Thursday, October 31, 2013

Shareholders to SEC: Expose corporate "dark money" in politics

Wouldn't it be nice to know how much of your money is being spent to elect anti-worker politicians to office?

If you have any retirement savings, you probably own stock in a public corporation. And the CEOs of those corporations can spend your money however they wish on politics -- without telling you.

Since the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision, corporations have been pouring millions of dollars into shadowy groups to influence elections. In the 2012 election, up to $400 million was funneled into these "dark money" groups -- that's 500 percent more than in the previous presidential election before Citizens United.

More often than not, that corporate money is being spent to elect anti-worker candidates to public office.

new SEC rule being considered would require publicly traded companies to disclose to shareholders the corporate funds spent on political campaigns.

Supporters of the new rule, led by Public Citizen, held an event in Washington yesterday where Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) urged the SEC to shine a light on the "dark money" spent by corporations:
We don't have to have legislation for the SEC to do the right thing. They have the power to do the right thing right now. There is no reason for saying a corporation wants to be able to spend shareholders' money and not tell shareholders how that money is being spent.
Advocates for transparency in corporate political spending are also supporting the Shareholder Protection Act, legislation introduced by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) to force the SEC to enact a political disclosure rule. Menendez was also at yesterday's event and said the SEC does not need the legislation to write the new rule now.

 Law professor Ciara Torres-Spelliscy wrote in the Los Angeles Times:
There is no rule at the SEC that requires public companies to tell their shareholders what they are up to in partisan elections.
If the law of the land allows corporations to spend unlimited money on politics, investors deserve to know when, why and how much.
As the Sunlight Foundation observes, the recent government shutdown was just one symptom of the dysfunction sewn by the dark money infecting DC -- all in the interests of right-wing fanatics and their corporate sponsors:
Not all that ails our democracy can be blamed on the Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case, but $1.2 billion in spending by outside groups—at least $300 million of that from undisclosed donors—doesn’t help create a working democracy.
Legislation such as the DISCLOSE Act is still the best chance at comprehensive disclosure of all dark money. But an SEC rule will result in greater accountability by companies that decide to spend money on politics, it will inform investors about how a company spends its profits, and it will help the public identify the messenger behind many of the political ads they see.
A new SEC rule wouldn't solve all of our problems. It probably won't even reduce corporate political spending all that much. But it would be a nice change from the secrecy that shrouds political spending. 
And it will give us a chance to hold CEOs accountable when they spend money on politicians who attack working people.

1,000 DC taxi drivers join Teamsters

A thousand Washington, D.C., taxi drivers, angry about expensive and unfair regulation, are banding together with Teamsters Local 922 in a new way of organizing workers.

For their first formal meeting, the drivers crowded into the union hall on Tuesday and packed the parking lot, listening to the proceedings on a loudspeaker. Local reporters were keenly interested in the story. Reported dcist:
"We will win!" the crowd chanted after Ferline Buie, president of Teamsters Local 922, said that the union would help drivers win "fairness, justice, equality, dignity and respect" through their new association. 
"We're here to tell the D.C. Taxicab Commission that these regulations have been handled totally unfair," Buie said. "We need more time to deal with these new and costly regulations. We also want to make sure that the drivers aren't burdened ... with the costs of these new regulations."
The drivers are independent, so they can't join the Teamsters in the traditional way. What they can do -- and did -- is form a dues-paying association so together they can  oppose costly and unfair regulations from the local taxi commission. Washington state taxi drivers did the same thing last year. It's part of a national alt-labor movement that includes fast food workers, Walmart workers and farmworkers.

The Talking Union blog describes alt-labor as:
...forms of worker representation that don’t fit in the traditional union/collective bargaining mold. Perhaps best known are the “worker centers” found in many cities, often affiliated with Interfaith Worker Justice. These walk-in centers perform admirable work helping workers who lack union membership to seek justice when they have been cheated of wages or hurt on the job; many focus especially on the needs of immigrant workers. Other experiments are modeled after professional associations or advocacy groups.
Drivers have high hopes for their new association.

"We need a strong voice, and our association with Local 922 will give us that strong voice!" Mohamud Samantar, a driver for 10 years, told the crowd. "We need our rights and our association with Local 922 will give us our rights."

"We need all drivers to stand united to fight for our rights. When we are united, we will win our rights," said Stan Tapscott, a driver since 1962 and D.C. Taxicab Commission member.

Addis Gebreselassie, a driver for more than 12 years with Silver Cab, said he had a speech written down, but was opting to not read that speech. Instead, he delivered these three words from the podium: "No more disrespect." The crowd applauded and then began chanting "No more disrespect!"

To follow the Washington, D.C., taxi drivers fight, go to their website here.

Today's Teamster News 10.31.13

Teamsters Hold First Meeting Of D.C. Taxi Operators Association  teamster.org   ...Hundreds of taxicab drivers in the nation’s capital attended the first meeting of the new Washington, D.C., Taxi Operators Association Tuesday in overwhelming support for a strong affiliation with the Teamsters as the city imposes major, costly industry changes affecting their livelihoods...
DC Cabbies to Be Represented by Teamsters  WUSA9 News   ...A big vote in Northeast DC has forever changed the political landscape for DC cab drivers. See the video...
DC Taxi Drivers Organize  DC Labor   ...DC taxi drivers chanted "We will win! We will win!" at yesterday's first meeting of the Washington DC Taxi Operators Association, which formalized its affiliation with Teamsters Local Union 922...
Teamsters members reject Wegmans contract  Democrat and Chronicle   ...For the second time during this round of contract talks, Wegmans' Rochester-based distribution and transportation employees have rejected the contract proposal that was agreed to by Wegmans and Teamsters Local 118...
Arbitrator rules on Teamsters Local 320 and Wadena County (Minnesota) contract issues  Wadena Pioneer Journal   ...Nearly 11 months after the county’s new labor agreements went into effect on Jan. 1, arbitrator Stephen F. Befort delivered his decisions on the unresolved issues between the county and its unit of 19 essential public safety employees represented by Teamsters Local 320...
City delays budget vote after Teamsters delay contract vote  ABC 57 News   ...The vote happens Tuesday and Wednesday and will affect about 250 city employees who are members of Teamsters Local 364...
YRC Worldwide, Teamsters Set to Meet in Dallas  Journal of Commerce   ...YRC Worldwide, fresh from a terminal network restructuring and change in leadership at $3.2 billion less-than-truckload carrier YRC Freight, will meet with the Teamsters union early next month to discuss the company’s future...
County, Teamster Union agree to 4-year contract Albany  Democrat-Herald   ...Linn County in Oregon has reached a four-year wage and benefits contract with Teamster Local Union No. 670, which represents about 42 of the county’s 600 employees...
Corporations Take, Take, Take While Workers Pay The Bill (opinion)  teamster.org   ...What do mega-corporations like communications giant Verizon and big pharma drug maker Bristol-Myers Squibb have in common, besides their billions in earnings? They both paid an effective tax rate of zero percent over the past year...
ABF Update: Central Region Local Cartage Teamsters Overwhelmingly Decline To Authorize A Strike At ABF  teamster.org   ...In a vote with 77 percent turnout, a majority of the membership covered by the Central Region Local Cartage Supplement has overwhelmingly (70% to 30%) chosen not to authorize a strike at ABF...
Anheuser-Busch, Teamsters start contract talks  The Post-Standard   ...Negotiations will start next month on a new labor contract that could determine the future for the Anheuser-Busch InBev brewery near Baldwinsville, New York...
Is Funeral Home Chain SCI's Growth Coming at the Expense of Mourners?  Bloomberg   ...For traditional funerals, SCI charges $6,256 on average (excluding casket and cemetery plot), 42 percent more than independents...
Union-Made Halloween Treats  unionplus.org   ...When those little ghosts and goblins come collecting on Halloween, make sure you have a full supply of union-made-in-America treats for them like Jelly Belly's candy corn. Find out about other goodies that are made by union workers...
Today's College Grads Won't Be Able to Retire Until They're 73  Bethlehem Patch   ...Student loan debt likely will force today's college grads to work longer...
Stop The Social Security Stupidity: A Q&A With Bernie Sanders  Talking Points Memo   ...The Koch brothers, Pete Peterson and other billionaires are spending huge amounts of money trying to cut Social Security and other vitally important federal programs. As part of this campaign, an enormous amount of misinformation is floating around...
America’s new hunger crisis  MSNBC   ...“When 50 million people in the richest country on the planet are hungry, that’s a crisis...”
US budget deficit down to $680B, lowest in 5 years  Associated Press   ...For the first time in five years, the U.S. government has run a budget deficit below $1 trillion...
U.S. trade official pushes Congress to renew trade promotion authority  Reuters   ...The Obama administration's top trade official said on Tuesday that the United States is aiming to finalize a giant trade deal with 11 other Pacific Rim nations by the end of year, but that it needs Congress to approve a rule to speed up the talks...
Brazil protests: Sao Paulo bus station attacked  BBC News   ...Friday's protests began with a march through the city that lasted about three hours. Violence erupted when a section of the crowd broke off and attacked a bus terminal in the city centre, police said...
Census: More Ohioans living in poverty than since before the 'Great Recession'  Associated Press   ...A U.S. Census report shows there are more Ohioans living in poverty than before the Great Recession. The numbers show one in six Ohioans was living in poverty last year. The state's poverty rate increased from 13.1 percent in 2007 to 16.3 percent in 2012...
GOP GOVERNOR: 'There Seems To Be A War On The Poor' With Republicans In Washington  Business Insider   ...Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) criticized members of his party in Washington in an interview with The New York Times published Tuesday, saying there "seems to be a war on the poor."...
Lower middle-class workers get trampled  Indianapolis Star   ...Consumer confidence has plunged for lower middle-class Americans in recent years...
Alabama Blogger Arrested, Jailed For Writing About Former Governor’s Son  ThinkProgress   ...this sort of order is what is known as a prior restraint on First Amendment expression and is almost certainly unconstitutional...
Detroit Will be Democracy's Decisive Battle  Black Agenda Report   ...Detroit is the battleground chosen by Wall Street to crush the last vestiges of American democracy by creating “the template for direct corporate rule.”...

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Recording leaked of manager intimidating workers about joining union

UPDATES to ADD link that was pvsly broken and new graf 3 with driver reax.

An Iron Mountain manager was recorded telling workers who want to join the Teamsters why they shouldn't. Then the recording was leaked. All over twitter. All over Facebook. All over tumblr. And then in the news media. 



The manager was holding what's known as a captive audience meeting. All the union busters do it. It's legal so long as managers don't intimidate workers.

In this case, the drivers reported it WAS intimidating when their managers forced them into such meetings to lie about the Teamsters. The two managers also emphasized that the company will not bargain in good faith, by stating they will not achieve improvements in a Teamsters contract.

Here's the link: https://soundcloud.com/organizega/iron-mountain-anti-union

Hamilton Nolan at Gawker reported:
This is a recording of a recent meeting in which two Iron Mountain managers "educate" the employees about the downside of a union. (The link was sent out last night to an email list of labor journalists.) Its content is not especially outrageous—its value lies in the fact that it offers a full look at one of the many little stumbling blocks that go along with any workplace's attempt to organize. 
"This is the South. This is not something where unions are [prevalent]," says one manager. "If the union comes in, it will make it much more difficult to get things done." When the other manager addresses the employees, he says of their union campaign, "I can't help but take it personally... it does hurt. It does sting." 
At one point, a manager tells the workers, "No one in this room has more union experience than me." At that, one worker speaks up to note that he was in a union for five years at a previous workplace, and tells a story of how the union helped save his job after the company tried to fire him unjustly. "Well shame on the company," replies the manager, "but we don't do that here." (The worker's previous employer would no doubt say the same thing.)
The company tried to respond on the Class War Kitteh Facebook page, but the corporate boilerplate was no match for the kitten in the box.

Heh-heh.

Teamsters organizing victory in Kansas!

Please give a warm welcome to our 20 new brothers and sisters who drive short-haul dump trucks for Capital Trucking.  They voted 13-2 today to join Teamsters Local 696 in Topeka, Kan.

Local 696 President Make Scribner welcomed members earlier today:
Capital Trucking employees seized an opportunity to secure their future for their families and themselves this morning.  We look forward to representing them.
The new members want respect and fairness in the workplace.  Drivers report being banned from the break room -- even though other employees at the company are allowed to use it. They also want more consistency in wages. Drivers are paid by the load, but aren’t told what the load is worth until after they’ve already hauled it. 

Capital Trucking driver Larry Faught had this to say:
I believe this is an opportunity … to come to the table.  If we work together, it will be to both parties benefit.
Teamsters Local 696 looks forward to negotiating a strong first contract for Capital Trucking drivers.

Trade deal didn't end anti-union violence in Colombia. What a shock.

Unionists are still being murdered, threatened and forced to work as temps in Colombia despite promises that an 'action plan' would prevent it, according to a staff report by U.S. Reps. George Miller and Jim McGovern.

The action plan -- called the U.S.-Colombia Labor Action Plan (LAP) -- was created in April 2011 to give cover to U.S. politicians who wanted to vote for the job-killing trade deal with Colombia, the most dangerous country in the world to be a union member.

Ostensibly the LAP would correct violations of labor rights (like murder and violence) once the trade pact was implemented on May 15, 2012. It didn't happen. Working conditions for most people in Colombia are worse than they were before the trade deal. (No surprise there.)

The failure of the Colombian trade deal portends a similar outcome in Vietnam if the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is approved. Vietnam, one of the Pacific Rim countries involved in TPP talks, tolerates squalid working conditions, poverty wages and child slavery.

Eleven Colombian union leaders were murdered last year. At least that's better than the 22 union leaders murdered with impunity the year before. But threats, assaults, and disappearances are reportedly on the rise, according to the report.

Worse, violence is escalating against human rights workers. In the first six months of this year, 37 human rights defenders were murdered in Colombia and 153 were attacked.

The so-called benefits of so-called free trade have not flowed to ordinary Colombians. Indigenous people are being thrown off their land. Farmers' livelihoods are threatened by a surge of subsidized agricultural products from the United States. In the port city of Buenaventura, gruesome dismemberments and murders drove 9,000 poor people from their home. Misery and violence prevail.

The two congressmen visited Colombia in August to see whether the action plan was working. They arrived in the middle of social unrest:
Colombian farmers took to the streets and went on strike, joined by miners, truckers, public health care workers, students and others. The reasons for the strike given by many included: high fuel prices, expensive agrichemicals, government neglect of rural areas, and the free trade agreement with the United States. 
They concluded the trade deal has made life worse for most Colombian workers:
...individuals have been murdered in 2013 and death threats continue. Impunity is still a huge and unaddressed problem. Internationally recognized labor rights are not protected. And in the absence of an effective enforcement system and lax accountability, new forms of indirect hiring and phony unions are proliferating.
A Latin American human rights group agreed with the congressmen. Said Gimena Sánche, senior associate with the Washington Office on Latin America:
Basic labor protections, including the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining, continue to be violated on a national scale...
Let's be honest: these so-called trade deals aren't about trade. They're about empowering corporations at the expense of workers around the globe. That's why no one should be surprised the Colombian 'action plan' didn't work. Or that the TPP, if passed, will not have happy consequences for workers.




Today's Teamster News 10.30.13

Newsday drives off with new union pact  New York Post   ...Just two weeks after rejecting a new labor contract, workers, who are members of the IBT/Graphic Communications Conference at Newsday, ratified the same pact that cuts 25 driver jobs but hikes pay for the remaining workers by 6 percent over four years...
Grocery worker contract vote begins Tuesday  KIRO TV   ...Voting on the proposed contract will take place at several locations Tuesday and Wednesday for the unionized grocery workers, including members of Teamsters Local 38...
YRC requests meeting with Teamsters for company update   Kansas City Business Journal ...YRC Worldwide Inc. is calling its members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to Dallas to talk about the company's future...
UPS TCI Supplement Passes   teamster.org   ...The UPS TCI Supplement has passed by a vote of 87 to 12. That brings the total number of revoted local supplements and riders that have been approved by members to seven...
Rail optimistic on union deal as strike deadline nears  Reuters   ...Canadian National Railway Co., the country's largest railroad, said on Monday it is still talking with the union representing about 3,300 conductors and other workers and expects the two sides will be able to avoid a strike...
U.S. sham corporations aid drug lords  CNN   ... the Russian "Merchant of Death" Victor Bout used a global network of shell companies to move the funds of his international outfit, which authorities say provided weapons used to fuel conflicts throughout Africa, South America and the Middle East. At least 12 shell companies in Texas, Florida and Delaware have been linked to him...
Dutch Rabobank fined $1 billion over Libor scandal  Reuters   ...U.S. and European regulators have fined Dutch lender Rabobank $1 billion for rigging benchmark interest rates, making it the fifth bank punished in a scandal that has helped to shred faith in the industry...
'We got away with murder': £2.2m avoidance boast of Gordon Ramsay's tax expert in leaked memo  Daily Mail   ...Gordon Ramsay ‘really got away with murder’ as his company hid ‘incriminating evidence’ of alleged fraud from the taxman, a leaked memo claims...
The Coming Food Stamp Cut Will Hit 900,000 Veterans  ThinkProgress   ...Benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), otherwise known as food stamps, will automatically drop come Friday thanks to the loss of additional funds from the 2009 stimulus bill. That cut will hit about 900,000 of the country’s veterans...
Senate OKs Obama pick for NLRB general counsel  The Guardian   ...Senators voted 62-37 Tuesday to end Republican delaying tactics against Richard Griffin, who Obama nominated to be NLRB general counsel...The general counsel investigates and prosecutes cases before the board. Griffin is a Democrat and long-time labor lawyer...
Another View: Americans' appetite for Amtrak service growing (opinion)  Des Moines Register   ...On the heaviest traveled passenger rail corridor in the nation, the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak keeps breaking ridership records...
Municipal workers, nurses, pensioners protest against austerity  Cyprus Mail   ...Tuesday, in the Republic of Cyprus, was a day of protests outside parliament and the finance ministry as nurses, pensioners and municipality workers all gathered to voice their discontent at government imposed cuts. Municipality workers from trade unions PEO and DEOK went on strike for four hours to protest against a further 12 per cent cut to state funding for 2014...
8 Scary Facts About The Trans-Pacific Partnership   BuzzFeed   ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, is a massive, secret trade agreement being negotiated behind the backs of Congress and the American people...
Brunei Sultan Raises More Worries About TPP   teamster.org   ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has rightfully come under fire for its potential to make things worse for workers and consumers both in the U.S. and the 11 other countries which are currently involved in negotiations...
Snyder rejected pension fund conditions  Detroit News   ...Gov. Rick Snyder’s testimony Monday in Detroit's historic Chapter 9 case marked a dramatic turn, featuring a sitting governor forced to defend a series of decisions likely to set a national precedent for union protections and pension rights in municipal bankruptcy...
Republican Says He'd Bring Back Slavery If His Constituents Asked Him To  AlterNet   ...A Nevada Republican sparked outrage after he told members of the GOP that he’d bring back slavery if that’s what his constituents wanted...
More follies from the Kasich circus! Toledo Blade   ...A Blade investigation of Ohio’s taxpayer-funded job-creation efforts discovered that businesses did not create thousands of jobs that state documents said they did. The probe also revealed that Ohio development officials awarded tens of millions of dollars to companies they knew little about. Much of that money is now lost...
Gov. Walker says he cannot yet comment on alleged discrepancies in his book  WKOW   ...Governor Scott Walker (R-Wisconsin) says he cannot yet comment on alleged discrepancies between what is reportedly published in his upcoming book and the recording of a phone conversation he had with a blogger posing as billionaire Republican donor David Koch on February 22, 2011...

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Shouldn't CEOs get the same treatment as the Bishop of Bling?

Pope Francis set a good example for corporate boards when he busted the Bishop of Bling, argues Brother Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America.

The pontiff recently suspended German Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, who spent $42 million to renovate his luxurious residence and billed the Vatican for it. The mansion may be turned into a soup kitchen or a refugee center

The Roman Catholic Church's new pope is a refreshing change to the aristocratic leaders we've been saddled with in the last few decades. He chose the name of a saint who lived among the poor. He lives in Spartan rooms, drives a 1984 Renault and wears loafers instead of the handmade red slippers of his predecessors.

CWA's Cohen, in a recent Huffington Post, says corporate boards of directors should follow the pope's example, "banishing imperial CEOs and rejecting royal pay package demands."

A corporate board demeans its employees when it awards a CEO 1,287 times what it pays the typical worker for his labor and loyalty, writes Cohen.

Someone actually did make 1,287 times what the median worker at his company got paid: Larry Ellison, CEO of technology giant Oracle, according to a Bloomberg estimate.

Teamsters are especially unhappy with McKesson CEO John Hammergren, who took home $57 million last year. Newly organized Teamsters at McKesson's Lakeland, Fla., warehouse don't make enough to afford health care.

Cohen cites British economist Andrew Smithers, who figures American companies in the 1970s devoted 15 times as much capital to investments  as they distributed to shareholders. Writes Cohen:
Now it's less than 2 to 1. Today, CEOs suck out companies' value rather than building for the future.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is proposing to shame imperial CEOs by requiring them to disclose the ratio of worker pay to CEO pay.

You can bet the SEC is hearing from corporate lobbyists to squelch this proposal. If you'd like the SEC to hear your voice as well, you can send a comment letter. Just click here and follow the easy instructions.

Why hasn't Alan Greenspan crawled under a rock?

Alan Greenspan doesn't have the decency to just go away, even after he encouraged the housing bubble that burst and caused the 2008 financial panic.  He was chairman of the Federal Reserve Board when the bubble got gigantic, and all he did was cheer it on.

Instead of crawling under a rock, Greenspan is out flogging a new book, to which we will not link because we don't want to encourage it.

The peerless Dean Baker, writing in The Guardian, lambastes Greenspan for causing hardship for millions of Americans and then showing his face in public. Baker doesn't buy Greenspan's excuse that he didn't know about Wall Street's risky speculation:
The explosion of exotic mortgages in the bubble years was hardly a secret. It was frequently talked about in the media and showed up in a wide variety of data sources, including those produced by the Fed. In fact, there were widespread jokes at the time about "liar loans" or "Ninja loans". The latter being an acronym for the phrase, "no income, no job, no assets".
Most of the news media is slavishly reporting Greenspan's denial he knew what was going on. Here's how close Alan Greenspan is to the media: he's married to MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell.

Greenspan is likely to be interviewed by the same 'journalists' who whine that JPMorgan is being persecuted because it has to pay a fine. The fine is a small fraction of JPMorgan's earnings, and it's punishment for destroying the financial security of millions of Americans.

Anyhoo, Baker explains how Greenspan was in the best position to stop the bubble's growth:
Suppose that, instead of extolling the wonders of adjustable rate mortgages, Greenspan used his public addresses to warn people that they were buying into an overpriced housing market; and he warned investors that the subprime mortgage backed securities they were buying were filled with fraudulent mortgages. Suppose further that he used the Fed's research staff to document these facts. 
Greenspan could have used the regulatory powers of the Fed to crack down on the bad mortgages being issued by the banks under the Fed's jurisdiction, as his fellow governor Edward Gramlich urged. And, he could have arranged to have a meeting with other federal and state regulators to see what they were doing to prevent mortgage fraud in the financial institutions under their jurisdictions as well.
Instead, he did nothing. As a result, the United States has 9 million fewer jobs than it would have had without the financial crisis. Millions of families lost their homes to foreclosure. Older workers lost their jobs with little hope of replacing their previous income. Young people face the worst job market since the Great Depression, and many of them carry tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt.

Thanks, Alan. Now please go away.

Today's Teamster News 10.29.13

Nearly 50% Of All Home Sales Now Cash, As Institutional Investor Activity Hits New High  Forbes   ...Nearly half of all home purchases in the month of September were paid for in cold hard cash, as tight lending conditions continue edge out traditional buyers and investors continue to scoop up inventory...
Billionaires: Decline of the West, Rise of the Rest  Triple Crisis   ...Gone are the days when U.S. billionaires accounted for over 40 percent of the list, with Western Europe and Japan making up most of the rest. Today, the Asia-Pacific region hosts 386 billionaires, 20 more than all of Europe and Russia combined...
Strikes Surge as Killings of Colombian Union Leaders Fall  Portside   ...Strikes, demonstrations and protests are at a record pace in Colombia this year as workers seek a bigger share of wealth generated by the country’s expanding economy...
American workers will be the losers in Trans Pacific trade deal (opinion)  The Buffalo News   ...negotiations with Vietnam, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and four other countries must be hush-hush, otherwise too many Americans would learn what their future wages, food safety standards and fate of their cities and towns would be...
29 Uncomfortable Truths About Soaring Poverty In America  zero hedge   ...Did you know that the number of Americans on welfare is higher than the number of Americans that have full-time jobs?  Did you know that 1.2 million public school students in the U.S. are currently homeless?  Anyone that uses the term "economic recovery" to describe what is happening in the United States today is being deeply insulting to the nearly 150 million Americans that are considered to be either "poor" or "low income" at this point...
Ratio of Job Seekers to Job Openings Slips Below 3-to-1 for First Time in Nearly Five Years, but Is Still as High as in Worst Month of Early 2000s Downturn  Economic Policy Institute   ... for nearly two out of every three job seekers, there simply were no jobs...
Growing Up Poor Changes Young Brains  MedPageToday   ..."Exposure to early life adversity should be considered no less toxic than exposure to lead, alcohol, or cocaine, and, as such, it merits similar attention from public health authorities..."
‘Riots always begin typically the same way’: food stamp shutdown looms Friday  Salon   ...The nationwide cut “is equivalent to about 16 meals a month for a family of three,” according to a Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analysis using the USDA’s “Thrifty Food Plan.” CBPP called the roughly $5 billion annual cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program “unprecedented” in “depth and breadth...”
As Europe erupts over US spying, NSA chief says government must stop media  The Guardian   ...both Germany and France exploded with anger over new revelations about pervasive NSA surveillance on their population and democratically elected leaders...
Profit, politics, pain: Private prisons — an eight-month Post investigation  Palm Beach Post   ...Sweetheart deals stuff private prisons with the cheapest, least troublesome prisoners, leaving Florida public prisons with the sickest and most violent inmates. State law guarantees companies are paid as if their prisons are 90 percent full, even if they aren’t, and even if it means emptying parts of public prisons to pack them...
UPDATED: Walker Recall Violates The Law -- The Law of Large Numbers  Voices Newspaper Blog   ...By the end of the week of Scott Walker's June 5th recall election, VOICES published a report that expressed concerns about the results which included the following strange occurrences...
Teamsters Local 264 elects new leader  The Buffalo News   ...Brian Dickman won election this month as president/principal executive officer for the Cheektowaga-based local...

Monday, October 28, 2013

Kochs are at it again, attacking your Social Security

Sen. Bernie Sanders is raising the alarm about greedy billionaires like the  Benedict Arnold Koch brothers trying to cut our Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Because their greed knows no limit, they want more for themselves.

We received an email from Bernie that we thought we'd share with you:
They're at it again. 
Billionaires like the Koch Brothers, Pete Peterson, Stanley Druckenmiller and others are leading the charge to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. 
If they succeed, millions of senior citizens, working families, disabled veterans and children will suffer. We must not allow that to happen. 
Today, the middle class is disappearing, real unemployment is extremely high, poverty is increasing and working families throughout the country are struggling to keep their heads above water economically. Meanwhile, the gap between the very rich and everyone else is growing wider and wider and the wealthiest people and the largest corporations are doing phenomenally well. 
We must not balance the budget on the backs of working families, the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor. 
As Vermont's senator, I have the honor of serving on the Budget Conference Committee which will be negotiating a new federal budget over the next few months -- and where I am fearful that a deal could be struck to slash Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits. 
As the founder of the Defending Social Security Caucus, please stand with me, our friends at Social Security Works and our coalition partners in demanding; "No grand bargain in exchange for cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits." 
Let's be clear. Despite right-wing rhetoric:
  • Social Security is not going broke. According to the Social Security Administration, Social Security has a surplus today of $2.8 trillion and can pay out every benefit owed to every eligible person for the next 20 years.
  • Social Security has not contributed to the deficit. Social Security is funded independently by FICA taxes which are paid by workers and their employers.
Sign this petition. 
The so-called chained-CPI, which recalculates how COLA's are formulated, is not a "modest tweak." If the chained CPI went into effect today, a senior aged 65 would receive $658 a year less in Social Security benefits when he/she is 75, and $1,100 a year less at age 85. Further, the average disabled veteran would lose tens of thousands of dollars in benefits over his/her lifetime. 
Please stand with me today and demand that Congress and the President oppose any grand bargain which cuts Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits. 

When one out of four U.S. corporations pay nothing in federal income taxes; when Bush's tax breaks for the rich remain in place for many wealthy Americans; when the U.S. spends almost as much as the rest of the world combined on defense, there are much fairer and economically sound ways to address the budget than cutting programs desperately needed by the most vulnerable people in our country. 
Please stand with me and Campaign for America's Future in protecting the future of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits. 
Let's go forward together. Thanks for your continued support. 
Sincerely,
Bernie Sanders
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders

Banks screwing students the way they screwed homeowners

Once again, family finances are in danger from big banks.  Thousands of students with loans are complaining their student loan companies are breaking laws in the same way mortgage servicers did during the foreclosure crisis. That's according to a newly released Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) report that warns of increased fees and financial trouble to come:
Many of the private student loan complaints mirror the problems heard from consumers in the mortgage market following the wake of the financial crisis.
In the past year, CFPB received 3,800 complaints from student loan borrowers. Eight servicing companies received 87 percent of the complaints, including Sallie Mae, Wells Fargo, Citi and JPMorgan Chase.

Lenders pay other companies, called servicers, to process loans.  These subcontractors make the least money when people pay back the loan on time -- and the most when people are struggling, since the subcontractors keep all of the late fees for themselves.

CFPB's report suggests a pattern of lawbreaking by student loan servicers. And why not? Wall Street saw how profitable foreclosing on families was.  Although millions of Americans lost their homes due to criminal behavior, banks were just handed tax-deductible fines and banned from messing with the housing market like that again.  But the student loan market remained open -- and  too-big-to-fail banks knew they could get away with it again.

As David Dayen points out in Salon
the past performance of regulators on mortgage servicing has been pretty toothless. And that’s why student loan servicers believe they have a license to steal.
Here's what the student loan services are up to, according to the CFPB report:
  • Violating the Truth in Lending Act by charging student lenders fees for prepaying their private student loans. 
  • Forcing military borrowers -- including those in combat zones -- to resubmit unnecessary paperwork and then charging higher interest rates when they can't come up with the paperwork.
  • Making it too complicated and difficult for most struggling graduates to refinance their loans.
It's no surprise over 14 percent of 2010 graduates defaulted on their loans within three years. Without reform and actual enforcement of lending laws, the default rate is only going to rise.  We just wonder why this is still legal.

Today's Teamster News 10.28.13

America’s Wealthy Are Even Wealthier And Have A New Name: Point-Seveners  Alternet   ...America has 45,000 citizens worth more than $50 million...
Dark money groups linked to Koch brothers pay $1 million in fines  Salon   ...They allegedly spent a combined $15 million on conservative ballot proposals without proper disclosure...
The Great Voucher Fraud  Alternet   ... decades of accumulated evidence paints a different story: Vouchers do not improve educational outcomes, they take money away from struggling public schools, they’re cash cows for institutions offering questionable education, they aid students already attending private institutions and they ignore the needs of special-education students...
Recall: 222,959 pounds of ready-to-eat chicken salad products  UPI   ...Boston Salads and Provisions Company is recalling about 222,959 pounds of chicken salad products due to possible contamination with Listeria, officials say...
The US Is Quietly Losing Its Innovation Edge to China  The Diplomat   ...Between 2003 and 2013, the number of applications increased from nearly 35,000 to more than 51,000, while NIH appropriations shrunk from $21 billion to $16 billion (in 1995 dollars). As a consequence, it has become increasingly difficult for our scientists to garner an NIH grant…The story is dramatically different on the China side. The government is determined to be the next technology innovation center in the world. By 2011, China had already become the world’s second highest investor in R&D. Government research funding has been growing at an annual rate of more than 20 percent...
Another Reason to Hate TPP: It Gives Big Content New Tools to Undermine Sane Digital Rights Policies  EFF   ...TPP would give multinational companies the power to sue countries over laws that that might diminish the value of their company or cut into their expected future profits...
Has the Great Recession created behavioral changes in the labor markets?  Sober Look   ...One of the persistent problems with the US labor markets is the current pool of unemployed people taking far longer to find work than in the past. This would suggest that the key for those without work is to enter the workforce as quickly as possible - even if it means part-time, temp, consulting, etc. The barriers to re-entry are much higher these days than any time in recent decades...
Mizuho Bank’s Yakuza Scandal: More than 30 Execs to be Punished  The Diplomat   ...More than 30 executives at Mizuho Financial Group, Japan’s third largest bank, will be held accountable for making loans to the country’s organized crime syndicates, known as the yakuza...
Could New York City Subways Survive Another Hurricane?  New York Times   ...you see what it will take to keep the system going: technological improvements, yes, but also the oldest technology of all — the knowledge of the people who run the subway, many of whom have been there for their entire working lives...
What Is Going On in Wisconsin -- And Why Is It So Secret?  Talking Points Memo   ... a former federal prosecutor had been appointed to lead a "John Doe investigation" into state-level issues in Wisconsin, including the 2011 and 2012 recall elections. And this John Doe investigation reportedly grew out of an earlier John Doe probe, which closed in March after snaring six former aides and associates of Gov. Scott Walker (R)...


Sunday, October 27, 2013

Today's Teamster News 10.27.13

Teamsters score big organizing gains, go “kosher” too!  People's World   ... while the biggest win was in Santa Monica, Calif., the most unusual saw the union "go kosher" - winning an election and a first contract for 15 kosher dining hall workers at the University of Pennsylvania...
Sell-Out Alert: 9 Democrats Already Caving to GOP On Social Security Cuts  Alternet   ...There are at least nine in the Senate. California’s Dianne Feinstein, Montana’s Max Baucus, West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, Delaware’s Chris Coons and Tom Carper, and Colorado’s Michael Bennett have all said they support cuts to entitlements in letters to constituents, proposed bills or statements...
Putting Profits First? No Way – Health Groups  Medical Observer   ...militant health groups belonging to Health Alliance for Democracy and the People’s Health Movement-Philippines picketed the office of the World Health Organization to express their strong opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement...
Jiangxi businessman pays model Mo Lulu 100,000 yuan to breastfeed him  South China Morning Post   ... at a private dinner after the automobile show, Mo breastfed a man who paid her 100,000 yuan. According to the report, the businessman called Mo “mom” every time he took a sip. Other people at the dinner took photos and uploaded them online...
Middle Classes Are Stronger in States with Greater Union Membership  Center for American Progress Action Fund   ... four of the top five union states—Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, and Rhode Island—had middle classes of above-average strength...
Marty Sullivan figured out how the world’s biggest companies avoided billions in taxes. Here’s how he wants to stop them.  Washington Post   ...it was Sullivan who in 2010 pieced together from public filings that Apple had understated its reported profits to hide the fact that it was paying a tax rate of less than 2 percent on its overseas profits, shining the spotlight on Apple’s tax avoidance schemes...
Means-Tested recovery: Over 108,000,000 Americans received means-tested benefits in latest report from Census Bureau, more than are currently employed full-time.  My Budget 360   ...the stock market is rallying higher and higher thanks to financial maneuvering but the actual American worker is taking it on the chin.  This is obviously unsustainable...
Libertarians And Progressives Team Up Against NSA Surveillance  Buzzfeed Politics   ...Organized by the coalition Stop Watching Us, which includes dozens of groups ranging from Internet freedom advocates to Tea Party organizations, the rally attracted hundreds of people to the Capitol Reflecting Pool to protest the electronic surveillance by the National Security Agency revealed by Edward Snowden this year...
Police, fire pension fund still falls short, report says  Columbus Dispatch   ...Rep. Lynn Wachtmann, the Napoleon Republican who leads the Ohio Retirement Study Council…threatened to dismantle the Police & Fire Fund as a separate board because of what he perceives as members’ continued intransigence. “Some of these members are union thugs who know about power and aren’t afraid to use power or abuse power if they need that to win...”
Tea Party activists gather signatures for so-called right to work amendment  Plunderbund   ...At this rate, Ohioans could vote to make Hillary Clinton the next president of the United States before we ever get a chance to vote on another anti-union measure in Ohio.  Unless, of course, they pick up a lot of funding and start collecting signatures at a faster pace...
LETTER: Asbestos Bill Will Complicate Veterans' Claims  Wisconsin State Journal   ...veterans make up only 8 percent of the population, but 30 percent of all mesothelioma-related deaths. Senate Bill 13 would add additional hurdles for victims seeking claims against asbestos companies and would delay or deny justice for asbestos victims...
Georgia man runs into burning home to save beer  KTRK   ..."I went back into the house like a dummy." That's what one man in Georgia said after he risked his life to save beer from his fridge while his house was on fire...

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Today's Teamster News 10.26.13

Missouri First Student School Bus Workers Choose Teamsters  teamster.org   ...School bus drivers and monitors with First Student in Sedalia, Mo., have voted overwhelmingly to join Teamsters Local 833 in Jefferson City, Mo. There 45 school bus workers in the bargaining unit...
Teamsters Ratify Contract At Yogurt Plant  WNYF News   ...Unionized workers at the Upstate Niagara Cooperative yogurt plant in North Lawrence have ratified a new three-year contract extension by "an overwhelming majority." The 36 workers in the bargaining unit are represented by Teamsters Local 687...
Teamsters, Republic Airline Representatives Resume Negotiations  teamster.org   ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters’ Airline Division and representatives of Republic Airways held talks Thursday in Washington, D.C...
Union lawyers build case against Detroit early in bankruptcy trial  Reuters   ...Attorneys for Detroit unions and retirees sought to build a case on Thursday that Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr did not negotiate in good faith before Detroit filed for bankruptcy so they could block the city from getting court protection...
Puget Sound grocery workers’ contract-ratification votes set for next week  Associated Press   ...Ratification votes are scheduled next week on a tentative contract agreement that averted a strike by 21,000 grocery workers at four major grocery chains in the Puget Sound region...
Enormous, Humongous Trade Deficit Up From Prior Month  Campaign for America's Future   ...$38.8 billion more, drained from the economy, in just one month...
The Trans-Pacific Partnership Legalizes Corporate Rights Prevailing Over Human Rights  Truthout   ...Ever since the current juggernaut of "free trade" agreements began to be negotiated under President George Herbert Walker Bush (which resulted in the signing of NAFTA under President Bill Clinton), jobs have been fleeing America as corporations have become engorged with greater profits...
Canadian grocery giant Loblaw to compensate victims' families of Bangladesh factory collapse Seattle Times   ...Canadian grocery giant Loblaw Companies Ltd. said Thursday that it will provide long-term financial assistance to the surviving victims and families affected by a deadly factory collapse in Bangladesh...
Students Demand College-Logo Brands Join Fire and Safety Agreement  The Nation   ...This week United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) is holding demonstrations at more than thirty colleges and universities across the country as part of an International Week of Action to End Deathtraps commemorating the six-month anniversary of the Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh...
Ruling opens door to U.S. sales of China-processed chicken  Atlanta Journal-Constitution ...Coming soon maybe to a grocery store near you — chicken from China. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) ruled recently that poultry processed in China can be sold in the U.S...
Shutdown And Debt Ceiling Fights Cost 120,000 Jobs In Two Weeks  ThinkProgress   ...The fights over the government shutdown and raising the debt ceiling reduced economic output by 0.25 percent in the fourth quarter of this year and cost about 120,000 private sector jobs in the first two weeks of October...
Drop in teen driving tracks with teen unemployment, HLDI study finds  Insurance Institute for Highway Safety   ...the proportion of high school seniors with a driver's license fell from 85 percent in 1996 to 73 percent in 2010. The proportion of seniors who reported that they didn't drive during an average week rose from 15 percent to 22 percent over the same period...
The American Dream Might As Well Be Dead: Here's Proof  Huffington Post   ...only 43 percent of survey respondents said that achieving the American Dream is possible in this economy...
A Huge Billion Dollar Slumlord  Huffington Post   ...Here's What Happens When Wall St. Builds A Rental Empire...renovations they were assured were comprehensive amounted to little more than a fresh coat of paint and new carpeting. Tenants said they immediately discovered major mechanical and plumbing problems: broken water heaters and air conditioners, broken toilets and in some cases even vermin infestations, including fleas, silverfish and rodents. Attempts to get the issues fixed usually end in frustration...
"Cash for Kids": Firms Behind Juvenile Prison Bribes Reach $2.5 Million Settlement in Civil Suit   Democracy Now   ...Here's the latest news in the so-called "kids-for-cash" scandal in Pennsylvania, in which judges took money in exchange for sending juvenile offenders to for-profit youth jails...
GOP Official Resigns After Saying Purpose Of Voter ID Is To Suppress Votes Of Democrats, ‘Lazy Blacks’   ThinkProgress   ...Until Thursday, Don Yelton was a precinct chair in the Buncombe County, North Carolina Republican Party. That ended after an interview riddled with racism and candid admissions about the purpose of a voter suppression bill enacted by Republican lawmakers in his state...
California to levy massive fine against Koch brothers groups  Washington Post   ...Two groups that are part of a conservative political network maintained by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch have agreed to a record $1 million civil settlement with the California Fair Political Practices Commission, the largest campaign fine in state history...
ALEC and TIAA-CREF Join the Assault on Public Pensions (opinion)  Truthout   ...The right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council has jumped into the conservative effort to dismantle public pension systems in a big way, making it one of its top 2014 legislative priorities, a public pension advocacy group has warned...
Strikes Shutdown Chile’s Public Sector Ahead of Presidential Election  PanAm Post   ...With less than a month before Chile’s presidential and parliamentary elections, its largest labor alliance, the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT), instigated a nationwide strike on Wednesday involving thousands of public sector workers...
Citi forecasts Greek devastation, unstoppable debt spirals in Italy and Portugal  The Telegraph   ...If Citigroup is broadly correct, Europe faces a lost decade that is far worse than anything suffered by Japan, which will render the region marginal in coming world affairs, and is likely to have non-linear political consequences...
Mexico clown convention condemns fancy-dress drug cartel killing  The Guardian   ...Delegates to a three-day Latin American clown convention in Mexico City have distanced themselves from the murder last week of a drug lord by a hitman in fancy dress, insisting no genuine member of their profession would have committed the crime...

Friday, October 25, 2013

'ALEC, GOP undermine our constitutional guarantees'

Here's a candidate for best Letter to the Editor Ever. 

Nancy Staples wrote about ALEC, the corporate escort service for state lawmakers, in a well-reasoned letter to StAugustine.com. She began,
Our United States Constitution was a compromise between many very strong willed men who often held opposing views about government. 
They had the courage to look at both points of view and find a solution. Not so today. 
The wisdom and reason that has allowed this nation to function for over 200 years, is missing, and the word compromise does not exist.
She reminds us of what we all know: That political discussion in this country is divisive and vitriolic, and the words "freedom" and "patriot" are used to demean opposing points of view.

And she calls out the Republican Party and ALEC:
The Republican party I belonged to for many years was inclusive, but it has been usurped into a corporate shill for the wealthy, with the American Legislative Exchange Council as its guide. Our Republican representatives use ideology rather than reason for every law they make and every vote they cast. 
They disrespect, not only our president, but the very institution of government which they claim to represent and swear an oath to protect. 
I respect people who do not share my personal political and spiritual beliefs or ethical standards. But that idea of having respect for our differences died and has been replaced by vitriol.
And she nails the problem on the head:
As long as self-interest (Gerrymandered districts), greed (unlimited campaign contributions) and PAC and corporate influence (Heritage Foundation, Koch brothers) wield the power over decisions our representatives make, “We The People”, will never have what our constitutional guarantees.
True that.

Koch brothers' illegal campaign finance network exposed, fined

California Teamsters and allies used the power of their numbers last year to defeat Proposition 32, an anti-worker proposal secretly funded by the Benedict Arnold Koch Brothers and other anti-worker billionaires.  Now, California officials are demanding the billionaires' Proposition 32 slush funds pay back all of the money from donors that they refused to identify.

Teamsters efforts helped save political speech in California.Proposition 32 was written to eliminate union political activities, and workers opposed it across the state. Thanks to Teamster efforts, over 25,000 Californians registered to vote for the first time to defeat the measure.  Several thousand more mobilized to vote down the ballot question. Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa rallied workers to spread awareness about the devastation that the bill would cause. Hoffa said:
Proposition 32 is an attack on union workers by the same anti-union, corporate special interests that have waged war against organized labor across the country.  Everything that Prop. 32 represents must be defeated here and now. If we allow this anti-worker measure to go forward, it could spread across the country, further weakening our middle class.
California heeded his call.

In November 2012, 56 percent of voters rejected Proposition 32, despite almost $75 million dollars worth of anti-union propaganda spread across the state.

But where did the money come from?

From the Koch network, according to a story today by Dan Morain in the Sacramento Bee. Two Republican operatives cooked up Proposition 32, managed to get it on the ballot and then went looking for the money to broadcast their propaganda. There was plenty of it -- many millions, in fact. The only problem was, the greedy billionaires who contributed didn't want their identities known. And California law requires disclosure of political donations.

So the two operatives laundered the Koch network money through political funds in Iowa and Arizona called the Center to Protect Patient Rights and Americans for Responsible Leadership. Those two groups donated $15 million to two California groups set up to promote Proposition 32. The Sacramento Bee reported on the good news:

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/10/25/5850222/dan-morain.html#mi_rss=Opinion#storylink=cpy
California authorities levied $500,000 fines on the Center to Protect Patient Rights and Americans for Responsible Leadership, both in Arizona and both part of the Koch brothers’ network.
California authorities also want the two California groups to give the state $15 million -- the amount they spent illegally. But as Morain concludes:
The groups probably will avoid paying by ceasing to exist and fading into the woodwork. Such is the way of campaign money in 2013.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/10/25/5850222/dan-morain.html#mi_rss=Opinion#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/10/25/5850222
Despite the millions of dollars rich extremists were willing to throw at Proposition 32, workers were ultimately able to prevail because they stood united against big business.  When you go to the polls on the 5th, remember that you, with your Teamster brothers and sisters, conquer greedy CEOs and billionaires too.

Jon Stewart takes on Wall Street (VIDEO)



It sounds like a lot of money -- a $13 billion fine -- for JPMorgan Chase's shady dealings  (you know, the crimes that caused the financial meltdown in 2008). But taxpayers will pick up a big chunk of that fine, and it's really only a small part of the bank's profit.

Jon Stewart takes apart the JPMorgan cheerleaders in the news media who don't think the bank should be punished for causing years of misery for untold millions of people. Watch.

Today's Teamster News 10.25.13

Washington Taxi Drivers Form Association With Teamsters Union  teamster.org   ...Cab drivers in the nation’s capital are joining together with the Teamsters Union to announce the formation of the new Washington, D.C. Taxi Operators Association…
Hernando County, Teamsters agree on employee contract  Hernando Today   ...A strong, new contract for about 400 government employees has been approved by the county in Florida and unanimously ratified by the workers, who are represented by Teamsters Local 79…
Gettysburg police union files for arbitration over 2013 wages  Hanover Evening Sun   ...Teamsters Local 776 has filed for arbitration over 2013 wages on behalf of the police officers who work for the Gettysburg Borough...
US trade union leaders in Dublin to talk about ‘devastating impacts of austerity’  The Journal.ie   ...A number of American trade union leaders , including Teamsters, are in Dublin this week as part of the 1913 Lockout centenary celebrations and to talk about what they view as the “devastating impact” of austerity policies...
Multinational Meatpacker Trying to Gut Food Labeling  Trade Reform   ...Tyson ... will cease and desist buying fed cattle from Canada until the courts overturn the country of origin labeling (COOL) rule implemented by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on May 23, 2013.
“Tyson is flexing its muscle to demonstrate to our U.S. courts that it alone can literally devastate livestock producers in the U.S., Canada and elsewhere if it doesn’t get its way...”
Apple finally begins assembling in the USA  manufacture this   ...Apple previously announced that it would make its new computer in the U.S., reportedly in Texas...
4 Things You Need to Know About the Plot to Sell Off Your Pensions to Wall Street  AlterNet   ...“reformers” have changed the law to prevent retirees from even seeing how much of their money is being handed over to hedge fund billionaires....
Many Americans don't expect to ever retire  USA TODAY   ...In a sign of just how bleak retirement prospects have gotten, more than a third of Americans say they will have to work until they literally can't anymore...
Who Buys the Spies? The Hidden Corporate Cash Behind America’s Out-of-Control National Surveillance State  Next New Deal   ... In sharp contrast to endlessly repeated claims that big business was deeply suspicious of the President, our statistical results show that a large and powerful bloc of  “industries of the future” – telecommunications, high tech, computers, and software – showed essentially equal or higher percentages of support for the President in 2012 than they did for Romney...
Unions score court victory, but it's unclear whether it will stick  Associated Press   ...Wisconsin union leaders scored a win when a Madison judge ordered state labor relations officials to stop enforcing portions of Gov. Scott Walker's collective bargaining restrictions...but it could be a hollow victory...
Strike authorization vote due by LA County workers  Associated Press   ...Tens of thousands of Los Angeles County employees are voting this week on whether to authorize a strike that involves 55,000 workers…
Large companies find ways to a zero tax rate  USA Today   ...Despite widespread groans about the recent disclosure that Apple is finding ways to cut its federal tax bill, an analysis shows the computer giant is one of scores of corporations largely dodging the taxman...
Corporations Reap Billions from Mass Incarceration  The Real News   ...A new video series called Prison Profiteers exposes the corporations that profit from the nation's incarceration system, including medical companies, bail companies, phone companies, and even police departments...
JPMorgan May Face Federal Sanctions Over Madoff Ties  Reuters   ...JPMorgan Chase & Co. may be forced to make a deal with federal authorities to avoid criminal prosecution over its handling of accounts of imprisoned swindler Bernie Madoff…
Texas Judge Almost Blocked from Voting Due to New Strict Voter I.D. Law  ThinkProgress   ...Judge Sandra Watts cautions same could happen to lots of women...


Thursday, October 24, 2013

Washington, DC, cab drivers forming association with Teamsters

The Teamsters are using a new approach to give taxicab drivers a voice on the job: They're forming an association with independent drivers in Washington, D.C. A Teamster taxi driver association in Washington state  that formed recently is working well.

The new methods and structures used by organized labor have a new name: alt-labor. When unions help improve conditions for low-wage workers through sudden one-day strikes at retail stores, fast-food restaurants, warehouses and the ports, that's alt-labor.

Today, the Teamsters announced the formation of the Washington, D.C., Taxi Operators Association. Here's what the press statement said:
Cab drivers in the nation’s capital are joining together with the Teamsters Union to announce the formation of the new Washington, D.C. Taxi Operators Association. 
The association is being created to give the more than 6,000 taxi cab drivers in Washington, who are independent owner- or lease-operators, a united, collective voice for positive change in their industry. The association will be affiliated with Teamsters Local 922 in Washington. The first meeting will be held Oct. 29. 
“For far too long, taxi drivers in Washington, D.C., have not had a strong voice to provide input about regulations and policies that affect their livelihoods,” said Ferline Buie, President of Teamsters Local 922. “Their new association with Teamsters Local 922 will give them the strong voice they need and deserve.” 
The drivers approached the Teamsters because they need to have input on regulations before they take effect. They want a stronger voice and more representation on the D.C. Taxi Cab Commission. 
“This is about fairness for more than 6,000 drivers and their families, and it’s about improving the taxi cab service in our nation’s capital,” said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa. 
You can follow what they're doing on the Washington DC Taxi Cab Association Facebook page.

Top 5 reasons to vote on November 5th

Election day is coming soon.  Are you registered?  It's important -- and not only because people have gone on hunger strikes and been murdered so their fellow Americans can vote. 

Voter registration is one of the most powerful means union members use to make our voice heard, and it's a priority of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. This November 5th, one year from Election Day 2014, the Teamsters will have a Day of Action across the country to register Teamster members to vote.

Here are a few reasons why you should register and show up on November 5.

Your opinion matters.
People think that you are important and intelligent enough to make serious decisions about how your community works.  Don’t mess that up.

Get free stuff.
People who vote get more attention from candidates, including free bumper stickers, free t-shirts, and invitations to events (with free food). Not to mention your election day sticker - and the free burger that could come with it.

Not voting is embarrassing 
Whether you voted or not in an election is part of your public record. Anyone – your friends, kids, or mother – can see if you’ve voted or not.

Meet somebody new.
Between work, home life, and the commute, life can get repetitive.  If you want to meet new people, what better place to find a civic-minded new friend than at the polls?

But seriously, your voice matters.
Voters have way more impact in odd-year elections because smaller elections are often decided by less than 100 votes. If you are ever going to vote, this is the time.

Rock the vote on November 5th!  Get registered today.

Today's Teamster News 10.24.13

Local 700 Member Saves 19-Month-Old, Receives Life Saving Award  Teamsters Local 700   ...East Hazel Crest Police Officer Mitchell Drake was responding to a gas leak when a dispatcher called and redirected him to help a family whose baby stopped breathing...
Voting on grocery deal expected to take 2 weeks  The Olympian   ...Puget Sound union grocery workers, including Teamsters, will decide over the next two weeks whether to accept a new contract proposal from four major grocers or head back to the bargaining table...
Lansing approves wage hikes, benefit cuts for 200 workers  Lansing State Journal   ...Lansing City Council has approved a new three-year contract with its public service employees that call for wage increases and reduced pension and healthcare benefits. The city is now is negotiating contracts with Lansing firefighters and with city workers represented by Teamsters Local 580...
Unions Back MGM Plan For Casino  WBAL News   ...The unions, including Teamsters Local 639, that represent construction and labor workers in Prince George's County, Maryland are throwing their support behind a plan by MGM to build a casino at the National Harbor...
Ohio unions remain steady as opposition postures ‘support’ for Right to Work  Beverly Hills Courier   ...As Right to Work supporters ramped up efforts to take the law into their own hands and force the controversial Right to Work agenda onto a statewide ballot in 2014, unions say they are not only ready to fight but believe they have common sense and the public on their side...
Lawsuit holding up sale dates to errant newspaper toss  Telegram and Gazette   ...The lawsuit stalling billionaire John W. Henry's $70 million purchase of two Massachusetts newspaper stems from whether newspaper carriers classified as independent contractors should really be considered employees...
Diebold Charged With Bribery, Falsifying Docs, 'Worldwide Pattern of Criminal Conduct'  BradBlog   ...One of the world's largest ATM manufacturers and, formerly, one of the largest manufacturers of electronic voting systems, has been indicted by federal prosecutors for bribery and falsification of documents ... a U.S. Attorney says the latest charges are in response to "a worldwide pattern of criminal conduct" by the company....
Video: McDonald’s tells workers to get food stamps  Salon   ...A new recording captures the fast food giant's worker 1-800 number touting public assistance...
The number of families with children living in deep poverty has gone up 130 percent since 1996  Salon   ... the number of families with children living on $2 a day or less has gone up nearly 130 percent...
Americans spend less now than in '73, report says  McClatchy   ...Even with the added cost of smartphones and other technology, American families spend less of their total income today than 40 years ago, according to new research. But people aren't saving that extra money...The roughly 14 percent of unaccounted-for income today may go toward expenses such as debt, but it's impossible to be sure...
Bangladesh workers could get 50% raise – but that’s just 9 cents more  The Salon   ...While strikes may garner improvements for garment workers, the real decision maker will be Western retailers...
New York Sets Work Rules for Young Models  New York Times   ...Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed legislation on Monday night that will recognize fashion models under the age of 18 as child performers. The new law, which is expected to go into effect in 30 days, will have a significant impact on the casting of models for the next New York Fashion Week in February...
US Free Trade Agreements Are Bad Not Just For The Economy, But For The Environment, Too  Techdirt   ...Far from boosting US exports and creating more jobs as purported by the politicians, both the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and KORUS, the free trade agreement with South Korea, actually did the opposite. They increased the US trade deficit with those countries, and destroyed hundreds of thousands of American jobs...
BP Oil Refinery Waste Stored At Koch Brothers-Owned Site Polluting Nearby Chicago Neighborhoods  Huffington Post   ...Residents in several lower-income Chicago neighborhoods say a dirty oil byproduct from a nearby BP refinery is creating environmental and health hazards -- and no one is doing enough to stop it...
Food stamp benefits going down before the holidays  NBC News   ...Millions of American families could face a sparse holiday table when food stamps benefits get reduced in November, and that could be just the start of deeper cuts to the program to feed poor families...
Taxpayers To Help Pay JPMorgan’s Fine For Causing 2008 Financial Crisis  Fire Dog Lake   ...Feeling generous? You should because you are about to help pay for JPMorgan’s $13 billion fine for causing the 2008 financial crisis...
Justice Department Misrepresents JP Morgan Settlement  The Real News   ..."it's a $6 billion deal,” said Black. “That still, of course, is a large number, but compared to how much wealth was extracted by the senior officers and directors, it's actually not that big a deal, and compared to the losses they caused to the world through these frauds that drove the financial crisis, it's actually a pittance...”
Countrywide defrauded Fannie and Freddie, federal prosecutor says  Bloomberg News   ...Bank of America Corp.'s Countrywide unit defrauded Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by selling them thousands of loans known to be defective, an attorney for the U.S. said in closing arguments in a lawsuit against the lender…
IRS delays start of tax season due to government shutdown  Associated Press   ...Here's more fallout from the government's partial shutdown: Early tax filers will have to wait an extra week or two to get tax refunds next year...
This 1 Chart Makes Gordon Gekko Look Like An Average Joe  Huffington Post   ...In 1987 … our typical Wall Street character brought home some $69,550, which was easily more than double the $26,750 of the typical non-Wall Street employee in New York City… That is, until you consider 2012, by which time those two numbers had jumped to $360,700 and $69,200, respectively...
Social Security Pumps $2 Into US Economy for Every Benefit Dollar Spent  Truthout   ...Just as food stamps stimulate the economy by creating about $1.80 of economic activity for every dollar of food stamps spent, Social Security pumps up job-generating and business activity by about $2 for every dollar recipients spend...
Is Detroit really broke? Crucial bankruptcy trial to begin  Associated Press   ...A judge starts exploring that question in an unusual trial to determine whether Detroit indeed is eligible to scrub its books in the largest public bankruptcy in U.S. history. Unions and pension funds are claiming the city failed to negotiate in good faith before filing for Chapter 9 protection in July...
Zoos Get Pandas, China Gets Uranium: Is This a Fair Trade?  Truthout   ...China’s central government seems, more than ever, to be using its monopoly on pandas as a valuable bargaining chip to gain resources including uranium (to power nuclear plants) and access to renewable energy technology...
As many as 300,000 jobless affected by state software snags  Los Angeles Times   ...Problems are growing worse for the state's Employment Development Department after a new computer system backfired, leaving some Californians without much-needed benefit checks for weeks...
Alabama makes plan for issuing free voter IDs  Associated Press   ...The secretary of state's plan for implementing Alabama's photo ID requirement for voting includes making free ID cards available at many locations throughout the state...
Report: Scott Walker decisions drove insurance rates much higher in Wisconsin than in Minnesota  The Cap Times   ...Gov. Scott Walker’s rejection of federal Medicaid money and the state’s hands-off approach to rate regulation has pushed health care exchange rates up to 99 percent higher than in neighboring Minnesota...