Teamsters
Hunts Point Teamsters Vote To Ratify Contract, Call For City Investment teamster.org … Workers at Hunts Point Market voted to approve a new, three-year contract today, with 97 percent of workers voting "yes." The 1,300 workers, members of Teamsters Local 202, will receive significant wage increases in each year of the contract...
Teamsters' Partnership Trains Veterans For CDLs teamster.org …The Teamsters, the U.S. Army and ABF Freight formally entered into a partnership today which provides for commercial driver's license training for military personnel that are transitioning to civilian life...
Effingham County Quickly Reaches Contract With Union Effingham Daily News ...After the Effingham County Board approved a new contract with the Teamsters Union on Tuesday, board Chairman Jim Niemann announced that negotiations with both the Teamsters, which represents Highway Department employees, and the Laborers, who represent county employees in a variety of departments, lasted less than an hour each...
NRMCA Names New Jersey Man 2015 Driver Of The Year NRMCA ...[Edward] Rieper, whose home plant is located in Bogota, N.J., was honored for his career achievements, outstanding safety record, professionalism, driving competency and customer service skills. He has worked for Eastern Concrete Materials for more than 29 years, and is a proud member of Teamsters Local 560. “I am very proud of Eddie’s accomplishments,” says Teamsters Local 560 President, Tony Valdner. “It is a testament to the professionalism at Eastern Concrete and their drivers as a whole.”...
Trade
Democrats to fight Obama on secret trade deal authorization RT …Congress knows little about the specifics of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement (TPP) trade deal between 12 Asia-Pacific countries, but President Obama used his State of the Union speech to push Congress to support a fast-track vote on the deal...
Troubled TTIP Isn't The Only 'Trade' Takeover Busting Our Sovereignty (opinion) Common Dreams ...Even as controversial 'trade' deal, TTIP, sputters, other deals to give corporations as much power as countries are being negotiated even more secretively....
Report Says TTIP Would Undermine Toxic Pesticide Regulations Manufacturing.net ...Many Europeans have voiced concerns that the new agreement will lower the EU’s standards for environmental and food safety, and a new report by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) takes aim at just that — saying that proposals for TTIP could translate into more pesticides making their way into EU food markets...
State Battles
DAVID ROSMAN: Right to work is not right for Missouri (opinion) Missourian …As of Jan. 18, more than a half-dozen proposed laws and two state House joint resolutions have been filed concerning the limitations of organizing labor unions. There will be more shortly. All are wrong for the conduct of business in Missouri...
Missouri businesses seek to curb cities’ powers on minimum wage, discrimination The Kansas City Star …The chamber is focused on a three-pronged agenda. It wants to ban local governments from implementing discrimination laws that are stricter than the state’s. It wants to prohibit cities from boosting their minimum wage. And it wants to ban cities from mandating benefits such as vacation or sick leave...
Opposition to ‘Right to Work’ measure grows, debate not likely before April elections Wisconsin Gazette …A group of business leaders opposed to making Wisconsin a so-called right-to-work state announced 50 new members this week...
Should West Virginia Repeal the Prevailing Wage? West Virginia Public Broadcasting …President of the West Virginia AFL-CIO Kenny Perdue disagreed with Cole's position, saying a repeal of the wage could bring in out-of-state contractors and developers with their own workforce at lower wages forcing West Virginians out of their jobs...
[Gov. Susana] Martinez supports right-to-work legislation Associated Press …opponents say such measures are an attack on unions and won’t create jobs or save the state any money...
Michigan Supreme Court Hears Challenge to States Right to Work Law The National Law Review …in UAW v. Green, Case No. 147700 ... the United Autoworkers (UAW) filed to challenge the application of Michigan’s Right to Work law to 35,000 State employees. The UAW has been arguing that Michigan’s Right to Work law does not apply to state employees who are under the jurisdiction of and whose wages are set by the Michigan Civil Service Commission...
State Ed Department: Brownback’s Budget Cuts $127.4 Million From Schools Wichita Eagle ...Gov. Sam Brownback’s proposed budget represents about a $127.4 million cut in schools’ regular K-12 operating funds from this fiscal year to next year, according to a report released Tuesday by the state Department of Education...
Rick Scott's FDLE Scandal Blows Open, Demands Probe (opinion) ...For those who missed it, the former head of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement — 35-year-veteran Gerald Bailey — has started spilling the beans. Bailey portrays Scott and his staff as a group of unethical, hard-core politicos who would go to great lengths — willing even to fabricate a criminal investigation — to get themselves out of a jam...
War on Workers
DeFazio Pledges To Push Back Against Mexico Truck Program The Trucker ...The ranking member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has made it known he is not comfortable with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s decision to open the United States border to Mexican-domiciled trucking companies...
How The Trucking Industry Could Be Vastly More Efficient Citylab ...Meet Transfix, a start-up that fashions itself "Uber for trucks."...
Wireless device in two million cars wide open to hacking ars technica …An electronic dongle used to connect to the onboard diagnostic systems of more than two million cars and trucks contains few defenses against hacking, an omission that makes them vulnerable to wireless attacks that take control of a vehicle, according to published reports. US-based Progressive Insurance said it has used the SnapShot device in more than two million vehicles since 2008. The dongle tracks users' driving to help determine if they qualify for lower rates…
Five Years On, Citizens United Is Worse Than Anyone Imagined (opinion) St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...A hundred years from now, after it’s been reversed, Citizens United will be regarded, with Dred Scott v. Sandford and Plessy v. Ferguson, as one of the most anti-democratic decisions the court ever made...
Help wanted: Fast food cashier, $15 an hour ScienceDaily …Researchers from the University of Massachusetts Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) have released a working paper verifying the ability of American fast food restaurants to more than double the minimum wage of their lowest paid workers to $15 an hour over a four-year period without causing the widespread employment losses and decline in profits often cited by critics of such increases...
Construction worker killed while directing traffic on Cahaba River Road Alabama's 13 …[Chance Richard] Rollan was directing traffic in the back of the construction site on Cahaba River Road when he was struck from behind by a vehicle. According to Lt. Edwards the vehicle was driven by a 23-year-old female. She told investigators at the scene that she was leaning over to pick up her coffee when she veered off the road and struck Rollan...
Construction worker dies after fall down Manhattan elevator shaft New York Daily News …Frank Dragotta, 61 of Morganville, N.J., fell one story from the second floor inside the W. 70th St. building near Columbus Ave. at about 8:45 a.m...
Miscellaneous
4 GOP Hopefuls Expected To Attend Koch Event Politico ...Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida, and Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin received coveted invitations to speak to the vaunted network assembled by the billionaire industrialist megadonors Charles and David Koch, the sources said...
