Today's Teamster News 11.22.13

Teamsters Joint Council 42 and Local 911 Endorse Lee Rogers for Congress  Inland Empire   ...Dr. Lee Rogers, candidate for Congress in California’s 25th District, announced today that he has picked up the endorsements of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 911 and their umbrella organization, Joint Council 42. Rogers, a podiatrist, is a member of the Teamsters Union...
Use Teamster-Made Ingredients for Thanksgiving  teamster.org   ...For your Thanksgiving recipes, use Teamster-made ingredients and support your brothers and sisters at these companies...
Waste Workers Near San Diego Ratify First Teamster Contract  teamster.org   ...Drivers and mechanics at Waste Management in Carlsbad, California, who voted to join Teamsters Local 683 in San Diego, have ratified their first contract...
New contract gives wage increases for dining workers  The Daily Pennsylvanian   ...Penn dining workers have finished negotiations with Bon Appetit, which will increase their wages and provide a healthcare package. Negotiations began in September, after the workers joined Teamsters Local 929...
Massena, highway department union reach four-year deal  North Country Now   ...The Town Council in Messena, New York, unanimously agreed to a four-year contract with the Teamsters Local 687 to cover the town Highway Department’s eight employees on Wednesday night...
Hoffa to Corporate America: 'Have You No Sense of Decency?'  Huffington Post   ...the average American family pays $6,000 a year to cover government tax breaks for big business....
Senator Sounds The Alarm On Social Security   teamster.org   ...The median retirement savings of U.S. workers near retirement age is only $12,000....
Walmart Workers Strike At Seven Stores In Dallas  ThinkProgress   ...Walmart workers called out or walked off the job at seven stores in Dallas, according to OUR Walmart activists, the group that has been organizing strikes and protests against the company...
Wal-Mart labor group promises 1,500 Black Friday protests next week  Salon   ...Amid scrutiny of Wal-Mart taking up employee-to-employee charity, strike wave continues against retail giant...
The Middle Class Is Disappearing Despite The Economic Recovery  ThinkProgress   ...There were nearly 700,000 fewer middle-income households since the began than during the economic crisis, according to new Census Bureau data...
The U.S. ranks 26th for life expectancy, right behind Slovenia  Washington Post   ...Back in the 1970s, Americans typically lived longer than residents of other countries. Not anymore, according to a new report...
‘I Watched My Patients Die of Treatable Diseases Because They Were Poor’  AlterNet   ...A Galveston medical student describes life and death in the non-existent Texas safety net...
Tea party groups can't shield donors, FEC rules  Politico   ...The panel voted 3-2 against a proposal that would have allowed the Tea Party Leadership Fund to shield the names and information of their donors from public scrutiny...
What will happen to truck drivers when self-driving vehicles take over?  Washington Post   ...Google's test vehicles for its self-driving technology are a Lexus and a Prius. That suggests that Google sees self-driving as a technology for passenger cars. But self-driving technology will almost certainly affect industry and commerce first...
5 Signs the Rich Have Way Too Much Money  AlterNet   ...You can get a $5,000 hamburger for lunch. The Fleur de Lys restaurant in Las Vegas at Mandalay Bay offers the "Fleurburger 5000" for $5,000...
Cash America fined over claims of robo-signing, gouging military families  Washington Post   ...The $19 million settlement is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s first with a payday lender...
UPS increasing rates by 4.9% in 2014  Associated Press   ...The shipping company said that the number is an average of its UPS Ground, Air and International, and Air Freight rate increases for the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico...
Spanish court sentences 'Robin Hood' mayor  Associated Press   ...A Spanish court has sentenced a town mayor and four others to seven months in prison for occupying unused military land they wanted to be loaned to farmers hard hit by the economic crisis...
NY Signs DOL Deal to Tackle Misclassification; Payroll Fraud Protection Act of 2013 Introduced  The We Party   ...The state of New York has signed into an agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division in an attempt to stop the misclassification of employees as independent contractors. New York is the 15th state to sign such an agreement...
Targets seek stay of investigation into Scott Walker's recall campaign and other groups  Wisconsin State Journal   ...Three unnamed petitioners are asking that a judge be ordered to temporarily halt a secret investigation into campaign activity by Gov. Scott Walker’s recall campaign and more than two dozen conservative political groups...
Wisconsin Employment: October 2013  Econbrowser   ...Two numbers to remember: 84 thousand and 107 thousand. The first number is the amount by which actual October employment lags Governor Walker's promised path; the second is the amount by which the Administration's own forecast for January 2015 lags Walker's promised 250,000 net new jobs figure...

Today's Teamster News 03.01.13

Bureaucratic Blunder helps over 100 Oil Companies Avoid Paying Royalties  Oil Price.com   ...Democratic lawmaker Representative Edward Markey of Massachusetts ... claims that more than 100 oil and gas producers, including Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX), BP Plc (NYSE: BP), Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), Royal Dutch Shell Plc, (NYSE: RDS-A) and ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), have benefitted from bungled leases awarded by the federal government. The leases enabled the companies to drill for oil and gas in federal waters without paying, or at least paying at a much lower rate, any royalties...
Wal-Mart Struggles to Restock Store Shelves as U.S. Sales Slump  Bloomberg   ...Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT), already struggling to woo shoppers constrained by higher taxes, is “getting worse” at keeping shelves stocked, the retailer’s U.S. chief told executives...
Big Energy Firm Agrees to Replace Coal-Burning Plants with Wind and Solar Operations  AllGov   ...American Electric Power (AEP) will stop using coal by 2015 at power plants in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. It intends to replace the energy produced by the plants with new wind and solar investments in Indiana and Michigan...
Revised GDP: Economy grew 0.1 pct in fourth quarter  CBS News   ...The U.S. economy grew at a 0.1 percent annual rate from October through December, the weakest performance in nearly two years...
Spain falls further into recession as GDP plunges by 0.8%  The Guardian   ...Spain's recession worsened dramatically at the end of last year as the government made a final austerity push in order to meet deficit targets imposed by Brussels. GDP fell by 0.8% over the final quarter of 2012, as state spending was reduced and the public sector continued to shed jobs...
13 arrested as 200 march on Wells Fargo demanding fair banking practices Occupy Homes MN ...demanding turnover of vacant homes to community control and fair banking practices. The march, organized by Occupy Homes MN, Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, and allies from faith and labor communities, began at the home of Gayle Lindsey, fighting her foreclosure...
Only 6% Rate News Media As Very Trustworthy  Rasmussen Reports   ...25% use the Internet as their main source of news, while only 10% still rely on print newspapers...
Governor to announce EFM decision tomorrow; State takeover of Detroit possible  WXYZ   ...Detroit Mayor Dave Bing says ... the governor will announce his decision regarding the possible appointment of an Emergency Financial Manager for the city of Detroit on Friday...
Proposed union law a bad idea, city workers tell Assembly  Anchorage Daily News   ...Hundreds of union workers jammed Assembly Chambers at Loussac Library, spilled out into the lobby, and filled another meeting room Wednesday night for an Assembly hearing on Mayor Dan Sullivan's plan to limit the power of city labor groups....
Maverick Maine Democrat signs on to public sector right-to-work bill  Bangor Daily News   ...Rep. Terry Hayes, D-Buckfield, will be the only Democratic co-sponsor of the bill...
Does Taylor teacher pact flout right-to-work law?  Detroit Free Press   ...The union agreed to a 10% wage cut over the first three years of the contract in exchange for the lengthy contract...
Carlson Takes Aim at ALEC, Seeks to Rein In Undeclared Lobbyists  Burnsville Patch   ...Carlson is one of several co-authors listed on a bill authored by District 61 Sen. Scott Dibble (DFL) that would define ALEC—and other organizations that propose "model legislation" for legislators as lobbyists. Such a move would require those groups to adhere to stricter financial reporting requirements under Minnesota campaign finance laws...
"Paycheck Protection" Bill Remains Stalled In Mo. Senate  KBIA   ...The Missouri Senate spent a few hours Wednesday debating legislation that would bar labor unions for public workers from withholding money from public employees’ paychecks....
The Tuesday Count: Effort underway to introduce “Right-to-Work” laws in Ohio  Ballot News   ...Chris Littleton, of the group Ohioans for Workplace Freedom, is sponsoring the initiative effort and believes he will be able to deliver the necessary 396,000 names by July in order to place the measure on the ballot this year...
Deal Reached for Dorchester 2 Bus Drivers, Durham  SummervillePatch   ...Durham School Services and Dorchester Two spokespersons released statements confirming Teamster Local 509 members have ratified an agreement with the private company that runs the bus system...
Charleston bus drivers to vote on new contract Associated Press ...The drivers plan to vote on a new contract Saturday. The president of Teamsters Local 509, L.D. Fletcher, says if union members reject the contract, a strike would begin Monday...
Council OKs contract for Transit employees  The Leader Herald   ...the Common Council unanimously passed a resolution establishing a new contract with the city's transit union...Teamsters 294 Business Agent Thomas Quackenbush said the union is pleased that an agreement finally has been reached between the transit employees and the city...
OSHA Finds Norfolk Southern Railway Violated Federal Railroad Safety Act  BMWED   ...OSHA, after a full investigation, concluded that NS fired Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division (BMWED) members merely for seeking medical attention for on-the-job injuries...
City reaches agreements with employee unions  The Beach Reporter   ...The city and its Police Officer and Firefighter Associations, as well as California Teamsters Local 911, have successfully negotiated three-year Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) following several months of labor negotiations...

Teamster rally recaps from CA, NE

Rally Girl is a Cornhusker, so her report on Local 554's rally in Omaha on Friday is especially insightful:

Even in Nebraska—home to some of the country’s most anti-union cities—supporters of Wisconsin workers turned up in great numbers over the weekend to protest a proposed budget bill that would end collective bargaining for government employees.

Braving below-freezing temperatures, hundreds, including Teamsters from Local 554, gathered at 72nd and Dodge—Omaha’s main intersection—holding signs and singing songs. Their demonstration was one of hundreds going on across the country to show solidarity for workers in Wisconsin.

Brother Scott Utech, an organizer with 554, said

The rally was very successful—a lot of brothers and sisters in organized labor and those who just wanted to support us participated. The public response to our rally was really positive and upbeat. I think these rallies are going to continue to grow.

What makes Omaha’s demonstration so inspiring is the fact that Nebraska is a traditionally conservative, right-to-work (for less) state, where unions are looked down upon and individual pride is placed above all else. Here, child labor laws are overlooked when it comes to the backbreaking work of detasseling. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of undocumented workers slave away in wretched meatpacking plants.

Yet, the voices of Nebraska unionists, concerned citizens and local politicians give me hope that even here, in the middle of the Midwest, tides are turning. Like others across this great nation, Nebraskans are waking up, taking a stand and letting their voices be heard. It is with solidarity and gusto that I proclaim, GO BIG RED!

Teamsters from Local 36, 481, 683, 542 and 911 participated in Saturday's "Support Wisconsin Rally," organized by the San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council. More than a thousand people joined the action. Local 542 Business Agent Alvin Mitchell drove the San Diego Teamsters tractor trailer in the event. Let's hear it for our southern California brothers and sisters

The arrival of the truck got the twitterers going. @jasminepw tweeted

San Diego Teamsters making their presence known (honking) in support of Unions and Wisconsin! #WeAreWI