Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Today's Teamster News 04.24.13

Boston Teamsters to Westboro Hate Group: You Are Not Welcome Here  IBT   ...(Local 25 President Sean) O'Brien made it clear that Boston Teamsters will be at the funeral of officer Sean Collier on Wednesday, April 24, 2013 to ensure that the Westboro hate group is hidden from mourners - should they choose to show up...
Teamsters aim to shield Boston funeral from Westboro picketers  USA Today   ...Another memorial is planned (today) ... for Sean Collier, 26, the police officer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who was shot and killed...
The deficit is falling fast. Can Washington accept victory?  Washington Post  ...the United States has made remarkable progress toward trimming its fiscal sails. We may not be doing austerity European-style (thankfully, if you’ve paid attention to recent economic numbers out of Europe), but American austerity, or at least steady deficit reduction, is well underway, as two new reports affirm...
Who Is Defending Austerity Now?  The Atlantic   ...It's not "just" that southern Europe is stuck in a depression and Britain is stuck in a no-growth trap. It's that the very intellectual foundations of austerity are unraveling. In other words, economists are finding out that austerity doesn't work in practice or in theory...
High Income Households Would Pay Most—But Not All—of the New Taxes in Obama’s 2014 Budget  Tax Policy Center   ...despite Obama’s long-standing pledge to protect individuals making below $200,000 (and couples making $250,000 or less) from any tax hikes, even many of those families would pay slightly more than under today’s tax law...
A Rise in Wealth for the Wealthy; Declines for the Lower 93%  Pew Research and Social Demographic Trends   ...During the first two years of the nation’s economic recovery, the mean net worth of households in the upper 7% of the wealth distribution rose by an estimated 28%, while the mean net worth of households in the lower 93% dropped by 4%, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly released Census Bureau data...
Federal employee furloughs begin  Washington Post   ...Labor Department employees have already begun taking their unpaid leave, part of the government’s cost-cutting hatchet known as the sequester...
Bangladeshi Activists Bring Fight to Wal-Mart’s Doorstep  Common Dreams   ...On top of the fire safety agreement to prevent future disasters, the International Labor Rights Forum has joined with Warehouse Workers United and other labor groups to push for stronger regulations at various links in the supply chain, from garment factories in Asia to warehouses in Illinois...
Death Trap Plants Win ‘Safe’ Certifications, New AFL-CIO Report Reveals  AFL-CIO   ...In the most recent fires, both factories had been certified as meeting working condition and safety standards by official-sounding groups financed by the very corporations profiting from the low-wage labor churning out the pants, sweaters, shirts and more destined for boutique stores and department store racks, according to Responsibility Outsourced: Social Audits, Workplace Certification and 20 Years of Failure to Protect Worker Rights...
Japanese Leaders Bring a Reality-Check to Washington about Japanese Participation in the TPP  The National Press Club   ...The reality: Japanese participation in TPP negotiations will delay their completion and require a reduction in the agreement’s “ambition.”...
Voting rights groups lambaste Florida GOP’s election law rewrite  The Miami Herald   ...The advocates said Republican lawmakers are trying to impose new barriers to voting and they aimed their opposition squarely at Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, architect of HB 7013, which requires anyone seeking to help a voter must previously be known to the voter and no one can help more than 10 voters in an election...
Wisconsin redistricting scandal deepens  Daily Kos  ...Republican staffers had deleted hundreds of thousands of files relating to the 2011 redistricting of Wisconsin...
Michigan Republicans introduce cut-and-pasted ALEC “forced privatization” legislation  eclectablog   ...The bill would prohibit public entities from competing against the private sector, and its definitions are so restrictive that it would allow corporations to take the state to court and force it to stop providing valuable public services...
Hearings set on bill to privatize liquor stores  Philadelphia Inquirer   ...The first of what will likely be three state Senate hearings on a controversial bill to privatize Pennsylvania's government-run wine and liquor stores has been scheduled for next Tuesday in the Capitol - and it is bound to be telling...
Teamsters sign off on YRC restructuring  Kansas City Business Journal   ...Leaders of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters approved YRC Worldwide Inc.’s change of operations request, the Overland Park less-than-truckload company announced on Tuesday...
Virginia Teamsters Endorse Herring For Attorney General  IBT   ...(Mark) Herring has worked tirelessly for Virginia working families during his two terms in the Virginia State Senate...
Teamsters, ABF again extend ‘frustrating’ labor talks  The City Wire   ...The Teamsters issued a statement on April 19 suggesting that new proposals from Arkansas Best have put the negotiations “at risk.”...
Garbage trucks roll, but labor strife still roils  Youngstown Vindicator   ...Though all 106 workers, represented by Teamsters International Local 377, lifted picket lines over the weekend, headwinds still remain as both sides plan to meet today and Wednesday during a new round of bargaining to discuss disagreements ranging from unfair labor practices to wages and retirement benefits...