Thursday, March 29, 2012

Today's Teamster News 03.29.12

JOBS Act benefits financial criminals (Opinion)  Marketwatch  ...Criminal minds must be working overtime now, because the new legislation — which seemingly every investor- and consumer-protection group has railed against — effectively makes it open season on small investors...
US employs Vinnie the Kneecapper to collect student debt  Automatic Earth   ...With $67 billion of student loans in default, the Education Department is turning to an army of private debt-collection companies to put the squeeze on borrowers. Working on commissions that totaled about $1 billion last year, these government contractors face growing complaints that they are violating federal laws...
Bill banning picketing of homes unites unlikely Ga. coalition of tea partiers, labor unions  Associated Press   ...State lawmakers must decide Thursday on the final day of their session whether to pass legislation that targets labor unions. A range of groups who don't often agree with organized labor — libertarian tea partyers, small-government Republicans, anti-abortion activists and others — want it rejected, saying the bill fixes a problem that doesn't exist and would harm their free speech rights, too...
Mitt Romney amuses Wisconsin voters with yarn about Michigan losing an auto plant  Detroit Free Press   ...Mitt Romney told a jokey anecdote on a conference call today with Wisconsin primary voters that had Michigan – and the closing of an auto plant – as part of the punch line...
Public safety concerns amid probation cutbacks  ABC 7   ...The Teamsters Local Union 2011, which represents most Florida corrections officers, filed an administrative petition, challenging the decision on grounds it violates Florida law and endangers its communities. Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott calls the decision regrettable, noting "folks are generally better behaved when they know they are being watched."... 
Teamsters join in the protest against selling off Ontario Northland assets  Timmins Times   ...Queen’s Park has alternatives to selling off the 106-year-old Ontario Northland Railway and killing jobs and negatively impacting thousands of lives in Northern Ontario, according to the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference Maintenance of Way Employees, which represents 200 ONR workers...