Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Today's Teamster News 12.07.11

L.A. calls for end to 'corporate personhood'  Los Angeles Times   ...The council resolution includes support for a constitutional amendment that would assert that corporations are not entitled to constitutional rights, and that spending money is not a form of free speech...
ALEC Deems Kids Eating Rat Poison An ‘Acceptable Risk’  ThinkProgress   ...the corporate front group American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has been colluding with the billionaire Koch brothers to privatize government and eliminate environmental regulations that interfere with profits...
Unions Sue to Block Liquor Law  Publicola   ...two unions—the United Food and Commercial Workers local 21 and the Teamsters local 174, who represent the 900-plus state liquor store and distribution workers who will lose their jobs under I-1183, the Costco-backed liquor-privatization measure—have filed suit (against) the initiative, arguing that it violates the “single subject rule” in the state constitution...
The beer is back: Teamsters Local 838 ends strike  Pitch News   ...The Teamsters say County offered a deal that would cut hourly wages and benefits an average of $10,000 to $18,000 a year...
Makers of Academy Awards Strip Wages from Workers  Teamsters Joint Council 25   ...Hollywood's biggest stars will take home golden trophies during the 84th Annual Academy Awards, but the Teamsters who manufacture and polish the coveted statues are being handed something far less glamorous—gutted benefits and drastic wage cuts...
Notre Dame Profs Dismantle Indiana Study Committee’s “Report” in Favor of Right-to-Work  We Party Patriots   ...‘Right to work’ law leads to lower wages for all, the two Higgins Labor Studies Program veterans say the 2011 study is built on vague assumptions and filled with anti-union language...