Today's Teamster News 04.07.15

Teamsters
Strike delayed, Allegiant pilots union explains stance, next move  Tampa Bay Business Journal   ...Friday is the next milestone in the labor dispute between Allegiant Airlines and its pilots. That day brings to an end a temporary court injunction preventing the pilots from striking. The pilots are effectively threatening to strike to restore the conditions that existed before they decided to join the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in 2012...

Global Labor & Trade
Health experts worried as Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations conclude   Sydney Morning Herald  ...Eight health and community organisations have written to the Trade Minister Andrew Robb expressing "grave concerns" about the latest leaked draft of the nearly concluded Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement. The organisations released a health impact assessment which found that the the investor‐state dispute settlement clauses were a threat to public health and recommended that ISDS be excluded from the agreement altogether...
The global south has free trade to thank for its obesity and diabetes epidemic  The Guardian   ...You wouldn’t think that free-trade deals could lead to a diabetes and obesity epidemic, but they have. Today, many countries in the global south are seeing an explosion of these afflictions - all because their governments welcomed in transnational food companies looking for new “growth markets”...
Strikes Grow in China as Grassroots Labor Movement Takes Shape  Common Dreams   ...As the economic landscape in China continues to shift, an awakening working class is demanding fair treatment and higher wages—and the movement is picking up steam...

State & Living Wage Battles
Weeks After Rushing Right-To-Work, Wisconsin Republicans Prepare Their Next Attack On Labor  Think Progress   ...Rep. Rob Hutton (R-Brookfield) plans to tack his bill to repeal the state’s nearly century-old “prevailing wage” law for construction workers on local and state projects onto the massive state budget that must pass some time in the next few months...
Scott Walker Controls Wisconsin’s Executive and Legislative Branches. Now His Minions Are Gunning For the Judicial   The Nation   ...Walker’s allies are focused on securing control of the judicial branch of state government in Wisconsin. The Republican Party of Wisconsin and groups that have consistently backed Walker’s agenda are leading the charge to oust a state Supreme Court justice who has championed judicial independence and to change the way in which the high court is organized...
Our Corporate Saviors (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...Outfits like McDonalds decide to make a virtue of necessity and pat themselves on the back for paying a bit more. They hope that these gestures will take some of the wind out of organizing drives. But moves like these should teach the opposite lesson--namely, that pressure works...
Extreme ‘Religious Liberty’ Bill Could Make Louisiana The Next Indiana  Think Progress   ...Louisiana is the latest state considering adopting a religious freedom bill, after state Rep. Mike Johnson (R) introduced legislation Friday that could allow businesses to refuse service for same-sex weddings and deny benefits to employees in same-sex marriages...
How Elizabeth Warren Made Expanding Social Security Cool  Mother Jones   ...For years, Washington politicians and policymakers been talking about cutting Social Security benefits. The Beltway consensus, unduly shaped by deficit hawks and Wall Streeters, has been that the system is broken and must be pared back, and progressives who support Social Security have often had to play defense. But in late March, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the populist Democrat from Massachusetts, entered the fray—and challenged the prevailing view...

U.S. Labor
Automakers, labor union face a long, hot summer of contract talks  Fortune   ...Although the Detroit-based auto industry and the United Auto Workers union are still a few months away from serious negotiations, early signs aren’t favorable for a labor contract settled on mutually agreeable terms...
BP Whiting Refinery strike hits 2-month mark  Chicago Tribune   ...The union said it gave its last offer to BP on Thursday and has yet to hear from the company. Workers are standing by their union leaders, though some say it has been rough on them and their families financially...
EEOC: New York City owes underpaid minority female employees $246 million  NY Daily News  ...The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that New York City underpaid a thousand black and Hispanic female employees, a finding that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars. The Communications Workers of America lodged the complaint...

Raising Wages From the Bottom Up  American Prospect   ...The third way cities and states can build worker power is to stop the illegal practice of worker misclassification. Over the past several decades, many U.S. companies have relieved themselves of the obligation to provide their workers with benefits or pay them an adequate wage, through the expedient of declaring their workers not to be their employees.
Douglas County Fined For Violating Child Labor Laws  Grand Island Independent   ...A federal agency has fined Douglas County for violating child labor laws by letting four teenagers load a wood chipper last summer. The U.S. Department of Labor issued $3,100 in fines after discovering that four underage employees operated a wood chipper while temporarily working on a maintenance crew for the county engineer. Child labor laws allow only adults to do this...

Miscellaneous
Nestlé’s despicable water-crisis profiteering: How it’s making a killing — while California is dying of thirst   Salon   ...While California suffers through a historic 4-year drought, the corporate giant has made billions on bottled water. Nestlé has a 25-year contract with the Morongo Band of Cahuila Mission Indians to draw water from wells in Millard Canyon, in the desert city of Cabazon...
U.S. Spending Historic Amount Fighting Homelessness, And It's Working: Report  Huffington Post   ...Uncle Sam is prioritizing the fight against homelessness like he never has before. Federal funding for programs addressing homelessness is at its highest level ever, according to a report by the National Alliance to End Homelessness provided to The Huffington Post...
Is Your Favorite Baseball Team's Owner Still An Asshole?  Mother Jones   ...Chicago White Sox [owner] Jerry Reinsdorf made his fortune as a real estate developer who specialized in building tax shelters. One of the league's most anti-union owners, he was accused of colluding with fellow owners to drive down player salaries. He gives millions to charter schools, but takes even more out of the city's coffers thanks to a sweetheart deal that allows him to pay just 25 percent of the standard property tax rate for the United Center (home of the NBA's Chicago Bulls, which he also owns)...

NLRB to issue complaint against Sysco, bring justice for fired Teamsters

Shuandrez Fitzgerald, one of the 11 fired
workers at Sysco Atlanta

The Federal Government is weighing in on the side of workers at Sysco in Atlanta who were wrongly terminated after their successful campaign to join Teamsters Local 528.
The National Labor Relations Board told the union last week that it will be issuing a complaint against the company and seeking reinstatement and back pay for the fired workers.

In addition, the NLRB complaint will allege Sysco cut warehouse pay and changed workplace rules without bargaining. And the complaint will allege unlawful interrogation, threats and surveillance against workers.

The 11 fired Teamsters were part of a huge effort to organize their more than 400 coworkers who are drivers and warehouse workers for Sysco. Last week Sysco and US Food Teamsters took part in a national day of action, demanding that Sysco put the fired workers back on the job and negotiate a fair contract.

The Sysco-US Foods workers Facebook page explains:

The Federal Government has spoken, and it's saying: put fired Sysco workers back to work! During Teamster Local 528’s organizing drive in Atlanta last year, Sysco managers engaged in an intense anti-union campaign. Teamsters across the country stood shoulder-to-shoulder with their Atlanta brothers and sisters, pledging to have their back throughout all of Sysco’s unionbusting...

...the National Labor Relations Board informed Teamsters Local 528 that it will issue a complaint against Sysco. The complaint will allege that Sysco violated federal labor law when it: discharged workers in retaliation for union activity, wrongfully terminated and suspended workers, decreased warehouse workers’ pay, changed work rules without bargaining, and unlawfully interrogated, threatened and surveilled workers. The Board will seek reinstatement and backpay for 11 workers fired or disciplined for union activity and is investigating additional charges, including three more terminations. 

This is a huge victory for workers and a strong statement about the power of Teamster solidarity.

When news of the pending NRLB complaint came out, messages of support spread like wildfire across social media:

Casey Whitson: "Congrats boys, united we stand!!!"

Carlos A. Silva: "Local. 79 Fl ... Way to go!! Keep our union strong!

Benny Hernandez: "That's what I call Teamster Power! #proudteamster"

Jose Flores: "Nothing beats being a Teamster. ..you got a voice and rights."

Even in the face of a viciously anti-union company with an army of union-busting lawyers at its disposal, the strength of Teamsters standing together is unbeatable.

In the meantime, our Teamster brothers and sisters in Altanta can count on our continued solidarity. The fight to protect and improve jobs at Sysco and US Foods continues!

Today's Teamster News 04.06.15

Teamsters
Anti-Union Allegiant CEO Lives His Worst Dream: Teamster Pilots  Forbes   ...In January, pilots voted 465-8 to authorize a strike. Now, the union is moving on two fronts to use the threat of a strike to improve working conditions. Pilots were prepared to strike on April 2, but on April 1 a U.S. district court judge in Las Vegas issued a temporary restraining order. A hearing is scheduled for Friday, April 10...
Horse Carriage Foes Spend $14k on Subway Ads  City & State   ...Demos Demopoulos, executive officer of the Teamsters Local 553 union that represents about 120 horse carriage drivers, said his group is also lobbying the Council. Demopoulos claimed a majority is opposed to the bill and noted that polling has shown that public opinion is on the side of drivers...
Detroit residents unite to honor Viola Liuzzo  USA Today   ...The committee, supported by the Greening of Detroit, has received financial commitments totaling $300,000 from the UAW-Ford and the Teamsters, among others, and two fundraisers are planned for upcoming days. (Anthony Liuzzo Sr., who died in 1978, was a Teamsters official.)...
NYCHA worker may have been killed by faulty trash machine  NY Daily News   ...An investigation by Teamsters Local 237, which represents 8,000 NYCHA workers, has since found evidence that contradicts the NYPD theory and suggests maintenance failures may have contributed to Jackson’s death...

Global Labor & Trade
White House Says Enviros Love This Trade Pact, But Enviros Say Otherwise  Huffington Post  ...The Obama administration has angered a host of environmentalist organizations with an Internet campaign that suggests green groups broadly support the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership, which environmentalists have in fact been fighting for years...
The True Myths on the Trans-Pacific Partnership  CEPR   ...The proponents of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) are doing everything they can to try to push their case as they prepare for the fast-track vote before Congress this month. They begin by giving us three myths, all of which happen to be accurate depictions of reality...
Strikes proliferate in China as working class awakens  Today Online   ...More than three decades after Beijing began allowing market reforms, China’s 168 million migrant workers are discovering their labour rights through the spread of social media. They are on the forefront of a labour protest movement that is posing a growing and awkward problem for the ruling Communist Party...

State & Living Wage Battles
Right-to-work backers vow continued push  Albuquerque Journal   ...A high-profile push to approve a New Mexico right-to-work law stalled during the recent 60-day legislative session, but the issue appears likely to be back next year — both in the Roundhouse and on the 2016 campaign trail...
State Looking For National Role In Union-Backed Bill   Hartford Courant   ...Connecticut gained widespread attention in recent years as a national leader in Democratic circles by increasing the minimum wage and passing a first-in-the-nation statewide mandate for paid sick days for some service employees...
Nevada Senate approves minimum wage increase bill  Las Vegas Review Journal   ...A Republican-backed bill to overhaul Nevada’s overtime law and increase the minimum wage for some workers was approved Friday by the state Senate on a party-line vote, with Democrats calling the measure a “slap in the face” to the working poor...
U.S. Supreme Court Declines To Review North Carolina Voting Law  Huffington Post   ...The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review the legality of new Republican-backed voting restrictions in North Carolina that were part of a law opponents argued was aimed at making it harder for voters who tend to favor Democrats to cast ballots...
Kansas Will Limit Welfare Recipients To $25 A Day   Think Progress  ...During debate over the bill state Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau (D) pointed out that many recipients need to withdraw hundreds of dollars some days in order to be able to pay rent...
Fast Food Workers: Thanks for the Raise, McDonald’s, But We Said $15 an Hour, Not $10  In These Times   ...The company, fighting to improve its battered image, may not have intended the move to be a joke. But in the end, many workers saw the welcome boost in pay and benefits as largely a fraud perpetrated on the public as well as on fast food workers...
This City Could Become The Next Detroit   Think Progress  ...Starting this week, 25,000 households in Baltimore will suddenly lose their access to water for owing bills of $250 or more, with very little notice given and no public hearings...

U.S. Labor
Be Nervous (But Not Panicked) About The March Jobs Report   FiveThirtyEight   ...Employers added 126,000 jobs last month, breaking a 12-month streak of growth over 200,000 jobs, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday. The report was far weaker than most economists expected and represented the slowest pace of growth since the end of 2013. The government also revised down its estimate of January and February hiring by a combined 69,000 jobs...
Michigan Factory Owner Gives Out $6 Million In Thank-You Bonuses  Huffington Post  ...When J.C. Huizenga sold his namesake machinery manufacturing company, he wanted to share the spoils. The Huizenga Group chairman gave out nearly $6 million in bonuses to more than 575 workers in his two Michigan factories. It was his way of thanking the employees for helping grow the company, which now earns about $170 million in annual sales, according to CBS News...
Trade workers set to benefit from Gov. Jerry Brown's project list  Los Angeles Times   ...At his recent groundbreaking for the state's high-speed train, Gov. Jerry Brown paused while extolling the project to laud the union workers who will build it. "You've got to put something in the ground," Brown said, riffing on what drives economic growth. "You've got to get these building trades men and women doing stuff. That's what makes America — what makes the world — go 'round."...
Workers — not employers — are the real wage movers and shakers  (opinion) Washington Post   ...“We’re too big and complicated a system to do anything in reaction to a particular group or something happening,” Karen King, who has the wonderful title of “chief people officer” at McDonald’s, said Wednesday, explaining her company’s decision to raise wages for some of its employees. If you believe that, don’t go near anyone purporting to sell you a bridge, even if it comes with fries on the side...

Today's Teamster News 04.03.15

Global Labor & Trade
Unions, Progressives Pressure Democrats To Oppose Trade Deals  Business Journals   ...Labor unions and progressive organizations are sending a message to Democrats: If you support fast-tracking trade deals such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, don’t be surprised if we oppose you in your next Democratic primary...
U.S., Japan Seek Trade Deal in Advance of Abe Washington Visit   Bloomberg Business   ...U.S. and Japanese negotiators are rushing to complete a trade agreement they can unveil during Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to Washington later this month, something they hope will pave the way for a broader Asia-Pacific pact involving 10 other countries...
Trade bill timeline could push Senate to act   Politico   ...Senate aides have circulated a tentative date of mid-April for advancing “fast-track” trade legislation in the recognition that Sens. Orrin Hatch and Ron Wyden have to move quickly to finalize a deal on the bill or risk losing their chance to get it passed by the end of the spring session...
Astroturf Warning: TPP Critics Call Out Fake 'Progressive' Group Pushing Corporate Trade Agenda  Common Dreams   ...Critics of the corporate-friendly Trans-Pacific Partnership are lining up against what they call an "astroturf" operation claiming to represent progressives in favor of Fast Tracking the sweeping and secretive trade deal. No such progressives exist, they say...
A Turning Point For Chinese Workers  In These Times   ...As unions have struggled and strikes have declined in the United States in recent years, labor militancy has surged in other parts of the world—and nowhere more so than China. Now the movement appears to be starting to achieve significant institutional reform...

State & Living Wage Battles
Rand Paul’s Favorite Union-Buster  Bloomberg   ...Yessin, who’s represented companies in more than 200 conflicts with unions, says the NLRA doesn’t block states from letting local officials regulate some union activities. Yessin’s ideas offer conservatives a path forward on anti-union legislation known as “right-to-work” laws...
Packed House As Oswego Discusses Rauner 'Right-To-Work' Proposal  Chicago Tribune   ...Rauner's office has asked cities and villages across the state to support his initiatives aimed to "get the house in order" by changing how Illinois does business. One of the changes Rauner wants involves letting local communities enact "right-to-work" zones, which would allow voters to decide whether or not employees should be forced to join a union as a condition of employment...
Indiana’s Highway To Hell: Welcome To The Sick New Corporate Order  Salon.com   ...It’s the “circle of life,” neoliberal style: Enter into “free trade” deals which benefit global investors, then watch as wages stagnate and jobs disappear. Cut taxes for the wealthy and corporations, depriving the nation of funds for infrastructure. Make under- and unemployed residents of cities like Gary, Indiana, pay tolls to make up the shortfall, and jeopardize the retirement security of middle-class Americans in sketchy privatization deals to replace lost infrastructure funding...
McDonald's Is Raising Wages For Some Workers  Huffington Post   ...McDonald's is finally giving some of its workers a raise. The fast-food giant on Wednesday announced plans to give employees a 10 percent pay bump and some extra benefits. The raise will affect about 90,000 workers at a small fraction of McDonald’s stores. Employees at franchises, which make up the majority of the burger chain's locations, won't be affected...
Seattle begins to phase in $15 minimum wage  Union Bulletin   ...Most workers in Seattle will see the minimum wage increase to $11 an hour this week. Some small businesses will get a $1 credit for employees who earn tips or get health insurance and will pay $10 an hour. It will take until 2017 for Seattle workers at large companies and chains to earn $15 an hour...
Fight “Right to Work” in Oregon  Counterpunch   ...There is justifiable dread that anti-union “Right to Work” laws will be purchased into existence by out-of-state billionaires championing the laws around the country. Fortunately, an antidote to Right to Work is also being publicly debated in Oregon, where there is pending legislation to push the state’s minimum wage to $15...
Candidates Who Mock The Law (opinion)  Washington Post   ...Mr. Bush seems to have adopted every dark-money trick in the book. Will others now follow? As it is, the presidential campaign will begin under a dark-money cloud. Americans want a president with the right stuff, and that does not mean bags of secret cash...

U.S. Labor
Philadelphia airport workers strike over wages and benefits  Boston Globe   ...A few dozen baggage handlers, airplane cleaners and other non-union workers went on strike at Philadelphia’s airport Thursday, demanding higher wages, benefits, and an end to what they say are unfair labor practices...
CSX Worker Struck, Killed By Train At Rail Yard  WTRV   ...An investigation is underway after a CSX worker was struck and killed by a train early Wednesday morning. Henrico police said the industrial accident happened around just before 3 a.m. at the ACCA train yard in the 2100 block of Westwood Avenue...

Miscellaneous
U.S. Factories Slow For Fifth Month In Row, But Economists See Rebound  Wall Street Journal   ...The Institute for Supply Management on Wednesday said its purchasing managers index fell for the fifth consecutive month in March, to 51.5 from 52.9 in February. The index is at its lowest reading since May 2013, though it’s still above the 50 level that reflects expansion...
When Will The NSA Stop Spying On Innocent Americans?  The Atlantic   ...Unless Congress acts, Americans will soon benefit from one of the Patriot Act's most important safeguards against abuse: Language in Section 215 of the law is scheduled to expire in June, depriving the FBI and NSA of a provision they've used to justify monitoring the phone calls of tens of millions of innocents...

Today's Teamster News 04.02.15

Trade
Australia should fix trade deal investor protection  Financial review   ...Two weeks ago an international arbitration panel awarded a US company compensation for the way its quarry project in Canada was "unfairly" rejected on environmental and planning grounds...  
In Press Call, Progressives Announce Anti-Fast Track Activities Nationwide  Public Citizen   ...Hundreds of progressive organizations are engaged nationwide in two action-packed weeks of rallies, press events, briefings, bird-dogging events, phone banks,canvasses and more to build opposition against Fast Tracking the Trans-Pacific Partnership...
Blame Bad Trade For Hurting America's Steel Industry  Alternet   ...Sucker punched by massive, illegally subsidized imports, American steel producers laid off thousands of workers in bedrock communities from Ohio and Illinois to Texas and Alabama. That’s in just the past three months...
ISDS A Bigger Threat Than ISIS (opinion)  Wanganui Chronicle   ...The Investor-State Dispute Settlement. ISDS is a means whereby investors (read corporations) may sue a government for lost corporate profits due to regulatory barriers of the defendant country. Regulatory barriers like environmental protections, health and safety rules, generic pharmaceuticals. ISDS is part of the invasive TPPA (TransPacific Partnership Agreement), a trade agreement written to benefit multinational corporations....
Cambodian Child Labor Laws Flouted With Fake IDs  The Guardian   ...“For many children in Cambodia, the child protection situation is dire,” says Unicef’s chief of communication...
State Battles
Seattle Minimum Wage Up To $11 For Most Wednesday  KING   ...Seattle's minimum wage is increasing to $11 for most businesses on Wednesday. It's the start of a phased increase to $15 per hour over the next several years...
City Council Pushes To Raise Minimum Wage  WDAF   ...The Kansas City council will consider an ordinance to raise minimum wage within the city to $15 an hour. Mayor Sly James talked about the ordinance during his state of the city address. The ordinance would begin raising the minimum wage within the city to $10 by September and then up to $15 by 2021...
Perez And Garcetti Take Aim At Wage Theft, Minimum Wage  Los Angeles Times   ...On Tuesday, Los Angeles County supervisors voted 5 to 0 to study the possible effects of boosting wage floors at the county level. City leaders in Los Angeles are considering an increase in the minimum wage to $13.25 or $15.25 an hour from the state minimum of $9 an hour...
Oil Trains To Pay More In State Fees  Albany Times Union   ...The state will collect millions of dollars more from companies that ship oil from the Midwest in massive trains that pass through the Capital Region and other parts of the state under language contained in the state budget hammered out by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and lawmakers...
BNSF Implements New Safety Rules For Oil Trains  Flathead Beacon   ...In an effort to safely move massive oil trains from North Dakota’s Bakken oil fields, BNSF Railway has told shippers that it is implementing its own rules to try and prevent explosive derailments and accidental spills...
War on Workers
Student Debt Strikers Grow in Number and in Power  truthout   ...Just over a month ago, Waging Nonviolence reported that 15 former students of Corinthian Colleges — the beleaguered, notorious for-profit higher education system — were going on strike; not from their jobs, or from class, but from their debt. Today, there are over 100 debt strikers...
McDonald’s to Raise Pay at Outlets It Operates  New York Times   ...McDonald's announced on Wednesday that it would raise wages and offer new benefits to 90,000 employees in he 1,500 outlets in the United States that it owns and operates, responding to competitive pressure from a tighter job market and to labor campaigns drawing public attention to its pay policies...
Republicans Take Aim At Union ‘Official Time’ For Federal Employees  Washington Post   ...House and Senate Republicans have introduced bills to bar federal employees from performing union work on the government’s dime, a practice that has been allowed since 1978 under the Civil Service Reform Act...
Worker Killed In Fall At Site  New Braunfels Herald Zeitung   ...A San Antonio construction worker died as a result of an accident he had while working Tuesday in New Braunfels, a New Braunfels Police Department spokesman said. Authorities said Victor Echartea-Medina, 41, fell from about four stories up before being rushed in an ambulance to Resolute Health Hospital in town. The man died from his injuries...
Miscellaneous
DOJ Inspector General: ATF, FBI's Drones Worthless, Expensive And Completely Mismanaged  Techdirt   ...$3 million spent on drones, with only half currently considered "operational." In eight years (2006-2014), the drones have only been deployed to assist in 13 investigations, with nine of those occurring in the last four years. This may be good news for those concerned about extensive domestic surveillance, but it's not good news for those interested in how their tax dollars are being spent...

Join the #NoFastTrack Twitterstorm for Thursday, April 2, from 1-2 pm

An unprecedented number of real progressive organizations that aim to stop fast track are embarking on dozens of press conferences, rallies, bird-dogging, canvassing and phone banking over the next few weeks. Let's kick off the action with our best #NoFastTrack Twitterstorm yet! Sample tweets below:

Sample Tweets
(For Thursday)

Join the #NoFastTrack for the #TPP Twitterstorm TODAY fr 1-2 pm Eastern. Sample tweets here:
http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2015/04/join-nofasttrack-twitterstorm-for.html
pic.twitter.com/KX8YxNAXAJ

There's nothing sweet enough to make lost jobs and lower wages from #TPP easy to swallow http://on.wsj.com/18iJEvf  via @WSJ #FightFastTrack

Why on earth does the US want a trade deal with Vietnam, a country whose economy is centrally planned and rigged #NoFastTrack #TPP

Seattle says #NoFastTrack in unanimous City Council vote. Congress needs  to stop #TPP in its tracks too http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/city-council-opposes-fast-track-for-pacific-rim-trade-pact/

Trans-Pacific Partnership deal will screw workers and consumers alike @KatrinaNation http://wapo.st/19F4CEc  #NoFastTrack #TPP

Another TPP myth: post-NAFTA improved US trade deficit. Not quite! shar.es/1gpEFd via @EconomicPolicy #NoFastTrack #TPP

Learn from history: Fast track leads to trail of broken promises http://thehill.com/opinion/op-ed/237227-broken-promises-on-trade#.VRl1ugRXIeo.twitter #NoFastTrack #TPP

Fact check @USTradeRep: @sierraclub @greenpeaceusa & other enviro orgs say #NoFastTrack #TPP: http://bit.ly/1AO239B  pic.twitter.com/PSplqzU80F

.@USTradeRep tells another 4 Pinocchio:  #TPP will help women. Take action for #NoFastTrack: http://stopfasttrack.com  pic.twitter.com/ai3KfcPGn7

US farmers join chorus, say free-trade lemmings are perilously close to the cliff @NFUDC http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-budget/237508-free-trade-lemmings-are-perilously-close-to-the-cliff #NoFastTrack #TPP

If the #TPP really has the 'strongest' labor and environmental standards, why does @USTradeRep keep the text secret? pic.twitter.com/bNSpze4Xro

Unions and enviros aren't the only ones who say #NoFastTrack for #TPP. So do the Nuns on the Bus. pic.twitter.com/pKnJemznCP

Jim Hightower calls #TPP a wage-destroying, environment-killing, sovereignty-sucking scam. He’s right. #NoFastTrack http://lacrossetribune.com/print-specific/columns/tpp-looks-like-another-nafta-on-the-fast-track/article_facb1e25-542f-5b1c-a9e9-1804d49446a2.html

It’s only fake progressives who support #TPP. Find out why real progressives say #NoFastTrack. http://www.realpcaj.org/

Make a call to Senator @RonWyden to stop the #TPP: http://bit.ly/1BFRkSo  #p2 pic.twitter.com/ho8TlA9o7F

Fast track for the #TPP means bye-bye to US sovereignty. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/04/leaked-tpp-investment-chapter-reveals-serious-threat-user-safeguards #NoFastTrack

Today's Teamster News 04.01.15

Teamsters
Teamsters Applaud Veto Of Senate Joint Resolution To Overturn NLRB Election Modernization Rule  teamster.org   ...The Teamsters Union today applauded President Obama’s decision to veto a destructive resolution backed by Republicans in Congress that would overturn modest reforms issued by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to help streamline and modernize representation case procedures...
Teamsters Local 853 Begins Negotiations for Tech Company Shuttle Drivers  teamster.org   ...Negotiations on a union contract for Silicon Valley tech company drivers will begin today. Representatives for the drivers’ union, Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif., will meet with Transdev, which operates as Compass Transportation, and employs drivers at Apple, eBay, Yahoo, Zynga, Genentech, Amtrak and Evernote...
St. Vincent technicians seek to align with union  Worcester Business Journal   ...The employees have applied to the Boston bureau of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to join Teamsters Local 170 in Worcester...
Open & Fair Skies Report: Reconsidering the U.S.-UAE Aviation Relationship  teamster.org   ... the Gulf carriers receive ‘stunning and unprecedented’ financial support from the UAE that dramatically upends the aviation marketplace.  As more experts study this case and the evidence, we are encouraged that they are supporting our request for the U.S. government to open consultations with the UAE under the Open Skies agreement...
Local 399 Casting Director Profiled In New Yorker  teamster.org   ...Allison Jones, the casting director, was reading the scene with actors trying out for the Stewart role, who faced a decision: audition with a real banana, or just pretend to eat one? Jones works out of a bungalow in the quaint Larchmont neighborhood of Los Angeles. The rooms of the house are airy and filled with mementos of her thirty-year-long career in Hollywood: bobble-heads of characters from “The Office,” which Jones cast; a bulletin board collaged with head shots...
Travel Industry Leaders Urge Maryland Governor To Reject Burdensome Tax On Travel  eTurboNews   ...Concerned industry participants comprise major corporations, travel management companies, travel agencies, travel industry advocates, travel associations, travel consortia and organized labor. Signatories to the letter include ...the Teamsters National Airline Division...
Cesar Chavez Day March Shines Light On LA Produce Workers' Rights  KABC   ...Teamsters marching Tuesday are in support of unionization for workers at the L.A. Produce Market. They say there are 1,000-2,000 workers at the market who lack union representation...
Trade
Trans-Pacific Partnership Treaty Will Help Neither Workers Nor Consumers (opinion)  Washington Post   ...now a significant portion of our trade is intra-corporate trade, an exchange between one branch of a multinational and another. Multinationals have different interests than national companies. They profit even if U.S. workers suffer...
State Battles
Most Americans Want Their State To Make Voter Registration Easier  Huffington Post   ...A 54 percent majority of Americans say they'd favor an automatic registration law in their state, a new HuffPost/YouGov poll finds, while 55 percent favor allowing eligible citizens to register on the day of an election...
Colorado House Gives Initial OK To Pair Of Minimum-Wage Bills  Denver Post   .. the Colorado House gave initial approval Monday to two bills that could grant pay hikes to the state's lowest-wage earners. One bill would allow elected officials in cities and counties to set minimum wages apart from the state standard; the other would create a 2016 ballot measure to allow voters to decide on a formula to raise it from the current $8.23 an hour to $12.50 by 2020...
War on Workers
Cheap oil prices chop jobs by thousands  USA Today   ...Planned oil industry layoffs in the U.S. are approaching 100,000 in the past four months with more likely to come...
The Shrinking Middle Class, Mapped State by State  The Pew Charitable Trusts   .... A new Stateline analysis shows that in all 50 states, the percentage of “middle-class” households—those making between 67 percent and 200 percent of the state’s median income—shrunk between 2000 and 2013...
Even After Walmart Got Busted in Court for Stealing Workers' Wages, It's Trying Not to Pay Up  Alternet   ...Walmart employees have over $187 [million] in damages they can collect from a successful wage theft lawsuit, but the company is arguing that each victim should get their own lawyer...
‘Wealth creators’ are robbing our most productive people  Guardian   ...A report by the Resolution Foundation reveals that two-thirds of frontline care workers receive less than the living wage. Ten percent, like Carole, are illegally paid less than the minimum wage. This abuse is not confined to the UK: in the US, 27% of care workers who make home visits are paid less than the legal minimum...
Income Inequality: It’s Also Bad For Your Health  New York Times   ...the effect of inequality was statistically significant, equivalent to a difference of about 11 days of life between high- and low-inequality places. The differences were small, but for every increment that a community became more unequal, the proportion of residents dying before the age of 75 went up...
The Rise Of The Working Poor And The Non-Working Rich (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...While poverty declined in the early years of welfare reform when the economy boomed and jobs were plentiful, it began growing in 2000. By 2012 it exceeded its level in 1996, when welfare ended....
Losing A Job Is Always Terrible. For Workers Over 50, It’s Worse  Washington Post   ...although older people often found the working conditions at their new jobs were better than their old one, nearly half found that the new job paid less....
Contractor Killed In Industrial Accident At Marcus Hook Refinery  Philadelphia Inquirer   ...A contractor working at the former Sunoco refinery in Delaware County was killed Monday afternoon in an industrial accident, officials said...
Miscellaneous
Wintry Hit Seen In Soft Spending  Wall Street Journal   ...Consumer spending barely rose in February, increasing a seasonally adjusted 0.1% from the prior month after two consecutive declines, the Commerce Department said Monday. Spending on goods and services, when adjusted for inflation, actually declined slightly for the first time in 10 months...