. He’s right. #NoFastTrack http://lacrossetribune.com/print-specific/columns/tpp-looks-like-another-nafta-on-the-fast-track/article_facb1e25-542f-5b1c-a9e9-1804d49446a2.html
It’s only fake progressives who support #TPP. Find out why real progressives say #NoFastTrack. http://www.realpcaj.org/
Make a call to Senator @RonWyden to stop the #TPP: http://bit.ly/1BFRkSo #p2 pic.twitter.com/ho8TlA9o7F
Fast track for the #TPP means bye-bye to US sovereignty. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/04/leaked-tpp-investment-chapter-reveals-serious-threat-user-safeguards #NoFastTrack
Monday, March 30, 2015
Today's Teamster News 03.30.15
Trade
Wikileaks papers reveal TPP's huge corporate giveaway Ecologist ...Leaked papers reveal that the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal would represent a historic transfer of power and money from the US and other governments to corporations...
Wyden Shows Connection Between Rigged Trade & Rigged Government The People's Voice ...the US already has trade deals with most of the countries involved in the TPP so it will make little difference on Oregon’s exports. What is will do is give these foreign corporations the ability to move to locations with cheaper labor and resources as well as the power to sue if Oregon takes action in the public interest to protect people and planet...
Marriage Made in Corporatist Heaven Slams into Resistance Wolf Street ...Even the U.S.’s ever-faithful ally and fellow Five-Eye member, the United Kingdom, is beginning to express reservations about TTIP. Earlier this week an all-party committee of Members of Parliament released a scathing report on the trade agreement. The Business, Innovation and Skills committee said the government needed “stronger evidence” to back up its claim that TTIP would bring a boost of £100bn a year to the UK...
State Battles
Rauner’s ‘right-to-work’ proposal focus of larger debate on business climate GateHouse Media Illinois ... even the business groups that support right-to-work laws and empowerment zones say the governor can’t get that done...
After Months Of Scandalizing Clinton Foundation Donations, Press Silent On Walker's Reported Pay-For-Play Media Matters ...The press has almost entirely ignored the revelation that after the "richest man in Wisconsin" made secret donations benefitting Republican Governor Scott Walker, his company received special tax credits for that same donor's company...
Wisconsin Republicans abandoning Scott Walker Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative ...On March 25, 2015, former editor of the Waukesha Freeman and conservative Pete Kennedy published an opinion piece in the paper urging Wisconsin conservatives to not only reject Scott Walker, but to hold him accountable for the damage he has done to the state...
War on Workers
Walmart, Lowe's, Safeway, and Nordstrom Are Bankrolling a Nationwide Campaign to Gut Workers' Comp Mother Jones ...Nearly two dozen major corporations, including Walmart, Nordstrom, and Safeway, are bankrolling a quiet, multistate lobbying effort to make it harder for workers hurt on the job to access lost wages and medical care—the benefits collectively known as workers' compensation...
Fracking Town’s Desperate Laid-off Workers: ‘They Don’t Tell You It’s All a Lie’ Alternet ...The boom and bust in North Dakota has trapped people there, with little hope of work or escape...
Scientist Pretends Monsanto Products Are Totally Safe to Drink Gawker ...Monsanto pesticides are safe enough to drink in a glass of water, says an honest-to-goodness scientist who immediately refuses an offer to drink a glass of Monsanto pesticides. Not because Monsanto pesticides aren't safe, no, but because he's "not stupid" and the interviewer is "a complete jerk."...
Class Struggle In The USA Angry Bear ... none of the important 2016 candidates has expressed any willingness to raise taxes on the rich. The Republicans want to cut them and Clinton (and a spokesperson) dodge the question...
Farm worker dies after being buried under pile of corn CBS News ...Police say the collapse happened when 54-year-old Donald Merchant, of South Windham, was using equipment to move corn from a large mound at the Square A Farm on Monday. When he got off the equipment, some of it toppled onto him...
DOT worker hit by alleged impaired driver laid to rest in Kenly ABC News ...Family and friends remembered a DOT worker killed while on the job in Wayne County...
Friends, family rally in support of Delfino Velazquez, worker killed in Dana Ford Lincoln ceiling collapse (video) Staten Island Live ...Velazquez, a native of Mexico, was killed there on Nov. 28, 2014, when the building's mezzanine collapsed during an unpermitted demolition. The 43-year-old husband and father suffocated under heavy debris. He's the second Formica employee or subcontractor to die on the job in the past dozen years...
Wikileaks papers reveal TPP's huge corporate giveaway Ecologist ...Leaked papers reveal that the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal would represent a historic transfer of power and money from the US and other governments to corporations...
Wyden Shows Connection Between Rigged Trade & Rigged Government The People's Voice ...the US already has trade deals with most of the countries involved in the TPP so it will make little difference on Oregon’s exports. What is will do is give these foreign corporations the ability to move to locations with cheaper labor and resources as well as the power to sue if Oregon takes action in the public interest to protect people and planet...
Marriage Made in Corporatist Heaven Slams into Resistance Wolf Street ...Even the U.S.’s ever-faithful ally and fellow Five-Eye member, the United Kingdom, is beginning to express reservations about TTIP. Earlier this week an all-party committee of Members of Parliament released a scathing report on the trade agreement. The Business, Innovation and Skills committee said the government needed “stronger evidence” to back up its claim that TTIP would bring a boost of £100bn a year to the UK...
State Battles
Rauner’s ‘right-to-work’ proposal focus of larger debate on business climate GateHouse Media Illinois ... even the business groups that support right-to-work laws and empowerment zones say the governor can’t get that done...
After Months Of Scandalizing Clinton Foundation Donations, Press Silent On Walker's Reported Pay-For-Play Media Matters ...The press has almost entirely ignored the revelation that after the "richest man in Wisconsin" made secret donations benefitting Republican Governor Scott Walker, his company received special tax credits for that same donor's company...
Wisconsin Republicans abandoning Scott Walker Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative ...On March 25, 2015, former editor of the Waukesha Freeman and conservative Pete Kennedy published an opinion piece in the paper urging Wisconsin conservatives to not only reject Scott Walker, but to hold him accountable for the damage he has done to the state...
War on Workers
Walmart, Lowe's, Safeway, and Nordstrom Are Bankrolling a Nationwide Campaign to Gut Workers' Comp Mother Jones ...Nearly two dozen major corporations, including Walmart, Nordstrom, and Safeway, are bankrolling a quiet, multistate lobbying effort to make it harder for workers hurt on the job to access lost wages and medical care—the benefits collectively known as workers' compensation...
Fracking Town’s Desperate Laid-off Workers: ‘They Don’t Tell You It’s All a Lie’ Alternet ...The boom and bust in North Dakota has trapped people there, with little hope of work or escape...
Scientist Pretends Monsanto Products Are Totally Safe to Drink Gawker ...Monsanto pesticides are safe enough to drink in a glass of water, says an honest-to-goodness scientist who immediately refuses an offer to drink a glass of Monsanto pesticides. Not because Monsanto pesticides aren't safe, no, but because he's "not stupid" and the interviewer is "a complete jerk."...
Class Struggle In The USA Angry Bear ... none of the important 2016 candidates has expressed any willingness to raise taxes on the rich. The Republicans want to cut them and Clinton (and a spokesperson) dodge the question...
Farm worker dies after being buried under pile of corn CBS News ...Police say the collapse happened when 54-year-old Donald Merchant, of South Windham, was using equipment to move corn from a large mound at the Square A Farm on Monday. When he got off the equipment, some of it toppled onto him...
DOT worker hit by alleged impaired driver laid to rest in Kenly ABC News ...Family and friends remembered a DOT worker killed while on the job in Wayne County...
Friends, family rally in support of Delfino Velazquez, worker killed in Dana Ford Lincoln ceiling collapse (video) Staten Island Live ...Velazquez, a native of Mexico, was killed there on Nov. 28, 2014, when the building's mezzanine collapsed during an unpermitted demolition. The 43-year-old husband and father suffocated under heavy debris. He's the second Formica employee or subcontractor to die on the job in the past dozen years...
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Today's Teamster News 03.29.15
Teamsters
Environmental Waste Workers Vote 11-0 to Join Teamsters Local 107 teamster.org ...On March 26, 2015, workers at PSC Environmental Outsourcing, LLC in Philadelphia voted 11-0 to join Teamsters Local 107...
Saint Vincent Hospital workers march on boss, request recognition as Teamsters TeamsterNation ...Holding signs that read "Recognize Our Union" and "Health Care Workers Deserve Good Health Care," the group marched from the hospital atrium to the CEO’s office to present a letter requesting recognition of their chosen union, Teamsters Local 170...
Trade
A new US-EU free trade agreement could make countries subservient to corporations Business Insider ...The potentially game-changing trade deal is aimed at radically reconfiguring the legal and regulatory superstructures of the world’s two largest markets, the United States and the European Union – for the almost exclusive benefit of the world’s biggest multinational corporations...
Struggling steel industry asks Congress for help Chicago Tribune ...CEOs for the country's largest steel companies told the Congressional Steel Caucus Thursday that the government needs to take a three-pronged approach to save the industry from illegal trade practices -- improve its trade policies, invest in the workforce and finance improvements to the nation's infrastructure...
Taiwan needs to address US beef-pork import issue to speed up TPP bid: DC officials China Post ...The Taiwan government needs to resolve issues surrounding the import of U.S. meat products to speed up its push to join the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), two senior U.S. government officials said Thursday in Washington, D.C...
Seattle mulls stance against fast track for Trans-Pacific Partnership Seattle Globalist ...Seattle City Council is set to vote on a resolution Monday that takes a stance against fast-track trade promotion authority for the free trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP...
State Battles
Right-to-work, outsourced lotto bills on hold Lansing State Journal ...No hearings have been held or scheduled on legislation that would expand right-to-work laws to public safety employees and the Michigan State Police...
A lawyer shows up at a 'right-to-work' hearing. And ... cue the laughter. Upworthy ..."Right-to-work is good for my business, the bankruptcy business..."
Businesses, workers adjusting to Oakland's higher minimum wage Inside Bay Area News ... As Oakland's minimum wage was raised from $9 to $12.25 an hour on March 2, Salazar no longer must choose between paying her rent on time and buying food for her family...
War on Workers
Wage increases by big retailers to sway pay at local companies Toledo Blade ...Next month several hundred retail workers at Wal-mart, Target, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods stores in the Toledo area will get a raise. That will lead to other area retail workers’ paychecks getting bigger, experts predict...
Which Companies Are Buying the Election? (opinion) New York Times ...With each passing year since 2010, when the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United opened the floodgates to secretive political giving, politiciaans appear to value so-called dark money more and value disclosure of unnamed donors less...
Environmental Waste Workers Vote 11-0 to Join Teamsters Local 107 teamster.org ...On March 26, 2015, workers at PSC Environmental Outsourcing, LLC in Philadelphia voted 11-0 to join Teamsters Local 107...
Saint Vincent Hospital workers march on boss, request recognition as Teamsters TeamsterNation ...Holding signs that read "Recognize Our Union" and "Health Care Workers Deserve Good Health Care," the group marched from the hospital atrium to the CEO’s office to present a letter requesting recognition of their chosen union, Teamsters Local 170...
Trade
A new US-EU free trade agreement could make countries subservient to corporations Business Insider ...The potentially game-changing trade deal is aimed at radically reconfiguring the legal and regulatory superstructures of the world’s two largest markets, the United States and the European Union – for the almost exclusive benefit of the world’s biggest multinational corporations...
Struggling steel industry asks Congress for help Chicago Tribune ...CEOs for the country's largest steel companies told the Congressional Steel Caucus Thursday that the government needs to take a three-pronged approach to save the industry from illegal trade practices -- improve its trade policies, invest in the workforce and finance improvements to the nation's infrastructure...
Taiwan needs to address US beef-pork import issue to speed up TPP bid: DC officials China Post ...The Taiwan government needs to resolve issues surrounding the import of U.S. meat products to speed up its push to join the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), two senior U.S. government officials said Thursday in Washington, D.C...
Seattle mulls stance against fast track for Trans-Pacific Partnership Seattle Globalist ...Seattle City Council is set to vote on a resolution Monday that takes a stance against fast-track trade promotion authority for the free trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP...
State Battles
Right-to-work, outsourced lotto bills on hold Lansing State Journal ...No hearings have been held or scheduled on legislation that would expand right-to-work laws to public safety employees and the Michigan State Police...
A lawyer shows up at a 'right-to-work' hearing. And ... cue the laughter. Upworthy ..."Right-to-work is good for my business, the bankruptcy business..."
Businesses, workers adjusting to Oakland's higher minimum wage Inside Bay Area News ... As Oakland's minimum wage was raised from $9 to $12.25 an hour on March 2, Salazar no longer must choose between paying her rent on time and buying food for her family...
War on Workers
Wage increases by big retailers to sway pay at local companies Toledo Blade ...Next month several hundred retail workers at Wal-mart, Target, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods stores in the Toledo area will get a raise. That will lead to other area retail workers’ paychecks getting bigger, experts predict...
Which Companies Are Buying the Election? (opinion) New York Times ...With each passing year since 2010, when the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United opened the floodgates to secretive political giving, politiciaans appear to value so-called dark money more and value disclosure of unnamed donors less...
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Today's Teamster News 03.26.15
Teamsters
San Francisco Board Of Supervisors Back Labor Harmony For Commuter Shuttles teamster.org ...The San Francisco Board of Supervisors today adopted a resolution that would require the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) to consider the labor practices of commuter shuttle operators as part of their permitting process...
Why Teamsters Present Walmart With A New Challenge Forbes ...When the Securities and Exchange Commission rejected a request by Walmart Stores to prevent shareholders from voting on a proposal to elect an independent board chairman at their annual shareholder meeting they were whistling up the wrong tree. The matter will now become part of the proxy for fiscal 2016 to be voted on in early June. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters General Fund submitted the proposal in an effort to unseat Walton family member, S. Robson (Rob) Walton from a position that he has held for many years...
BLET Urges Senators To Oppose PTC Extension BLET ...The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) announced today that it strongly opposes S. 650, the Railroad Safety and Positive Train Control Extension Act, which is expected to be voted on in the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation within hours...
Senator: Union's reversal makes Sunday growler sales likely in Minnesota Associated Press ...The Teamsters Joint Council 32 helped derail the measure near the end of the legislative session last year, citing concerns about its impact on the union's labor contracts. But union lobbyist Ed Reynoso told a Senate Committee on Monday that, "at this point" the union won't oppose the effort this year...
Railroads Need To Do More To Improve Track, Union Official Says Progressive Railroading ...The president of a national railroad labor union this week called on freight railroads to step up their maintenance of track carrying oil trains in order to help prevent future derailments. Track conditions are a leading cause of train derailments in the United States, accounting for a third of all train accidents, noted Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division President Freddie Simpson, who cited Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) data....
Trade
Trans-Pacific Partnership Seen as Door for Foreign Suits Against U.S. New York Times ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership -- a cornerstone of Mr. obama's remaining economic agenda -- would grant broad powers to multinational companies operating in North America, South America and Asia. Under the accord, still under negotiation but nearing completion, companies and investors would be empowered to challenge regulations, rules, government actions and curt rulings -- federal state or local -- before tribunals organized under the World Bank or the United Nations...
Oregon MoveOn Members: If Sen. Wyden Supports Fast Track for TPP, We’ll Back a Progressive Challenger in 2016 Primary MoveOn.org ...Oregon members of MoveOn.org Political Action said overwhelmingly that they would back a progressive challenger to Sen. Ron Wyden (D) if the state’s senior senator supports Fast Track for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a dangerous trade agreement that’s been called “NAFTA on steroids.”...
Ron Wyden avoids anti-trade pact protesters while continuing his fundraising The Oregonian ...A liberal Internet freedom group says it mounted an anti-free-trade protest Tuesday night that scared away Sen. Ron Wyden from holding a fundraiser at an upscale French restaurant near the Capitol...
State Battles
Work On Weekends: GOP Bill Takes Away Right To Weekend Day Off In Wisconsin Inquisitr ...Should you be forced to work on weekends? Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin think so, and they have introduced legislation to strip workers in that state of their right to a single, 24-hour “rest period,” once every seven days...
Public unions will lose power if new bill passes Associated Press ...The measure would prevent local government employers [in Nevada] from giving their employees paid time off for union tasks. It would bar supervisors and administrators from unionizing at all, and would expand local governments' ability to implement layoffs...
Bill Limiting Public Workers’ Payroll Deductions Stalls Without Charity Exemption Wichita Eagle ...A bill that would significantly scale back the collective bargaining power of public-sector unions hit a major snag Tuesday. One part of HB 2096 would prohibit automatic deductions from public workers’ paychecks for union dues or charitable contributions. The United Way of the Plains has said it would lose $300,000 if that happens. An amendment Tuesday sought to exempt charities from the bill, but it was rejected by conservative Republicans and Democrats...
Madigan: Rauner's right-to-work plans illegal Dispatch-Argus ... she also said Gov. Rauner's proposal to prevent unions from getting "fair share" dues from nonmembers working for the state would break the law as it stands...
Health Dept. To Study Landfill Effects KSDK ...The St. Louis County Health Department wants to study hundreds of north county residents. It's part of an effort to determine whether the smoldering Bridgeton Landfill is making people sick. The south quarry of the landfill has experienced an underground smoldering event since 2010. The reaction is releasing gas and odors into the air. Now St. Louis County's new Health Director wants to know what effect those emissions are having on people...
NLRB schedules union election for Boeing SC Charleston Business Journal ...More than 3,000 production and maintenance employees at Boeing South Carolina are eligible to vote on April 22 to decide whether they want union representation, following a National Labor Relations Board’s decision today to allow an election at the local plant...
War on Workers
The growing distance between people and jobs in metropolitan America Brookings ...Between 2000 and 2012, the number of jobs within the typical commute distance for residents in a major metro area fell by 7 percent...
America Needs Labor Unions (opinion) Huffington Post ...The reality is that unions are the greatest tool at most workers' disposal for rebuilding the middle class. Advocating for the elimination of this tool is the epitome of cutting off your nose to spite your face...
Senate Dems Seek Stronger Oil Train Safety Rules The Hill ...Senate Democrats have proposed a bill to set stronger safety rules for trains carrying oil, including regulating the content of the oil itself. Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) said the most critical problem with the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) ongoing regulatory effort on oil trains is that it does not confront the problem of the volatility of oil from North Dakota’s Bakken region...
Labor Board Still Grappling With Supreme Court Defeat The Hill ... In a case known as NLRB v. Noel Canning, the high court last June overturned a set of President Obama’s recess appointments to the labor board, concluding he overstepped in exerting his authority to fill vacancies while the Senate was technically in session. As a result, the board has had to revisit more than 100 labor cases that were decided while the NLRB was unconstitutionally constructed...
Miscellaneous
Inflation, New-Home Sales Firm Up Wall Street Journal ...The consumer-price index—covering everything from Americans’ rent to the cost of their dental care—rose in February for the first time in four months, the Labor Department said Tuesday. Overall prices were up 0.2% from January, though they were flat from a year ago. The move suggested inflation pressures are slowly building back up after succumbing to a six-month slide in oil prices...
San Francisco Board Of Supervisors Back Labor Harmony For Commuter Shuttles teamster.org ...The San Francisco Board of Supervisors today adopted a resolution that would require the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) to consider the labor practices of commuter shuttle operators as part of their permitting process...
Why Teamsters Present Walmart With A New Challenge Forbes ...When the Securities and Exchange Commission rejected a request by Walmart Stores to prevent shareholders from voting on a proposal to elect an independent board chairman at their annual shareholder meeting they were whistling up the wrong tree. The matter will now become part of the proxy for fiscal 2016 to be voted on in early June. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters General Fund submitted the proposal in an effort to unseat Walton family member, S. Robson (Rob) Walton from a position that he has held for many years...
BLET Urges Senators To Oppose PTC Extension BLET ...The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) announced today that it strongly opposes S. 650, the Railroad Safety and Positive Train Control Extension Act, which is expected to be voted on in the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation within hours...
Senator: Union's reversal makes Sunday growler sales likely in Minnesota Associated Press ...The Teamsters Joint Council 32 helped derail the measure near the end of the legislative session last year, citing concerns about its impact on the union's labor contracts. But union lobbyist Ed Reynoso told a Senate Committee on Monday that, "at this point" the union won't oppose the effort this year...
Railroads Need To Do More To Improve Track, Union Official Says Progressive Railroading ...The president of a national railroad labor union this week called on freight railroads to step up their maintenance of track carrying oil trains in order to help prevent future derailments. Track conditions are a leading cause of train derailments in the United States, accounting for a third of all train accidents, noted Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division President Freddie Simpson, who cited Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) data....
Trade
Trans-Pacific Partnership Seen as Door for Foreign Suits Against U.S. New York Times ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership -- a cornerstone of Mr. obama's remaining economic agenda -- would grant broad powers to multinational companies operating in North America, South America and Asia. Under the accord, still under negotiation but nearing completion, companies and investors would be empowered to challenge regulations, rules, government actions and curt rulings -- federal state or local -- before tribunals organized under the World Bank or the United Nations...
Oregon MoveOn Members: If Sen. Wyden Supports Fast Track for TPP, We’ll Back a Progressive Challenger in 2016 Primary MoveOn.org ...Oregon members of MoveOn.org Political Action said overwhelmingly that they would back a progressive challenger to Sen. Ron Wyden (D) if the state’s senior senator supports Fast Track for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a dangerous trade agreement that’s been called “NAFTA on steroids.”...
Ron Wyden avoids anti-trade pact protesters while continuing his fundraising The Oregonian ...A liberal Internet freedom group says it mounted an anti-free-trade protest Tuesday night that scared away Sen. Ron Wyden from holding a fundraiser at an upscale French restaurant near the Capitol...
State Battles
Work On Weekends: GOP Bill Takes Away Right To Weekend Day Off In Wisconsin Inquisitr ...Should you be forced to work on weekends? Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin think so, and they have introduced legislation to strip workers in that state of their right to a single, 24-hour “rest period,” once every seven days...
Public unions will lose power if new bill passes Associated Press ...The measure would prevent local government employers [in Nevada] from giving their employees paid time off for union tasks. It would bar supervisors and administrators from unionizing at all, and would expand local governments' ability to implement layoffs...
Bill Limiting Public Workers’ Payroll Deductions Stalls Without Charity Exemption Wichita Eagle ...A bill that would significantly scale back the collective bargaining power of public-sector unions hit a major snag Tuesday. One part of HB 2096 would prohibit automatic deductions from public workers’ paychecks for union dues or charitable contributions. The United Way of the Plains has said it would lose $300,000 if that happens. An amendment Tuesday sought to exempt charities from the bill, but it was rejected by conservative Republicans and Democrats...
Madigan: Rauner's right-to-work plans illegal Dispatch-Argus ... she also said Gov. Rauner's proposal to prevent unions from getting "fair share" dues from nonmembers working for the state would break the law as it stands...
Health Dept. To Study Landfill Effects KSDK ...The St. Louis County Health Department wants to study hundreds of north county residents. It's part of an effort to determine whether the smoldering Bridgeton Landfill is making people sick. The south quarry of the landfill has experienced an underground smoldering event since 2010. The reaction is releasing gas and odors into the air. Now St. Louis County's new Health Director wants to know what effect those emissions are having on people...
NLRB schedules union election for Boeing SC Charleston Business Journal ...More than 3,000 production and maintenance employees at Boeing South Carolina are eligible to vote on April 22 to decide whether they want union representation, following a National Labor Relations Board’s decision today to allow an election at the local plant...
War on Workers
The growing distance between people and jobs in metropolitan America Brookings ...Between 2000 and 2012, the number of jobs within the typical commute distance for residents in a major metro area fell by 7 percent...
America Needs Labor Unions (opinion) Huffington Post ...The reality is that unions are the greatest tool at most workers' disposal for rebuilding the middle class. Advocating for the elimination of this tool is the epitome of cutting off your nose to spite your face...
Senate Dems Seek Stronger Oil Train Safety Rules The Hill ...Senate Democrats have proposed a bill to set stronger safety rules for trains carrying oil, including regulating the content of the oil itself. Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) said the most critical problem with the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) ongoing regulatory effort on oil trains is that it does not confront the problem of the volatility of oil from North Dakota’s Bakken region...
Labor Board Still Grappling With Supreme Court Defeat The Hill ... In a case known as NLRB v. Noel Canning, the high court last June overturned a set of President Obama’s recess appointments to the labor board, concluding he overstepped in exerting his authority to fill vacancies while the Senate was technically in session. As a result, the board has had to revisit more than 100 labor cases that were decided while the NLRB was unconstitutionally constructed...
Miscellaneous
Inflation, New-Home Sales Firm Up Wall Street Journal ...The consumer-price index—covering everything from Americans’ rent to the cost of their dental care—rose in February for the first time in four months, the Labor Department said Tuesday. Overall prices were up 0.2% from January, though they were flat from a year ago. The move suggested inflation pressures are slowly building back up after succumbing to a six-month slide in oil prices...
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Why the geopolitical argument for the TPP is really stupid
President Obama can't argue the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would create jobs (no one believes him), so he's arguing the deal would improve the U.S. geopolitical position with China.
People aren't buying that, either.
Don Lee reported earlier this month in the Los Angeles Times,
Some trump card.
Most people grasp that weakening the U.S. manufacturing base by sending more U.S. jobs overseas (which is what happens with these trade deals) will not make the United States stronger. Especially when we're letting China equip our military and build crucial components.
Alan Beattie, writing in the Financial Times, makes another important point: trade deals don't have much strategic impact:
Bam.
People aren't buying that, either.
Don Lee reported earlier this month in the Los Angeles Times,
In recent weeks, one Obama official after another has hammered away at the same line of argument: It’s crucial that Congress supports the TPP — including passing a related trade-promotion bill that would strengthen the president’s negotiating hand — because the alternative is that China, not the U.S., will write the rules of global trade...
Opponents of the TPP say that pulling out the China card at this stage represents an act of desperation in the face of persistent congressional uneasiness about Obama's trade agenda.The article was titled, "China is Obama's trump card in push for Pacific Rim trade pact."
Some trump card.
Most people grasp that weakening the U.S. manufacturing base by sending more U.S. jobs overseas (which is what happens with these trade deals) will not make the United States stronger. Especially when we're letting China equip our military and build crucial components.
Alan Beattie, writing in the Financial Times, makes another important point: trade deals don't have much strategic impact:
...quickly scanning the two main bilateral trade deals the US has signed over the past decade in the region, Australia and South Korea, it is hard to see much strategic impact. In both nations, belief in the US’s economic power and future superpower status have either stagnated or declined over the past decade. Other geopolitical issues, such as America’s ability to serve as a military counterweight to Chinese or North Korean belligerence, are surely far more important.Beattie also notes U.S. trade partners aren't always happy with the deals we make with them.
And rather than blithely assuming that a consenting trade partner is a happy trade partner, the US might also look at whether the content of TPP is conducive to future good relations...
It’s not clear that a country’s affection for the US will increase after being required to rewrite its patent and copyright law every few years on a model dictated by, respectively, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and the Recording Industry Association of America. The US itself does not offer much liberalisation. It is highly unlikely to substantially dismantle its agricultural subsidy and protection regime to allow Australian and New Zealand farmers abundant access to its dairy market or stop its rice subsidies disadvantaging Vietnamese rice exports in world markets. America’s trading partners are thus on a permanent treadmill of enforced policy change in order to keep their trade access to the US...Meanwhile, he argues, China is doing trade better than we are:
Chinese trade deals tend to ask less liberalisation from (and offer less liberalisation to) their negotiating partners. Instead, Beijing presses on with a highly attractive proposition to regional emerging markets: cheap money from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank...Beattie concludes: "Washington should not delude itself that trade deals which inflict political pain on the US’s negotiating partners will necessarily function as durable and positive elements of a wider diplomatic relationship."
Bam.
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