Teamsters
Teamsters give CP Rail 72-hour strike notice CBC News …3,330 locomotive engineers and conductors could walk off the job this weekend…
Farmers, Gov’t Brace For Possible Railway Labour Problems Regina Leader Post ...The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), which represents unionized locomotive engineers, conductors, trainmen and yardmen throughout Canada, says its members have voted by 93 per cent in favour of a strike if they can’t reach an agreement with the Canadian Pacific Railway...
Sysco-US Foods Merger Faces Skepticism, Doubts About Remedies teamster.org ...As Sysco attempts to overcome antitrust issues plaguing its proposed acquisition of US Foods, the transaction faces skepticism from elected officials, consumer advocates, food service establishments, workers and others. They warn there may be no adequate remedies to protect consumers in an industry that, in the words of lawmakers on the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee, “touches every single American consumer who eats meals away from home.”...
Golan's Workers Win First Union Contract, End 6-Month Strike Progress Illinois ...Following a strike that lasted six months, unionized workers at Golan's Moving and Storage in Skokie are back on the job after winning their first labor contract with their employer. Prior to the strike, workers at the Skokie moving company, located at 3600 Jarvis Ave., were waiting for their first labor contract for months after having won union representation by Teamsters Local 705 back in December 2013...
Trade
U.S. Lawmakers Put Currency Cheating On Trade Agenda Reuters ...U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday unveiled bipartisan legislation to stop trading partners from manipulating exchange rates, and a senior Democrat vowed to keep pushing for rules against currency cheating in trade deals...
Corrected Trade Data Confirm Ballooning Trade Deficit Under Korea FTA and More Than Twice the Trade Deficit With NAFTA Partners Public Citizen Global Trade Watch ...The corrected data, which remove foreign-produced goods from the tally of U.S. exports, reveal that the U.S. goods trade deficit with NAFTA partners is actually more than twice as large as indicated in the raw data, topping 182 billion. And three years after passage of the U.S pact with Korea that served as the template for the TPP, the U.S. goods trade deficit with Korea has ballooned 72 percent, spelling the loss of more than 70,000 U.S. jobs...
Left and Right Align in Fighting Obama’s Trade Agenda New York Times ...About 150 of the House’s 188 Democrats have already signed on to letters opposing fast track, an ominous figure for the president, since Mr. Boehner said last Congress he would need as many as 50 Democratic votes...
Trade Must Not Trump Women's Human Rights (opinion) Huffington Post ...Women's rights groups, including the Feminist Majority Foundation, sent President Obama a letter last summer, requesting that the administration remove Brunei from TPP negotiations or suspend TPP talks until Brunei revokes its penal code...
State Battles
Missouri Republicans target public employee unions Washington Post ...A measure that would severely limit the power of some public employee unions is advancing through the Missouri state House, opening the latest front in the GOP’s nationwide fight to curb one of the Democratic Party’s wealthiest constituencies. A House committee approved so-called “paycheck protection” legislation Monday...
Nurses Condemn Illinois Governor’s Anti-Worker Executive Order National Nurses United ...“Nurses, emergency responders, child welfare advocates, and public servants who enforce public oversight and regulatory protections are among the many groups of workers threatened by the order,” said Martese Chism, a Chicago registered nurse and board member for National Nurses Organizing Committee-Illinois, an NNU affiliate...
Davis Introduces Bill Which Would Require At Least Two Man Train Crews KCSR ...District 43 State Senator Al Davis of Hyannis wants to keep the thought of one man crews in the past. Davis has introduced Legislative Bill Number 192 (Nebraska), which would require all train crews in the state to have at least two individuals...
War on Workers
IRS Issues John Doe Summons To FedEx, DHL, UPS, HSBC In Massive Offshore Account Hunt Forbes …A federal judge approved the IRS issuing summonses requiring FedEx, DHL, UPS, and a bevy of other handlers to produce information about U.S. taxpayers who used Sovereign Management & Legal Ltd. for offshore accounts and assets...
Investors Should Know Pay Gap Between C.E.O.s and Workers (opinion) New York Times ...It has been well documented that large pay gaps between chief executives and their workers severely weaken companies and put investments in those companies at risk. These gaps inhibit teamwork and lead to lower job satisfaction and morale, higher employee turnover, reduced productivity and inferior product quality...
Should you join a union? The research says yes. Washington Post ...unions serve as a bulwark against wage inequality — which now can be illustrated mostly in the negative. A 2011 study attributed a fifth to a third of increased income inequality among men to the decline in union representation between 1973 and 2007...
Investor: Peasants Will Be Out With Pitchforks if We Don't Start Sharing the Wealth Bloomberg News ...Society at large has to enjoy some of the largesse, or else the pitchforks come out...
Uber Drivers Are Scrambling To Make Ends Meet After Latest Fare Cuts New York Observer ...Uber slashed fares in Washington D.C. two weeks ago in another attempt to get their app onto every phone they can and edge out “Big Taxi.” ... A number of drivers we spoke to—some who we reached out to, some who got in touch with us after seeing our previous reporting—say that the fare cuts are scorched-earth warfare tactics that sacrifice great drivers on the altar of competition...
The Koch Brothers Raised $249 Million At Their Latest Donor Summit Mother Jones ...Donors at the Palm Springs confab pledged $249 million toward funding the Koch brothers' grand plan, according to two sources with knowledge of the fundraising haul. ...If the Koch network raises comparable sums at its remaining donor retreats between now and November 2016—it tends to hold two to three such gatherings a year—it will easily meet, if not surpass, its $889 million target...
Comcast worker killed in Glen Ridge accident recalled as accomplished fighter, dedicated father NJ.com ...A Comcast employee who was killed while working on a utility pole last week was an accomplished martial arts fighter and dedicated father to three sons....
Miscellaneous
Virginia Tech Undertakes Restart Study, Looking For 250 Driver Participants The Trucker ...The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute is looking for some 250 truck drivers to participate in the Congressionally-mandated study that could ultimately determine whether drivers have unlimited use of the 34-hour restart provision or whether they will only be allowed a restart only once every 168 hours and then must include two consecutive 1 a. m.-5 a.m. time periods. VTTI was awarded a $4 million contract by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to conduct the study...
Showing posts with label truckers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label truckers. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Today's Teamster News 01.27.15
Teamsters
Hoffa: No Time To Waste In Letting Public, Lawmakers Know About Fast Track Huffington Post ...congressional leaders want to move on fast track, and soon. That means those standing up for the interests of hardworking Americans must step up their efforts. After all, not everyone is aware of the consequences that a quick up-or-down vote on the 12-nation Pacific Rim trade deal will bring. It will devastate not only wage earners, but their families as well...
Teamsters Score Second Drayage Victory Journal of Commerce ...The Teamsters are gaining more traction in their attempt to unionize Southern California drayage truckers after drivers at an SSA Marine subsidiary chose a union local as their exclusive bargaining representative...
Open For Business Journal of Commerce ...The U.S. Department of Transportation’s decision to finally open the border to Mexican trucking companies — a stipulation of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement stymied by opponents for two decades — resolves none of the political controversy over allowing Mexican trucks on U.S. highways and still faces severe political backlash from critics, including the Teamsters union...
Trade
Protests As Trans-Pacific Partnership Talks Resume In New York Today Crooks & Liars ...Negotiators working on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) convened today in New York City. Even the location was kept secret until the last possible minute, but hundreds of trade, labor, environmental, health, communities of color, anti-GMO and food justice, anti-fracking, animal and other activists still showed up in the big blizzard to protest the secret trade agreement and "fast track" trade promotion authority (TPA)...
U.S. says final contours of Pacific trade pact coming into focus Reuters …The final form of an ambitious Pacific trade pact is coming into focus, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said on Tuesday as he urged Congress get behind the U.S. trade agenda...
The TPP Will Sink the Middle Class Thom Hartmann …we now know that the TPP would give big pharmaceutical companies virtual monopoly patent power, let corporations sue countries in international courts over regulations that those corporations don’t like, and gut environmental and financial rules.
The One Power Democrats Don’t Want Obama To Have The Hill ...Democrats and some Republicans are adamant that trade promotion authority (TPA) would give Obama’s trade team too much control over negotiations, and are making their opposition known in a barrage of press conferences on Capitol Hill...
State Battles
Gov. Mike Pence's state-run news outlet will compete with media Indianapolis Star …Gov. Mike Pence is starting a state-run taxpayer-funded news outlet that will make pre-written news stories available to Indiana media, as well as sometimes break news about his administration, according to documents obtained by The Indianapolis Star...
Right To Work Support In Legislature Backing Down Badger Herald ...Right-to-work legislation, which looks to limit unions’ governing power, is losing pull as a priority issue in Wisconsin’s Legislature this session. Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said in a statement this month he no longer expects right-to-work legislation to be brought up any time soon, a dramatic shift from his earlier statements that he intended to make the movement a priority this session...
Dropkick Murphys ‘literally hate' Scott Walker for using their song at Iowa convention New York Daily News ...The Dropkick Murphys have no problem dropping the hate word when it comes to politicians using their music at events especially when Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker entered the Iowa Freedom Summit to the song ‘I’m Shipping Up to Boston.’...
Kentucky: A New Frontier for Right-to-Work Laws? The National Law Review ... this appears to be the first time efforts by smaller units of “state government” (i.e., counties) have been undertaken on this front. While the NLRA allows “states” to pass and implement right-to-work laws, it is not clear if smaller units of local government can pass these laws or not...
Michigan Union Membership Dropped Significantly In 2014, First Full Year Under Right-To-Work Law MLive ...Overall, 14.5 percent of wage and salary workers in Michigan were members of a union in 2014, down from 16.3 percent in 2013, according to federal statistics released Friday...
Wage theft rampant in Colorado The Durango Herald ...From telemarketers to tortilla manufacturers, workers in myriad industries have suffered from employers failing to pay them wages they are owed, a Rocky Mountain PBS I-News investigation has found...
Oregon Strippers Prepare to Fight For Workplace Protection Laws Willamette Week ...Nude dancers who want more rights and better workplace protections are pushing forward with bills to create new rules for Oregon strip clubs. A coalition of dancers, social workers and other advocates have drafted two bills they hope will get a hearing in Salem when lawmakers reconvene in February...
Will Sandoval Use The Bill To Achieve Collective Bargaining Reform? Las Vegas Review Journal ...Assemblyman Randy Kirner, R-Reno, is requesting the most comprehensive measure ...It would clarify the rules that exclude supervisors from collective bargaining, prohibit using government funds to pay employees engaged in union activities, require employees to seek union deductions before they would be collected by a government entity and make agreements retroactive to the date of the expiration of the previous contract. It also would require a final contract offer to be made public...
Possible Ballot Measure Could Be Bargaining Chip In Minimum-Wage Debate Seattle Times ...Democrats in Olympia are making one thing clear about a new proposal to raise the minimum wage: If it doesn’t pass this year, be ready for a ballot initiative...
War on Workers
Koch Brothers’ Budget of $889 Million for 2016 Is on Par With Both Parties’ Spending New York Times …The political network overseen by the conservative billionaires Charles G. and David H. Koch plans to spend close to $900 million on the 2016 campaign, an unparalleled effort by coordinated outside groups to shape a presidential election that is already on track to be the most expensive in history...
The State Of The Unions: Membership Is Up, But Density Still Drops Washington Post ...What's interesting about this is that union membership actually went up last year, with 41,000 new union members in the private sector and 8,000 in public. But the number of people working increased much more than that. The long-term trend has been that union membership in the public sector -- meaning government employees -- has grown, while private sector membership has dropped...
As inequality soars, the nervous super rich are already planning their escapes Guardian ...“I know hedge fund managers all over the world who are buying airstrips and farms in places like New Zealand because they think they need a getaway,” he said...
Woman, age 30, killed during robbery at Sunhouse store Sunday night myhorrynews.com ...On Sunday night at around 10 p.m., a female clerk was shot and killed at the Sunhouse on Cultra Road between Highway 701 and Highway 501 in Conway, Horry County Deputy Coroner Tony Hendrick has confirmed...
State Patrol: Army veteran, ER worker killed when a driver ran a stop sign BringMeTheNews …A 47-year-old emergency room manager and Gulf War veteran was killed after police say he was broadsided by a car that ran through a stop sign...
Miscellaneous
Regulators Advance Plans For Truck Driver Training Journal of Commerce ...The amount of time future truck drivers must spend in training and how rigorous a program they must complete will be determined not by federal fiat but through negotiations. Federal regulators are proceeding with a negotiated rule-making on minimum national truck driver training standards, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said in December...
FOIA Documents Reveal Massive DEA Program to Record American’s Whereabouts With License Plate Readers ACLU …The Drug Enforcement Administration has initiated a massive national license plate reader program with major civil liberties concerns but disclosed very few details, according to new DEA documents obtained by the ACLU through the Freedom of Information Act...
Hoffa: No Time To Waste In Letting Public, Lawmakers Know About Fast Track Huffington Post ...congressional leaders want to move on fast track, and soon. That means those standing up for the interests of hardworking Americans must step up their efforts. After all, not everyone is aware of the consequences that a quick up-or-down vote on the 12-nation Pacific Rim trade deal will bring. It will devastate not only wage earners, but their families as well...
Teamsters Score Second Drayage Victory Journal of Commerce ...The Teamsters are gaining more traction in their attempt to unionize Southern California drayage truckers after drivers at an SSA Marine subsidiary chose a union local as their exclusive bargaining representative...
Open For Business Journal of Commerce ...The U.S. Department of Transportation’s decision to finally open the border to Mexican trucking companies — a stipulation of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement stymied by opponents for two decades — resolves none of the political controversy over allowing Mexican trucks on U.S. highways and still faces severe political backlash from critics, including the Teamsters union...
Trade
Protests As Trans-Pacific Partnership Talks Resume In New York Today Crooks & Liars ...Negotiators working on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) convened today in New York City. Even the location was kept secret until the last possible minute, but hundreds of trade, labor, environmental, health, communities of color, anti-GMO and food justice, anti-fracking, animal and other activists still showed up in the big blizzard to protest the secret trade agreement and "fast track" trade promotion authority (TPA)...
U.S. says final contours of Pacific trade pact coming into focus Reuters …The final form of an ambitious Pacific trade pact is coming into focus, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said on Tuesday as he urged Congress get behind the U.S. trade agenda...
The TPP Will Sink the Middle Class Thom Hartmann …we now know that the TPP would give big pharmaceutical companies virtual monopoly patent power, let corporations sue countries in international courts over regulations that those corporations don’t like, and gut environmental and financial rules.
The One Power Democrats Don’t Want Obama To Have The Hill ...Democrats and some Republicans are adamant that trade promotion authority (TPA) would give Obama’s trade team too much control over negotiations, and are making their opposition known in a barrage of press conferences on Capitol Hill...
State Battles
Gov. Mike Pence's state-run news outlet will compete with media Indianapolis Star …Gov. Mike Pence is starting a state-run taxpayer-funded news outlet that will make pre-written news stories available to Indiana media, as well as sometimes break news about his administration, according to documents obtained by The Indianapolis Star...
Right To Work Support In Legislature Backing Down Badger Herald ...Right-to-work legislation, which looks to limit unions’ governing power, is losing pull as a priority issue in Wisconsin’s Legislature this session. Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said in a statement this month he no longer expects right-to-work legislation to be brought up any time soon, a dramatic shift from his earlier statements that he intended to make the movement a priority this session...
Dropkick Murphys ‘literally hate' Scott Walker for using their song at Iowa convention New York Daily News ...The Dropkick Murphys have no problem dropping the hate word when it comes to politicians using their music at events especially when Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker entered the Iowa Freedom Summit to the song ‘I’m Shipping Up to Boston.’...
Kentucky: A New Frontier for Right-to-Work Laws? The National Law Review ... this appears to be the first time efforts by smaller units of “state government” (i.e., counties) have been undertaken on this front. While the NLRA allows “states” to pass and implement right-to-work laws, it is not clear if smaller units of local government can pass these laws or not...
Michigan Union Membership Dropped Significantly In 2014, First Full Year Under Right-To-Work Law MLive ...Overall, 14.5 percent of wage and salary workers in Michigan were members of a union in 2014, down from 16.3 percent in 2013, according to federal statistics released Friday...
Wage theft rampant in Colorado The Durango Herald ...From telemarketers to tortilla manufacturers, workers in myriad industries have suffered from employers failing to pay them wages they are owed, a Rocky Mountain PBS I-News investigation has found...
Oregon Strippers Prepare to Fight For Workplace Protection Laws Willamette Week ...Nude dancers who want more rights and better workplace protections are pushing forward with bills to create new rules for Oregon strip clubs. A coalition of dancers, social workers and other advocates have drafted two bills they hope will get a hearing in Salem when lawmakers reconvene in February...
Will Sandoval Use The Bill To Achieve Collective Bargaining Reform? Las Vegas Review Journal ...Assemblyman Randy Kirner, R-Reno, is requesting the most comprehensive measure ...It would clarify the rules that exclude supervisors from collective bargaining, prohibit using government funds to pay employees engaged in union activities, require employees to seek union deductions before they would be collected by a government entity and make agreements retroactive to the date of the expiration of the previous contract. It also would require a final contract offer to be made public...
Possible Ballot Measure Could Be Bargaining Chip In Minimum-Wage Debate Seattle Times ...Democrats in Olympia are making one thing clear about a new proposal to raise the minimum wage: If it doesn’t pass this year, be ready for a ballot initiative...
War on Workers
Koch Brothers’ Budget of $889 Million for 2016 Is on Par With Both Parties’ Spending New York Times …The political network overseen by the conservative billionaires Charles G. and David H. Koch plans to spend close to $900 million on the 2016 campaign, an unparalleled effort by coordinated outside groups to shape a presidential election that is already on track to be the most expensive in history...
The State Of The Unions: Membership Is Up, But Density Still Drops Washington Post ...What's interesting about this is that union membership actually went up last year, with 41,000 new union members in the private sector and 8,000 in public. But the number of people working increased much more than that. The long-term trend has been that union membership in the public sector -- meaning government employees -- has grown, while private sector membership has dropped...
As inequality soars, the nervous super rich are already planning their escapes Guardian ...“I know hedge fund managers all over the world who are buying airstrips and farms in places like New Zealand because they think they need a getaway,” he said...
Woman, age 30, killed during robbery at Sunhouse store Sunday night myhorrynews.com ...On Sunday night at around 10 p.m., a female clerk was shot and killed at the Sunhouse on Cultra Road between Highway 701 and Highway 501 in Conway, Horry County Deputy Coroner Tony Hendrick has confirmed...
State Patrol: Army veteran, ER worker killed when a driver ran a stop sign BringMeTheNews …A 47-year-old emergency room manager and Gulf War veteran was killed after police say he was broadsided by a car that ran through a stop sign...
Miscellaneous
Regulators Advance Plans For Truck Driver Training Journal of Commerce ...The amount of time future truck drivers must spend in training and how rigorous a program they must complete will be determined not by federal fiat but through negotiations. Federal regulators are proceeding with a negotiated rule-making on minimum national truck driver training standards, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said in December...
FOIA Documents Reveal Massive DEA Program to Record American’s Whereabouts With License Plate Readers ACLU …The Drug Enforcement Administration has initiated a massive national license plate reader program with major civil liberties concerns but disclosed very few details, according to new DEA documents obtained by the ACLU through the Freedom of Information Act...
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Today's Teamster News 01.22.15
Teamsters
Hunts Point Teamsters Vote To Ratify Contract, Call For City Investment teamster.org … Workers at Hunts Point Market voted to approve a new, three-year contract today, with 97 percent of workers voting "yes." The 1,300 workers, members of Teamsters Local 202, will receive significant wage increases in each year of the contract...
Teamsters' Partnership Trains Veterans For CDLs teamster.org …The Teamsters, the U.S. Army and ABF Freight formally entered into a partnership today which provides for commercial driver's license training for military personnel that are transitioning to civilian life...
Effingham County Quickly Reaches Contract With Union Effingham Daily News ...After the Effingham County Board approved a new contract with the Teamsters Union on Tuesday, board Chairman Jim Niemann announced that negotiations with both the Teamsters, which represents Highway Department employees, and the Laborers, who represent county employees in a variety of departments, lasted less than an hour each...
NRMCA Names New Jersey Man 2015 Driver Of The Year NRMCA ...[Edward] Rieper, whose home plant is located in Bogota, N.J., was honored for his career achievements, outstanding safety record, professionalism, driving competency and customer service skills. He has worked for Eastern Concrete Materials for more than 29 years, and is a proud member of Teamsters Local 560. “I am very proud of Eddie’s accomplishments,” says Teamsters Local 560 President, Tony Valdner. “It is a testament to the professionalism at Eastern Concrete and their drivers as a whole.”...
Trade
Democrats to fight Obama on secret trade deal authorization RT …Congress knows little about the specifics of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement (TPP) trade deal between 12 Asia-Pacific countries, but President Obama used his State of the Union speech to push Congress to support a fast-track vote on the deal...
Troubled TTIP Isn't The Only 'Trade' Takeover Busting Our Sovereignty (opinion) Common Dreams ...Even as controversial 'trade' deal, TTIP, sputters, other deals to give corporations as much power as countries are being negotiated even more secretively....
Report Says TTIP Would Undermine Toxic Pesticide Regulations Manufacturing.net ...Many Europeans have voiced concerns that the new agreement will lower the EU’s standards for environmental and food safety, and a new report by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) takes aim at just that — saying that proposals for TTIP could translate into more pesticides making their way into EU food markets...
State Battles
DAVID ROSMAN: Right to work is not right for Missouri (opinion) Missourian …As of Jan. 18, more than a half-dozen proposed laws and two state House joint resolutions have been filed concerning the limitations of organizing labor unions. There will be more shortly. All are wrong for the conduct of business in Missouri...
Missouri businesses seek to curb cities’ powers on minimum wage, discrimination The Kansas City Star …The chamber is focused on a three-pronged agenda. It wants to ban local governments from implementing discrimination laws that are stricter than the state’s. It wants to prohibit cities from boosting their minimum wage. And it wants to ban cities from mandating benefits such as vacation or sick leave...
Opposition to ‘Right to Work’ measure grows, debate not likely before April elections Wisconsin Gazette …A group of business leaders opposed to making Wisconsin a so-called right-to-work state announced 50 new members this week...
Should West Virginia Repeal the Prevailing Wage? West Virginia Public Broadcasting …President of the West Virginia AFL-CIO Kenny Perdue disagreed with Cole's position, saying a repeal of the wage could bring in out-of-state contractors and developers with their own workforce at lower wages forcing West Virginians out of their jobs...
[Gov. Susana] Martinez supports right-to-work legislation Associated Press …opponents say such measures are an attack on unions and won’t create jobs or save the state any money...
Michigan Supreme Court Hears Challenge to States Right to Work Law The National Law Review …in UAW v. Green, Case No. 147700 ... the United Autoworkers (UAW) filed to challenge the application of Michigan’s Right to Work law to 35,000 State employees. The UAW has been arguing that Michigan’s Right to Work law does not apply to state employees who are under the jurisdiction of and whose wages are set by the Michigan Civil Service Commission...
State Ed Department: Brownback’s Budget Cuts $127.4 Million From Schools Wichita Eagle ...Gov. Sam Brownback’s proposed budget represents about a $127.4 million cut in schools’ regular K-12 operating funds from this fiscal year to next year, according to a report released Tuesday by the state Department of Education...
Rick Scott's FDLE Scandal Blows Open, Demands Probe (opinion) ...For those who missed it, the former head of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement — 35-year-veteran Gerald Bailey — has started spilling the beans. Bailey portrays Scott and his staff as a group of unethical, hard-core politicos who would go to great lengths — willing even to fabricate a criminal investigation — to get themselves out of a jam...
War on Workers
DeFazio Pledges To Push Back Against Mexico Truck Program The Trucker ...The ranking member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has made it known he is not comfortable with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s decision to open the United States border to Mexican-domiciled trucking companies...
How The Trucking Industry Could Be Vastly More Efficient Citylab ...Meet Transfix, a start-up that fashions itself "Uber for trucks."...
Wireless device in two million cars wide open to hacking ars technica …An electronic dongle used to connect to the onboard diagnostic systems of more than two million cars and trucks contains few defenses against hacking, an omission that makes them vulnerable to wireless attacks that take control of a vehicle, according to published reports. US-based Progressive Insurance said it has used the SnapShot device in more than two million vehicles since 2008. The dongle tracks users' driving to help determine if they qualify for lower rates…
Five Years On, Citizens United Is Worse Than Anyone Imagined (opinion) St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...A hundred years from now, after it’s been reversed, Citizens United will be regarded, with Dred Scott v. Sandford and Plessy v. Ferguson, as one of the most anti-democratic decisions the court ever made...
Help wanted: Fast food cashier, $15 an hour ScienceDaily …Researchers from the University of Massachusetts Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) have released a working paper verifying the ability of American fast food restaurants to more than double the minimum wage of their lowest paid workers to $15 an hour over a four-year period without causing the widespread employment losses and decline in profits often cited by critics of such increases...
Construction worker killed while directing traffic on Cahaba River Road Alabama's 13 …[Chance Richard] Rollan was directing traffic in the back of the construction site on Cahaba River Road when he was struck from behind by a vehicle. According to Lt. Edwards the vehicle was driven by a 23-year-old female. She told investigators at the scene that she was leaning over to pick up her coffee when she veered off the road and struck Rollan...
Construction worker dies after fall down Manhattan elevator shaft New York Daily News …Frank Dragotta, 61 of Morganville, N.J., fell one story from the second floor inside the W. 70th St. building near Columbus Ave. at about 8:45 a.m...
Miscellaneous
4 GOP Hopefuls Expected To Attend Koch Event Politico ...Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida, and Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin received coveted invitations to speak to the vaunted network assembled by the billionaire industrialist megadonors Charles and David Koch, the sources said...
Hunts Point Teamsters Vote To Ratify Contract, Call For City Investment teamster.org … Workers at Hunts Point Market voted to approve a new, three-year contract today, with 97 percent of workers voting "yes." The 1,300 workers, members of Teamsters Local 202, will receive significant wage increases in each year of the contract...
Teamsters' Partnership Trains Veterans For CDLs teamster.org …The Teamsters, the U.S. Army and ABF Freight formally entered into a partnership today which provides for commercial driver's license training for military personnel that are transitioning to civilian life...
Effingham County Quickly Reaches Contract With Union Effingham Daily News ...After the Effingham County Board approved a new contract with the Teamsters Union on Tuesday, board Chairman Jim Niemann announced that negotiations with both the Teamsters, which represents Highway Department employees, and the Laborers, who represent county employees in a variety of departments, lasted less than an hour each...
NRMCA Names New Jersey Man 2015 Driver Of The Year NRMCA ...[Edward] Rieper, whose home plant is located in Bogota, N.J., was honored for his career achievements, outstanding safety record, professionalism, driving competency and customer service skills. He has worked for Eastern Concrete Materials for more than 29 years, and is a proud member of Teamsters Local 560. “I am very proud of Eddie’s accomplishments,” says Teamsters Local 560 President, Tony Valdner. “It is a testament to the professionalism at Eastern Concrete and their drivers as a whole.”...
Trade
Democrats to fight Obama on secret trade deal authorization RT …Congress knows little about the specifics of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement (TPP) trade deal between 12 Asia-Pacific countries, but President Obama used his State of the Union speech to push Congress to support a fast-track vote on the deal...
Troubled TTIP Isn't The Only 'Trade' Takeover Busting Our Sovereignty (opinion) Common Dreams ...Even as controversial 'trade' deal, TTIP, sputters, other deals to give corporations as much power as countries are being negotiated even more secretively....
Report Says TTIP Would Undermine Toxic Pesticide Regulations Manufacturing.net ...Many Europeans have voiced concerns that the new agreement will lower the EU’s standards for environmental and food safety, and a new report by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) takes aim at just that — saying that proposals for TTIP could translate into more pesticides making their way into EU food markets...
State Battles
DAVID ROSMAN: Right to work is not right for Missouri (opinion) Missourian …As of Jan. 18, more than a half-dozen proposed laws and two state House joint resolutions have been filed concerning the limitations of organizing labor unions. There will be more shortly. All are wrong for the conduct of business in Missouri...
Missouri businesses seek to curb cities’ powers on minimum wage, discrimination The Kansas City Star …The chamber is focused on a three-pronged agenda. It wants to ban local governments from implementing discrimination laws that are stricter than the state’s. It wants to prohibit cities from boosting their minimum wage. And it wants to ban cities from mandating benefits such as vacation or sick leave...
Opposition to ‘Right to Work’ measure grows, debate not likely before April elections Wisconsin Gazette …A group of business leaders opposed to making Wisconsin a so-called right-to-work state announced 50 new members this week...
Should West Virginia Repeal the Prevailing Wage? West Virginia Public Broadcasting …President of the West Virginia AFL-CIO Kenny Perdue disagreed with Cole's position, saying a repeal of the wage could bring in out-of-state contractors and developers with their own workforce at lower wages forcing West Virginians out of their jobs...
[Gov. Susana] Martinez supports right-to-work legislation Associated Press …opponents say such measures are an attack on unions and won’t create jobs or save the state any money...
Michigan Supreme Court Hears Challenge to States Right to Work Law The National Law Review …in UAW v. Green, Case No. 147700 ... the United Autoworkers (UAW) filed to challenge the application of Michigan’s Right to Work law to 35,000 State employees. The UAW has been arguing that Michigan’s Right to Work law does not apply to state employees who are under the jurisdiction of and whose wages are set by the Michigan Civil Service Commission...
State Ed Department: Brownback’s Budget Cuts $127.4 Million From Schools Wichita Eagle ...Gov. Sam Brownback’s proposed budget represents about a $127.4 million cut in schools’ regular K-12 operating funds from this fiscal year to next year, according to a report released Tuesday by the state Department of Education...
Rick Scott's FDLE Scandal Blows Open, Demands Probe (opinion) ...For those who missed it, the former head of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement — 35-year-veteran Gerald Bailey — has started spilling the beans. Bailey portrays Scott and his staff as a group of unethical, hard-core politicos who would go to great lengths — willing even to fabricate a criminal investigation — to get themselves out of a jam...
War on Workers
DeFazio Pledges To Push Back Against Mexico Truck Program The Trucker ...The ranking member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has made it known he is not comfortable with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s decision to open the United States border to Mexican-domiciled trucking companies...
How The Trucking Industry Could Be Vastly More Efficient Citylab ...Meet Transfix, a start-up that fashions itself "Uber for trucks."...
Wireless device in two million cars wide open to hacking ars technica …An electronic dongle used to connect to the onboard diagnostic systems of more than two million cars and trucks contains few defenses against hacking, an omission that makes them vulnerable to wireless attacks that take control of a vehicle, according to published reports. US-based Progressive Insurance said it has used the SnapShot device in more than two million vehicles since 2008. The dongle tracks users' driving to help determine if they qualify for lower rates…
Five Years On, Citizens United Is Worse Than Anyone Imagined (opinion) St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...A hundred years from now, after it’s been reversed, Citizens United will be regarded, with Dred Scott v. Sandford and Plessy v. Ferguson, as one of the most anti-democratic decisions the court ever made...
Help wanted: Fast food cashier, $15 an hour ScienceDaily …Researchers from the University of Massachusetts Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) have released a working paper verifying the ability of American fast food restaurants to more than double the minimum wage of their lowest paid workers to $15 an hour over a four-year period without causing the widespread employment losses and decline in profits often cited by critics of such increases...
Construction worker killed while directing traffic on Cahaba River Road Alabama's 13 …[Chance Richard] Rollan was directing traffic in the back of the construction site on Cahaba River Road when he was struck from behind by a vehicle. According to Lt. Edwards the vehicle was driven by a 23-year-old female. She told investigators at the scene that she was leaning over to pick up her coffee when she veered off the road and struck Rollan...
Construction worker dies after fall down Manhattan elevator shaft New York Daily News …Frank Dragotta, 61 of Morganville, N.J., fell one story from the second floor inside the W. 70th St. building near Columbus Ave. at about 8:45 a.m...
Miscellaneous
4 GOP Hopefuls Expected To Attend Koch Event Politico ...Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida, and Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin received coveted invitations to speak to the vaunted network assembled by the billionaire industrialist megadonors Charles and David Koch, the sources said...
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Today's Teamster News 12.16.14
Teamster News
What the Cromnibus Law Means for Multiemployer Pension Plans International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans ...The law states that plans in "critical and declining status" can temporarily or permanently suspend current and future benefits...
Congress Rolls Back Trucker Rest Requirements CBS12 …Fatigue is often a major factor in many crashes. So why are federal lawmakers saying its okay for big rig haulers to drive more and sleep less?...
CRomnibus Heads to Oval Office U.S. News and World Report ...the bill now heads to the Oval Office for approval...
Maine Senator Is Again Friend to Trucking as Rule Eased Bloomberg ...Susan Collins...got a rider attached to the spending bill approved over the weekend so truckers will no longer have to get two nights sleep in a row before starting a work week. Suspending year-old federal regulations means truckers will be allowed to work as many as 82 hours over eight days -- upending what safety advocates said was a key component of a 15-year effort to reduce deaths caused by drowsy long-haul drivers...
Two N.Y. State Senators Oppose Horse-Carriage Ban, Warn Of 'Real Battle' New York Daily News ...Two Democratic state senators are the latest to come out in opposition to Mayor de Blasio’s push to ban horse carriages in the city. Sens. Diane Savino, chairwoman of the Senate Labor Committee, and Jose Peralta, the panel’s ranking minority party member, have drafted a letter to de Blasio and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito vehemently opposing to the Council bill on the mayor’s plan...
Entergy,Teamsters Union Agree On Contract For Indian Point Security Workers Daily Voice ... Entergy and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 456 have agreed on a new contract for the union’s approximately 186 security workers at the Indian Point Energy Center in Buchanan...
Keystone XL pipeline may no longer make economic sense, experts say Los Angeles Times ...plunging oil prices have analysts questioning whether the plan to link Canadian tar sands with Gulf Coast refineries still makes economic sense...
Trade
Hatch says trade an area where GOP, Obama can work together The Hill ...Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who is expected to take the helm of the Senate Finance Committee, said passing trade promotion authority (TPA) is not only an avenue to completing two massive trade deals — the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) — but is a place where Republicans can work with President Obama...
New Trade Agreements will Take Center Stage in 2015. So Will Bad Arguments Made on their Behalf. Economic Policy Institute ...while these trade-induced losses (which I estimated to be roughly $1,800 annually for a full-time worker without a college degree) do not explain all, or even the majority, of the rise in inequality over the past generation, they’re not trivial...
State Battles
Right-to-work would trim union clout, but broader economic impact unclear Wisconsin State Journal ...“We’re not purporting to prove that right-to-work produces superior economic performance,” Greer said. The more important argument, he said, is that workers should have the freedom to choose whether to pay union dues or not...
Florida senators relaunch bill to overhaul local pension plans Tampa Bay Times ...The measure would allow cities with faltering pension funds to use additional insurance premium tax revenues to shore up their accounts...
Public money for schools buys private property Detroit Free Press ...National Heritage Academies, Michigan's largest charter management company, has an unusual arrangement with its schools. The for-profit company — and not the schools — owns the contents of its school buildings, even though those desks, computers, books and supplies may have been purchased with taxpayer money...
What the Cromnibus Law Means for Multiemployer Pension Plans International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans ...The law states that plans in "critical and declining status" can temporarily or permanently suspend current and future benefits...
Congress Rolls Back Trucker Rest Requirements CBS12 …Fatigue is often a major factor in many crashes. So why are federal lawmakers saying its okay for big rig haulers to drive more and sleep less?...
CRomnibus Heads to Oval Office U.S. News and World Report ...the bill now heads to the Oval Office for approval...
Maine Senator Is Again Friend to Trucking as Rule Eased Bloomberg ...Susan Collins...got a rider attached to the spending bill approved over the weekend so truckers will no longer have to get two nights sleep in a row before starting a work week. Suspending year-old federal regulations means truckers will be allowed to work as many as 82 hours over eight days -- upending what safety advocates said was a key component of a 15-year effort to reduce deaths caused by drowsy long-haul drivers...
Two N.Y. State Senators Oppose Horse-Carriage Ban, Warn Of 'Real Battle' New York Daily News ...Two Democratic state senators are the latest to come out in opposition to Mayor de Blasio’s push to ban horse carriages in the city. Sens. Diane Savino, chairwoman of the Senate Labor Committee, and Jose Peralta, the panel’s ranking minority party member, have drafted a letter to de Blasio and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito vehemently opposing to the Council bill on the mayor’s plan...
Entergy,Teamsters Union Agree On Contract For Indian Point Security Workers Daily Voice ... Entergy and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 456 have agreed on a new contract for the union’s approximately 186 security workers at the Indian Point Energy Center in Buchanan...
Keystone XL pipeline may no longer make economic sense, experts say Los Angeles Times ...plunging oil prices have analysts questioning whether the plan to link Canadian tar sands with Gulf Coast refineries still makes economic sense...
Trade
Hatch says trade an area where GOP, Obama can work together The Hill ...Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who is expected to take the helm of the Senate Finance Committee, said passing trade promotion authority (TPA) is not only an avenue to completing two massive trade deals — the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) — but is a place where Republicans can work with President Obama...
New Trade Agreements will Take Center Stage in 2015. So Will Bad Arguments Made on their Behalf. Economic Policy Institute ...while these trade-induced losses (which I estimated to be roughly $1,800 annually for a full-time worker without a college degree) do not explain all, or even the majority, of the rise in inequality over the past generation, they’re not trivial...
State Battles
Right-to-work would trim union clout, but broader economic impact unclear Wisconsin State Journal ...“We’re not purporting to prove that right-to-work produces superior economic performance,” Greer said. The more important argument, he said, is that workers should have the freedom to choose whether to pay union dues or not...
Florida senators relaunch bill to overhaul local pension plans Tampa Bay Times ...The measure would allow cities with faltering pension funds to use additional insurance premium tax revenues to shore up their accounts...
Public money for schools buys private property Detroit Free Press ...National Heritage Academies, Michigan's largest charter management company, has an unusual arrangement with its schools. The for-profit company — and not the schools — owns the contents of its school buildings, even though those desks, computers, books and supplies may have been purchased with taxpayer money...
Kansas Governor Proposes Using Pension Money to Cover Budget Gaps Created By His Tax Cuts International Business Times ...In 2012, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback signed a landmark bill that delivered big tax cuts to high income earners and businesses. Less than two years after that tax cut, the state's income tax revenues plummeted by a quarter-billion dollars -- and now Brownback is pushing to use money for public employees’ pensions to instead cover the state's ensuing budget shortfalls...
Inside The Koch-Backed History Lessons North Carolina Wants To Teach High School Students ThinkProgress ...Public high school students in North Carolina will be taught from a lesson plans and worksheets prepared by a organization closely tied to the billionaire Koch brothers, if the state’s Department of Public Instruction gets its way...
W.Va. Minimum Wage Rising In 2015 And 2016 WSAZ ...Back in April, Governor Earl Ray Tomblin signed a bill raising minimum wage by 75 cents, which means it will soon rise to $8 an hour. The raise goes into effect January 1st. As part of the bill, minimum wage will go up another 75 cents in 2016...
Councilors Put Off Vote On Mayor’s Plan To Raise Portland’s Minimum Wage Portland Press Herald ...The Portland City Council’s Finance Committee listened to more than two hours of testimony Thursday on a measure that would raise the city’s minimum wage to a level above the state minimum, but postponed making a final recommendation until next year...
War on Workers
Pension Bill Seen as Model for Further Cuts Wall Street Journal ...A measure included in Congress’s mammoth spending bill permits benefit cuts for retirees in one type of pension plan, a big shift that lawmakers and others believe could set a precedent for other troubled retirement programs...
Kevin Yoder MIA After Tucking Wall Street Bailout Into Government Spending Bill Huffington Post ...For all the anger among progressives about a Wall Street bailout provision that made its way into the just-passed $1.1 trillion government spending bill, there's been little attention on the person who put it in there. Meet Congressman Kevin Yoder (R-Kansas). Yoder, a second-term congressman whose largest contributors are in the finance industry, introduced the provision last summer. It was literally written by Citigroup executives...
U.S. taxpayers help fund oil-train boom amid safety concerns Reuters ...States and the federal government have handed out tens of millions in public dollars to rail companies and government agencies to expand crude oil rail transportation across the country, a Reuters analysis has found...
Strikes across Belgium cause transport chaos BBC News ...The widespread industrial action is the latest in a series of strikes protesting against the new centre-right coalition's austerity policies. The government plans to save €11bn (£8.7bn) in the next five years. The 24-hour strike is the largest to have taken place in Belgium for many years. It has forced government offices and schools to close, and the country's ports have been blockaded...
Wealth inequality has widened along racial, ethnic lines since end of Great Recession Pew Research Center …The wealth of white households was 13 times the median wealth of black households in 2013, compared with eight times the wealth in 2010, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of data from the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances. Likewise, the wealth of white households is now more than 10 times the wealth of Hispanic households, compared with nine times the wealth in 2010...
The Devalued American Worker Washington Post ...Green once held a middle-class job. Now, to make enough money to send his children to college, he works the equivalent of two full-time jobs: one maintaining highways for the state of North Carolina and one ushering fans and collecting trash for a variety of sports teams around Winston-Salem...
It's Going To Get A Little Easier For Workers To Unionize Huffington Post ...Federal officials unveiled new rules on Friday that will streamline and simplify the union election process, a reform long sought by labor unions and fiercely opposed by businesses...
Uber Backtracks After Jacking Up Prices During Sydney Hostage Crisis Washington Post ...After an armed gunman took patrons of a Sydney chocolate shop hostage during rush hour Monday morning, the transportation company Uber quadrupled its fares for panic-stricken customers fleeing the central business district...
MLGW worker dies after explosion WREG.com …A crew was trying to repair a gas line on the 4600 block of Winter Park Drive when there was a spark and an explosion…
Miscellaneous
The Supreme Court just made it easier for police to search your car Vox ...The Supreme Court ruled Monday that police officers can sometimes conduct a search and seizure of a car even if that search is the result of an unlawful stop...
Councilors Put Off Vote On Mayor’s Plan To Raise Portland’s Minimum Wage Portland Press Herald ...The Portland City Council’s Finance Committee listened to more than two hours of testimony Thursday on a measure that would raise the city’s minimum wage to a level above the state minimum, but postponed making a final recommendation until next year...
War on Workers
Pension Bill Seen as Model for Further Cuts Wall Street Journal ...A measure included in Congress’s mammoth spending bill permits benefit cuts for retirees in one type of pension plan, a big shift that lawmakers and others believe could set a precedent for other troubled retirement programs...
Kevin Yoder MIA After Tucking Wall Street Bailout Into Government Spending Bill Huffington Post ...For all the anger among progressives about a Wall Street bailout provision that made its way into the just-passed $1.1 trillion government spending bill, there's been little attention on the person who put it in there. Meet Congressman Kevin Yoder (R-Kansas). Yoder, a second-term congressman whose largest contributors are in the finance industry, introduced the provision last summer. It was literally written by Citigroup executives...
U.S. taxpayers help fund oil-train boom amid safety concerns Reuters ...States and the federal government have handed out tens of millions in public dollars to rail companies and government agencies to expand crude oil rail transportation across the country, a Reuters analysis has found...
Strikes across Belgium cause transport chaos BBC News ...The widespread industrial action is the latest in a series of strikes protesting against the new centre-right coalition's austerity policies. The government plans to save €11bn (£8.7bn) in the next five years. The 24-hour strike is the largest to have taken place in Belgium for many years. It has forced government offices and schools to close, and the country's ports have been blockaded...
Wealth inequality has widened along racial, ethnic lines since end of Great Recession Pew Research Center …The wealth of white households was 13 times the median wealth of black households in 2013, compared with eight times the wealth in 2010, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of data from the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances. Likewise, the wealth of white households is now more than 10 times the wealth of Hispanic households, compared with nine times the wealth in 2010...
The Devalued American Worker Washington Post ...Green once held a middle-class job. Now, to make enough money to send his children to college, he works the equivalent of two full-time jobs: one maintaining highways for the state of North Carolina and one ushering fans and collecting trash for a variety of sports teams around Winston-Salem...
It's Going To Get A Little Easier For Workers To Unionize Huffington Post ...Federal officials unveiled new rules on Friday that will streamline and simplify the union election process, a reform long sought by labor unions and fiercely opposed by businesses...
Uber Backtracks After Jacking Up Prices During Sydney Hostage Crisis Washington Post ...After an armed gunman took patrons of a Sydney chocolate shop hostage during rush hour Monday morning, the transportation company Uber quadrupled its fares for panic-stricken customers fleeing the central business district...
MLGW worker dies after explosion WREG.com …A crew was trying to repair a gas line on the 4600 block of Winter Park Drive when there was a spark and an explosion…
Miscellaneous
The Supreme Court just made it easier for police to search your car Vox ...The Supreme Court ruled Monday that police officers can sometimes conduct a search and seizure of a car even if that search is the result of an unlawful stop...
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
A trucker writes: God Bless the Teamsters!
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| Brother Steve Oswald, Teamsters Local 600, St. Louis |
We also received some great comments, a few of which we'll share here:
Carolyn Steven: My husband is very private so we have not posted his photo with his truck this week. We live in a "right to work state". He is Union and I work as a teacher in this "right to work state" and very involved with the rights of workers since I am from a UAW family. Thanks for recognizing Truck Drivers. I work as an itinerant, special education teacher in a non-union state and drive as many mile as my Teamster husband. I give a silent praise to every trucker as I travel hoping they realize how important the work they do is and hopeful they are organized.A good reminder:
Caroline Trimmer: Happy Driver Appreciation Week to all of the RETIRED DRIVERS from Anchor Motor Freight/Leaseway (the good old days)A must-read:
Steve Oswald, Teamsters Local 600 St. Louis, MO. When I was a young man about 20 years old, I was living in my car with nowhere to go and no future...I met an old man who was a Teamster, we began to talk and I told him about my situation and he told me about driving trucks and the Teamsters. I had a Chauffer's License and with a little help from a girl friend at the time, and the advice from the old man, I got a job driving a truck. It wasn't the greatest job in the world but it was a Teamsters union job and it taught me a lot about trucking, management and unions. I quit that job after about 5 or 6 years and worked driving trucks non-union for a few years, what a mistake that was, but I did learn a lot about the non-union trucking industry the hard way, and I know it made me a better union man and appreciate the Teamsters union! So I knew I had to get back into the Teamsters and eventually I did, and that's a story in itself for another time! But anyway, what I'm trying to say is that if it wasn't for that old man, which I'm sorry to say I don't remember his name, my girlfriend at the time, fate, and the Teamsters, I don't know where I'd be right now! The Teamsters took me off of the streets gave me a good job and taught me a lot! Thank God for the Teamsters and organized labor, because without them I would probably be dead or in prison just like a lot of the guys I grew up with! ... God Bless The Teamsters!!!
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| Brother Steve Oswald back in the day |
The photo below makes us hungry:
Corie Kaminski Thorner: This is the way we roll for Truck Driver Appreciation Week
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Today's Teamster News 04.29.14
Teamster News
Truckers Plan 2-Day Strike At LA, Long Beach Ports CBS News ...Truck drivers who haul cargo in and out of the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach planned to go on a two-day strike beginning Monday that they said was not directed at the busy ports themselves but at the companies that employ drivers...
Latest Strike By The Truckers At The Port Could Be More Disruptive KPCC ...Some truck drivers for companies that move cargo in and out of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are beginning a two-day strike Monday morning...
In holding pattern for Teamsters' job action in Abbotsford BC Local News ...Strike action by Teamsters Local 31 could begin as early as this afternoon, although school district superintendent Kevin Godden said the local hasn't provided any details about "the nature, location or specific time."...
Cerberus Loots Bankrupt Airlines Health Care Account Huffington Post ...Private equity firm Cerberus Business Finance, LLC is looting a bankrupt airline that for 66 years ferried troops and equipment to war zones in the Middle East and Southeast Asia...
Trade
Anti-TPP Activists Protest Obama Speech in Malaysia Democracy Now ... On Sunday, Obama faced protest at a public event in Malaysia over the Trans-Pacific Partnership...
Obama Fails To Seal Trans-Pacific Partnership Deal Daily Star ...No deal. That best sums up United States President Barack Obama's stops in Japan and Malaysia, where bilateral Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations failed to end in an agreement...
Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Pact Must Be Rejected By U.S. (LTE) Arizona Daily Star ...Byron Schlomach's article, "Arizona's future depends on international trade," April 21, implies that all international trade agreements are good for Arizona and the United States. Some are good and some are not so good. The Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement, or TPP, is one of those not good for the state or nation...
State Battles
Missouri House Republican Leaders Continue To Push For 'Right-To-Work' Bill Lake Expo ...The prospect of a second vote on "right to work" remain uncertain, but state House Republican leaders said they will continue to work on trying to gather enough votes to advance the measure...
War on Workers
Survey Details Struggles Of Syracuse's Low-Wage Workers Syracuse Post-Standard ...Low-wage workers in the Syracuse area struggle with conditions that can cause health problems and make it hard to climb the economic ladder, according to a new survey...
One Year After Rana Plaza New York Times ...A horrendous building collapse last April in Bangladesh killed more than 1,100 garment workers. Labor groups, Western clothing companies, the Bangladeshi government and others have made progress towards preventing similar tragedies, but more needs to be done...
Restaurant Workers: 'Stop Wage Theft' Workers World ...In a powerful demonstration of support, dozens of people marched into Liberato restaurant in the Bronx, demanding better wages and working conditions for the workers on April 19...
Miscellaneous
Student Debt "Celebrated" Outside The Dept. of Education Open Media Boston ...The campaign for a debt-free future hit out at growing levels of student-debt in a rally outside the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) in Boston on Friday...
Truckers Plan 2-Day Strike At LA, Long Beach Ports CBS News ...Truck drivers who haul cargo in and out of the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach planned to go on a two-day strike beginning Monday that they said was not directed at the busy ports themselves but at the companies that employ drivers...
Latest Strike By The Truckers At The Port Could Be More Disruptive KPCC ...Some truck drivers for companies that move cargo in and out of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are beginning a two-day strike Monday morning...
In holding pattern for Teamsters' job action in Abbotsford BC Local News ...Strike action by Teamsters Local 31 could begin as early as this afternoon, although school district superintendent Kevin Godden said the local hasn't provided any details about "the nature, location or specific time."...
Cerberus Loots Bankrupt Airlines Health Care Account Huffington Post ...Private equity firm Cerberus Business Finance, LLC is looting a bankrupt airline that for 66 years ferried troops and equipment to war zones in the Middle East and Southeast Asia...
Trade
Anti-TPP Activists Protest Obama Speech in Malaysia Democracy Now ... On Sunday, Obama faced protest at a public event in Malaysia over the Trans-Pacific Partnership...
Obama Fails To Seal Trans-Pacific Partnership Deal Daily Star ...No deal. That best sums up United States President Barack Obama's stops in Japan and Malaysia, where bilateral Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations failed to end in an agreement...
Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Pact Must Be Rejected By U.S. (LTE) Arizona Daily Star ...Byron Schlomach's article, "Arizona's future depends on international trade," April 21, implies that all international trade agreements are good for Arizona and the United States. Some are good and some are not so good. The Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement, or TPP, is one of those not good for the state or nation...
State Battles
Missouri House Republican Leaders Continue To Push For 'Right-To-Work' Bill Lake Expo ...The prospect of a second vote on "right to work" remain uncertain, but state House Republican leaders said they will continue to work on trying to gather enough votes to advance the measure...
War on Workers
Survey Details Struggles Of Syracuse's Low-Wage Workers Syracuse Post-Standard ...Low-wage workers in the Syracuse area struggle with conditions that can cause health problems and make it hard to climb the economic ladder, according to a new survey...
One Year After Rana Plaza New York Times ...A horrendous building collapse last April in Bangladesh killed more than 1,100 garment workers. Labor groups, Western clothing companies, the Bangladeshi government and others have made progress towards preventing similar tragedies, but more needs to be done...
Restaurant Workers: 'Stop Wage Theft' Workers World ...In a powerful demonstration of support, dozens of people marched into Liberato restaurant in the Bronx, demanding better wages and working conditions for the workers on April 19...
Miscellaneous
Student Debt "Celebrated" Outside The Dept. of Education Open Media Boston ...The campaign for a debt-free future hit out at growing levels of student-debt in a rally outside the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) in Boston on Friday...
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Today's Teamster News 03.14.13
Out of Control – New Report Exposes JPMorgan Chase as Mostly a Criminal Enterprise naked capitalism ...as you read the report, it’s hard to see the bank as anything but a criminal racket just days away from imploding, were it not propped up by implicit bailout guarantees and light-touch regulators...
Oil Riding Rails Creates Jobs as Buffett Puffs Chest: Freight Bloomberg News ...They’re boosting employment in the process: Rail transportation payrolls have climbed by 9.1 percent, a pace more than twice as fast as total job growth, since the end of 2009...
Sales at U.S. Retailers Advance by Most in Five Months Bloomberg News ...Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) and Ford Motor Co. are benefiting as employment gains bolster confidence and enable Americans to withstand the payroll tax increase that took effect in January...
Europeans want U.S. to Ditch “Buy American” Rules Trade Reform ...Obama keeps pushing a Trans Atlantic trade deal with Europe, despite the fact that other trade deals have helped make the trade deficit worse. One of the goals for Europeans is to get rid of Buy American rules in the U.S...
Majority of British children will soon be growing up in families struggling 'below the breadline' The Independent ...The impact on children of the economic downturn and austerity measures was underlined by an analysis that concluded that the number of under-18s living in households below minimum income standards would increase by 690,000 between 2010 and 2015...
Getting rich off of schoolchildren Salon ...Stop pretending wealthy CEOs pushing for charter schools are altruistic "reformers." They're raking in billions...
Measure May Undermine Union Politics Arizona Public Radio ...Voters may get a chance next year to decide on a measure that would undermine union political influence...
What tax changes mean for Michigan's working class Michigan Public Radio ...many poor, working-class families saw an increase in their taxes in addition to tax increases they felt from other legislative changes...
Editorial: Missouri Senate blames unions for economic woes. Oh, please. St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...Early Tuesday morning, while some of those workers were helping roll over your grandma or grandpa at the nursing home so they didn’t get bed sores, the Republicans who lead the state Senate set things right. They gave initial approval to a bill that will make it a little harder for the unions that represent those public employees to collect fees that might be used to elect thoughtful people to elected office...
Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll resigns amid state, federal probe of non-profit veterans group Miami Herald ...Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll abruptly resigned Tuesday after law enforcement officials questioned her about ties to a purported veterans charity organization at the center of a $300 million multi-state racketeering investigation...
Report: Some Pa. lawmakers received $117K in gifts; legislators deny freebies influenced votes The Republic ...Some Pennsylvania lawmakers took free trips to Ireland, Poland, Taiwan and Turkey. Others accepted tickets to Steelers, Penn State, Pitt and 76ers games, according to financial disclosure statements filed with the State Ethics Commission...
Governor trying to reduce pensions for state workers/teachers WHTM ..."Our (Pennsylvania) members did pay for a lot of years and they continued to pay," said Wendell Young, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers union. "They earned those benefits and they played by the rules. Now this governor comes along and kind of forgets that the state got a pass."...
Scott Walker signs bills on worker training, secretary of state powers Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...La Follette sharply criticized the measure, which is the latest in a long line of steps to strip the secretary of state's office of most of its meaningful powers...
Hoffa, Floyd Demand Mayor Bloomberg Negotiate Settlement Of Equal Pay Class Action Suit By School Safety Agents IBT ...More than 5,000 current and former school safety agents—70 percent of whom are women—have joined the gender-based wage discrimination suit, which seeks to remedy the fact that other peace-officer titles, which are 70 percent male, receive $7,000 more in annual pay...
Judge orders Pratt to rehire truck drivers McClatchy-Tribune ...The ruling could also result in the truck drivers getting union representation. The company in April terminated Lower Nazareth resident Christian Salazar, who was speaking with other truck drivers about organizing a union with the Teamsters. Shortly afterward, the company laid off 11 additional truck drivers...
Teamsters to rally Youngstown Vindicator ...Teamsters Local 377 will have a rally and leafleting event today at the headquarters of Exal Corp. at One Performance Place to stir up support and inform employees of its efforts to unionize 364 workers at the aluminum-can-making company...
Oil Riding Rails Creates Jobs as Buffett Puffs Chest: Freight Bloomberg News ...They’re boosting employment in the process: Rail transportation payrolls have climbed by 9.1 percent, a pace more than twice as fast as total job growth, since the end of 2009...
Sales at U.S. Retailers Advance by Most in Five Months Bloomberg News ...Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) and Ford Motor Co. are benefiting as employment gains bolster confidence and enable Americans to withstand the payroll tax increase that took effect in January...
Europeans want U.S. to Ditch “Buy American” Rules Trade Reform ...Obama keeps pushing a Trans Atlantic trade deal with Europe, despite the fact that other trade deals have helped make the trade deficit worse. One of the goals for Europeans is to get rid of Buy American rules in the U.S...
Majority of British children will soon be growing up in families struggling 'below the breadline' The Independent ...The impact on children of the economic downturn and austerity measures was underlined by an analysis that concluded that the number of under-18s living in households below minimum income standards would increase by 690,000 between 2010 and 2015...
Getting rich off of schoolchildren Salon ...Stop pretending wealthy CEOs pushing for charter schools are altruistic "reformers." They're raking in billions...
Measure May Undermine Union Politics Arizona Public Radio ...Voters may get a chance next year to decide on a measure that would undermine union political influence...
What tax changes mean for Michigan's working class Michigan Public Radio ...many poor, working-class families saw an increase in their taxes in addition to tax increases they felt from other legislative changes...
Editorial: Missouri Senate blames unions for economic woes. Oh, please. St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...Early Tuesday morning, while some of those workers were helping roll over your grandma or grandpa at the nursing home so they didn’t get bed sores, the Republicans who lead the state Senate set things right. They gave initial approval to a bill that will make it a little harder for the unions that represent those public employees to collect fees that might be used to elect thoughtful people to elected office...
Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll resigns amid state, federal probe of non-profit veterans group Miami Herald ...Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll abruptly resigned Tuesday after law enforcement officials questioned her about ties to a purported veterans charity organization at the center of a $300 million multi-state racketeering investigation...
Report: Some Pa. lawmakers received $117K in gifts; legislators deny freebies influenced votes The Republic ...Some Pennsylvania lawmakers took free trips to Ireland, Poland, Taiwan and Turkey. Others accepted tickets to Steelers, Penn State, Pitt and 76ers games, according to financial disclosure statements filed with the State Ethics Commission...
Governor trying to reduce pensions for state workers/teachers WHTM ..."Our (Pennsylvania) members did pay for a lot of years and they continued to pay," said Wendell Young, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers union. "They earned those benefits and they played by the rules. Now this governor comes along and kind of forgets that the state got a pass."...
Scott Walker signs bills on worker training, secretary of state powers Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...La Follette sharply criticized the measure, which is the latest in a long line of steps to strip the secretary of state's office of most of its meaningful powers...
Hoffa, Floyd Demand Mayor Bloomberg Negotiate Settlement Of Equal Pay Class Action Suit By School Safety Agents IBT ...More than 5,000 current and former school safety agents—70 percent of whom are women—have joined the gender-based wage discrimination suit, which seeks to remedy the fact that other peace-officer titles, which are 70 percent male, receive $7,000 more in annual pay...
Judge orders Pratt to rehire truck drivers McClatchy-Tribune ...The ruling could also result in the truck drivers getting union representation. The company in April terminated Lower Nazareth resident Christian Salazar, who was speaking with other truck drivers about organizing a union with the Teamsters. Shortly afterward, the company laid off 11 additional truck drivers...
Teamsters to rally Youngstown Vindicator ...Teamsters Local 377 will have a rally and leafleting event today at the headquarters of Exal Corp. at One Performance Place to stir up support and inform employees of its efforts to unionize 364 workers at the aluminum-can-making company...
Friday, May 25, 2012
'It takes strength and control and attention to drive a truck long distances'
The truck was a new model GMC, with a V6 engine, an automatic transmission, and an oversized generator. The camper was provided by the Wolverine Camper Company of Glaswin, Mich. Steinbeck called the rig "Rocinante," after Don Quixote's horse.
We thought we'd share Steinbeck's observations about truckers circa 1960:
I soon made acquaintance with the truckers. They are clannish and they stick together, speaking a specialized language. And although I was a small craft among monsters of transportation they were kind to me and helpful...
I liked the truckers very much, as I always like specialists. By listening to them talk I accumulated a vocabulary of the road, of tires and springs, of overweight. The truckers over long distances have stations along their routes where they know the service men and the waitresses behind the counters, and where occasionally they meet their opposite numbers in other trucks. The great get-together symbol is the cup of coffee. I found I often stopped for coffee, not because I wanted it but for a rest and a change from the unrolling highway. It takes strength and control and attention to drive a truck long distances, no matter how much the effort is made easier by air brakes and power-assisted steering. It would be interesting to know and easy to establish with modern testing methods how much energy in foot pounds is expended in driving a truck for six hours...consider ... the small, unnoticed turning of the steering wheel, perhaps the exertion of on ly one pound for for each motion, the varying pressure of foot on accelerator, not more than half a pound perhaps but an enormous total over a period of six hours. Then there are the muscles of shoulders and neck, constantly if unconsciously flexed for emergency, the eyes darting from road to rear-view mirror, the thousand decisions so deep that the conscious mind is not aware of them. The output of energy, nervous and muscular, is enormous. Thus the coffee break is a rest in many senses.
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Today's Teamster News 05.19.12
Bill 78: Quebec Student Protest Legislation 'Worst Law' Since War Measures Act, Law Professor Says Huffington Post ...The emergency legislation lays out stern regulations governing demonstrations and contains provisions for heavy fines for students and their federations...
Facebook’s Saverin May Save $67 Million On U.S. Tax Bill Bloomberg ...Facebook Inc. (FB) co-founder Eduardo Saverin will save at least $67 million in federal income taxes by dropping U.S. citizenship, according to a Bloomberg analysis of the company’s stock price...
Wages of young college graduates have failed to grow over the last decade Economic Policy Institute ...Young graduates who enter the labor market during periods of strength (e.g. 1995–2000) face much stronger wage prospects than young graduates who enter the labor market during periods of weakness (e.g. 2001 to the present)....
Donations to Scott Walker Flagged as Potential Fraud Pro Publica ...Capital One appears to be flagging donations to Friends of Scott Walker as potentially fraudulent...
[Breaking] Andrew Manning’s attorney confirms FBI investigating Kasich, allies Plunderbund ...“FBI agents interviewed Andrew Manning last week. He answered questions about the statements in his affidavit, which he sent to the Justice Department in March of this year, that top allies of Gov. John Kasich offered him special influence over gubernatorial appointments if he agreed not to run for the state GOP central committee.”...
FMCSA Provides Glimpse of What Trucker Sleep Apnea Regulations May Look Like Law & Moran Attorneys at Law ...Some of the factors that contribute to sleep apnea that the FMCSA is considering include: drivers with a small or recessed jaw, a BMI of 35 or greater, small airway, neck sizes greater that 17 inches for males and 15.5 inches for females, Hypertension (treated or untreated), Type 2 diabetes (treated or untreated), Hypothyroidism (untreated)....
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