Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Today's Teamster News 12.11.12

Live blog: Michigan right-to-work protesters converge on Capitol as legislators are poised for final debates  Michigan Live   ...Michigan's right-to-work debate is drawing not just national attention, but also thousands of protesters to the Capitol grounds today to protest what could be the legislature's final passage of the law...
Obama jumps headfirst into fight over Michigan 'right-to-work' law  The Hill   ...President Obama on Monday injected himself into an escalating fight over changing Michigan into a right-to-work state, saying the state Legislature’s move to ban the required paying of union dues was all about politics...
Taylor schools to close Tuesday as teachers head to Lansing  ClickOnDetroit   ...The Taylor School District will be closed down Tuesday because of the high number of staff that have either called in sick or are taking personal days to attend rallies in Lansing...
Editorial: Worker choice? Let Michigan voters decide on right-to-work  Detroit Free Press   ...If Gov. Rick Snyder expects Michiganders to believe his professed interest in “worker choice” is anything more than the most cynical doublespeak, he’ll embrace a reasonable compromise Michigan’s Democratic congressional delegation proposed at a meeting in the governor’s Cadillac Place office Monday morning. Those present at the meeting urged that instead of signing the right-to-work bill state legislators are expected to whisk to his desk Tuesday, Snyder should encourage the bill’s champions to place the question before voters in the next statewide election, currently scheduled for August 2014...
Sign Of The Times: Labor Strikes May Make Comeback  NPR   ..."If you look at the national data, you see a decline in job satisfaction and you see tremendous frustration, particularly among younger workers who recognize they can't get the kinds of jobs they've been educated for, that they can't support their families or earn the kinds of incomes that their parents earned at comparable stages in life," he says...
Hostess Maneuver Deprived Pension  Wall Street Journal   ...Teamster-represented employees at Hostess didn't contribute a portion of their wages toward pensions, a union spokesman said. But among workers in the bakers union, it was "standard practice," said Mr. Rayburn, Hostess's CEO...
McCarthyism Is Alive and Well at Wisconsin Capitol  Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative   ...This list-making appears to be part of Capitol Police Chief David Erwin’s latest strategy for crushing political dissent in the Capitol. Since assuming office in July, Erwin has tried a series of measures aimed at ridding the Capitol of dissenting citizens whose continued presence annoys Republican legislators and confuses the embedded press...
Teamsters help Children's Home Society  Charleston Gazette   ...Members of Teamsters Local 175 delivered more than $15,000 worth of food and toys to the Children's Home Society early Monday morning...