Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Today's Teamster News 12.11.13

Teamsters Call On Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan To Stop Abuse Of U.S. Workers  teamster.org  ...Teamsters rallied outside the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (Teachers’) offices today, publicly calling on Teachers’ to stop worker and human rights abuses at EXAL Corp., an aluminum bottle manufacturer in Youngstown, Ohio. EXAL is owned and actively managed by the Canadian pension plan...
Another Missed TPP Deadline Calls Pact's Agenda Into Question  teamster.org   ..."We cannot rely on unconfirmed leaks to find out what is in this deal," said James P. Hoffa, General President of the Teamsters...
Walmart Contractor Agrees To $4.7 Million Settlement Over Wage Theft Allegations  Huffington Post   ...A group of warehouse workers accused Schneider Logistics, which operates a major Walmart distribution center in Mira Loma, Calif., of failing to pay them for overtime and illegally deducting wages from their paychecks, among other claims. Schneider will not admit fault under the settlement, but it will dish out millions of dollars to as many as 568 workers who handled Walmart goods at the warehouse...
Supreme Court drops case on employer-union ‘neutrality agreements’  Washington Post   ...The case was about “neutrality agreements.” In such accommodations, an employer might remain neutral during a union organizing campaign and even grant access to company grounds or lists of employees. In return, the union might agree to give up the right to strike or throw its support behind a matter important to the company...
Look at the stats: America resembles a poor country  Salon   ...Three decades of trickledown economics; the monopolization, privatization and deregulation of industry; and the destruction of labor protection has resulted in 50 million Americans living in abject poverty, while 400 individuals own more than one-half of the nation’s wealth...
Ron Formisano: Attacking labor movement is same as attacking middle class (opinion)  Lexington Herald-Leader   ...Unions in their heyday from the 1940s through the 1960s contributed greatly to building the middle class, but an unfortunate amnesia and anti-union propaganda has obscured that history for too many, even though Gallup reported that 54 percent of adults 18 and older now approve of organized labor...
World's leading authors: state surveillance of personal data is theft  The Guardian   ...More than 500 of the world's leading authors, including five Nobel prize winners, have condemned the scale of state surveillance revealed by the whistleblower Edward Snowden and warned that spy agencies are undermining democracy and must be curbed by a new international charter...
U.S. job openings reach 5-year high, a hopeful sign  Associated Press   ...U.S. employers advertised the most job openings in more than five years in October, and the number of people quitting also reached a five-year high...
Volkswagen Tied to Another Anti-Union Group  In These Times   ...Volkswagen America supports a second group engaged in anti-UAW activity in Chattanooga: the Chattanooga Regional Manufacturer Association (CRMA). The local industry group boasts VW as a member, and the CEO of Volkswagen America’s Chattanooga Operation, Frank Fischer, sits on its board of directors...
Worker Deaths Raise Questions at an Apple Contractor in China  New York Times   ...Labor rights activists say Pegatron has failed to explain at least five deaths. They say workers interviewed by China Labor Watch, a nonprofit group that monitors working conditions, have complained about long working hours and harsh working conditions at Pegatron, including some of the same pressures that in previous years led to safety problems at Foxconn Technology, Apple’s biggest contract supplier in China...
New bipartisan plan to 'only' cut food stamp benefits for 1.7 million  Daily Kos   ...Congressional Democrats reportedly think they've found just the food stamp cut—one that they can sell as a not completely heartless "administrative fix" yet will satisfy enough Republicans to pass a farm bill...
Despite warnings, Pentagon kept ties to controversial helicopter firms  Reuters   ...After almost four years of allegations that two related helicopter companies in Lithuania and Russia were doing substandard work and should be banned from new contracts, the Pentagon continued to give them business...
NTSB: Upgrade likely could have prevented NY crash  Associated Press   ...The National Transportation Safety Board said a tool called positive train control would have required the engineer to slow the train to an appropriate speed. If he had failed to do so, the technology would have stopped the train, "likely preventing the derailment," the board said...
Chicago’s ‘Smart Card’ Debacle and Privatisation  The Nation   ... under the old system, rich investors didn’t get a piece of the action. Under this one, they most decidedly do...