Sunday, December 1, 2013

Today's Teamster News 12.01.13

United Airlines parent plans to cut costs by $2 billion a year  Chicago Tribune   ...The United Airlines parent said it will reduce fuel use, increase productivity and improve maintenance processes, among other methods. It said the cuts will not include layoffs...
Black Friday protests demand improved conditions from Walmart  The Guardian   ...the wave of protests will mark a dramatic increase in the opposition to Walmart's pay structure from Black Friday 2012, when similar events were staged in about 1,000 stores...
Social Security is a family protection program (opinion)  Des Moines Register   ... It protects working men and women of all ages from risks in life that can lead to the loss of livelihood, such as from death or disability. We may not think of Social Security as a family protection plan — but that’s exactly what it is...
Pacific Rim trade talks’ secrecy doesn’t help chances for a deal  Seattle Times   ...Among the biggest disputes concerns the unprecedented secrecy surrounding the talks, where even most members of Congress and congressional staffers have been barred from examining drafts of the agreement...
South Korea moves closer to joining TPP trade talks  Reuters   ...The world's seventh-largest exporter said after a meeting of top economic officials that it would soon enter negotiations with the United States, Japan, Canada and nine others already in the group...
Brewing Signs of Housing Trouble  Economic Populist   ...U.S. borrowers are increasingly missing payments on home equity lines of credit they took out during the housing bubble, a trend that could deal another blow to the country's biggest banks.  The loans are a problem now because an increasing number are hitting their 10-year anniversary, at which point borrowers usually must start paying down the principal on the loans as well as the interest they had been paying all along...
A focus on poverty obscures the need to tackle inequality  Tax Justice Network   ...the focus on poverty also allows the rich (should they wish to try and help) to disport themselves across the domestic and world stage as a force for good. This further obscures the root problem of their excessive share of income and wealth which is left largely unexamined and unquestioned. All of which probably explains why some rich people are keen to tackle poverty but most of them do not want to talk about inequality...
When HSBC Closes Your Bank Account Without Telling You  Huffington Post   ...This is not a story simply on a customer service failure, or a communications failure, but the story of an organization who has not yet realized it is the 21st Century...