Teamster News
Teamsters Reach Tentative Contract Deal At Hunts Point teamster.org ...Teamsters Local 202 announced this afternoon that it had reached a tentative contract agreement with Hunts Point Market. The union's 1,300 members at the market, who have the final say, will vote Wednesday on the tentative deal...
Trade
USTR Still Insists That 'Listening' Is 'Transparency' Even As It Keeps Details Completely Secret tech dirt ...the USTR is really about as transparent as pea soup, with an institutional focus on secrecy. The negotiating positions that it takes on various trade agreements are shrouded in secrecy. When other countries push to be more transparent, the USTR inevitably rejects those pleas. While lobbyists get full access to some of the documents (including the ability to log in and see the latest texts), members of Congress who want to see the details have to go to the USTR, aren't allowed to bring any staffers, and aren't allowed to make any copies or take any notes...
Vanity of Vanities; All Is Vanity: Obama's Vain Search for a TPP "Legacy" (opinion) truthout ...if you're not already familiar with TPP you should be asking yourself, "if the draft agreement is so secret that members of Congress are not permitted to have copies of it, how did the corporations and their attorneys not only get copies of the drafts, but actually craft the drafts for the private benefit of their clients?"...
New AFL-CIO Report: Failed Trade Policy Contributed to Unaccompanied Minors Crisis AFL-CIO … A new, eye-opening report issued by the AFL-CIO sheds light on how failed trade policies contributed to the unaccompanied minor crisis at the U.S. border during last summer...
State Battles
At $37 million and counting, mega-donor Sinquefield says he's not going anywhere St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...“In Jefferson City, the first question legislators ask is not, ‘What do my constituents think?’ It’s, ‘What does Rex think?’,” says [U.S. Sen. Claire] McCaskill, who has made Sinquefield the poster child in her quest to set campaign contribution limits in Missouri. “They’re not saying it out loud, because they’re afraid of him, but everyone is uncomfortable about what’s going on.”...
Several Kentucky counties passing or considering 'right to work' laws Kentucky.com ...Since mid-December, Fulton, Hardin, Simpson, Todd and Warren counties have passed right-to-work ordinances. Cumberland and Pulaski counties have given first readings to similar proposals...
War on Workers
Who Needs Lobbyists? See What Big Business Spends To Win American Minds Huffington Post …Of $3.4 billion in contracts reported by the 144 trade groups from 2008 through 2012, more than $1.2 billion, or 37 percent, went toward advertising, public relations and marketing services, more than any other category. The second-highest total, $682.2 million, or 20 percent of the total, was directed toward legal, lobbying and government affairs...
The Poor Pay More in Taxes Economic Populist …in 2015 the poorest fifth of Americans will pay on average 10.9 percent of their income in state and local taxes, the middle fifth will pay 9.4 percent and the top 1 percent will average 5.4 percent...
Obama Proposes New Tax Hikes on Wealthy to Aid Middle Class Bloomberg …President Barack Obama is proposing new taxes on the wealthiest Americans that would limit their profits from investments and make it harder for them to pass assets to heirs...
Miscellaneous
Falling Oil Prices: Good For Drivers, Bad For Banks NPR …Lending money to energy companies can be pretty profitable, but if oil prices drop enough, the threat of bank defaults becomes real...
