Our grass-roots campaign against Fast Track is sidetracking the legislation as Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch says it could be delayed until April.
Let’s keep up the pressure with another one-hour Twitterstorm tomorrow, starting at 1 pm and using the #FightFastTrack hashtag.
Sample Tweets for Thursday, March 5 #FightFastTrack Twitterstorm 1-2 pm Eastern
Please RT to support our Twitterstorm to #FightFastTrack for the #TPP! Thursday, March 5, 1-2 pm.
Just like Freddie, NAFTA is back, only worse. This time they’re calling it #TPP #FightFastTrack pic.twitter.com/1Im0wXXlTK
This is what more American cities will look like if we do not #FightFastTrack pic.twitter.com/NIkwDKegKT
Map of jobs lost and lives ruined after NAFTA and WTO. Don't let #TPP make it worse. #FightFastTrack pic.twitter.com/nksJ7a7dSz #noFastTrack
Do you like GOOD JOBS? In your HOMETOWN? Then you must #FightFastTrack http://www.epi.org/blog/business-roundtable-study/ #TPP
Cher is a rock star when it comes to trade policy! #FightFastTrack for the #TPP pic.twitter.com/vWtquOW9nR
3 out of 4 Oregon voters oppose #TPP. @RonWyden risks his seat if he doesn’t #FightFastTrack pic.twitter.com/iV8hJpcJ55
There's nothing sweet enough to make lost jobs and lower wages from #TPP palatable http://on.wsj.com/18iJEvf via @WSJ #FightFastTrack
Hear Sen. Elizabeth Warren speak out against Fast Track for the #TPP http://www.c-span.org/video/?c4529461/sen-warren-speaks-us-trade-policy
pic.twitter.com/KDfVJlwpiD #FightFastTrack
Hear Sen. Sherrod Brown speak out against Fast Track for the #TPP http://www.c-span.org/video/?c4529468/sen-brown-speaks-us-trade-policy #FightFastTrack pic.twitter.com/ZAonwZNCsk
Sen. Bernie Sanders: The largest trade agreement in the history of the USA received virtually no news coverage on the major news networks. Amazing. http://www.c-span.org/video/?c4529464/sen-sanders-speaks-us-trade-policy #FightFastTrack
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Today's Teamster News 03.04.15
Teamsters
Teamsters ratify four-year contract at AMR nwLaborPress.org …Members of Teamsters Portland Local 223 and Vancouver Local 58 ratified a new four-year collective bargaining agreement at American Medical Response (AMR). The 450-member bargaining unit provides ambulance service to Multnomah and Clackamas counties in Oregon, and Clark and Cowlitz counties in Washington...
Bus Drivers Ratify New Contract With First Student WTOC ...After several long months of negotiations, Savannah First Student employees represented by Teamsters have overwhelmingly ratified their new contract, 117 to four, according to a spokesperson from Teamsters 728...
Teamsters Want Mexican Trucking Row Revisited In TPP Law360 …The International Brotherhood of Teamsters on Monday publicly called on U.S. trade officials to use the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks to reopen deliberations on Mexico's cross-border trucking services, blasting the administration's move to open the border to Mexican truckers earlier this year...
Teamsters To Protest Republic Services Teamsters Local 728 ...On Wed., March 4 at 12 p.m., sanitation workers who work for Republic Services, Inc. [NYSE: RSG] will hold an informational picket to educate the public on the company's human rights violations. Workers at Republic allege that Republic has broken federal laws that protect workers' rights, by unilaterally changing pay and working conditions without negotiating with their union...
S.F. politician calls for labor peace at bus stops USA Today …With labor unions in negotiations with the transportation companies that ferry Silicon Valley tech workers, a San Francisco legislator is calling on the city to consider "labor harmony" when granting permits to corporate shuttles...
Coming detraction: Tax credit ax? Boston Herald …Sean O’Brien, president of Teamsters Local 25, drivers for the movie biz, [said] “Through the tax credit, we have created an industry where people can make a good living and provide for their families,” he said...
Miller, State Attorneys General Join FTC In Challenging Sysco-US Foods Merger Storm Lake Pilot Tribune ...Attorney General Tom Miller and a bipartisan group of state attorneys general today joined the Federal Trade Commission's administrative complaint challenging a proposed merger between food distribution giants Sysco and US Foods...
Canadian National Railway and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, representing rail traffic controllers, reach a collective agreement Yahoo! News ...The collective agreement covering about 185 rail traffic controllers expired on December 31, 2014...
Trade
Japanese official: Adding currency rules would kill Pacific trade pact Reuters …Any effort to add rules against currency cheating in a 12-nation Pacific trade pact would mean the end of negotiations, a senior Japanese negotiator said on Tuesday...
TPP Free Trade Agreement Would Increase Cost of Medicine In Mexico, Peru, Chile, And Other Countries Latin Times …TPP -- the Trans-PacificPartnership -- is making waves from Peru to Australia, concerning public health officials and consumer advocates. TPP, which would expand trade in 11 Pacific Rim countries, includes draft provisions for unprecedented expansion of pharmaceutical patent protection that could drive up the cost of medicine...
Let's Debate The Trans-Pacific Partnership -- History's Largest Trade Deal -- Before OKing It (opinion) Los Angeles Times ...If you haven't heard much about the TPP, that's part of the problem. It would be the largest trade deal in history — involving countries stretching from Chile to Japan, representing 792 million people and about 40% of the world economy. Yet it's been devised in secret, with a disproportionate amount of advice coming from corporations and Wall Street. This secrecy is the norm since NAFTA...
State Battles
Gov. Rauner asks community to back right to work in 'voter empowerment agenda' address Chicago Sun Times ...Rauner, who has in recent weeks focused on an agenda to allow “right to work” zones in targeted areas of the state, spent much of his address selling that point. It had one Illinois union saying Rauner held a “political obsession with crushing the unions that advocate for the middle class.”...
What a Right-to-Work Law Could Mean For Wisconsin Unions WUWM ...nion membership would likely fall in Wisconsin, if the state enacts such a measure It’s the trend, according to Cheryl Maranto. She’s a management professor at Marquette University. Maranto says union numbers tend to drop in right-to-work states, partly because many unions think it’s futile to expand into new workplaces there...
Minnesota Jobs Committee chair working to bring businesses from Wisconsin to Minnesota State Representative Pat Garofalo ...In light of legislation passed by the Wisconsin State Senate and being debated in the Wisconsin State Assembly that would make Wisconsin a "Right To Work" state, Job Growth and Energy Affordability Committee Chairman Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington, has extended an invitation to two Wisconsin businesses offering assistance relocating their headquarters to Minnesota...
Right To Work For Less: Gov. Scott Walker Wants To Lower Worker Pay In Wisconsin (opinion) Washington Post ...Look, there are no perfect institutions in America, and unions are no exception. But they exist for a critically important reason: to balance out the inherent power of employers over workers and, thus, to enforce a more equitable distribution of the fruits of growth. In this regard, it is not a coincidence that as unions have diminished in numbers and power, the earnings of the middle class have stagnated...
Bill restricting union dues collection fails but not dead yet in Pa. Senate PennLive ...An attempt to pass a controversial amendment to a bill that would restrict union dues collection from state and school employees' paychecks narrowly failed in the state Senate on Monday. But most likely, we haven't seen the last of this amendment to this so-called paycheck protection bill...
Common Construction Repeal May Require Further Study Indiana Public Media ...The Indiana House easily approved legislation repealing the state’s common construction wage, and the bill’s support in the Senate looks strong. That means pushing the issue to summer study committee could be opponents’ best hope...
Bill Would Reestablish N.H. Minimum Wage, Raise It To $10 An Hour By 2018 NHPR ...Under the bill backed by seven Democratic state Senators, the increased minimum wage would take effect at the beginning of 2016. The bill calls for further increases to $9 an hour in 2017 and $10 an hour in 2018...
War on Workers
NLRB Election Rules Near Test in Congress; Changes Said to ‘Streamline' Board Process Bloomberg BNA ...Congress is about to take up proposals to block the National Labor Relations Board from implementing changes in its representation case rules and procedures set to take effect April 14...
Being a poor corporate citizen is hurting McDonald’s Washington Post …McDonald’s, that once-great American symbol of ingenuity and ruthless efficiency, is having some major difficulties, as its plummeting profits and recent C-suite shake up can attest…
Accident In The Zoo Interchange: 33-Year-Old Construction Worker Killed; Investigation Underway WITI ...A construction worker was killed while working on the Zoo Interchange project near 91st Street in Milwaukee on Saturday morning, February 28th...
Worker Killed At Natchitoches Parish Paper Mill KSLA ...Natchitoches Parish authorities have confirmed with KSLA News 12 that a man was killed in a paper mill accident...
Miscellaneous
Maine Bill Takes On NSA Spying With Transpartisan Support Tenth Amendment Center ...A bill filed in the Maine Senate late last week represents a transpartisan effort taking on the surveillance state. The legislation would not only support efforts to turn off NSA’s water in states where a physical NSA facility is located, but would also have immediate practical effects on how surveillance is used in some situations...
Teamsters ratify four-year contract at AMR nwLaborPress.org …Members of Teamsters Portland Local 223 and Vancouver Local 58 ratified a new four-year collective bargaining agreement at American Medical Response (AMR). The 450-member bargaining unit provides ambulance service to Multnomah and Clackamas counties in Oregon, and Clark and Cowlitz counties in Washington...
Bus Drivers Ratify New Contract With First Student WTOC ...After several long months of negotiations, Savannah First Student employees represented by Teamsters have overwhelmingly ratified their new contract, 117 to four, according to a spokesperson from Teamsters 728...
Teamsters Want Mexican Trucking Row Revisited In TPP Law360 …The International Brotherhood of Teamsters on Monday publicly called on U.S. trade officials to use the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks to reopen deliberations on Mexico's cross-border trucking services, blasting the administration's move to open the border to Mexican truckers earlier this year...
Teamsters To Protest Republic Services Teamsters Local 728 ...On Wed., March 4 at 12 p.m., sanitation workers who work for Republic Services, Inc. [NYSE: RSG] will hold an informational picket to educate the public on the company's human rights violations. Workers at Republic allege that Republic has broken federal laws that protect workers' rights, by unilaterally changing pay and working conditions without negotiating with their union...
S.F. politician calls for labor peace at bus stops USA Today …With labor unions in negotiations with the transportation companies that ferry Silicon Valley tech workers, a San Francisco legislator is calling on the city to consider "labor harmony" when granting permits to corporate shuttles...
Coming detraction: Tax credit ax? Boston Herald …Sean O’Brien, president of Teamsters Local 25, drivers for the movie biz, [said] “Through the tax credit, we have created an industry where people can make a good living and provide for their families,” he said...
Miller, State Attorneys General Join FTC In Challenging Sysco-US Foods Merger Storm Lake Pilot Tribune ...Attorney General Tom Miller and a bipartisan group of state attorneys general today joined the Federal Trade Commission's administrative complaint challenging a proposed merger between food distribution giants Sysco and US Foods...
Canadian National Railway and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, representing rail traffic controllers, reach a collective agreement Yahoo! News ...The collective agreement covering about 185 rail traffic controllers expired on December 31, 2014...
Trade
Japanese official: Adding currency rules would kill Pacific trade pact Reuters …Any effort to add rules against currency cheating in a 12-nation Pacific trade pact would mean the end of negotiations, a senior Japanese negotiator said on Tuesday...
TPP Free Trade Agreement Would Increase Cost of Medicine In Mexico, Peru, Chile, And Other Countries Latin Times …TPP -- the Trans-PacificPartnership -- is making waves from Peru to Australia, concerning public health officials and consumer advocates. TPP, which would expand trade in 11 Pacific Rim countries, includes draft provisions for unprecedented expansion of pharmaceutical patent protection that could drive up the cost of medicine...
Let's Debate The Trans-Pacific Partnership -- History's Largest Trade Deal -- Before OKing It (opinion) Los Angeles Times ...If you haven't heard much about the TPP, that's part of the problem. It would be the largest trade deal in history — involving countries stretching from Chile to Japan, representing 792 million people and about 40% of the world economy. Yet it's been devised in secret, with a disproportionate amount of advice coming from corporations and Wall Street. This secrecy is the norm since NAFTA...
State Battles
Gov. Rauner asks community to back right to work in 'voter empowerment agenda' address Chicago Sun Times ...Rauner, who has in recent weeks focused on an agenda to allow “right to work” zones in targeted areas of the state, spent much of his address selling that point. It had one Illinois union saying Rauner held a “political obsession with crushing the unions that advocate for the middle class.”...
What a Right-to-Work Law Could Mean For Wisconsin Unions WUWM ...nion membership would likely fall in Wisconsin, if the state enacts such a measure It’s the trend, according to Cheryl Maranto. She’s a management professor at Marquette University. Maranto says union numbers tend to drop in right-to-work states, partly because many unions think it’s futile to expand into new workplaces there...
Minnesota Jobs Committee chair working to bring businesses from Wisconsin to Minnesota State Representative Pat Garofalo ...In light of legislation passed by the Wisconsin State Senate and being debated in the Wisconsin State Assembly that would make Wisconsin a "Right To Work" state, Job Growth and Energy Affordability Committee Chairman Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington, has extended an invitation to two Wisconsin businesses offering assistance relocating their headquarters to Minnesota...
Right To Work For Less: Gov. Scott Walker Wants To Lower Worker Pay In Wisconsin (opinion) Washington Post ...Look, there are no perfect institutions in America, and unions are no exception. But they exist for a critically important reason: to balance out the inherent power of employers over workers and, thus, to enforce a more equitable distribution of the fruits of growth. In this regard, it is not a coincidence that as unions have diminished in numbers and power, the earnings of the middle class have stagnated...
Bill restricting union dues collection fails but not dead yet in Pa. Senate PennLive ...An attempt to pass a controversial amendment to a bill that would restrict union dues collection from state and school employees' paychecks narrowly failed in the state Senate on Monday. But most likely, we haven't seen the last of this amendment to this so-called paycheck protection bill...
Common Construction Repeal May Require Further Study Indiana Public Media ...The Indiana House easily approved legislation repealing the state’s common construction wage, and the bill’s support in the Senate looks strong. That means pushing the issue to summer study committee could be opponents’ best hope...
Bill Would Reestablish N.H. Minimum Wage, Raise It To $10 An Hour By 2018 NHPR ...Under the bill backed by seven Democratic state Senators, the increased minimum wage would take effect at the beginning of 2016. The bill calls for further increases to $9 an hour in 2017 and $10 an hour in 2018...
War on Workers
NLRB Election Rules Near Test in Congress; Changes Said to ‘Streamline' Board Process Bloomberg BNA ...Congress is about to take up proposals to block the National Labor Relations Board from implementing changes in its representation case rules and procedures set to take effect April 14...
Being a poor corporate citizen is hurting McDonald’s Washington Post …McDonald’s, that once-great American symbol of ingenuity and ruthless efficiency, is having some major difficulties, as its plummeting profits and recent C-suite shake up can attest…
Accident In The Zoo Interchange: 33-Year-Old Construction Worker Killed; Investigation Underway WITI ...A construction worker was killed while working on the Zoo Interchange project near 91st Street in Milwaukee on Saturday morning, February 28th...
Worker Killed At Natchitoches Parish Paper Mill KSLA ...Natchitoches Parish authorities have confirmed with KSLA News 12 that a man was killed in a paper mill accident...
Miscellaneous
Maine Bill Takes On NSA Spying With Transpartisan Support Tenth Amendment Center ...A bill filed in the Maine Senate late last week represents a transpartisan effort taking on the surveillance state. The legislation would not only support efforts to turn off NSA’s water in states where a physical NSA facility is located, but would also have immediate practical effects on how surveillance is used in some situations...
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Dispatch from West Virginia: Feb. 26-Feb. 28
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| West Virginia workers packed the gallery to the House chamber. |
It had been a long, hard-fought week by the time Senate Bill 361 -- the legislation seeking to lower West Virginia’s prevailing wage -- arrived on the House floor Saturday afternoon. Workers continued their strong presence following the bill's passage in committee Wednesday, returning to the Statehouse again Thursday and Friday to line the halls and committee rooms in hopes of lobbying House delegates to vote against the anti-worker measure.
West Virginia Building Trades members continued to try to thwart the bill’s passage. Back in my hotel room I often catch a commercial they produced to run during the session, which now airs several times a day during the morning and evening news.
Hundreds of construction workers and union supporters swarmed the Capitol to attend Saturday’s vote in the biggest show of force since the February 16 rally on the Statehouse steps. Inside the House chamber, the galleries were crammed with construction workers, who looked down as delegates held a heated three-hour debate on the floor below.
Many of our friends in the Legislature passionately spoke against the bill on the House floor. Some explained the history of the prevailing wage and its role providing for the state's middle class. Some dug deeper, questioning the notorious architects of the bill by referencing the special interests involved in authoring the bill's language.
But of all the great speeches given that afternoon, the strongest case against SB361 came from Del. Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio. “They don’t want it -- the employers, and the employees surely don’t want this. Who wants this? Who’s pulling the strings down here?” he said, adding, “We’re here for the people of West Virginia, here in the people’s chamber -- not for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.”
Del. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, pledged his support to the West Virginia workforce: “Let me tell you what these people want,” he said. “They want to be treated fairly. They want a nice home to live in, and they want to send their kids to college.”
Despite our hope that state lawmakers would come to their senses and vote down the measure, the West Virginia House of Delegates voted 56-39 in favor of passing SB361.
“Everybody was hopeful, but everybody kind of knew the way it was going to go with the Republicans,” said one union worker following the vote.
As the Senate prepares to vote on SB361 for final passage later this week, West Virginia unions will step up efforts with the Building Trades and friends in the Legislature to stop this bill from becoming law.
Today's Teamster News 03.03.15
Wisconsin Teamsters Continue the Fight Against Right to Work TeamsterNation ...Wisconsin's indefatigable Teamsters were out in the cold wind in the state capital on Saturday, Sunday and today to protest the probable passage of a right-to-work (RTW) bill...
Hoffa to USTR and Administration: Reopen Mexican Cross-Border Trucking Issue teamster.org ... In a letter to United States Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa called on him and the administration to protect highway safety and reopen negotiations over Mexican cross-border trucking as part of the ongoing Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks...
New Data Add Fuel to Arguments Against the Trans-Pacific Partnership Economic Policy Institute …New data released this month show that the U.S. trade deficit with the countries in the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) increased to an unexpectedly large $265.1 billion in 2014, as shown in the updated graph, below. This increase is further proof that U.S. workers don’t need another job-killing trade deal, which would undoubtedly grow the trade deficit even more...
Using Hokey Numbers and Neon Lies to Sell TPP (opinion) WHAV …TPP is not some sort of futuristic flying machine, but yet another global trade scam coming at us like a volcanic eruption straight out of hell. This thing is a “partnership” of, by, and for global corporations—similar to NAFTA, only much, much, much bigger and far more destructive both to the middle class and to our people’s sovereignty...
We need a voice: Oppose ‘fast track’ for the TPP (opinion) The Hill ...There’s a reason why nearly 600 national, state and local groups - including the national NAACP – signed onto a letter opposing “fast track” last fall. The people, particularly black, white, and Latino workers in North Carolina and across the south, need a voice in policies that affect our families...
TPP: Warren Versus Zients. Warren Wins (opinion) Huffington Post …Jeff Zients, Director of the National Economic Council, …is parsing words. ISDS in fact allows multinationals to sue governments when they pass legislation after the enactment of the trade agreement that harms future corporate profits. The key word is "after," and all Zients is saying is that current regulations in the US, Vietnam or the other TPP nations would not be vulnerable…
State Battles
Scott Walker to sign anti-union bill that will make inequality worse The Hill ...Instead of acting in the interests of ordinary Wisconsinites, Walker has swallowed hook, line and sinker the anti-union extremism of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which is linked to the Koch brothers...
Bill Black: Scott Walker’s War on Workers and the Wall Street Journal’s Cleaned-Up Coverage (opinion) naked capitalism …Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has channeled his inner Mitt Romney and written off an immense swath of Americans as people he would not represent if he were elected President...
Oakland's Minimum Wage Gets Big Hike Starting Monday ABC7 News ... The current $9 an hour minimum wage will increase nearly 36 percent to $12.25 an hour. It will be the highest minimum wage in the Bay Area...
War on Workers
How Student Debt Stunts Financial Growth The Atlantic ...Analysis reveals that 34 percent of students with just $5,000 of outstanding debt—hardly “high”—default on their student loans. Student debt imperils far more than just individual borrowers’ monthly budgets. It erodes higher education’s ability to deliver on the promise that those who have similar abilities and work equally hard will achieve similar outcomes...
The Suddenly Hot Job Market for Workers Over 50 Time ...The latest data show the unemployment rate for those over age 55 stands at just 4.1%, compared with 5.7% for the total population and a steep 18.8% for teens...
Apple, Google workers head to court on $415 million poaching settlement Reuters ...Workers accusing Apple (AAPL.O), Google (GOOGL.O) and two other Silicon Valley companies of conspiring to hold down salaries will try on Monday to win approval of a $415 million settlement from a U.S. judge who rejected an earlier deal as too low...
Construction worker killed at Rochester hotel site Associated Press …Authorities say a construction worker died after a large metal attachment from a forklift fell on his head in Rochester...
Worker killed by falling telehandler attachment in Minnesota Equipment World …While working on a hotel jobsite in Minnesota, a worker was killed when an attachment from a telehandler suddenly fell on top of him...
Miscellaneous
China Monthly Box Office Tops U.S. for First Time Ever The Hollywood Reporter ...Chinese box-office revenue edged ahead of the United States in February for the first time ever as a record Lunar New Year bonanza brought in $650 million in the second-largest movie market, according to data from research firm Entgroup...
Monday, March 2, 2015
Wisconsin Teamsters continue the fight against right to work
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| Local 344 President Bill Carroll. |
Wisconsin's indefatigable Teamsters were out in the cold wind in the state capital on Saturday, Sunday and today to protest the probable passage of a right-to-work (RTW) bill. That's not all they're doing, though. They are giving speeches, training stewards, holding craft meetings, testifying before the Senate and the Assembly and contributing to DRIVE.
Rob Moss, Business Agent for Teamsters Local 695 in LaCrosse, was at all the rallies. He tells us Bill Carroll, President of Teamsters Local 344 in Milwaukee, member of Joint Council 39, revved up the crowd on Saturday:
Rob Moss, Business Agent for Teamsters Local 695 in LaCrosse, was at all the rallies. He tells us Bill Carroll, President of Teamsters Local 344 in Milwaukee, member of Joint Council 39, revved up the crowd on Saturday:
Brother Bill Carroll gave a very inspiring speech on behalf of all Teamsters. He was very well received by the entire crowd. He was spot-on with his accuracy in regards to the right-to-work legislation. Brother Bill is one of Joint Council 39's political liaisons. Brother Carroll was very informative about the needs of all of the unions to keep their members informed and most of all to keep up the members' involvement in the union efforts in the political arena.
It's important that everybody understands -- especially our members -- this is not the end of the world. We have to deal with the results of next week's vote if it comes to pass and is negative. We are holding steward seminars and craft meetings in our Joint Council 39 effort to enlighten our members as to the effects of RTW. Locals 695, 200 and 662 held those steward seminars the last two weeks with the help of our legal counsel.
It's our hope that some of the Republicans would come to their senses and realize the harm Governor Walker is imposing on American working men and women.
 |
| Mike Westphal (l) and Tom Millonzi. |
Mike Westphal, who has been out on a workers' comp back surgery issue -- and who will not be returning to the job -- pulled out his checkbook and made a one-time $100 donation to DRIVE.The Center for Media and Democracy reported something we all know: The right-to-work bill is being pushed by special interests linked to the Koch brothers:
As the Wisconsin legislature gets ready to ram through a union-busting bill that will significantly impact the economy of the entire state, Wisconsin's newest member of the Senate asked perhaps the most pertinent question of her Republican colleagues: "what beating hearts are for this bill?"
The question was posed by Janet Bewley (D-Ashland) who was elected to the Wisconsin Senate in November 2014. She represents the far north where bitter winds and waves make spectacular ice caves that bring thousands to the frozen shores of Lake Superior.
Bewley noted that the bill, which harms unions by allowing workers to opt out of paying their fair share for union representation, was moving so fast that most of her constituents, who get their news from weekly newspapers that come on Thursday, would not even learn about it before the Senate vote.
While Democratic senators read letter after letter from workers and business leaders objecting to the measure that will lower wages and up-end critical training programs for builders and laborers, Brewley highlighted something the average observer might not notice: "I have not heard one person in the outer ring [of Republicans] speak of a single beating heart that is for this bill."
But that matters little to the array of special interests that have arrived in Wisconsin to provide "experts" and astroturf cover for the anti-worker measure.
 |
| Good advice. |
Today's Teamster News 03.02.15
Teamsters
Wage Segregation Robs Women in Peak Earning Years WeNews …Some women are beginning to challenge these practices. Among them is Teamsters Local 237, the union that represented the 5,000 school safety agents in New York in the four-year lawsuit against the city...
Trade
Bernie Sanders Calls Out Media For Not Covering Obama's Trade Deal Huffington Post …Adding to the chorus of protest over President Obama’s push for a controversial new trade pact with Asia, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) sounded off on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and accused mainstream media of not covering what could be one of the biggest trade agreements in history...
Why big trade deals never seem to work for America The Week …The boosts to America’s conglomerate national income brought about by recent free trade deals have gone overwhelmingly to the elite, while overseas competition has hollowed out a lot of the manufacturing jobs that supported the middle class. If you look at changes in global income over the last quarter-century, just about the only group that hasn’t seen any serious growth is roughly the top quarter — right where the U.S. working and middle class sits. But the global elite have made out like bandits...
State Battles
Right-to-Work legislation heads to the Assembly; public hearing set for Monday morning WITI …The Wisconsin Assembly on Monday, March 2nd will take up “Right-to-Work” legislation. This, after the Wisconsin Senate last week voted 17-15 to send Senate Bill 44 to the Assembly...
Scott Walker, GOP presidential hopeful, is poised to sign Wisconsin's right-to-work law Los Angeles Times …For Gov. Scott Walker, who ignited a spate of anti-union activity in recent years and has risen to become a national figure in the Republican Party, the new law is part of a platform that some see as strong enough to carry him to the presidential nomination...
War on Working Hoosiers Times Herald Online …House Democrats introduced a bill to raise the minimum wage in Indiana to $9 an hour. Predictably the Republican controlled House killed the measure quickly in committee. ... The state has gained a reputation as a low wage alternative for less than skilled jobs. A recent study found that of the 50 states Indiana now has one of the highest percentages of its workforce working at or below minimum wage. Almost 7 percent of all Hoosiers are minimum wage workers...
War on Workers
Corporate Borrowing Now Flows To Shareholders, Not Productive Investment: Study International Business Times …fresh research shows that in the past three decades corporations increasingly borrow simply to reward shareholders...
"Accounting Gimmicks" in Social Security The Economic Populist …The first attack on Social Security this year was with the false accusation that there was rampant fraud in the disability program, when two different reports show only 0.4% fraud in the program — far less than any other government program — and probably far less than employee theft in the private sector — and much less that's found in the defense industry...
Wage Segregation Robs Women in Peak Earning Years WeNews …Some women are beginning to challenge these practices. Among them is Teamsters Local 237, the union that represented the 5,000 school safety agents in New York in the four-year lawsuit against the city...
Trade
Bernie Sanders Calls Out Media For Not Covering Obama's Trade Deal Huffington Post …Adding to the chorus of protest over President Obama’s push for a controversial new trade pact with Asia, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) sounded off on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and accused mainstream media of not covering what could be one of the biggest trade agreements in history...
Why big trade deals never seem to work for America The Week …The boosts to America’s conglomerate national income brought about by recent free trade deals have gone overwhelmingly to the elite, while overseas competition has hollowed out a lot of the manufacturing jobs that supported the middle class. If you look at changes in global income over the last quarter-century, just about the only group that hasn’t seen any serious growth is roughly the top quarter — right where the U.S. working and middle class sits. But the global elite have made out like bandits...
State Battles
Right-to-Work legislation heads to the Assembly; public hearing set for Monday morning WITI …The Wisconsin Assembly on Monday, March 2nd will take up “Right-to-Work” legislation. This, after the Wisconsin Senate last week voted 17-15 to send Senate Bill 44 to the Assembly...
Scott Walker, GOP presidential hopeful, is poised to sign Wisconsin's right-to-work law Los Angeles Times …For Gov. Scott Walker, who ignited a spate of anti-union activity in recent years and has risen to become a national figure in the Republican Party, the new law is part of a platform that some see as strong enough to carry him to the presidential nomination...
War on Working Hoosiers Times Herald Online …House Democrats introduced a bill to raise the minimum wage in Indiana to $9 an hour. Predictably the Republican controlled House killed the measure quickly in committee. ... The state has gained a reputation as a low wage alternative for less than skilled jobs. A recent study found that of the 50 states Indiana now has one of the highest percentages of its workforce working at or below minimum wage. Almost 7 percent of all Hoosiers are minimum wage workers...
War on Workers
Corporate Borrowing Now Flows To Shareholders, Not Productive Investment: Study International Business Times …fresh research shows that in the past three decades corporations increasingly borrow simply to reward shareholders...
"Accounting Gimmicks" in Social Security The Economic Populist …The first attack on Social Security this year was with the false accusation that there was rampant fraud in the disability program, when two different reports show only 0.4% fraud in the program — far less than any other government program — and probably far less than employee theft in the private sector — and much less that's found in the defense industry...
Sunday, March 1, 2015
Today's Teamster News 03.01.15
Teamsters
Teamsters picket car hauler outside GM Lordstown plant WFMJ …A local union gathered in Lordstown at the General Motors plant – not to protest GM, but to picket the company that transports the finished cars…
Nashville Chapter TNBC Holds Successful Awards Banquet teamster.org …The Nashville Middle TN Valley Chapter of the Teamsters National Black Caucus (TNBC) held its Third Annual awards banquet titled “Education and Accountability” on February 21, 2015 in Nashville, TN. The event was successful despite the icy weather conditions that night...
Trade
Wyden should side with Merkley, working families on trade agreement (OPINION) oregon Live …Because of his seniority on the Senate Finance Committee, Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden has a pivotal role in determining the future of the TPP… Given what we know of the trade pact, Wyden's stated concern for the middle class should make him a skeptic, if not an adamant opponent, of the TPP...
State Battles
Thousands Protest Wisconsin's Right-To-Work Bill At The State's Capitol Reuters …Wisconsin unions bused in thousands of workers from around the state on Saturday to demonstrate against the impending adoption of a law that would ban private sector workers from being required to join a union or pay dues...
War on Workers
Austerity Kills: Economic Distress Seen as Culprit in Sharp Rise in Suicide Rate Among Middle Aged naked capitalism …Suicide rates for adults between 40 and 64 years of age in the U.S. have risen about 40% since 1999, with a sharp rise since 2007. One possible explanation could be the detrimental effects of the economic downturn of 2007-2009, leading to disproportionate effects on house values, household finances, and retirement savings for that age group...
Out of Trouble, but Criminal Records Keep Men Out of Work New York Times …The share of American men with criminal records — particularly black men — grew rapidly in recent decades as the government pursued aggressive law enforcement strategies, especially against drug crimes. In the aftermath of the Great Recession, those men are having particular trouble finding work. Men with criminal records account for about 34 percent of all nonworking men ages 25 to 54...
Education Department Terminates Contracts With Debt Collectors Accused Of Wrongdoing Huffington Post …The U.S. Department of Education, under fire for its lackluster oversight of student loan contractors, said Friday it will terminate its relationship with five debt collectors after accusing them of misleading distressed borrowers at "unacceptably high rates."...
How wages in services vs. goods-producing jobs explain relative GDP growth during Recoveries (Hint: producing goods is better) Angry Bear …The singular difference between losses in the Great Recession and the 3 previous ones is that, in prior recessions, service jobs were relatively untouched, while in the Great Recession, nearly as many service jobs were lost (4.5 million) as were goods-producing jobs (5.0 million)...
Teamsters picket car hauler outside GM Lordstown plant WFMJ …A local union gathered in Lordstown at the General Motors plant – not to protest GM, but to picket the company that transports the finished cars…
Nashville Chapter TNBC Holds Successful Awards Banquet teamster.org …The Nashville Middle TN Valley Chapter of the Teamsters National Black Caucus (TNBC) held its Third Annual awards banquet titled “Education and Accountability” on February 21, 2015 in Nashville, TN. The event was successful despite the icy weather conditions that night...
Trade
Wyden should side with Merkley, working families on trade agreement (OPINION) oregon Live …Because of his seniority on the Senate Finance Committee, Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden has a pivotal role in determining the future of the TPP… Given what we know of the trade pact, Wyden's stated concern for the middle class should make him a skeptic, if not an adamant opponent, of the TPP...
State Battles
Thousands Protest Wisconsin's Right-To-Work Bill At The State's Capitol Reuters …Wisconsin unions bused in thousands of workers from around the state on Saturday to demonstrate against the impending adoption of a law that would ban private sector workers from being required to join a union or pay dues...
War on Workers
Austerity Kills: Economic Distress Seen as Culprit in Sharp Rise in Suicide Rate Among Middle Aged naked capitalism …Suicide rates for adults between 40 and 64 years of age in the U.S. have risen about 40% since 1999, with a sharp rise since 2007. One possible explanation could be the detrimental effects of the economic downturn of 2007-2009, leading to disproportionate effects on house values, household finances, and retirement savings for that age group...
Out of Trouble, but Criminal Records Keep Men Out of Work New York Times …The share of American men with criminal records — particularly black men — grew rapidly in recent decades as the government pursued aggressive law enforcement strategies, especially against drug crimes. In the aftermath of the Great Recession, those men are having particular trouble finding work. Men with criminal records account for about 34 percent of all nonworking men ages 25 to 54...
Education Department Terminates Contracts With Debt Collectors Accused Of Wrongdoing Huffington Post …The U.S. Department of Education, under fire for its lackluster oversight of student loan contractors, said Friday it will terminate its relationship with five debt collectors after accusing them of misleading distressed borrowers at "unacceptably high rates."...
How wages in services vs. goods-producing jobs explain relative GDP growth during Recoveries (Hint: producing goods is better) Angry Bear …The singular difference between losses in the Great Recession and the 3 previous ones is that, in prior recessions, service jobs were relatively untouched, while in the Great Recession, nearly as many service jobs were lost (4.5 million) as were goods-producing jobs (5.0 million)...
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