Today's Teamster News 10.04.14

Teamster News
Passavant Workers Take Strike Vote  New Castle News   ...Members of Teamsters Local 538 voted Thursday to give a 10-day strike notice to Passavant Health and Retirement Center in Zelienople. Betty Fischer, Teamsters Local 538 secretary/treasurer, said the vote was “overwhelming.”...
Environmental Activist To Address Bridgeton Landfill Concerns  St. Louis Public Radio   ...Environmental activist Lois Gibbs will be in St. Louis this weekend for a “teach-in” to address problems at the adjoining Bridgeton and West Lake landfills, located in Bridgeton a few miles from Lambert Airport...
Rev. Brian Jordan Blesses Horses With Holy Water, Praises City's Carriage Industry  New York Daily News   ...The veteran clergyman, an ardent supporter of the industry, delivered some kind words for the carriage horse owners as well. “These horses are cared for like children,” said Jordan, wearing cargo shorts and running shoes beneath his robe.
Assembly's Gary Pretlow: Veterinarians Say Carriage Horses 'Healthy, Happy, Well-Fed'  New York Daily News   ...State Assemblyman Gary Pretlow says the city's horse carriage industry should live on -- doctor's orders. The Westchester County Democrat, who sponsored legislation this spring to save the jobs of the drivers, is upping the ante by sending the City Council and mayor's office a testimonial from the state Veterinary Medical Society in support of keeping the horses on the job...
35 Port Truck Drivers Fired After Strike  AFL-CIO   ...The drivers, supported by the Teamsters, are some of the lowest paid workers in our communities. Because of their misclassification as “independent contractors,” some even take home negative paychecks. The 35 port drivers were fired from Total Transportation Services (TTSI). They include Jose Rosales, a port driver for over 10 years, husband and father of three children...
Trade
TTIP - Four Letters That Spell Rising Poverty (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...Cheap labour may be good for investors and shareholders, but at the societal level at which governments operate, it creates a whole new set of problems...
Trade Deals Worsen Immigration Pressures (opinion)  Baltimore Sun   ...These trade agreements failed to achieve the promised increases in employment and wages and actually caused so much economic disruption and hardship in those countries that pressures for workers to emigrate actually increased instead of decreasing...
State Battles
New Temp Worker Bill Could Have Large Impact  Monterey Herald   ...A bill that used Taylor Farms as its rallying cry is likely to have a major affect across the state. Gov. Jerry Brown signed the "Temp Worker Protection Bill" on Sunday, which holds businesses liable when subcontractors violate wage or safety laws...
GOP Candidate Busted For Potential Voter Fraud! The Story Of Leslie Rutledge  Salon.com   ...Leslie Rutledge, the Republican candidate for Attorney General in Arkansas, has been discovered to have been registered to vote in multiple states in addition to Arkansas, and even voted by absentee ballot in Arkansas’ general election in November of 2008 –after she had registered to vote in Washington D.C. in July of the same year...
Christie defends Koch Brothers, calls questions about anonymous donors 'silliness' in Arizona  NJ.com   ...Questioning the lack of transparency about who has been funneling millions of dollars in negative campaign ads into the Arizona governor's race is "silliness" and "sophistry," Gov. Chris Christie said Thursday night while stumping for Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Ducey...
Early voting hours unlikely to change before Election Day  cleveland.com   ...  the statewide early, in-person voting hours set Monday by Secretary of State Jon Husted will hold throughout Election Day on Nov. 4. That schedule includes early, in-person voting on the two Saturdays prior to Election Day, Sunday before Election Day and Monday before Election Day...
Michigan Legislature Approves Anti-Human Trafficking Bills  Associated Press   ...The bills now headed to Gov. Rick Snyder would let victims clear their criminal records. Minors under age 18 suspected of prostitution would be presumed to be trafficking victims, and “Johns” soliciting sex from minors would face stiffer criminal penalties...
Club for Growth won't disclose source of money for local ad buy  Columbia Daily Tribune   ...the Tribune reported Thursday that the ads were purchased with funds from the Missouri Club for Growth PAC, a political fund that has received $3.6 million, more than 99 percent of its funding in the past three years, from wealthy conservative activist Rex Sinquefield...
U.S. Supreme Court is asked to block Wisconsin's voter ID law  Associated Press   ...Opponents of Wisconsin's photo ID requirement for voters took their case to the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday, seeking an emergency halt to the state's implementation of the law before the fast approaching Nov. 4 election...
Group sues state over campaign coordination  Associated Press   ...A conservative group and ally of Gov. Scott Walker filed a federal lawsuit Thursday asking that a Wisconsin law limiting coordination between third-party organizations and political candidates be declared unconstitutional...
War On Workers
The Missing Trio in Today's Jobs Report  Bloomberg   ...At 3 million, the number of long-term unemployed hardly budged. Youth unemployment rose somewhat to 20 percent, giving up half the gains of the prior month. And joblessness among those lacking a college education is still too high...
‘We Can’t Haul’: Rebounding Economy Reveals Shortage Of Truck Drivers  Bangor Daily News   ...In 1980, Vieth said, the average trucker earned four times the wage of a food service worker. But the $40,940 the average truck driver makes today is just 1.8 times that of food service workers...
Labor Participation Rate Drops To 36 Year Low; Record 92.6 Million Americans Not In Labor Force  zero hedge   ...while according to the Household Survey, 232,000 people found jobs, what is more disturbing is that the people not in the labor force, rose to a new record high, increasing by 315,000 to 92.6 million!...
Hackers’ Attack Cracked 10 Companies in Major Assault  New York Times   ...The breadth of the attacks — and the lack of clarity about whether it was an effort to steal from accounts or to demonstrate that the hackers could penetrate even the best-protected American financial institutions — has left Washington intelligence officials and policy makers far more concerned than they have let on publicly...
Huh? Walmart Foundation Battles Hunger As Walmart Workers Turn to Food Stamps  Inside Philanthropy   ...Last month, the foundation launched a new campaign, "Fight Hunger, Spark Change," that asks people to vote for which local food banks it should donate funds to. All this is ironic to say the least, given the food security challenges of Walmart's own huge labor force, many of whom don't earn much more than the minimum wage...
EXCLUSIVE AUDIO: How the Koch Brothers Are Molding the Next Scott Walkers  The Nation   ...Walker has, since his 2010 gubernatorial run, been a top recipient of campaign contributions from the Kochs, and a beneficiary of the “independent” campaigns of Koch-fueled groups such as Americans for Prosperity...
Koch-backed group plans direct attacks in Senate races  USA Today   ...Americans for Prosperity's decision to move to pointed attacks is significant because it shifts the group into more direct political activity — something tax-exempt organizations are required to limit. It also means the group must disclose its election-related activity — though not its donors — to federal regulators...
Worker Dies   Valdosta Today   ...Officials say that 61-year old Isabel Gomez died after a piece of heavy equipment fell and crushed him. Sheriff Andy Hester of Turner County reports that Gomez and his brother were working on a fork lift...
Worker dies after truck with gravel tips over  WOKV   ...the man was unloading gravel from a truck which had an apparatus raised up. That caused the truck to get unsteady and ultimately tip on to the man who was crouched next to it working...
High-Speed Trader Accused Of Commodity Market ‘Spoofing’  Bloomberg News   ...A high-frequency trader was indicted for “spoofing” -- placing and immediate canceling orders as a way to manipulate commodities markets -- in what the U.S. Justice Department says is the first criminal case of its kind...
Man Shoots Down Drone, Lawyers Scratch Their Heads  Popular Science   ...A man in New Jersey fired a shotgun at his neighbor's drone, and as the quadcopter crashed to the ground, the incident raised new legal challenges about when and if it’s okay to shoot a robot...
Miscellaneous

Today's Teamster News 03.02.13

Keystone XL pipeline would have little impact on climate change, State Department analysis says Washington Post   ...Canada’s oil sands will be developed even if President Obama denies a permit to the pipeline connecting the region to Gulf Coast refineries, the analysis said. Such a move also would not alter U.S. oil consumption, the report added...
Factory Expansion Spurs Growth as Budget Cuts Loom  Bloomberg   ...American factories expanded in February at the fastest pace in almost two years, spurred by a jump in orders that is helping propel an economy about to be tested by federal government cutbacks...
Personal Income Hammered - Drops -3.6% for January 2013  Economic Populist   ...Disposable income is worse.   DPI dropped -4.0%, even when adjusted for inflation....
Since 2011, 105 Wage Supression Bills Have Been Introduced In State Legislatures  ThinkProgress   ... lawmakers in 31 states have introduced 105 bills aimed at suppressing workers’ wages, with a little help from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the conservative group that provides model legislation on everything from union-busting to voter disenfranchisement:...
Looming federal spending cuts will hit hospitals where it hurts  McClatchy   ...More than 4,200 hospitals that are among the largest employers in their communities would lose nearly $3 billion under the Medicare cuts this year. That could trigger the loss of 73,000 hospital jobs nationwide...
Ahead of Singapore Round of TPP Negotiations, U.S. Public Opposition to Deal Grows  Public Citizen   ...With Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations slated to begin on March 4, opposition to the deal in the United States continues to mount. More than 300 groups signed on to a letter to Congress calling the lack of transparency in negotiations “inconsistent with democratic principles”...
Michigan governor clears way for state takeover of Detroit  Reuters   ...Friday's declaration by the Republican governor virtually assures that the state of Michigan will assume control of Detroit's books, and eventually decide whether the city should file the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history...
Taylor schools, union sued over contract that skirts right to work  Detroit News   ...The Mackinac Center for Public Policy filed a lawsuit Thursday on behalf of three Taylor teachers who object to a union security clause adopted by the school board and the Taylor Federation of Teachers...
At lager heads: Pa. beer distributors stoutly oppose Corbett privatization   newsworks.com   ...Any reservations beer distributors have about Pa. Gov. Tom Corbett's liquor privatization plan have brewed into outright opposition...
Nutter seeks high court's OK to impose his terms on city workers  philly.com   ...If Nutter succeeds, the case could change labor negotiations across Pennsylvania by significantly shifting power to mayors and governors...
Missouri House Votes To Exempt Schools From Prevailing Wage  KCUR.com   ...Democrats argued that waiving the prevailing wage requirement could lead to cut-rate contractors from other states taking jobs away from skilled workers in Missouri...
GOP lawmaker targets public employee unions with bills  Cronkite News   ...Two ... bills would restrict the ability of public employee union members to strike and to be paid for time spent on union activities. The other would require public employees represented by unions to sign off each year on having dues deducted from paychecks...
Alaska lawmakers raise labor cost concerns  Associated Press   ...Alaska legislative leaders are urging Gov. Sean Parnell to negotiate no raises in union labor contracts amid concerns about state budget costs...
Waste Management Workers In California Vote To Join Local 683 In San Diego  IBT   ...sanitation drivers, helpers, mechanics and yard crew from El Cajon‘s Waste Management facility overwhelmingly voted to join Teamsters, Local 683. The vote was 144 to 37 in favor of forming their union. There are 191 workers in the bargaining unit...
Teamsters Organizes Sleepy Hollow Employees  Tarrytown-SleepyHollow Patch   ...The new Teamsters span a broad array of workplaces and duties, from village hall clerks and other office staff to rec workers, crossing guard and the village’s parking-law enforcer...
Fairbanks school bus drivers vote to authorize strike  Daily News-Miner   ...Local school bus drivers overwhelmingly approved a strike vote on Thursday against First Student, but union officials say no work stoppage is imminent. Members of Teamsters Local 959 voted to strike after unsuccessful negotiations...
Cleveland city lawyers want to join Teamsters, citing years of low pay and job insecurity  The Plain Dealer  ...Civil attorneys in the city of Cleveland's law department have petitioned to join the Teamsters and become the first municipal law department in Ohio to unionize...
Negotiations for county workers hit seniority snag  Tampa Bay Times   ...Representing about 400 county employees, Teamsters Local 79 pushed hard Thursday to get the county administration to agree to use seniority as the main factor in filling county jobs...
Hoffa Calls On Congress To Act On Sequester  IBT  ...Hoffa on the failure of Congress to replace the sequester by today's deadline: "Austerity is destroying the economies of Europe and worsening the European debt crisis. Austerity will destroy America's economy and increase our deficit. Cutting government spending is exactly what Congress should not be doing during an economic slump...