Friday, December 23, 2011

Today's Teamster News 12.23.11

Boehner Signs On to U.S. Payroll Tax Deal  Bloomberg   ...The deal also averts an end to emergency unemployment benefits set to expire on Dec. 31 and assures doctors their Medicare reimbursement rates won’t be reduced starting in January...
Retailers Are Slashing Prices Ahead of Holiday  New York Times   ...While scattered markdowns are standard every year, discounts across entire stores — which analysts say are more widespread than last year — suggest merchants are stuck with too much merchandise...
Occupy Fort Lauderdales Saves Bein-Aime Family From Eviction  Huffington Post   ...The Bien-Aime family of seven have been fighting with Wells Fargo bank, who they say are refusing to accept payments. Occupy Fort Lauderdale protestors set up a protest outside family's Coconut Creek home on Monday and received confirmation later that day that the eviction had been postponed...
Cities that broke up Occupy camps now face lawsuits over free speech, use of force  Associated Press   ...Most major Occupy encampments have been dispersed, but they live on in a flurry of lawsuits in which protesters are asserting their constitutional rights to free speech and assembly and challenging authorities’ mass arrests and use of force to break up tent cities...
Gov. Walker dominates the air waves early in push to burnish his image  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...At the outset of Wisconsin’s historic recall fight, GOP Gov. Scott Walker and his allies are outspending the other side on television by a margin of roughly 4-to-1, an advantage he’s expected to maintain in the weeks ahead...
Greensburg holds taxes steady, OKs union pacts  Pittsburgh Tribune-Review   ...The Teamsters' contract calls for annual average raises of 3 percent for the first, fourth and fifth years of the agreement, and 2.5 percent for the second and third years...