Teamster News
Election Count Ensures Teamster Victory At UNFI Distribution Center teamster.org ...More than a year ago, truck drivers at United Natural Foods, Inc.’s (UNFI) distribution center voted in a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election for representation by Teamsters Local 63 in Covina, Calif. The votes in that election were not counted – until now. On Nov. 4, the drivers’ votes were finally tallied after an NLRB panel mandated that the ballots be counted. The drivers voted to be represented by the Teamsters...
Teamsters help deliver 664,000 signatures opposing Fast Track to key lawmaker on trade TeamsterNation ...Teamsters and allies carried 644,000 signatures opposing Fast Track legislation to Sen. Ron Wyden's office today. Wyden, as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, plays a key role in moving trade deals like TPP and TTIP through Congress...
CN: a new conflict management mechanism is put to the test Digital Journal ...Teamsters are setting up an innovative mechanism for conflict management, in order to avoid strikes and lockouts at CN...
Trade
Republican Control Of Congress Does Not Mean TPP Is A Done Deal Japan Times ...“The election results mean that the Obama administration will not be able to step back its position regarding Japan and agriculture in TPP even if it were so inclined, as the demand for tariff zeroing on all commodities comes from the Republicans. Also, the prospect that fast-track will be passed during Obama’s last two years is further reduced by Republican control of the Senate,” Wallach said....
State Battles
Massachusetts Voters Approve Paid Sick Leave Measure Huffington Post ...Massachusetts on Tuesday became the third state in the nation to guarantee paid sick days for workers, with voters decisively approving a sick-leave ballot initiative, 60 percent to 40 percent...
Anchorage Voters Favor Unions In Repealing Mayor Sullivan's Labor Law Rewrite Alaska Dispatch News ...Anchorage voters soundly rejected Ballot Measure 1 in Tuesday’s election, in effect repealing the Sullivan administration’s rewrite of city labor law and handing a triumph to labor unions that have spent nearly two years bitterly fighting the measure...
Anti-Chevron candidates sweep to victory in Richmond races Contra Costa Times ...In a race that received national attention thanks to big money from Chevron, a slate of candidates on shoestring budgets swept their oil titan-backed opponents on Tuesday night in a resounding political defeat for the company and its campaign tactics...
A Big Night For Minimum Wage Increases FiveThirtyEight ...Tuesday night turned out to be a good night for Republicans. But it was also a good night for the minimum wage. Voters in five states endorsed minimum wage increases Tuesday. Significantly, minimum wage initiatives carried the day even in states where Republicans won statewide offices...
San Francisco Votes In $15 Minimum Wage CNN Money ...San Francisco on Tuesday became the second U.S. city to raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour. Voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure to gradually raise the city's minimum wage from $10.74 currently. It passed with 77% of the vote, according to initial results reported by local authorities...
Since Texas Implemented Voter ID, The Number Of Provisional Ballots Doubled Think Progress ...Across the enormous state of Texas on Tuesday, voters encountered a wide range of problems at the polls—some stemming from the last-minute implementation of a strict voter ID law, and some based more on misinformation, intimidation and confusion...
Indiana Supreme Court upholds state's right-to-work law TheIndyChannel.com ...Indiana’s Supreme Court says the state’s right-to-work law does not violate the state constitution...
War on Workers
Labor Productivity Increases 2.0% for Q3 Economic Populist ...Overall labor is still getting squeezed for more efficiency and wages are still repressed. The mediocre Q3 productivity results also imply corporations can rake in the profits and not raise prices...
Uber’s Problems Keep Piling Up Boston.com ...Surge pricing, litigation, and subprime loans…oh my, Uber! Between a lawsuit over its labor practices, extremely expensive fares during Halloween, and now a controversy over its financing program, it seems like Uber can’t shift itself out of its troubled gear...
Tobacco Giant’s Move Could Reduce Child Labor Human Rights Watch ...The tobacco giant Philip Morris International has adopted a change in policy that could protect many child workers from danger on tobacco farms in the United States...
Westchester Construction Worker Dies After Elevator Shaft Fall: Police NBC New York ...he was putting away his tools when he broke through a screen covering the shaft...
Worker who died in Causeway accident had worked for company only a short time NOLA.com ...A man who died Monday when his construction vehicle was knocked off the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway had worked for Traffic Solutions Inc. only a short time, the owner said Tuesday (Nov. 4). Edward Burton, 57, of New Orleans, died after the truck he was driving slowly as part of a construction crew on the bridge was struck by a garbage truck...
Miscellaneous
Former NSA Lawyer Says BlackBerry Declined Because Encryption Isn’t A Good Business Model Slate ...On Tuesday at Web Summit in Dublin, former NSA General Counsel Stewart Baker said that expanded encryption efforts by tech companies like Apple and Google do more to harm U.S. intelligence than they do to defend against wrongful and excessive surveillance worldwide...
Uncle Sam's Databases Of Suspicion Huffington Post ...We do know that the nation’s domestic-intelligence network is massive, including at least 59 federal agencies, over 300 Defense Department units, and approximately 78 state-based fusion centers, as well as the multitude of law enforcement agencies they serve. We also know that local law enforcement agencies have themselves raised concerns about the system’s lack of privacy protections...
