Saturday, November 30, 2013

Today's Teamster News 11.30.13

Dozens arrested in Wal-Mart protests nationwide, 10 in Chicago  Chicago Tribune   ...Hundreds of protesters, including some Walmart workers who skipped their shifts on the retail industry's busiest day, spoke, chanted and sang outside of Walmart stores around the United States, making pleas for higher wages and better healthcare for Walmart hourly workers...
Wal-Mart protesters arrested at Black Friday rallies  CNN   ...In a tradition that's becoming as much a part of Black Friday as the shopping, protesters gathered outside a number of Wal-Mart locations Friday calling for higher wages at the country's largest private retailer...
Activists arrested in Virginia at one of 1,500 planned Wal-Mart protests  Salon   ...Nine activists were arrested at an Alexandria, Virginia protest Friday morning, the first of nine planned civil disobedience demonstrations against Wal-Mart...
Walmart's Black Friday Going About As Badly As You'd Expect  Huffington Post   ...The … video was taken at a Walmart in Johnson City, Tenn., according to Instagram user jcooper770. Such instances weren't limited to a single Walmart store, according to various Internet users...
Senators blast Wal-Mart “trampling” workers’ rights as dozens of activists are arrested on Black Friday  Salon   ...Democratic Senators Sherrod Brown and Ed Markey, and House members Jan Schakowsky, Judy Chu, William Lacy Clay, Gwen Moore, and Jim McDermott also voiced their support in a Friday statement, saying “It is time that Walmart pays its workers a fair wage and stops trampling on their rights...”
On Register’s Other Side, Little to Spend”  New York Times   ...In many stores around the country, the workers stocking the shelves and ringing up the gifts are at the very heart of this season’s retail lament —many Americans are so financially strapped that projections for holiday sales have grown bleaker by the week...
The dark side of Black Friday  BBC Trending   ...The vast volume of shoppers has led to chaotic scenes and outbreaks of violence. Stampedes and shootings have plagued the day, resulting in four deaths and 56 injuries in the past five years...
Struggles of Younger US Workers Ripple Through Economy  Alternet   ...Since 1965, the number of households has grown at a rate of 1.5 percent annually, according to census data, and that’s meant about 1.3 million new ones every year. ... “The number of households, via quarterly Census Bureau data, (suggests) we’re only adding about 600,000 to 700,000 this year...
Secretive Corporate Deal in the Works Could Establish Special Closed Door Courts for Big Business  Alternet   ...The proposed investment chapter of the deal revealed plans to expand the system of international investment tribunals that deal with what is called ‘investor-state dispute settlement’. These are closed-door courts that take direct aim at the ability of governments across the world to enact environmental, public health and other protections for their citizens...
World Fights Back Against the Biggest Brother in History  truthout   ...a United Nations committee approved without a vote a draft resolution entitled “The Right to Privacy in a Digital Age.” The nonbinding resolution, which will now head to the General Assembly where it has broad support, follows from a report published in June by the United Nations Human Rights Council. It detailed the negative impact of state surveillance on free expression and human rights and lamented that technology has outpaced legislation...