Showing posts with label train disaster. Show all posts
Showing posts with label train disaster. Show all posts

Friday, July 26, 2013

Today's Teamster News 07.26.13

In Industry Where Few Workers Are 'Employees,' Teamsters Mount Multi-Front Attack  The Nation   ...A rare union election victory in New Jersey and a battery of wage theft complaints in California represent the latest steps in the Teamsters union’s effort to transform port trucking, a growing industry in which most workers aren’t considered employees under the law...
After a Long Battle, Teamster Waste Workers in Evansville, Indiana Ratify Contract  IBT   ...On July 22, 80 workers at Republic Services/Allied Waste in Evansville, Ind., who are members of Teamsters Local 215, ratified a contract that provides significant wage increases and strong retirement security...
U.S., Vietnam to intensify talks despite protests  Reuters   ...The United States and Vietnam have agreed to intensify talks on a regional free-trade agreement in hopes of finishing by the end of the year, the U.S. Trade Representative's Office said on Wednesday, following a call by labor and human rights groups for negotiations with Hanoi to be suspended...
Journalist Covers Extreme Violence Against Workers and Union Activists in Colombia  AFL-CIO Now   ...“The dangers faced by union members and human rights activists mirror a long-lasting vortex of violence propelled by guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries, drug cartels, criminals and, according to human rights groups and others, military and government officials as well...”
Former UBS bankers get prison terms for muni bid-rigging  Reuters   ...Three former UBS AG (UBSN.VX) bankers were sentenced to prison on Wednesday for deceiving U.S. municipalities by rigging bids to invest municipal bond proceeds, with the longest sentence at 27 months, a fraction of what prosecutors had sought...
Detroit: latest battleground in the war on the Middle Class  NH Labor News   ...On Wednesday afternoon, the federal judge overseeing Detroit’s bankruptcy proceedings suspended all other legal actions by public workers who are trying to protect their constitutional rights. And it is very unlikely that workers’ rights will be considered during the bankruptcy proceedings...
Georgia cities unable to file for bankruptcy  WALB News   ...Detroit's bankruptcy filing has some asking if a Georgia city could be next, but one attorney said the answer is no. State law prohibits cities from filing bankruptcy to absolve themselves of debt and forces city leaders to make tough decisions on raising taxes and cutting benefits and jobs...
Union reps decry liquor privatization, expired beer in Erie stores  Erie Times-News   ...A union group opposing liquor privatization was at a local grocery store Wednesday claiming some stores in Erie, Pennsylvania, have been selling beer past its expiration date...
80 dead, 31 critical after Spain train crash blamed on high speed; 1 American among the dead  Washington Post   ...A Spanish train that hurtled off the rails and smashed into a security wall as it rounded a bend was going so fast that carriages tumbled off the tracks like dominos, killing 80 people and maiming dozens more, according to eyewitness accounts and video footage obtained Thursday...
Low-wage workers rally in New York  PressTV   ...Demonstrators gathered in Brooklyn on Wednesday calling for better wages and denouncing harsh working conditions without benefits. The rally was organized by Fast Food Forward. The participants said the rally is part of the national movement of low-wage workers fighting for a better future...
Justice Department to challenge states’ voting rights laws  Washington Post   ...The Justice Department is preparing to take fresh legal action in a string of voting rights cases across the nation, U.S. officials said, part of a new attempt to blunt the impact of a Supreme Court ruling that the Obama administration has warned will imperil minority representation...
North Carolina First to Toughen Voting Laws After Ruling  Bloomberg News   ...North Carolina is poised to become the first state to pass a more restrictive voting law after the U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down a core provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act...
Wisconsin’s union workers will have to wait for 1% raise   Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel ...Democratic Sen. Jon Erpenbach is upset that at least 2,000 union state workers won't immediately share in the 1% pay raise put forward by Scott Walker's administration for each of the next two fiscal years. "Passing a state employment compensation plan without including any represented state employees reeks of punishment," Erpenbach said...
Police clash with Capitol singers for second straight day  Wisconsin State Journal   ...For the second day in a row, police at the state Capitol arrested people gathered in the rotunda without a permit as part of the long-running noontime singalong in protest of Gov. Scott Walker...
Most big American tech groups slip European tax net  Reuters   ...Most big U.S. technology firms cut their tax bills by not declaring a tax residence in their main European markets, preventing tax authorities in those countries from even assessing their income, a Reuters analysis of hundreds of corporate filings shows...

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Today's Teamster News 07.10.13

The recovery: Not jobless, but full of McJobs  manufacture this   ...195,000 new jobs would be great if they were the kind on which you could build a recovery. But they aren’t. Roughly a third of those jobs are in the leisure and hospitality sector; another 37,000 of them are in the retail sector. And these jobs don’t pay well. In fact, they pay even less than they did only a few years ago...
Ensure that American infrastructure is repaired with American materials and by American workers.  White House Petitions   ...The Verrazano Bridge in New York city is going to be repaired with Steel made in China...
The secret weapon that could save the Voting Rights Act  MSNBC   ...Voting rights advocates are testing whether a little-used provision of the Voting Rights Act could limit the damage of the Supreme Court ruling that struck down a key part of the landmark civil rights law...
Shocker: Only 1% of So Called Terrorists Nabbed by the FBI Were Real  Alternet   ... there has yet to be a case of some Al-Qaeda operative providing the means for a wannabe terrorist to do an act of terrorism. It’s only the FBI that’s providing the means through these sting operations...
Walmart Threatening to Pull Plans for D.C. Stores NBC Washington ...Walmart, Inc. is threatening to pull its plans to build three urban stores in Washington, D.C. if Mayor Vincent Gray signs a new living wage bill into law that would force the large retailer to pay its employees and subcontractors at least $11.75 per hour...
Canadian train disaster sharpens debate on oil transportation  Washington Post   ...The railroad put the small lakeside town of Lac-Mégantic on the map. And over the weekend, the railroad wiped part of the town off the map Saturday when an oil-laden train bound for a Saint John refinery derailed and exploded, leaving at least 13 dead and dozens unaccounted for...
Unions turn up the heat on lawmakers as first furlough week arrives  Huntsville Times   ...A coalition of 20 unions that represents federal workers is turning up the heat on lawmakers in an effort to stave off the 20 percent pay cut that will hit Department of Defense workers in the next three months...
Anonymous Exposes US' Biggest Private Prison Company as a Bad Financial Investment   Huffington Post   ...The oldest and largest for-profit prison company is not what it would have you believe, at least according to Anonymous. A recently released report concludes that the publicly traded prison operator Corrections Corporation of America is not an efficient, profitable free-market solution -- but a bad investment for shareholders...
Judge Says Capitol Free Speech Restrictions “Create Extraordinary Chilling Effect”  ACLU of Wisconsin   ...A federal judge yesterday granted a preliminary injunction in the Capitol free speech case, allowing groups of up to 20 people to gather without a permit inside the Capitol...
Indiana working families not advancing on path to prosperity  NWI Times   ... nearly half of Indiana children and altogether 2.24 million Hoosiers are officially "low income" -- earning less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level, which is $22,980 for an individual or $47,100 for a family of four...
30,000 California prisoners refuse meals in apparent hunger strike  Los Angeles Times   ...Officials said 30,000 California inmates refused meals Monday at the start of a prison strike involving two-thirds of the state's 33 lockups, as well as four out-of-state facilities...
Nikki Haley Takes Heat After Report Blows Up 'Bogus' Voter Fraud Claims In South Carolina  Huffington Post   ...For years, South Carolina Republicans have complained about the names of dead voters being used to cast ballots in a broad voter fraud scheme. Now that a recent report by the State Law Enforcement Division has blown up those claims, unable to find a single example of a "zombie voter" committing fraud, one Democrat is demanding that Gov. Nikki Haley (R) apologize for her party's "bogus" crusade...
Local 690 Fights Hard to Win Back Public Employee’s Job  IBT   ...Local 690 recently came to the defense of one of its public defenders and won her reinstatement complete with back pay, benefits, and sick leave...
Arbitrator Orders DOC to Reinstate Four Monroe Correctional Employees  IBT   ...An arbitrator has issued a stinging rebuke to the Department of Corrections in a ruling that favors four correctional employees at the Monroe Correctional Complex, who were disciplined by the DOC after the murder of Officer Jayme Biendl in the prison chapel in January 2011...
Rural/Metro pledges to continue EMS service if strike occurs  Buffalo Business First   ...With a strike set to begin in a little over a week, executives at Rural/Metro Medical Services of Western New York are hoping to avoid a work stoppage but plan to continue coverage of emergency medical services...
Dignity Memorial Solicits Striking Employee To Apply For Funeral Director Job  IBT   ...Striking Funeral Director Lawrence Mandel was surprised that Dignity Memorial would bother offering him an “opportunity” to become a strikebreaker...
City, Teamsters Local 251 Reach Tentative Contract Deal  Cranston Patch   ...The city of Cranston (Rhode Island) and the Teamsters Local 251 have reached a tentative deal on a new contract that will run through 2015 and gives municipal workers raises each year...
Have you signed up for the 2013 Teamster Women's Conference yet?  IBT   ...There is still time left to register for the Teamster Women’s Conference, scheduled for September 19-21, 2013 in New Orleans. Join your Teamster Brothers and Sister for this dynamic gathering...