Teamster News
Teamsters: Port Truck Drivers Continue Strike in LA/Long Beach teamster.org ...Port truck drivers in Los Angeles/Long Beach, Calif., continued their strike today against drayage companies Pac 9 and TTSI. At issue is the continued misclassification of drivers as "independent contractors"...
Crash Truck Controversy WJAR ...Torigian and Simone are with the Teamsters, the union that represents attenuator drivers. They said they believe the state is breaking its own law by allowing crash trucks to sit empty...
Trade
U.S. Confirms Duties On Chinese Steel Wire Rod Imports Reuters ...The U.S. Department of Commerce confirmed steep duties on imports of carbon and alloy steel wire rod from China after ruling the products were being sold below cost in the U.S. market and received unfair levels of government subsidies...
Why Are Republicans Talking Like Elizabeth Warren? Huffington Post ... Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will have to expand the scope of President Barack Obama's executive powers if he wants Congress to approve a major free trade agreement currently being negotiated by the administration. And that's making elements of the tea party angry...
State Battles
ALEC Support Drops 19 Percent in 2013 Center for Media and Democracy ...The embattled American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) lost nearly 20 percent in grant revenue between 2012 and 2013 according to new tax filings, reflecting the financial hit that the "corporate bill mill" has suffered as it has been dragged into the sunlight and its corporate members have fled...
Nevada Eyes Voter-ID Bill Following Republican Takeover MSNBC ...State Republicans will have to hurry – Nevada will be a key 2016 battleground, both at the presidential level and with Sen. Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) re-election bid looming. If GOP policymakers are going to impose new restrictions, they’ll no doubt want to have those voting barriers in place before the next Election Day...
War on Workers
Atlantic City Casino Revenue Down 4.4 Pct In Oct. My Central Jersey ...Atlantic City’s casino revenue fell by 4.4 percent in October compared with a year ago. The casinos took in $207 million, compared to $216 million in October 2013...
ATA To Petition FMCSA For Hours Flexibility For Port Truckers Overdrive ...Truckers serving certain ports may soon have some flexibility in compliance with federal hours-of-service rules, if a push by the American Trucking Associations and some ports is successful...
Walmart Workers Promise Biggest Black Friday Strike Ever Think Progress ...Walmart employees who are organizing as part of OUR Walmart are promising the biggest strikes ever on Black Friday, saying more employees will participate than the previous two years. Barbara Gertz, an employee from Denver, Colorado, said organizers are expecting to see protests in 1,600 stores...
Rule Sought On Shipping Oil By Train New York Times ...North Dakota’s top energy industry regulator unveiled new rules on Thursday that would require oil companies to reduce the volatility of crude before it is shipped by rail...
Americans’ Cellphones Targeted In Secret U.S. Spy Program Wall Street Journal ...The Justice Department is scooping up data from thousands of mobile phones through devices deployed on airplanes that mimic cellphone towers, a high-tech hunt for criminal suspects that is snagging a large number of innocent Americans, according to people familiar with the operations...
Worker killed in explosion at Noble County oil and gas facility Columbus Dispatch ...A Virginia man working on an oil and gas pump at a fracking site in Noble County in eastern Ohio died in an explosion on Wednesday. It was the second major incident involving a fracking operation in Ohio in two weeks...
SEPTA worker fights ruling on accident that killed rail inspector philly.com ...A SEPTA worker involved in a fatal 2009 Regional Rail accident is fighting a federal effort to disqualify him from safety-sensitive rail work until 2019...
Miscellaneous
House passes Keystone bill — all eyes shift to Senate Politico ...As expected, the House easily passed a bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline on Friday — setting the stage for drama next week in the Senate, where supporters are inching close to the filibuster-proof majority needed to send the measure to President Barack Obama’s desk...
