Thursday, July 11, 2013

Today's Teamster News 07.11.13

Low-Wage Workers Hit Hardest In The Recovery: Study  Huffington Post   ...Workers in low-wage industries have lost a greater share of their inflation-adjusted income during the economic recovery than better-paid workers have, according to a new analysis from the National Employment Law Project...
Billionaire Koch Brother Says Eliminating The Minimum Wage Will Help The Poor  ThinkProgress   ...On Wednesday, the Charles Koch Foundation launched a $200,000 media campaign in Wichita, Kansas, with a hint of expanding it elsewhere...
The Big Problems in Obama's Big Trade Deals (opinion)  US News   ...The U.S.-EU Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) make up the majority of the world's global domestic product and are already plagued by oversight and accountability issues. The vulnerable communities that will be impacted are wide-ranging, spanning the environmental, labor and health sectors...
The wheels are coming off the whole of southern Europe  Telegraph   ...Europe’s debt-crisis strategy is near collapse. The long-awaited recovery has failed to take wing. Debt ratios across southern Europe are rising at an accelerating pace. Political consent for extreme austerity is breaking down in almost every EMU crisis state...
Smithfield CEO Faces Grilling in Senate on Food Safety  Reuters   ...Chinese plans to buy America's Smithfield Foods—the world's biggest pork producer—faces scrutiny Wednesday when U.S. senators question Smithfield's chief executive about food safety and foreign ownership...
FAA Ups Requirements for Co-Pilots on Passenger Planes  NBC News ...The federal government is toughening the qualifications for co-pilots on American passenger planes — days after a crash landing in San Francisco in which pilot experience has become a question...
Two Supreme Court Cases That Could Hurt Organized Labor  The Atlantic   ...Amid the ruckus over its voting rights and gay marriage rulings, the justices quietly accepted a pair of cases that could make it nearly impossible for private sector unions to organize new members...
FedEx Settles Lawsuit Over Claims It Overcharged Customers  Bloomberg News   ...FedEx Corp. agreed to settle a lawsuit over claims the company was “systematically overcharging” customers by billing for deliveries to businesses and government offices at higher residential rates...
Judge blocks portion of Michigan state Capitol access policy  Sheboygan Press   ...Groups of up to 20 people can gather in the state Capitol without a permit, a federal judge ruled, striking down portions of the current policy requiring permits for all activities as an unconstitutional infringement on free speech rights...
D.C. Council approves ‘living wage’ bill over Wal-Mart ultimatum  Washington Post   ...D.C. lawmakers gave final approval Wednesday to a bill requiring certain large retailers to pay their employees a 50 percent premium over the city’s minimum wage, a day after Wal-Mart warned the law would jeopardize their plans in the city...
Teamsters ratify new OTS contract with 6.4 percent raise  Honolulu Star Adviser   ...Honolulu’s bus drivers ratified a new five-year labor contract Tuesday with Oahu Transit Services, Inc. The new pact covers 1,400 bus drivers, clerical and maintenance members of Teamsters Local 996...
Mass. Teamsters back Clark in run  Wicked Local Winchester   ...Teamsters Local 25, representing more than 11,000 workers in Massachusetts, this week announced its support for state Sen. Katherine Clark in the race for U.S. Congress to represent the fifth district...
City lawmakers delay approving contract with Rural/Metro as ambulance strike looms  Buffalo News   ...For Buffalo residents, this might not be the best time to have a medical emergency. The Common Council on Tuesday put off renewing a contract with Rural/Metro Medical Services, which handles as many as 34,000 emergency calls a year in the City of Buffalo...
Rural/Metro Putting Profits Ahead Of People  Tony Trupiano Show   ...Labor radio host Tony Trupiano interviews Local 375 members in Buffalo about their fight to win a fair contract with Rural/Metro medical service. Download the audio here...
Hoffa: Congress Must Vet the Pacific Rim Trade Proposal  IBT   ...Workers across Michigan and the U.S. are working harder today for less pay than they received just a few years ago. Jobs that once allowed wage earners to support their families disappeared during the last recession, replaced by jobs that pay poverty wages. But more importantly, millions of good jobs have been exported over the past 20 years because of bad trade deals...
30 arrested during UMWA protest in W.Va.  WHTM   ...United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard told the crowd that every union is threatened if Patriot gets away with shedding legacy costs and breaking promises...