TEAMSTERS
Union Leader: Don’t Remove Metal Detectors From NYC Schools WLNY ...Gregory Floyd of Teamsters Local 237 said that metal detectors used in schools serve as an effective deterrent for children seeking to bring weapons into the classroom, 1010 WINS’ Juliet Papa reported...
Canada Council Of Teamsters Ratifies Five-Year Agreement With UPS Stockhouse ...UPS Canada (NYSE:UPS) is pleased to announce that a tentative agreement with the Canada Council of Teamsters has been ratified. This results in a new five-year agreement covering approximately 7,000 employees throughout Canada...
On Eve Of Strike Vote, UPS Pilots Get Teamsters Support Logistics Management ...What’s more, leadership at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said today that General President James Hoffa and General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall told the IPA’s President Captain Robert Travis in a letter that “if a strike is necessary, we will not cross your lines, but will stand with you on them.”...
Maine AFL-CIO Talks Minimum Wage Hikes At Biennial Convention WCSH ..."When we bring the bottom up that benefits everyone," explained Traci Place, a delegate for the Teamsters Local 340. "They spend that money in the community, the municipalities have more money the businesses have more money and that brings everybody up and how can that be bad."...
Agreement Ratified At UPS Teamsters Canada ...Eighty-one percent of the UPS workers who voted were in favour of ratifying the tentative agreement negotiated between Teamsters Canada and company management on September 24...
Parking Members To Receive Additional Sick/Personal Day Teamsters Local 727 ...Teamsters Local 727-represented parking members soon will receive an additional sick/personal day, per the collective bargaining agreement...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
TPP Would Allow Milk From Cows Receiving Hormones Into Canada CBC ...As dairy imports from the United States appear set to increase under the terms of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, Canadian consumers concerned about drinking milk from cows receiving hormones will need to read their labels more carefully...
Meet CETA, TTIP’s Dangerous Cousin Left Foot Forward ...One year ago Canada and the EU finalized a trade deal known as CETA (the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement). If you haven’t heard of CETA, what you need to know is simple – it’s like TTIP but coming sooner...
TTIP: EU negotiators appear to break environmental pledge in leaked draft The Guardian ...The EU appears to have broken a promise to reinforce environmental protections in a leaked draft negotiating text submitted in the latest round of TTIP talks in Miami.. In January, the bloc promised to safeguard green laws, defend international standards and protect the EU’s right to set high levels of environmental protection...
'Mass Struggle Works': South African Student Uprising Wins Tuition Freeze Common Dreams ...Facing the largest student uprisings since South Africans toppled apartheid, President Jacob Zuma pledged Friday to freeze tuition fees in the year 2016—prompting declarations of victory, as well as calls to continue the mass mobilizations until full racial and economic equality is won...
Spaniards protest against austerity policies World Bulletin ...Students, health workers and members of trade unions took part in a demonstration dubbed as “Marches for Dignity” on Thursday, shouting for “bread, employment, roof and dignity.” according to a report in PressTV. Education Minister José Ignacio Wert Ortega resigned in July following massive student demonstrations held across the country. But his policy, known as the 3+2 Decree, is still in place...
Obama Administration Softens Criticism of China’s Currency Policy Wall Street Journal ...The U.S. Treasury Department, in its semiannual report on currencies Monday, said the yuan is “below its appropriate medium-term valuation.” In the previous report it said the currency was “significantly undervalued.”...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Right To Work Proposal Introduced In Ohio Bucyrus Telegraph Forum ...A Cincinnati lawmaker introduced his plan to bring a right-to-work law to Ohio despite opposition from fellow Republicans...
Even The Most Elite Women Are Subject To The Gender Pay Gap Huffington Post ...A business degree, even from one from a top school in the country, won't be enough to protect women from the gender gap in compensation...
Massachusetts Coffee Chain Fined $47,000 For Breaking Child Labor Laws, Stealing Tips Boston Globe ...The Massachusetts coffee shop chain Dippin’ Donuts has been fined $47,000 for violating state child labor laws and stealing tips from hourly workers, Attorney General Maura Healey announced Thursday...
Kansas City Council Repeals Minimum Wage Hike But Urges Statewide Increase Kansas City Star ...Blocked by state lawmakers from raising the minimum wage within city limits, the Kansas City Council on Thursday repealed legislation it passed last summer that would have done just that...
Proposal Would Raise Minimum-Wage To $12 An Hour Columbus Dispatch ...Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine today certified the language for a proposed constitutional amendment to provide automatic annual increases in the state minimum wage through 2021...
U.S. LABOR
UAW files petition to organize VW's maintenance workers Nooga ...United Auto Workers Local 42 has filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board seeking an election in hopes of representing maintenance employees at Volkswagen Chattanooga, and ultimately gaining collective bargaining powers...
SEIU, IBEW Locals in New Hampshire Announce Bernie Sanders Endorsement In These Times ...A pair of union locals in New Hampshire, home to the first primary of the 2016 election cycle, endorsed Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders as their candidate for president this week. On Wednesday, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local Union 490 endorsed Sanders, with local executive Denis Beaudoin saying that members at meetings spoke overwhelmingly in favor of the endorsement...
Clinton Scores Key Endorsement From Public-Employee Union NPR ...The nation's largest public-employee union is backing Hillary Clinton for president. The board of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees voted to endorse the former senator and secretary of State on Friday. Clinton said in a statement of her own that she was "honored" to get AFSCME's endorsement...
From Construction To Exotic Dancing, Worker Misclassification Is Everywhere Washington City Paper ...If a company hires a person to stand near a construction site and direct traffic, is the worker in business for himself? If a company can fire a consultant without warning, is the worker really an independent contractor? Is a strip club still a strip club without exotic dancers? D.C.-area workers are asking these questions—and many more—as they allege the companies they consider their employers have misclassified them as independent contractors...
SOCIAL JUSTICE AND OTHER NEWS
ACLU Accuses Biloxi Of Running Debtors' Prison In Lawsuit Seeking To 'Dismantle Two-Tiered System Of Justice' Common Dreams ...The American Civil Liberties Union has accused Biloxi, Miss. of operating "a modern day debtors' prison," filing a lawsuit on Wednesday charging that the city, in violation of the U.S. Constitution, jails impoverished people for unpaid fines and fees they are unable to pay...
Iceland Just Jailed Dozens Of Corrupt Bankers For 74 Years, The Opposite Of What America Does AlterNet ...In stark contrast to the record low number of prosecutions of CEO’s and high-level financial executives in the U.S., Iceland has just sentenced 26 bankers to a combined 74 years in prison...
Pharma Bro Gets Taught A Necessary Lesson By The Free Market Think Progress ...A drug company plans on introducing the first competitor to Daraprim, the parasitic-fighting drug that’s met national controversy for its skyrocketing price tag. The company, Imprimis Pharmaceuticals, says its new drug will be available for only $1 a tablet — a stark difference from Daraprim’s $750...
Texas Officials Raid Several Planned Parenthood Offices, Demand Addresses Of Employees AlterNet ...Texas sent agents to Planned Parenthood facilities on Thursday seeking documents, the group said, calling it a "politically motivated" move that comes on the heels of the state's Republican leaders barring it from receiving Medicaid money...
Revised Swaps Rule To Spare Big Banks Billions In Collateral Bloomberg Business ...Wall Street banks will escape billions of dollars in additional collateral costs after U.S. regulators softened a rule that would have made their derivatives activities much more expensive...
Tennessee County Overwhelmingly Votes Down Plan To Raise Confederate Flag NBC News ...A Tennessee county voted overwhelmingly Monday night against a plan by one commissioner to raise the Confederate flag above the county's courthouse...
Showing posts with label ACLU. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ACLU. Show all posts
Friday, October 23, 2015
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Today's Teamster News 03.24.15
Teamsters
BMWED/Teamsters: Improving Track Safety Is Key To Oil Train Safety teamster.org ...“The key to reducing the frequency of oil train derailments plaguing North America is improved track maintenance,” says Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division President Freddie N. Simpson...
Teamsters, Rhode Island Hospital Forge Tentative Agreement NPR ...The Teamsters Union Local 251 and Rhode Island Hospital management have reached a tentative agreement on a four-year contract that the union says will bring $19 million in improved wages and benefits to workers at the Lifespan hospital network...
Sysco, US Foods To Reveal FTC Informants The Packer ...Defense attorneys representing Sysco Corp. and US Foods Inc. plan to reveal the names and employers of 92 people who provided information to the Federal Trade Commission for its anti-trust investigation into the foodservice suppliers’ merger...
Teamsters And Technology: Developing Labor Issues For Technology Industry Employers National Law Review ...Unions have been using this discontent to increase their influence in the TMT industry. Facebook’s shuttle bus drivers voted to unionize this past November and ratified a first contract on February 21 of this year. On February 27th shuttle bus drivers employed by a contractor that provides shuttle services for Apple, eBay, Yahoo, and Zynga employees voted to be represented by the Teamsters...
Trade
TPP Facing Stiff Opposition In Congress (opinion) Denver Post ...Keen to reach a trade deal with 11 other countries along the Pacific Rim, the Obama administration is actively engaged in intense negotiations. But the proposed deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal (TPP) — the largest such accord since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) — is facing stiff opposition in Congress, primarily from Democrats...
State Battles
Labor groups fear `union Armageddon' in Nevada Legislature Associated Press ...Despite union protests, a bevy of bills to weaken collective bargaining and restructure public employee pensions remain on the legislative agenda, including one scheduled for a hearing Wednesday that labor groups call the "Union Armageddon Bill."...
Oil Giant BP Drops Membership With ALEC National Journal ... Major oil-and-gas corporation BP announced Monday it is parting ways with the American Legislative Exchange Council, marking just the latest—and likely most significant—departure of a blue-chip company from the conservative group in recent months, National Journal has learned. Major oil-and-gas corporation BP announced Monday it is parting ways with the American Legislative Exchange Council, marking just the latest—and likely most significant—departure of a blue-chip company from the conservative group in recent months, National Journal has learned...
Minimum Wage Increase Killing Seattle Restaurants? Anatomy Of A Lie From Inside The Bubble Forbes ...Never mind that not so much as one of the restaurant closings discussed in the original piece referenced the coming rise in minimum wage as a reason for their decision to shutter their business. And never mind that the owner of one of the four eateries discussed is currently opening two new restaurants in Seattle. It was a headline that opponents of the citywide minimum wage increase could not resist—and the facts could not be allowed to stand in the way...
'It's a disgrace': civil liberties groups in frantic bid to stop Wisconsin voter ID law Guardian ...Civil liberties campaigners filed an emergency motion on Monday to stop Wisconsin’s “disenfranchising” new voter identification requirements from going into effect, setting up an instant showdown after the US supreme court turned away an appeal to throw out Wisconsin’s controversial law that forces people already registered to vote to show photo ID...
New St. Louis County Health Chief Promises To Study Bridgeton Landfill Effects St. Louis Post Dispatch ...St. Louis County’s new health director made it clear that his department would be more involved in the issues stemming from the smoldering landfill here, promising first a new survey of residents’ health conditions...
War on Workers
If We Don't Overturn Citizens United, the Congress Will Become Paid Employees Of The Billionaire Class (opinion) Huffington Post ...Who are those members of Congress elected with the help of billionaires going to be representing? Do you think they're going to be representing the middle class and working families? The answers seem clear to me. Unless the campaign financing system is reformed, the U.S. Congress will become paid employees of the people who pay for their campaigns -- the billionaire class. Needless to say, not everyone on the Committee agreed. It was an interesting and informative debate. Not one Republican supported the amendment and it lost by a 12-10 vote...
Miscellaneous
Congress Won’t Tackle NSA Reform Before Cybersecurity National Journal ...Congress likely needs to pass cybersecurity legislation before it can pave the way to addressing the National Security Agency bulk collection of American phone records, despite the looming June expiration of a key surveillance authority, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee says...
BMWED/Teamsters: Improving Track Safety Is Key To Oil Train Safety teamster.org ...“The key to reducing the frequency of oil train derailments plaguing North America is improved track maintenance,” says Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division President Freddie N. Simpson...
Teamsters, Rhode Island Hospital Forge Tentative Agreement NPR ...The Teamsters Union Local 251 and Rhode Island Hospital management have reached a tentative agreement on a four-year contract that the union says will bring $19 million in improved wages and benefits to workers at the Lifespan hospital network...
Sysco, US Foods To Reveal FTC Informants The Packer ...Defense attorneys representing Sysco Corp. and US Foods Inc. plan to reveal the names and employers of 92 people who provided information to the Federal Trade Commission for its anti-trust investigation into the foodservice suppliers’ merger...
Teamsters And Technology: Developing Labor Issues For Technology Industry Employers National Law Review ...Unions have been using this discontent to increase their influence in the TMT industry. Facebook’s shuttle bus drivers voted to unionize this past November and ratified a first contract on February 21 of this year. On February 27th shuttle bus drivers employed by a contractor that provides shuttle services for Apple, eBay, Yahoo, and Zynga employees voted to be represented by the Teamsters...
Trade
TPP Facing Stiff Opposition In Congress (opinion) Denver Post ...Keen to reach a trade deal with 11 other countries along the Pacific Rim, the Obama administration is actively engaged in intense negotiations. But the proposed deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal (TPP) — the largest such accord since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) — is facing stiff opposition in Congress, primarily from Democrats...
State Battles
Labor groups fear `union Armageddon' in Nevada Legislature Associated Press ...Despite union protests, a bevy of bills to weaken collective bargaining and restructure public employee pensions remain on the legislative agenda, including one scheduled for a hearing Wednesday that labor groups call the "Union Armageddon Bill."...
Oil Giant BP Drops Membership With ALEC National Journal ... Major oil-and-gas corporation BP announced Monday it is parting ways with the American Legislative Exchange Council, marking just the latest—and likely most significant—departure of a blue-chip company from the conservative group in recent months, National Journal has learned. Major oil-and-gas corporation BP announced Monday it is parting ways with the American Legislative Exchange Council, marking just the latest—and likely most significant—departure of a blue-chip company from the conservative group in recent months, National Journal has learned...
Minimum Wage Increase Killing Seattle Restaurants? Anatomy Of A Lie From Inside The Bubble Forbes ...Never mind that not so much as one of the restaurant closings discussed in the original piece referenced the coming rise in minimum wage as a reason for their decision to shutter their business. And never mind that the owner of one of the four eateries discussed is currently opening two new restaurants in Seattle. It was a headline that opponents of the citywide minimum wage increase could not resist—and the facts could not be allowed to stand in the way...
'It's a disgrace': civil liberties groups in frantic bid to stop Wisconsin voter ID law Guardian ...Civil liberties campaigners filed an emergency motion on Monday to stop Wisconsin’s “disenfranchising” new voter identification requirements from going into effect, setting up an instant showdown after the US supreme court turned away an appeal to throw out Wisconsin’s controversial law that forces people already registered to vote to show photo ID...
New St. Louis County Health Chief Promises To Study Bridgeton Landfill Effects St. Louis Post Dispatch ...St. Louis County’s new health director made it clear that his department would be more involved in the issues stemming from the smoldering landfill here, promising first a new survey of residents’ health conditions...
War on Workers
If We Don't Overturn Citizens United, the Congress Will Become Paid Employees Of The Billionaire Class (opinion) Huffington Post ...Who are those members of Congress elected with the help of billionaires going to be representing? Do you think they're going to be representing the middle class and working families? The answers seem clear to me. Unless the campaign financing system is reformed, the U.S. Congress will become paid employees of the people who pay for their campaigns -- the billionaire class. Needless to say, not everyone on the Committee agreed. It was an interesting and informative debate. Not one Republican supported the amendment and it lost by a 12-10 vote...
Miscellaneous
Congress Won’t Tackle NSA Reform Before Cybersecurity National Journal ...Congress likely needs to pass cybersecurity legislation before it can pave the way to addressing the National Security Agency bulk collection of American phone records, despite the looming June expiration of a key surveillance authority, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee says...
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Freedom of speech in MI? Not so much. Not anymore.
This is a disturbing story from Michigan, where a new law allows the governor to appoint local dictators emergency financial managers. It used to be called taxation without representation. The law allows these "managers" to dismiss governments, ignore local laws, sell off taxpayer assets and abrogate union contracts.
(The emergency financial manager law, by the way, was drafted by ALEC. No shock there.)
This is about another form of repression. Denise Miller, a resident of Linden, Mich., was sitting at a picnic table in Linden Park last month collecting signatures for a petition to recall Gov. Rick Snyder. A ranger told her to leave so she left. She called the parks office, and park officials told her she needed a permit. So she applied for a permit, which she got weeks later.
Here's the crazy thing: They told her she had to stand in a 3-foot-by-3-foot square within the 135-acre park. According to the Detroit News,
(The emergency financial manager law, by the way, was drafted by ALEC. No shock there.)
This is about another form of repression. Denise Miller, a resident of Linden, Mich., was sitting at a picnic table in Linden Park last month collecting signatures for a petition to recall Gov. Rick Snyder. A ranger told her to leave so she left. She called the parks office, and park officials told her she needed a permit. So she applied for a permit, which she got weeks later.
Here's the crazy thing: They told her she had to stand in a 3-foot-by-3-foot square within the 135-acre park. According to the Detroit News,
Instead of a picnic table near the stairway leading to the beach, parks officials said she could only solicit signatures from a so-called "Freedom of Speech Area" located 20 feet from a remote corner of a parking lot, far from foot traffic, according to the lawsuit.
In case she couldn't find it, parks officials spray-painted an orange, 3-by-3 box in the grass.The ACLU sued on her behalf. Here's their statement.
“In a free society, citizens do not need the government’s permission to simply petition in a public park,” said Michael J. Steinberg, ACLU of Michigan legal director. “Barring petitioning anywhere in a 135-acre park except for a tiny, isolated spot is a particularly egregious violation of the First Amendment...”
In addition, the permit only allowed her to petition from July 1 to August 1, 2011 between the hours of 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. even though the park is open until 9 p.m. in the summer. Furthermore, she was instructed that her sign was to be placed within 10 feet of the orange square. Other signs in the park, however, are routinely placed more than 100 feet away from specific activities, including signs directing people to birthday parties and family reunions.
“This case is not just about our clients in Genesee County,” said Steinberg. “All throughout the state we’ve heard from recall volunteers who have hit roadblocks when attempting to exercise their fundamental right to petition in traditional public forums such as public parks and sidewalks. Not everyone will agree with this political campaign, but we can all agree that public officials should not be in the business of silencing citizens.”Scary.
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