Breaking: Dismal new trade data shows more job loss from trade deals

The Census Bureau today released the bad news that the U.S. trade deficit rose 6 percent to a near-record high. "Trade deficit" is another phrase for "lost jobs."

Remember the South Korea trade deal that was going to create 70,000 U.S. jobs? According to today's data, it cost 74,000 U.S. jobs. Good ones. 

Rob Scott at the Economic Policy Institute reports, 

U.S. trade and investment deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, and China’s membership in the World Trade Organization, have resulted in growing U.S. trade deficits and job losses and downward pressure on U.S. wages.    

We should run as fast as we can from proposed trade deals like the TPP, TTIP and TISA. We should be especially alarmed that TPP supporters in Congress are eager to pass a fast track bill in the next month or two. Fast track would make it impossible for Congress to do anything but rubber stamp the deals and the offshoring of more U.S. jobs.

"The new data just reinforce why members of Congress and the American public will not support another job-destroying deal," said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch.  

Here are some low points from Global Trade watch: 

• The data show President Obama’s goal of doubling exports from 2009 to 2014 failed dramatically. Exports of U.S. goods rose only 36 percent, $660 billion short of the export-doubling goal. 
• The United States exported just 1 percent more goods in 2014 – the same average rate as in 2013 and 2012. 
• The U.S. trade deficit in manufactured goods rose 11 percent (or $74 billion), topping $763 billion. 
• U.S. exports to Korea in 2014 were lower than in 2011 before implementation of the Korea trade deal. 
• The 2014 U.S. goods trade deficit with Korea was 81 percent, or $11 billion, higher than in 2011 before the trade deal took effect. That's because exports have fallen. This trade deficit increase represents more than 74,000 lost American jobs, according to the ratio the Obama administration used to project gains from the deal.

Today's Teamster News 02.05.15

Teamsters
Teamsters Reach Tentative Agreement With Air Canada  teamster.org   …Today, the Teamsters Union announced a tentative agreement with U.S.-based Air Canada Teamster represented employees that improves wages, benefits and job protections for the entire group...
Shuttle bus drivers for Apple, Yahoo and other tech giants to vote on unionization  Contra Costa Times Drivers employed by Compass Transportation -- which has contracts with Amtrak, Apple, eBay, Genentech, Yahoo and Zynga -- will decide whether to join the Teamsters union on Feb. 27 in an election overseen by the National Labor Relations Board, said Rome Aloise, international vice president and secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 853... Clatsop Enterprise Zone Would Offer Tax Breaks For New Investment  Daily Astorian   ...The council also approved a new three-year contract between the city and the Chauffeurs, Teamsters and Helpers Local 58 that includes 2.5 percent annual pay raises retroactive to last July...
New Pipeline Raises Concerns Near Landfill  KSDK   ...A new waste pipeline running from the troubled Bridgeton landfill is almost complete. The pipe is raising concerns that radioactive material might be pumped beneath some north St. Louis County neighborhoods...
CASA Elects Board Members  La Prensa   ...Mark Sobczak has been a member of the Teamsters Union for 35 years and served as the Teamsters Vice President. He is currently the Commissioner of Resources for the City of Toledo. He has served as a member of the Toledo-Lucas County Visitors and Convention Bureau, the Great Lakes Historical Society, and the Citizen Advisory Panel for the Toledo Refining Company...
Trade
Trade Minister Andrew Robb says Trans-Pacific Partnership deal could be struck within weeks  ABC Rural   …"The chief US trade negotiator Mike Froman, I know from personal contact with the congressmen over there, he's been keeping them abreast the whole way through. Again, there's always uncertainties, but I do feel there's every prospect that the Congress will pass it...
What the Corporate Media Aren't Telling You About the TPP  truthout   …during the 17 month period between August 2013 and February 2015, only one nightly network news show, PBS Newshour, mentioned the trade deal - and they only mentioned it just eight times. ABC, CBS, and NBC didn't mention the TPP once...
Why The Trans-Pacific Partnership Is Bad For Workers, And For Democracy (opinion)  Huffington Post   ... Economists vary widely in their assessments of the TPP, but there's general agreement across ideological stripes that tariffs are already low. In fact, some reports claim that only five of the 29 draft chapters in the agreement actually relate to lowering tariffs. The protest-worthy part of the deal regards the NBTs [non-tariff barriers to trade]--the reduction of regulatory measures, and "freeing" of market activity, in the name of standardizing rules and lowering costs...
State Battles
Right-to-work bill for construction unions passes House committee  The St. Louis American   …On Wednesday, February 4, a Missouri House of Representatives committee passed a so-called “right to work” bill for the building trades, sponsored by state Rep. Courtney Curtis – a black Democrat representing part of North St. Louis County, including Ferguson. All of the bill’s supporters were Republicans in the 8-4 vote...
Lexington Council Votes To Consider Raising Minimum Wage, 'Right-To-Work' Ordinance  Lexington Herald Leader   ...The Urban County Council could begin discussions as early as March on raising the minimum wage in Lexington and on passing an ordinance that would allow people to work in union shops without paying dues...
“Right to Work” Is the Wrong Answer for New Mexico’s Economy  Economic Policy Institute   …What RTW laws do is make it illegal for an employer and employee organization to negotiate a contract that requires every employee benefiting from the contract to pay his or her fair share of the costs of negotiating and enforcing that contract...
Martinez: Let's Stick To The Facts About "Right To Work" (opinion)  KRWG   …When I think of all the issues we face here in our state in building a healthy economy I am appalled that the Governor will be attacking our working families...
Senate committee passes bill repealing prevailing wage over labor’s objections  MetroNews   …A state Senate committee has passed legislation eliminating prevailing wage in West Virginia. The Senate Government Organization Committee room was packed and overflowing into the hallway Tuesday as lawmakers debated SB 361...
Missouri speaker bans lobbyist-funded meals in House committees  Kansas City Star   …The move shuts down a practice that has been a fixture of House committee hearings for years. And it happened amid renewed debate in both the state House and Senate over legislative ethics...
Mayor Bill De Blasio To Push For Major Minimum Wage Hike In New York City  Huffington Post   ...New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) announced Tuesday that he will push to have the city’s hourly minimum wage jump to $13 by next year -- a steep increase from the $8.75 an hour that the city’s lowest-paid workers currently earn...
Walker’s Wisconsin Budget Has A National Message  New York Times   ...Mr. Walker’s proposal calls for cutting about $300 million, or 13 percent, in state funds from the University of Wisconsin System, which includes 13 four-year universities and enrolls some 180,000 students. Mr. Walker’s plan would also take the unusual step of removing the university system from direct state control to a “quasi-governmental” authority that could act autonomously on issues of personnel, procurement, capital projects and tuition...
How Koch-Republican Governors Rob Pensions And Slash Wages  Politicususa   … In states like Kansas, and New Jersey, as just two examples, Republicans created revenue shortfalls due to substantial tax cuts for the rich and to fund the tax cuts refuse to make regular payments into the public employee pension funds. Underfunding, or not funding at all, pension funds is a deliberate plot to create ‘pension fund crises’ that gives Republicans a reason to cut retiree benefits under the guise of keeping the retirement fund solvent. It is worth noting again and again, taxpayers do not pay for public employees’ pensions, and the lack of a pension funds’ solvency is not because employees are not paying their fair share...
War on Workers
Wall Street Pays Bankers to Work in Government And It Doesn't Want Anyone to Know  New Republic   …itigroup is one of three Wall Street banks attempting to keep hidden their practice of paying executives multimillion-dollar awards for entering government service. In letters delivered to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the last month, Citi, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley seek exemption from a shareholder proposal, filed by the AFL-CIO labor coalition, which would force them to identify all executives eligible for these financial rewards, and the specific dollar amounts at stake…
Unemployment Has Changed. Unemployment Benefits Haven’t.  FiveThirtyEight   ...Nearly 3 million Americans have been out of work for more than six months, the traditional definition of long-term unemployment. That’s down from a peak of 6.8 million in 2010, but as a share of total joblessness, long-term unemployment remains higher today than at the peak of any previous recession. Moreover, the problem appears to be at least partially structural: The amount of time the typical person remains out of work has been trending upward for decades...
Robot Cars Won’t Rescue Uber From Its Clash With Drivers (opinion)  Wired   ...Uber released a survey recently that found most of its drivers were happy, but enough of them are unhappy enough to sue. At least until robot cars hit the roads en masse, Uber will have to figure out a way to keep the drivers on which its business depends. Or else the courts will...
Worker Killed In Backhoe Accident At Texarkana Jobsite  Tyler Morning Telegraph   ...A construction worker has been killed in a backhoe accident at a jobsite in Northeast Texas...
Miscellaneous
Metro-North Service Resumes Amid Investigation Into Deadly Collision  ABC News   …Metro-North train service resumed this morning at the site of Tuesday’s deadly collision between an SUV and passenger train, an accident that killed the SUV’s driver and five passengers...
Extreme cold, ice reveal faults in U.S. northeast mass transit  Reuters   …Wicked winter weather gripping the northeastern United States exposed weaknesses in mass transit systems from Boston to New York, with commuters stranded on icy train platforms amid delays stretching into Tuesday...

Today's Teamster News 02.04.15

Teamsters
Clark County School District Workers Choose Teamsters Local 14  teamster.org   …The support staff workers at the Clark County School District (CCSD) in southern Nevada voted to join the Teamsters Union today. CCSD workers voted 71 percent in favor of joining Teamsters Local 14 in Las Vegas...
California Truckers Win $2 Million In Wage Theft Suit  Yahoo News   ...Seven Los Angeles-area truckers have won a $2 million claim against an international shipping company accused of stealing their wages by improperly classifying them as independent contractors and charging them to lease its trucks to drive...
Sysco At Standstill With FTC Over U.S. Foods Buyout  Wall Street Journal   ...The stalemate comes despite Sysco’s proposed agreement announced Monday with rival Performance Food Group Co. to sell the company 11 U.S. Foods distribution centers with a combined $4.6 billion in annual revenue. That is more than double the $2 billion in revenue that Sysco originally planned to divest to win regulators’ blessing...
CP Rail Encourages Office Workers To Learn How To Drive Trains  CBC News   ...The Teamsters union said the railway may be making preparations in case of a work stoppage. "I have received several reports recently that CP Rail is phoning up retired railroad workers and asking them if they will come in to be replacement workers in the event of a strike or a lockout," Finnson said...
Robert P. Sullivan  Sioux City Journal   …Robert P. Sullivan, 91, of Sioux City died Monday, Feb. 2, 2015, at Countryside Retirement Center in Sioux City…He was employed as a truck driver by Sioux City Transportation for 25 years and retired in 1982. Bob was a member of the Teamsters Union and the Teamsters Retirement Group...
Trade
Japan, U.S. Resume Working-Level TPP Talks  Japan Times   ...Japan and the United States on Monday resumed working-level talks on the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, aiming to resolve bilateral disagreements on the scope of tariff reduction on farm products and autos, informed sources said...
TPP and Provisions to Stop Currency Management: Not That Hard  Economic Policy Institute   …currency management is a key cause of persistent U.S. trade deficits, and it is widespread. Given that our trade deficit drags on demand growth, and given that generating sufficient demand to reach full employment is likely to be a key economic problem in coming years, this is an important issue to address. Further, given that U.S. tariffs are extremely low, it’s hard to think of any other issue besides currency management that could possibly matter more for trade flows, so excluding it from the TPP seems odd. And yet many TPP proponents are extremely reluctant to include binding tools to stop currency management in the treaty...
TISA: Leaked document uncovers secret discussions that undermine access to health care  Third World Health Aid   …A secret discussion note for the Trade in Service Agreement (TISA) – leaked today by Associated Whistle-Blowing Press- uncovers that negotiators discuss reforms to the national health care systems in favour of international trade and the commercialisation of health care. This proposal, made by Turkey, has been discussed by the member states of the EU during the TISA negotiations that took place in Geneva in September 2014...
State Battles
Unions crowd Capitol for Right-to-Work hearings  Missouri Times   …The same day that conservative mouthpiece Ed Martin announced he would not be returning as Chairman of the Missouri Republican Party, Martin’s own legacy lived on as several of his supporters held hearings on their bills to make Missouri the 25th “Right-to-Work” state...
Experts discuss right-to-work legislation [VIDEO]  New Mexico Political Report   … the Taft-Hartley Act already makes it illegal to force employees to join a worker’s union. What’s not illegal in New Mexico is deducting money from an employee’s paycheck for pay negotiations and health care. That practice is known as Fair Share, and union supporters say it’s necessary to keep unions financially solvent and that unions provide a service to all workers...
"Right to Work" legislation stirs up debate among lawmakers, local businesses  WQOW.com   …Republican lawmakers and Wisconsin businesses are clocked in for discussion on proposed legislation. "To be honest, we're a little concerned about the unintended consequences that of ‘Right to Work'. Initially, there's going to be a distraction instead of our people taking care of our clients," President of Market & Johnson Jerry Shea said. "They could potentially be focusing on the effects of this."…
Rauner's 'right-to-work' proposal stirs debate  The Times   ...Last week, Rauner took aim at unions by stating one of his top priorities is passing legislation to create "right-to-work zones." Rauner envisions these "zones" to be set up in economically depressed areas sanctioned by the state where local officials could decide whether union participation and fees would be voluntary for local workers…
Minimum Wage Bills Rejected In House Committee  Albuquerque Journal   ...A Republican-controlled House committee on Monday spiked Democrats’ proposals to raise New Mexico’s minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. It was a strong signal that Republicans and their allies in the business community aren’t open to an increase of that size. But with the 60-day session barely two weeks old, the issue is far from settled...
Wisconsin Union Membership Drop Among Highest For States Without Right-To-Work Law  Cap Times   ...Of 26 states that don't have a right-to-work law in place, Wisconsin had the third-highest percentage drop in union membership between 2010 and 2014...
Arguments Before the Michigan Supreme Court on Right-to-Work Law Beside the Point (opinion)  Truthout   ...Let's not pretend that the Michigan Supreme Court is deciding whether or not the right-to-work law applies to public employees. The court is deciding on what it means to say that American workers are free...
War on Workers
Opponents of mandatory union fees hope Supreme Court will side with them  McClatchy   …Her case could pose a major threat to public-sector unions whose clout grew in the 1970s after the Supreme Court upheld laws requiring all employees who benefit from collective bargaining to contribute to unions...
The Big Lie: 5.6% Unemployment  Gallup   … If you, a family member or anyone is unemployed and has subsequently given up on finding a job -- if you are so hopelessly out of work that you've stopped looking over the past four weeks -- the Department of Labor doesn't count you as unemployed...
Ashley Furniture faces $1.76M in fines after OSHA finds more than 1,000 worker injuries at Wisconsin site in past 36 months  U.S. Department of Labor   … In a three-and-a-half year period, 4,500 employees at Ashley Furniture Industries Inc., in Arcadia, experienced more than 1,000 work-related injuries. One worker became another terrible statistic when he lost three fingers in July 2014 while operating a dangerous woodworking machine without required safety mechanisms in place. Of the injuries recorded, more than 100 were caused by similar machinery...
Labor charges filed at Taj Mahal casino; Revel in turmoil  Associated Press   …Fights over the fates of two bankrupt Atlantic City casinos heated up Tuesday as the main casino workers’ union filed 27 charges of unfair labor practice against the Trump Taj Mahal’s owner and Revel urged a judge not to delay its sale any further...
Worker Killed When Air Tank Explodes  Chicago Tribune   ...The accident happened around 9:30 p.m. Monday at the Maac Machinery company at 590 Tower Blvd. in the west suburb, according to the Carol Stream Fire Department...
Worker Crushed By Large Trailer At Local Facility Dies  KWTX.com   …A worker died Tuesday after he was crushed by a large trailer while performing maintenance on a vehicle at an energy services company facility outside of Hillsboro...
Miscellaneous
Inflation Well Short Of Fed’s 2% Target  Wall Street Journal   ...The price index for personal consumption expenditures was up 0.7% in December from a year earlier, the Commerce Department said Monday. That was the smallest 12-month gain for consumer prices since October 2009, and it marks the 32nd consecutive month below the Fed’s 2% inflation target...
U.S. Consumers In Rainy-Day Mode  Wall Street Journal   ...Personal spending, which measures outlays for everything from hardware to health care, decreased a seasonally adjusted 0.3% from the prior month, the Commerce Department said Monday, the first such fall since January and the biggest decline in more than five years. But Americans’ savings rate rose to 4.9% in December from 4.3% the prior month as Americans set aside an additional $75 billion for a rainy day...

Today's Teamster News 02.03.15

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

We've had 20 years of broken promises from trade agreements. Let's not have any more.

Pretty soon the world will learn how badly the U.S. government broke its promises about the trade deal with South Korea.

There isn't any way the treaty known as KORUS lived up to its advance billing. We were promised it would increase U.S. exports from $10 billion to $11 billion.

After two years, U.S. exports to South Korea fell by $3.1 billion.

We were told it would support 70,000 American jobs from increased goods exports alone.

After two years, it cost 60,000 U.S. jobs, most of them good-paying jobs in manufacturing.

It is now extremely unlikely the United States recovered from those losses and met the promises made three years ago by KORUS supporters.

Same with NAFTA.

NAFTA was supposed to create 170,000 new jobs.

After nearly 20 years, NAFTA cost 1 million jobs.

Caterpillar, Inc. lobbied for NAFTA claiming it would stop the company from outsourcing jobs. By 2008, Caterpillar laid off 338 workers in Illinois and moved their jobs to Mexico, while 105 workers lost their jobs at Caterpillar's Georgia plant because of imports from Mexico.

How about Colombia? Remember how a trade deal with Colombia was going to end the violence that made it the worst country in the world to be a trade unionist?

That didn't happen either. The violence in Colombia got worse. There were four more union leaders murdered in 2013 than in 2012.

Remember CAFTA, the Central American Free Trade Agreement? It was supposed to raise the standard of living for Central Americans.

It didn't.

In El Salvador, unemployment increased by 71 percent. Unescorted children -- CAFTA kids --  created a crisis at the U.S. border as they tried to escape the violence in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.

Now we're hearing more promises about new trade deals: TPP, TTIP, TISA. The Economic Policy Institute issues a blunt warning:

Presidents of both parties from Clinton through Obama have sold free trade agreements on the basis of export growth. But free trade agreements impact a lot more than exports—they increase imports and encourage outsourcing, which means fewer American jobs. 

We should stop negotiating new free trade agreements, and work to fix the ones we have. The United States needs to base its projections on the real impact of free trade agreements—including effects on exports and imports, outsourcing, wages, and employment.

Today's Teamster News 02.02.15

Teamsters
Battle between Anheuser-Busch and craft beer makers spilling over into Kentucky legislature  Kentucky.com   …While craft brewers, such as Lexington's Country Boy and West Sixth Brewery, have the support of Lexington-based distributor Kentucky Eagle, the Kentucky Guild of Brewers and the National Beer Wholesalers Association, AB InBev has the backing of Greater Louisville Inc. (Louisville's chamber of commerce) and the Teamsters...
Trade
The Secret Trade Deal That Allows US Corporations To Outsource Even More Jobs Abroad  Sky Valley Chronicle …The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is being called the largest and worst trade deal "you've never heard of." And why haven't you heard about something that may have a major impact on your life and your job? Curiously the mainstream news media has been eerily silent when it comes to this story...
The Global Fight Against Corporate Rule  The Nation   …Activists are challenging rules that grant corporations the right to sue governments...
Why we're protesting against TTIP  Herald Scotland   …This week a trainload of protestors will be heading for Brussels to raise their voices against TTIP - the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership - which is beginning its crucial next round of negotiations. It's a big business deal between the European Union and the United States that will determine how goods are traded across the world…
State Battles
Union membership nearing pre-right-to-work totals in Indiana  News and Tribune   ... Despite becoming a right-to-work state, union memberships rose by about 50,000 in Indiana from 2013 to 2014, a study released last week by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed. But opponents of the law still believe the true impact of the legislation can’t yet be measured...
War on Workers
Bernie Sanders Shows How Reagan Helped Destroy The Middle Class  Huffington Post   … in the decades after World War II, the bottom 90 percent of the country captured most of the growth in income during rebounds from tough times. But then came the Reagan era, and what George H. W. Bush once dubbed "voodoo economics." After Reagan implemented his policies, the top 10 percent grabbed nearly 80 percent of the growth in incomes coming out of the oil crises of the late '70s...
Boomers Vindicated in "Aging Work Force" Myth  Economic Populist   …the decline in the work force was mostly due to a lack of jobs being created (for those who wanted to join the labor force)...
National Oil Bargaining Talks Break Down: USW Calls for Work Stoppage at Nine Oil Refineries, Plants  United Steelworkers   …“Shell refused to provide us with a counter-offer and left the bargaining table,” said USW International President Leo W. Gerard. “We had no choice but to give notice of a work stoppage.”...
First U.S. doctor's strike in decades  San Diego Union-Tribune   ...A handful of doctors providing medical services to students at UC San Diego — and their colleagues at nine other University of California campuses — went on strike Tuesday...
Can Fast Food Afford a $15 Minimum Wage Without Cutting Jobs?  naked capitalism   …Having a minimum wage that was more like a living wage would reduce employee churn, offsetting some of the cost of the pay increase. Costco has demonstrated that this approach works...
Worker killed in accident at Comanche Generating Station in Pueblo  KOAA  …A Denver man died in an industrial accident at the Comanche Generating Station in Pueblo police confirmed Sunday night. According to Pueblo police, workers were moving a large transformer when the contractor got caught up in the equipment…
Miscellaneous
Ratings Now Cut Both Ways, So Don’t Sass Your Uber Driver  New York Times   …People routinely use the Internet to review services from plumbers to hairdressers. Now the tables are turned. Companies are rating their customers, shunning those who do not make the grade...

Today's Teamster News 02.01.15

Teamsters
‘Right to work’ fight coming to Capitol  Charleston Gazette-Mail   …en Hall, president of Teamsters Local 175 based in South Charleston, said, “This doesn’t make any sense. It is a very divisive issue that is not going to create a single job. When companies are discussing whether to locate in West Virginia, the right to work issue is one of their lesser concerns. There are many, many issues they look at before that...”
Trade
Don't Trade Away Our Health (opinion)  Don't Trade Away Our Health   …A secretive group met behind closed doors in New York this week. What they decided may lead to higher drug prices for you and hundreds of millions around the world.,,
State Battles
Right-to-work clears first hurdle  Albuquerque Journal     ...A bill that would make New Mexico the nation’s 25th state with a right-to-work law cleared its first House hurdle Thursday, despite opposition from labor union leaders and members who vowed to keep fighting the high-profile measure...
Governor to find out if Illinois is ready for 'right to work'  Crain's Chicago Business   …Imagine the uproar if a governor proposed a law allowing local governments to tell their residents that paying monthly cable television bills now is purely optional.,,But that's pretty much what Gov. Bruce Rauner is proposing for labor unions...
Right-to-work: smokescreen for corporate interests (opinion)  People's World   …RTW is nothing more than a smoke screen for big business, anti-worker interests fixated on maximizing profits. They want to lower wages and cut benefits by weakening unions. It's as simple as that...
War on Workers
The Super Wealthy See Pitchforks and Guillotines in Their Future  naked capitalism   …The super wealthy know that the governance structures around them are breaking down, but rather than take measures to shore them up, they are be retreating into concrete bunkers…
Protect and Strengthen Medicare and Medicaid Programs for Another 50 Years  Moyers & Company   … access to health care is continually threatened by program cuts, and millions of beneficiaries have trouble accessing the care they are entitled to because the programs don’t always work as well as they could...
Two Judges Who Get It About Banks  New York Times   …On Monday, a judge in a state court in Missouri ordered Wells to pay over $3 million in punitive damages and other costs for abusing a borrower. Then, on Thursday, a judge in Federal Bankruptcy Court in suburban New York ruled on behalf of another borrower, concluding that there was substantial evidence Wells Fargo forged documents when it foreclosed on a property...
Miscellaneous
Union Benefits: $207 More Dollars a Week  AFSCME   …That’s $10,000 more each year, according to the latest report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. No wonder studies show union members are happier...