Teamster News
Teamsters Denounce Inclusion of Pension Reform Bill to Omnibus Spending Bill teamster.org ...“Today we have seen the ugly side of political backroom dealings as thousands of retirees may have their pensions threatened by proposed legislation that reportedly includes massive benefit cuts...
Friday deadline looms in behind-the-scenes battle over truck safety TeamsterNation ...More people will die if Congress weakens truck safety to make the trucking industry happy. And Congress may just do that as it races to meet the Dec. 12 deadline to pass a budget bill. Teamsters are joined with safety advocates to fight an effort to let truck drivers work 82 hours a week...
More Drowsy, Overworked Truck Drivers New York Times ...the rider that Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, is pushing on behalf of trucking interests. This atrocious giveaway would suspend existing Department of Transportation truck safety regulations put in place in 2012 following a lengthy, transparent and data-driven process to make sure truck drivers get sufficient rest when operating on the nation’s highways...
Booker fights to keep sleep rules for truckers Newark Star Ledger ...A giant spending bill needed to fund the U.S. government past Thursday also could suspend rules governing when truckers can be behind the wheel, an effort drawing from opposition from U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and others...
Teamsters Urge Facebook To Boost Pay For Shuttle Drivers USA Today ...In a letter obtained by USA TODAY, Teamsters official Rome Aloise called on Zuckerberg to amend Facebook's contract with Loop Transportation, the contractor who employs the drivers, to allow for improved wages...
Hoffa To Congress: Stop Bailout For UPS, Protect Retiree Benefits teamster.org ...International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa today wrote a letter that was sent to the Congressional leadership and circulated to all members of Congress, expressing strong opposition to proposed legislation that would result in a $2 billion bailout of United Parcel Service (UPS)...
Teamsters At Las Vegas Hotel Ratify First Contract teamster.org ...The workers ratified their five-year contract by a vote of 23 to 3 on December 8, 2014. The group includes warehouse workers, groundskeepers and valets. The Cromwell, the only boutique hotel on the Strip, was built as the Barbary Coast Hotel & Casino and was later know as Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall and Saloon...
Leslie Marshall Show Features Teamsters Fight At NetJets teamster.org ...More than 600 Teamster members are currently in a fight for fair wages and benefits from NetJets, an airline for the global super-rich. Paul Alves, a Teamsters Airline Division representative, talks with Leslie Marshall about that fight and what it means for Teamsters who work hard, transporting multi-millionaires and billionaires and their pampered pets...
Ed O’Neill: An Interview With a Modern Family Man and Union Guy Capital and Main ...So, I’ve always been, in my heart of hearts, a teamster, a union guy...
Trade
Americans Protest Against TPP, Too Free Malaysia Today ...An hour of noisy protests ensured that chief negotiators involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks today were aware of growing US public opposition to the trade agreement and the dim prospects that US President Barack Obama will obtain Fast Track trade authority, Public Citizen said...
Got a T-Shirt? Chances Are Child Labor Was Involved AFL-CIO Blog ...Cotton production involves the most child labor and forced labor in the world, according to the 2014 “List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor” by the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs...
State Battles
WMC agenda includes right-to-work, tax breaks for the rich, unfettered frac sand mining The Capital Times …The state's biggest business lobby has laid out its legislative agenda for tax breaks, union busting and frac sand mining, and Republican lawmakers are lining up to carry it out...
Kentucky’s right to work movement changing battlefields (opinion) The Courier-Journal ...Republicans failed to capture control of Kentucky’s state House of Representatives in November’s election, putting the conservative goal of passing a statewide right-to-work law out of reach for at least another two years...
UAW certified to represent VW workers in Tennessee Detroit Free Press …An accounting firm has certified that the UAW represents more than 45% of Volkswagen workers, giving the union the ability to meet with the automaker's management on a regular basis….
Senate Panel Approves Atlantic City Financial Rescue Plan Press of Atlantic City ...A New Jersey Senate committee Monday approved a rescue plan designed to fix Atlantic City’s fiscal crisis by providing a stable source of casino payments to support the declining tax base...
$15 Minimum Wage Could Be On Tacoma Ballot In 2015 News Tribune ...Tacoma could be the state’s latest battleground for a $15 minimum wage...
Florida Minimum Wage To Top $8 As Debate Grows Florida Today ...The automatic increase of 12 cents an hour, recalculated by law each year based on the federal Consumer Price Index, will increase the state minimum wage to $8.05 in January, up from $7.93. Voters in 2004 approved a constitutional amendment aimed at annual minimum-wage hikes...
War on Workers
Supreme Court: Amazon need not pay workers for security check time cnet …The justices say theft prevention screening isn't integral to warehouse employees' jobs, so Amazon doesn't have to provide compensation...
The Battle Over Working Time: A Countermovement Against Neoliberalism American Prospect ...Fast Food workers, taxi drivers, port truckers, Wal-Mart employees, car washers, Fed Ex freight truck drivers and many health-care workers are all organizing unions...
Big Job Gains and Rising Pay in Labor Data New York Times …employers added 321,000 jobs in November, a much stronger number than economists had predicted and the 10th consecutive month of net job gains above 200,000. Even more significant was that the improving job market finally delivered a sharp jump in average hourly earnings for ordinary workers that was double the anticipated 0.2 percent increase…
Wages Are Finally Rising, But America Still Needs A Big Raise Washington Post ...Increased productivity, in other words, has gone to increased profits instead of increased wages. The result, as you can see, is a big gap between how much workers are making now and how much they would have been making if wages had grown the 4 percent-a-year that they should have...
Miscellaneous
US Court Extends NSA Surveillance Rules In Current Form Computer World ...A U.S. secret court has extended the authorization of the National Security Agency to continue surveillance of phone records in its current form after a reform bill ran into difficulties in the Senate...
Showing posts with label Atlantic City. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Atlantic City. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Today's Teamster News 11.26.14
Teamster News
Roma Food Drivers In California Vote Overwhelmingly To Join Teamsters teamster.org ... Food distribution drivers at Roma of Southern California, a Performance Food company, have voted overwhelmingly, 68-15, in favor of joining Teamsters Local 630 in Los Angeles. Of the 84 drivers in the bargaining unit, 83 participated in the Nov. 20 election...
Teamsters Lead Buffalo Snow Storm Relief Efforts teamster.org ...“Our members went above and beyond. They worked around the clock plowing roads; selecting and delivering bread, milk and other essential food products to local stores and supermarkets; delivering gas and diesel to service stations; and staffing the correctional facilities,” said Brian Dickman, President of Teamsters Local 264 in Cheektowaga, N.Y...
Walmart Needs To Show More Thanks For Its Workers Huffington Post ...Thanksgiving Day is a holiday where family and friends gather together and express gratitude for everything in their lives. But those who work at Walmart have little to be thankful for, at least when it comes to their employment...
Commissioners approve memorandum of understanding with union Presque Isle Advance ...The Onaway City Commission approved a memorandum of understanding with the Teamsters union Nov. 17 that will keep the current Department of Public Works (DPW) foreman Clayton Dunn at his current level of pay...
Trade
What ‘Free Trade’ Has Done to Central America The Nation ... the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement, or DR-CAFTA ... the pact has had a devastating effect on poverty, dislocation and environmental contamination in the region. And perhaps even worse, it’s diminished the ability of Central American countries to protect their citizens from corporate abuse......
U.S.-NAFTA Freight Jumps 8.2% From Year Earlier Truckinginfo ...The amount freight moved between the U.S. and its neighbors of Canada and Mexico totaled $102.2 billion in September, an 8.2% gain from a year ago, as all five major transportation carried more cargo, according to new U.S. Transportation Department figures...
War on Workers
$1 Billion: That’s How Much Walmart Avoids Paying in Taxes Each Year Through Loopholes The Nation ...Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) found that the company “avoids $1 billion a year in taxes” through federal loopholes, and various political shenanigans drive this always-low tax rate: the big-box giant is absorbing government subsidies both directly and indirectly, through its retail operations as well as its ingenious accounting methods...
Walmart Still Avoiding Paying $7000 Fine For Worker Killed By Black Friday Shoppers In 2008 Consumerist ...In 2008, a Walmart employee was killed when a mob of deal-desperate Black Friday shoppers tore the store’s doors from their hinges and stormed inside, trampling him to death. The chain was eventually fined $7000 for their role in the employee’s death — but six years and $2 million later, the world’s largest retailer has yet to pay up...
One Worker Killed, Another Injured When Jamaica Plain Porch Collapses boston.com ...One worker was killed and another critically injured when the decking they were installing on a third-story porch at 89 Forest Hills Street in Jamaica Plain suddenly gave way just before 11 a.m. Tuesday...
The Tech Worker Shortage Doesn't Really Exist Bloomberg ...The real issue, say Salzman and others, is the industry’s desire for lower-wage,more-exploitable guest workers, not a lack of available American staff. “It seems pretty clear that the industry just wants lower-cost labor,” Dean Baker, the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, wrote...
Doggy Day Care Chain Makes Pet Sitters Sign Noncompetes To Protect 'Trade Secrets' Huffington Post ...According to a Camp Bow Wow “employee confidentiality and non-compete agreement” obtained by HuffPost, by signing the contract employees agree not to work for a competing business within 25 miles of their Camp Bow Wow location's "franchise territory" for a period of two years following the contract's termination...
Private Prisons Seek Broader Markets The Austin Chronicle ...A new report finds that prison corporations, stymied by prison reform, are seeking new markets for human product lines – if you can't jail ’em, find another way to make ’em pay...
Oil Trains Use 105-Year-Old Tunnel Below Seattle KOMO ...A train carrying up to three million gallons of highly flammable Bakken crude oil runs right under downtown Seattle through a century-old tunnel that does not meet modern safety standards, according to BNSF Railway and Seattle fire officials...
US Electricity Generated By Coal Would Likely Drop To 22% In 2020 Platts ...The percent of US electricity generated by coal in 2020 would likely drop to 22%, with a decline in coal prices to follow as a result, according to a study of the cumulative impact of the US Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan and its other environmental programs...
Atlantic City's Taj Mahal Offers To Restore Workers' Health Care NorthJersey.com ...Trump Entertainment Resorts said Saturday it has offered to restore health insurance to its 3,000 workers for at least two years if the union will drop its appeal of a court order that canceled the health insurance and pension plan for casino workers. It made the offer in a letter to Bob McDevitt, president of Local 54 of the Unite-HERE casino workers union...
Miscellaneous
Railroads Sound Alarm Ahead of Chicago Gridlock Redux: Freight Bloomberg ...With last week’s 7 feet of snow in upstate New York heralding an early winter, railroads crisscrossing Chicago are rushing to open 24-hour command centers, install heaters to keep switches from freezing, and plotting ways to reroute traffic...
Roma Food Drivers In California Vote Overwhelmingly To Join Teamsters teamster.org ... Food distribution drivers at Roma of Southern California, a Performance Food company, have voted overwhelmingly, 68-15, in favor of joining Teamsters Local 630 in Los Angeles. Of the 84 drivers in the bargaining unit, 83 participated in the Nov. 20 election...
Teamsters Lead Buffalo Snow Storm Relief Efforts teamster.org ...“Our members went above and beyond. They worked around the clock plowing roads; selecting and delivering bread, milk and other essential food products to local stores and supermarkets; delivering gas and diesel to service stations; and staffing the correctional facilities,” said Brian Dickman, President of Teamsters Local 264 in Cheektowaga, N.Y...
Walmart Needs To Show More Thanks For Its Workers Huffington Post ...Thanksgiving Day is a holiday where family and friends gather together and express gratitude for everything in their lives. But those who work at Walmart have little to be thankful for, at least when it comes to their employment...
Commissioners approve memorandum of understanding with union Presque Isle Advance ...The Onaway City Commission approved a memorandum of understanding with the Teamsters union Nov. 17 that will keep the current Department of Public Works (DPW) foreman Clayton Dunn at his current level of pay...
Trade
What ‘Free Trade’ Has Done to Central America The Nation ... the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement, or DR-CAFTA ... the pact has had a devastating effect on poverty, dislocation and environmental contamination in the region. And perhaps even worse, it’s diminished the ability of Central American countries to protect their citizens from corporate abuse......
U.S.-NAFTA Freight Jumps 8.2% From Year Earlier Truckinginfo ...The amount freight moved between the U.S. and its neighbors of Canada and Mexico totaled $102.2 billion in September, an 8.2% gain from a year ago, as all five major transportation carried more cargo, according to new U.S. Transportation Department figures...
War on Workers
$1 Billion: That’s How Much Walmart Avoids Paying in Taxes Each Year Through Loopholes The Nation ...Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) found that the company “avoids $1 billion a year in taxes” through federal loopholes, and various political shenanigans drive this always-low tax rate: the big-box giant is absorbing government subsidies both directly and indirectly, through its retail operations as well as its ingenious accounting methods...
Walmart Still Avoiding Paying $7000 Fine For Worker Killed By Black Friday Shoppers In 2008 Consumerist ...In 2008, a Walmart employee was killed when a mob of deal-desperate Black Friday shoppers tore the store’s doors from their hinges and stormed inside, trampling him to death. The chain was eventually fined $7000 for their role in the employee’s death — but six years and $2 million later, the world’s largest retailer has yet to pay up...
One Worker Killed, Another Injured When Jamaica Plain Porch Collapses boston.com ...One worker was killed and another critically injured when the decking they were installing on a third-story porch at 89 Forest Hills Street in Jamaica Plain suddenly gave way just before 11 a.m. Tuesday...
The Tech Worker Shortage Doesn't Really Exist Bloomberg ...The real issue, say Salzman and others, is the industry’s desire for lower-wage,more-exploitable guest workers, not a lack of available American staff. “It seems pretty clear that the industry just wants lower-cost labor,” Dean Baker, the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, wrote...
Doggy Day Care Chain Makes Pet Sitters Sign Noncompetes To Protect 'Trade Secrets' Huffington Post ...According to a Camp Bow Wow “employee confidentiality and non-compete agreement” obtained by HuffPost, by signing the contract employees agree not to work for a competing business within 25 miles of their Camp Bow Wow location's "franchise territory" for a period of two years following the contract's termination...
Private Prisons Seek Broader Markets The Austin Chronicle ...A new report finds that prison corporations, stymied by prison reform, are seeking new markets for human product lines – if you can't jail ’em, find another way to make ’em pay...
Oil Trains Use 105-Year-Old Tunnel Below Seattle KOMO ...A train carrying up to three million gallons of highly flammable Bakken crude oil runs right under downtown Seattle through a century-old tunnel that does not meet modern safety standards, according to BNSF Railway and Seattle fire officials...
US Electricity Generated By Coal Would Likely Drop To 22% In 2020 Platts ...The percent of US electricity generated by coal in 2020 would likely drop to 22%, with a decline in coal prices to follow as a result, according to a study of the cumulative impact of the US Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan and its other environmental programs...
Atlantic City's Taj Mahal Offers To Restore Workers' Health Care NorthJersey.com ...Trump Entertainment Resorts said Saturday it has offered to restore health insurance to its 3,000 workers for at least two years if the union will drop its appeal of a court order that canceled the health insurance and pension plan for casino workers. It made the offer in a letter to Bob McDevitt, president of Local 54 of the Unite-HERE casino workers union...
Miscellaneous
Railroads Sound Alarm Ahead of Chicago Gridlock Redux: Freight Bloomberg ...With last week’s 7 feet of snow in upstate New York heralding an early winter, railroads crisscrossing Chicago are rushing to open 24-hour command centers, install heaters to keep switches from freezing, and plotting ways to reroute traffic...
Friday, November 21, 2014
Today's Teamster News 11.21.14
Teamster News
Los Angeles, Long Beach Port Truck Drivers Urge Long Beach Harbor Leaders To Help Long Beach Press Telegram ...Truck drivers who move goods through the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports urged Long Beach harbor leaders Wednesday to do what they can to support their fight for fair wages and safer working conditions...
50 Walmart workers join striking port truck drivers on picket line in Los Angeles TeamsterNation ...Continuous picket lines held in Los Angeles by striking port drivers and Teamsters got a shot of energy today from 50 Walmart workers, even as Walmart workers in Ohio struck stores in Dayton and Cincinnati...
Brockton Public Schools Workers Choose Teamsters Local 653 Representation teamster.org ...Custodians, craftsmen and truck drivers who work for Brockton Public Schools in Brockton, Mass., have voted by an overwhelming 5-1 margin in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 653 in South Easton, Mass...
Charles "Chuck" R. Schumacher, Janesville, WI (1940-2014) WCLO ...He was a longtime member of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Loyal Order of Moose, and the Teamsters Union #579, where he served on the Teamster’s Credit Union Board...
Statement In Opposition To Proposed New York City Bag Tax From Teamsters Local 237 President Greg Floyd teamster.org ..."We stand in opposition to Intro 209, that would charge a fee on plastic and paper retail bags distributed to consumers in New York City stores. We believe this legislation would lead to irreparable harm to the unionized plastic bag manufacturing industry in New York City in favor of reusable bags that are made overseas...
Trade
Commission Launches Transparency Initiative For TTIP And Lobbying EurActiv ...From 1 December 2014, the European Commission plans to post all contacts of Commissioners, those of their cabinet employees and their directors-general with lobbyists and interest representatives on the institution’s register...
Leaked documents on TTIP and Banking regulations Pressenza ...We have already heard a lot about the TTIP toxic effects for the economy, lowering of standards for regulations about the environment, health and safety as well as the looming privatisation of public services, in particular Health Services, with governments being unable to develop their own policies as they will be sued in specially established courts to defend private companies’ interests...
State Battles
Maine Minimum Wage Hike Supporters Keep Pressing, Eye Statewide Vote In 2016 Bangor Daily News ...Also in the works is a Portland City Council vote that will contemplate setting a new minimum wage for the state’s largest city. An advisory committee has recommended the city increase the minimum wage to $9.50 per hour by 2015 and to $10.68 by 2017...
Voter ID Laws Reduce Indiana’s Election Turnout (opinion) Lafayette Journal Courier ...Pretending to eradicate fraud, the ID laws in reality made it harder for two Democratic-leaning segments of the population, the poor and elderly, to vote. Voter ID laws, on average, decrease turnouts by 4 to 5 percentage points...
Atlantic City Casino Workers Protest Trump Taj Mahal Shutdown On Boardwalk NJ.com ...Hundreds of casino workers filled the frigid boardwalk Wednesday to protest the impending shutdown of Trump Taj Mahal following a painful summer season that saw four casinos close. Shouting “shame on you!” as they passed the shuttered Trump Plaza, which closed in September, the local union workers said they shouldn’t have to make concessions on health care benefits for the casino to stay solvent...
War on Workers
Walmart Workers Strike Today As Report Says Wages So Low Many Can't Feed Families Cleveland Plain Dealer ...Many Walmart workers serve as poster children for food insecurity because their low pay doesn't allow them to adequately feed their families, according to a new report...
Kmart To Employee: ‘If You Do Not Come To Work On Thanksgiving, You Will Automatically Be Fired’ ThinkProgress ... Twelve retail chains will be open, requiring millions of people to leave home. Erratic and last-minute schedules are rampant in the industry, so others may also be in limbo waiting to find out whether they will miss out on time with friends and family...
AFL-CIO questions Wall Street's 'revolving door' compensation practices The Hill ...The AFL-CIO is questioning whether major financial institutions incentivize top executives to leave for government work with hefty bonuses...
New York Fed, Goldman in Criminal Investigation for Sharing Confidential Information naked capitalism ...this sharing of confidential information can be a crime and the authorities are giving a serious look into that very question...
Americans of All Stripes Agree: The System Is Stacked Against Them Wall Street Journal ...The last time disenchantment hit the same level was in July 1992, amid economic jitters and the heat of the Clinton vs. Bush campaign, but that was a brief spike. This time, alienation has built steadily since 2002, when just over a third of Americans felt the system was stacked against them...
An Uber Battle The Progressive ...The business model of these so-called transportation network companies is based on exploiting the labor and capital investments of people who use their personal cars as unlicensed taxis..
Noblesville foundry worker killed on the job Indianapolis Star ...A 21-year-old worker at a Noblesville foundry was killed on the job today...
Workers who died at Dupont Texas plant lacked respirators: lawyer Reuters ... Four workers killed at a DuPont and Co’s chemical plant in Texas on Saturday did not have access to safety equipment like respirators when there was a deadly release of a hazardous chemical...
Worker Dies at Salt Facility New England Cable News ...Capt. Michael McCabe says emergency personnel were called to the Cargill Salt facility just before 11 a.m. Wednesday for a report of a person "seen in an awkward position on a conveyor belt."...
Worker dies in Alcoa plant accident near Port Lavaca Associated Press ... the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration says the contract supervisor was hit by a door that was being installed on a tank by a crane...
Worker dies after fall through skylight in Decatur Associated Press ... Police in Decatur say a worker on the roof of the Aquadome Recreation Center was killed when he stepped through a skylight and fell about 25 feet onto basketball courts inside the facility...
Miscellaneous
FAA can regulate drones CNN Money ...The Federal Aviation Administration won a key ruling this week allowing it to regulate drone flights. The decision by the National Transportation Safety Board was a setback for those who had argued drones should be allowed to fly without all the regulations that apply to more typical manned aircraft...
Los Angeles, Long Beach Port Truck Drivers Urge Long Beach Harbor Leaders To Help Long Beach Press Telegram ...Truck drivers who move goods through the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports urged Long Beach harbor leaders Wednesday to do what they can to support their fight for fair wages and safer working conditions...
50 Walmart workers join striking port truck drivers on picket line in Los Angeles TeamsterNation ...Continuous picket lines held in Los Angeles by striking port drivers and Teamsters got a shot of energy today from 50 Walmart workers, even as Walmart workers in Ohio struck stores in Dayton and Cincinnati...
Brockton Public Schools Workers Choose Teamsters Local 653 Representation teamster.org ...Custodians, craftsmen and truck drivers who work for Brockton Public Schools in Brockton, Mass., have voted by an overwhelming 5-1 margin in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 653 in South Easton, Mass...
Charles "Chuck" R. Schumacher, Janesville, WI (1940-2014) WCLO ...He was a longtime member of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Loyal Order of Moose, and the Teamsters Union #579, where he served on the Teamster’s Credit Union Board...
Statement In Opposition To Proposed New York City Bag Tax From Teamsters Local 237 President Greg Floyd teamster.org ..."We stand in opposition to Intro 209, that would charge a fee on plastic and paper retail bags distributed to consumers in New York City stores. We believe this legislation would lead to irreparable harm to the unionized plastic bag manufacturing industry in New York City in favor of reusable bags that are made overseas...
Trade
Commission Launches Transparency Initiative For TTIP And Lobbying EurActiv ...From 1 December 2014, the European Commission plans to post all contacts of Commissioners, those of their cabinet employees and their directors-general with lobbyists and interest representatives on the institution’s register...
Leaked documents on TTIP and Banking regulations Pressenza ...We have already heard a lot about the TTIP toxic effects for the economy, lowering of standards for regulations about the environment, health and safety as well as the looming privatisation of public services, in particular Health Services, with governments being unable to develop their own policies as they will be sued in specially established courts to defend private companies’ interests...
State Battles
Maine Minimum Wage Hike Supporters Keep Pressing, Eye Statewide Vote In 2016 Bangor Daily News ...Also in the works is a Portland City Council vote that will contemplate setting a new minimum wage for the state’s largest city. An advisory committee has recommended the city increase the minimum wage to $9.50 per hour by 2015 and to $10.68 by 2017...
Voter ID Laws Reduce Indiana’s Election Turnout (opinion) Lafayette Journal Courier ...Pretending to eradicate fraud, the ID laws in reality made it harder for two Democratic-leaning segments of the population, the poor and elderly, to vote. Voter ID laws, on average, decrease turnouts by 4 to 5 percentage points...
Atlantic City Casino Workers Protest Trump Taj Mahal Shutdown On Boardwalk NJ.com ...Hundreds of casino workers filled the frigid boardwalk Wednesday to protest the impending shutdown of Trump Taj Mahal following a painful summer season that saw four casinos close. Shouting “shame on you!” as they passed the shuttered Trump Plaza, which closed in September, the local union workers said they shouldn’t have to make concessions on health care benefits for the casino to stay solvent...
War on Workers
Walmart Workers Strike Today As Report Says Wages So Low Many Can't Feed Families Cleveland Plain Dealer ...Many Walmart workers serve as poster children for food insecurity because their low pay doesn't allow them to adequately feed their families, according to a new report...
Kmart To Employee: ‘If You Do Not Come To Work On Thanksgiving, You Will Automatically Be Fired’ ThinkProgress ... Twelve retail chains will be open, requiring millions of people to leave home. Erratic and last-minute schedules are rampant in the industry, so others may also be in limbo waiting to find out whether they will miss out on time with friends and family...
AFL-CIO questions Wall Street's 'revolving door' compensation practices The Hill ...The AFL-CIO is questioning whether major financial institutions incentivize top executives to leave for government work with hefty bonuses...
New York Fed, Goldman in Criminal Investigation for Sharing Confidential Information naked capitalism ...this sharing of confidential information can be a crime and the authorities are giving a serious look into that very question...
Americans of All Stripes Agree: The System Is Stacked Against Them Wall Street Journal ...The last time disenchantment hit the same level was in July 1992, amid economic jitters and the heat of the Clinton vs. Bush campaign, but that was a brief spike. This time, alienation has built steadily since 2002, when just over a third of Americans felt the system was stacked against them...
An Uber Battle The Progressive ...The business model of these so-called transportation network companies is based on exploiting the labor and capital investments of people who use their personal cars as unlicensed taxis..
Noblesville foundry worker killed on the job Indianapolis Star ...A 21-year-old worker at a Noblesville foundry was killed on the job today...
Workers who died at Dupont Texas plant lacked respirators: lawyer Reuters ... Four workers killed at a DuPont and Co’s chemical plant in Texas on Saturday did not have access to safety equipment like respirators when there was a deadly release of a hazardous chemical...
Worker Dies at Salt Facility New England Cable News ...Capt. Michael McCabe says emergency personnel were called to the Cargill Salt facility just before 11 a.m. Wednesday for a report of a person "seen in an awkward position on a conveyor belt."...
Worker dies in Alcoa plant accident near Port Lavaca Associated Press ... the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration says the contract supervisor was hit by a door that was being installed on a tank by a crane...
Worker dies after fall through skylight in Decatur Associated Press ... Police in Decatur say a worker on the roof of the Aquadome Recreation Center was killed when he stepped through a skylight and fell about 25 feet onto basketball courts inside the facility...
Miscellaneous
FAA can regulate drones CNN Money ...The Federal Aviation Administration won a key ruling this week allowing it to regulate drone flights. The decision by the National Transportation Safety Board was a setback for those who had argued drones should be allowed to fly without all the regulations that apply to more typical manned aircraft...
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Today's Teamster News 11.19.14
Teamster News
Teamsters: Port Truck Driver Strike Spreads To Intermodal Rail Yards teamster.org ...Early Tuesday morning, the port truck driver strike spread from the Ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach to intermodal rail yards that are serviced by Pacer Cartage and Harbor Rail Transport (HRT). These rail yards dispatch cargo to and from warehouses and distribution centers across America...
Teamsters Rally At Facebook teamster.org ...Teamsters and Facebook drivers rallied today at Facebook headquarters, along with community and political leaders. ABC News in San Francisco reports on the efforts by Facebook drivers to organize with Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif...
Facebook shuttle drivers to vote on union Associated Press ...Facebook shuttle bus drivers will vote to decide whether to unionize in an attempt to get better pay and working conditions...
Teamsters host giving event Saturday Troy Messenger ...The holiday season is quickly approaching and many local organizations are seeking to help those in need during a giving season, including members of Teamsters National Black Caucus...
Teamsters continue contentious talks with Hernando over delayed pay raises Tampa Bay Times ...the union has now requested minimum increases for all of its members of at least 8 percent...
Trade
Elections featured bipartisan appeal to Americans’ opposition to unfair trade The Hill ...only 20 percent of Americans believed that the trade status quo has led to U.S. job creation, while half of Americans said the result has been U.S. job losses...
Time running out for action on fast-track trade authority: Senator Reuters ...U.S. lawmakers have very little time to consider granting the White House power to fast-track trade deals before Congress finishes up for the year, the head of the Senate committee responsible for trade said on Tuesday...
State Battles
Workers’ Rights Expand Under Proposed S.F. Ordinances Washington Post ...San Francisco restaurant and retail workers could soon have more predictable schedules, more opportunity for full-time work and more rights in general after the Board of Supervisors’ budget committee sent two proposed ordinances to the full board over the objections of the business community...
Supreme Court To Hear Right-To-Work Arguments In Jan. Lansing State Journal ...The Michigan Supreme Court will in January hear oral arguments on whether the state’s controversial right-to-work law applies to state employees and on another case related to state employee pensions...
Illinois Lawmakers Rush To Pass Wage Hike Voters Asked For Bloomberg Businessweek ...By a 2-to-1 margin, Illinois voters passed a nonbinding ballot measure in the Nov. 4 midterms urging the legislature to raise the state minimum wage. But they also elected a new governor, Republican Bruce Rauner, who’s supported reducing or eliminating it entirely. So outgoing Governor Pat Quinn is pressing the legislature to pass the wage increase the voters asked for—and to do so in the two months remaining before the governor they elected has the chance to veto it...
Wisconsin developer went to Walker with interest in buying state buildings Associated Press ...One of Wisconsin's largest real estate developers wrote to Gov. Scott Walker to express his interest in buying several prominent state office buildings at the same time the Legislature was considering doing away with competitive bidding for such sales, according to newly released records...
War on Workers
Seven big U.S. companies paid CEOs more than Uncle Sam in 2013: study Reuters ...the study said the seven companies, which in 2013 reported more than $74 billion in combined U.S. pre-tax profits, came out ahead on their taxes, gaining $1.9 billion more than they owed. At the same time, the CEOs at each of the seven companies last year was paid an average of $17.3 million...
Mega-Mergers Popular Again On Wall Street New York Times ...Mergers worth $100 billion, made on Monday, put Wall Street on pace for a year of deal-making rivaling those during the dot-com bubble and the private equity upsurge just before the financial crisis...
Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt On Journalists BuzzFeed ...A senior executive at Uber suggested that the company should consider hiring a team of opposition researchers to dig up dirt on its critics in the media — and specifically to spread details of the personal life of a female journalist who has criticized the company...
Owners: Taj Mahal Closing Expected By Dec. 12 Philadelphia Inquirer ...The owners of the Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City said in a court filing Friday they expected to close the Boardwalk property on or before Dec. 12...
1.6 Million-Member American Federation Of Teachers Bans Coca-Cola Products Citing Child Labor And Human Rights Record KWQC ...Corporate Campaign, Inc. and the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke announce that the American Federation of Teachers (AFT, AFL-CIO) has declared the banning of all Coca-Cola products from its facilities and events, as an official policy of the union...
“An Ongoing Criminal Enterprise”: Why America’s Housing Disaster Is Back And Wreaking Terror Salon.com ...According to housing analyst RealtyTrac, foreclosure filings shot up 15 percent last month, the largest increase in over four years... [mortgage servicers] are breaking laws and degrading the integrity of the courts to kick people out of their homes, a sad and enduring legacy of the destruction of the nation’s property system during the housing bubble years....
Worker at New Bedford trash hauler dies on the job Associated Press ...64-year-old Manuel Viera was walking in ABC Disposal's parking lot at about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday when a large flatbed truck that transports Dumpsters accidentally struck him...
Senate Democrats reject bill to build oil pipeline Associated Press ...The Democrat-controlled Senate has defeated a bill to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline...
Teamsters: Port Truck Driver Strike Spreads To Intermodal Rail Yards teamster.org ...Early Tuesday morning, the port truck driver strike spread from the Ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach to intermodal rail yards that are serviced by Pacer Cartage and Harbor Rail Transport (HRT). These rail yards dispatch cargo to and from warehouses and distribution centers across America...
Teamsters Rally At Facebook teamster.org ...Teamsters and Facebook drivers rallied today at Facebook headquarters, along with community and political leaders. ABC News in San Francisco reports on the efforts by Facebook drivers to organize with Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif...
Facebook shuttle drivers to vote on union Associated Press ...Facebook shuttle bus drivers will vote to decide whether to unionize in an attempt to get better pay and working conditions...
Teamsters host giving event Saturday Troy Messenger ...The holiday season is quickly approaching and many local organizations are seeking to help those in need during a giving season, including members of Teamsters National Black Caucus...
Teamsters continue contentious talks with Hernando over delayed pay raises Tampa Bay Times ...the union has now requested minimum increases for all of its members of at least 8 percent...
Trade
Elections featured bipartisan appeal to Americans’ opposition to unfair trade The Hill ...only 20 percent of Americans believed that the trade status quo has led to U.S. job creation, while half of Americans said the result has been U.S. job losses...
Time running out for action on fast-track trade authority: Senator Reuters ...U.S. lawmakers have very little time to consider granting the White House power to fast-track trade deals before Congress finishes up for the year, the head of the Senate committee responsible for trade said on Tuesday...
State Battles
Workers’ Rights Expand Under Proposed S.F. Ordinances Washington Post ...San Francisco restaurant and retail workers could soon have more predictable schedules, more opportunity for full-time work and more rights in general after the Board of Supervisors’ budget committee sent two proposed ordinances to the full board over the objections of the business community...
Supreme Court To Hear Right-To-Work Arguments In Jan. Lansing State Journal ...The Michigan Supreme Court will in January hear oral arguments on whether the state’s controversial right-to-work law applies to state employees and on another case related to state employee pensions...
Illinois Lawmakers Rush To Pass Wage Hike Voters Asked For Bloomberg Businessweek ...By a 2-to-1 margin, Illinois voters passed a nonbinding ballot measure in the Nov. 4 midterms urging the legislature to raise the state minimum wage. But they also elected a new governor, Republican Bruce Rauner, who’s supported reducing or eliminating it entirely. So outgoing Governor Pat Quinn is pressing the legislature to pass the wage increase the voters asked for—and to do so in the two months remaining before the governor they elected has the chance to veto it...
Wisconsin developer went to Walker with interest in buying state buildings Associated Press ...One of Wisconsin's largest real estate developers wrote to Gov. Scott Walker to express his interest in buying several prominent state office buildings at the same time the Legislature was considering doing away with competitive bidding for such sales, according to newly released records...
War on Workers
Seven big U.S. companies paid CEOs more than Uncle Sam in 2013: study Reuters ...the study said the seven companies, which in 2013 reported more than $74 billion in combined U.S. pre-tax profits, came out ahead on their taxes, gaining $1.9 billion more than they owed. At the same time, the CEOs at each of the seven companies last year was paid an average of $17.3 million...
Mega-Mergers Popular Again On Wall Street New York Times ...Mergers worth $100 billion, made on Monday, put Wall Street on pace for a year of deal-making rivaling those during the dot-com bubble and the private equity upsurge just before the financial crisis...
Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt On Journalists BuzzFeed ...A senior executive at Uber suggested that the company should consider hiring a team of opposition researchers to dig up dirt on its critics in the media — and specifically to spread details of the personal life of a female journalist who has criticized the company...
Owners: Taj Mahal Closing Expected By Dec. 12 Philadelphia Inquirer ...The owners of the Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City said in a court filing Friday they expected to close the Boardwalk property on or before Dec. 12...
1.6 Million-Member American Federation Of Teachers Bans Coca-Cola Products Citing Child Labor And Human Rights Record KWQC ...Corporate Campaign, Inc. and the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke announce that the American Federation of Teachers (AFT, AFL-CIO) has declared the banning of all Coca-Cola products from its facilities and events, as an official policy of the union...
“An Ongoing Criminal Enterprise”: Why America’s Housing Disaster Is Back And Wreaking Terror Salon.com ...According to housing analyst RealtyTrac, foreclosure filings shot up 15 percent last month, the largest increase in over four years... [mortgage servicers] are breaking laws and degrading the integrity of the courts to kick people out of their homes, a sad and enduring legacy of the destruction of the nation’s property system during the housing bubble years....
Worker at New Bedford trash hauler dies on the job Associated Press ...64-year-old Manuel Viera was walking in ABC Disposal's parking lot at about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday when a large flatbed truck that transports Dumpsters accidentally struck him...
Senate Democrats reject bill to build oil pipeline Associated Press ...The Democrat-controlled Senate has defeated a bill to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline...
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Today's Teamster News 11.18.14
Teamster News
L.A.-Area Port Truckers Expand Strike To Three New Companies Los Angeles Times ...Drivers from QTS Inc., LACA Express and WinWin Logistics Inc. joined an ongoing strike Monday morning, said Barb Maynard, a spokeswoman for the Teamsters Union, which is backing the drivers...
Port Truckers Drive Home Difference Between Contractors And Employees Los Angeles Times ...Decades ago, such drivers were full-time employees, but many companies began treating them as independent contractors to bump profits and cut labor costs. And when environmental safeguards made expensive clean-energy trucks mandatory, drivers essentially became indentured servants, with truck leasing costs, insurance and other expenses deducted from their paychecks, often knocking them below minimum wage but still requiring them to pay for gas and repairs....
Fired Disney performers seeking jobs, back pay Bay News 9 ...The Teamsters Union representing the three men has already been through the grievance process and will now go forward to present their case to a federal arbitrator, unless Disney meets their demands...
Trade
French Government Will Not Sign TTIP Agreement In 2015 EurActiv ...Matthias Fekl, France's Secretary of State for Foreign Trade, has made it clear that France will not support the inclusion of the Investor State Dispute Settlement mechanism (ISDS) in a potential TTIP agreement...
State Battles
Government employees produce nothing, says ignorant Kansas House Speaker Ray Merrick of Johnson County (opinion) Kansas City Star ...News flash for Ray Merrick: Those employees doing “nothing” are the schoolteachers, firefighters and police officers employed by governments across the state. These are the hardworking employees who make it possible to educate Kansas children and protect Kansas families...
An Embattled ALEC, Buoyed by Election Results, Lays Blueprint for 2015 Center for Media and Democracy ...ALEC has been bleeding corporate members, but with Republicans now in control of 68 out of 98 state legislative bodies, there are fewer impediments to the enactment of the corporate-friendly legislation that ALEC peddles -- and in early December, ALEC and the corporations that still fund it will likely lay out the legislative blueprint for 2015 at the ALEC States & Nation Policy Summit in Washington, DC...
California Tells Court It Can’t Release Inmates Early Because It Would Lose Cheap Prison Labor ThinkProgress ...Out of California’s years-long litigation over reducing the population of prisons deemed unconstitutionally overcrowded by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2010, another obstacle to addressing the U.S. epidemic of mass incarceration has emerged: The utility of cheap prison labor...
War on Workers
Number Of Homeless Children In America Surges To All-Time High: Report Huffington Post ...The number of homeless children in the U.S. has surged in recent years to an all-time high, amounting to one child in every 30, according to a comprehensive state-by-state report that blames the nation's high poverty rate, the lack of affordable housing and the impacts of pervasive domestic violence...
We Are the Most Unequal Society in the Developed World...And We Don't Know It (opinion) Huffington Post ...Americans grossly underestimated this gap. Instead of 354 to 1, the Americans in representative survey think it is only 30 to 1. When asked what the ideal pay gap should be, Americans say that a fair gap would be about 7 to 1...
Agencies Look For Cause Of Fatal Gas Leak In Texas New York Times ...Randall Clements, the plant manager, said DuPont was working with the authorities and conducting its own “top-to-bottom review” of the accident. Asked how the leak had begun and whether the problem had been a result of equipment failure or human error, a company spokesman, Gregg M. Schmidt, said answering those questions was part of the investigation...
Worker dies in fall at Mosinee paper mill Associated Press ...A 55-year-old worker was killed when he fell from a hydraulic bucket while installing insulation at a Mosinee paper mill...
Trump Taj Mahal Casino In Atlantic City Will Shutter New York Daily News ...The owner of the struggling Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort filed court papers on Friday saying it will close next month, making it the fifth of the city’s 12 casinos to shut down this year...
Miscellaneous
Keystone at Senate tipping point The Hill ...Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and other supporters of the Keystone XL oil pipeline are stuck at 59 votes — one vote shy of the supermajority they need to move their bill forward on Tuesday...
L.A.-Area Port Truckers Expand Strike To Three New Companies Los Angeles Times ...Drivers from QTS Inc., LACA Express and WinWin Logistics Inc. joined an ongoing strike Monday morning, said Barb Maynard, a spokeswoman for the Teamsters Union, which is backing the drivers...
Port Truckers Drive Home Difference Between Contractors And Employees Los Angeles Times ...Decades ago, such drivers were full-time employees, but many companies began treating them as independent contractors to bump profits and cut labor costs. And when environmental safeguards made expensive clean-energy trucks mandatory, drivers essentially became indentured servants, with truck leasing costs, insurance and other expenses deducted from their paychecks, often knocking them below minimum wage but still requiring them to pay for gas and repairs....
Fired Disney performers seeking jobs, back pay Bay News 9 ...The Teamsters Union representing the three men has already been through the grievance process and will now go forward to present their case to a federal arbitrator, unless Disney meets their demands...
Trade
French Government Will Not Sign TTIP Agreement In 2015 EurActiv ...Matthias Fekl, France's Secretary of State for Foreign Trade, has made it clear that France will not support the inclusion of the Investor State Dispute Settlement mechanism (ISDS) in a potential TTIP agreement...
State Battles
Government employees produce nothing, says ignorant Kansas House Speaker Ray Merrick of Johnson County (opinion) Kansas City Star ...News flash for Ray Merrick: Those employees doing “nothing” are the schoolteachers, firefighters and police officers employed by governments across the state. These are the hardworking employees who make it possible to educate Kansas children and protect Kansas families...
An Embattled ALEC, Buoyed by Election Results, Lays Blueprint for 2015 Center for Media and Democracy ...ALEC has been bleeding corporate members, but with Republicans now in control of 68 out of 98 state legislative bodies, there are fewer impediments to the enactment of the corporate-friendly legislation that ALEC peddles -- and in early December, ALEC and the corporations that still fund it will likely lay out the legislative blueprint for 2015 at the ALEC States & Nation Policy Summit in Washington, DC...
California Tells Court It Can’t Release Inmates Early Because It Would Lose Cheap Prison Labor ThinkProgress ...Out of California’s years-long litigation over reducing the population of prisons deemed unconstitutionally overcrowded by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2010, another obstacle to addressing the U.S. epidemic of mass incarceration has emerged: The utility of cheap prison labor...
War on Workers
Number Of Homeless Children In America Surges To All-Time High: Report Huffington Post ...The number of homeless children in the U.S. has surged in recent years to an all-time high, amounting to one child in every 30, according to a comprehensive state-by-state report that blames the nation's high poverty rate, the lack of affordable housing and the impacts of pervasive domestic violence...
We Are the Most Unequal Society in the Developed World...And We Don't Know It (opinion) Huffington Post ...Americans grossly underestimated this gap. Instead of 354 to 1, the Americans in representative survey think it is only 30 to 1. When asked what the ideal pay gap should be, Americans say that a fair gap would be about 7 to 1...
Agencies Look For Cause Of Fatal Gas Leak In Texas New York Times ...Randall Clements, the plant manager, said DuPont was working with the authorities and conducting its own “top-to-bottom review” of the accident. Asked how the leak had begun and whether the problem had been a result of equipment failure or human error, a company spokesman, Gregg M. Schmidt, said answering those questions was part of the investigation...
Worker dies in fall at Mosinee paper mill Associated Press ...A 55-year-old worker was killed when he fell from a hydraulic bucket while installing insulation at a Mosinee paper mill...
Trump Taj Mahal Casino In Atlantic City Will Shutter New York Daily News ...The owner of the struggling Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort filed court papers on Friday saying it will close next month, making it the fifth of the city’s 12 casinos to shut down this year...
Miscellaneous
Keystone at Senate tipping point The Hill ...Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and other supporters of the Keystone XL oil pipeline are stuck at 59 votes — one vote shy of the supermajority they need to move their bill forward on Tuesday...
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Today's Teamster News 11.15.14
Teamster News
Teamsters: Port Truck Drivers Continue Strike in LA/Long Beach teamster.org ...Port truck drivers in Los Angeles/Long Beach, Calif., continued their strike today against drayage companies Pac 9 and TTSI. At issue is the continued misclassification of drivers as "independent contractors"...
Crash Truck Controversy WJAR ...Torigian and Simone are with the Teamsters, the union that represents attenuator drivers. They said they believe the state is breaking its own law by allowing crash trucks to sit empty...
Trade
U.S. Confirms Duties On Chinese Steel Wire Rod Imports Reuters ...The U.S. Department of Commerce confirmed steep duties on imports of carbon and alloy steel wire rod from China after ruling the products were being sold below cost in the U.S. market and received unfair levels of government subsidies...
Why Are Republicans Talking Like Elizabeth Warren? Huffington Post ... Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will have to expand the scope of President Barack Obama's executive powers if he wants Congress to approve a major free trade agreement currently being negotiated by the administration. And that's making elements of the tea party angry...
State Battles
ALEC Support Drops 19 Percent in 2013 Center for Media and Democracy ...The embattled American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) lost nearly 20 percent in grant revenue between 2012 and 2013 according to new tax filings, reflecting the financial hit that the "corporate bill mill" has suffered as it has been dragged into the sunlight and its corporate members have fled...
Nevada Eyes Voter-ID Bill Following Republican Takeover MSNBC ...State Republicans will have to hurry – Nevada will be a key 2016 battleground, both at the presidential level and with Sen. Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) re-election bid looming. If GOP policymakers are going to impose new restrictions, they’ll no doubt want to have those voting barriers in place before the next Election Day...
War on Workers
Atlantic City Casino Revenue Down 4.4 Pct In Oct. My Central Jersey ...Atlantic City’s casino revenue fell by 4.4 percent in October compared with a year ago. The casinos took in $207 million, compared to $216 million in October 2013...
ATA To Petition FMCSA For Hours Flexibility For Port Truckers Overdrive ...Truckers serving certain ports may soon have some flexibility in compliance with federal hours-of-service rules, if a push by the American Trucking Associations and some ports is successful...
Walmart Workers Promise Biggest Black Friday Strike Ever Think Progress ...Walmart employees who are organizing as part of OUR Walmart are promising the biggest strikes ever on Black Friday, saying more employees will participate than the previous two years. Barbara Gertz, an employee from Denver, Colorado, said organizers are expecting to see protests in 1,600 stores...
Rule Sought On Shipping Oil By Train New York Times ...North Dakota’s top energy industry regulator unveiled new rules on Thursday that would require oil companies to reduce the volatility of crude before it is shipped by rail...
Americans’ Cellphones Targeted In Secret U.S. Spy Program Wall Street Journal ...The Justice Department is scooping up data from thousands of mobile phones through devices deployed on airplanes that mimic cellphone towers, a high-tech hunt for criminal suspects that is snagging a large number of innocent Americans, according to people familiar with the operations...
Worker killed in explosion at Noble County oil and gas facility Columbus Dispatch ...A Virginia man working on an oil and gas pump at a fracking site in Noble County in eastern Ohio died in an explosion on Wednesday. It was the second major incident involving a fracking operation in Ohio in two weeks...
SEPTA worker fights ruling on accident that killed rail inspector philly.com ...A SEPTA worker involved in a fatal 2009 Regional Rail accident is fighting a federal effort to disqualify him from safety-sensitive rail work until 2019...
Miscellaneous
House passes Keystone bill — all eyes shift to Senate Politico ...As expected, the House easily passed a bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline on Friday — setting the stage for drama next week in the Senate, where supporters are inching close to the filibuster-proof majority needed to send the measure to President Barack Obama’s desk...
Teamsters: Port Truck Drivers Continue Strike in LA/Long Beach teamster.org ...Port truck drivers in Los Angeles/Long Beach, Calif., continued their strike today against drayage companies Pac 9 and TTSI. At issue is the continued misclassification of drivers as "independent contractors"...
Crash Truck Controversy WJAR ...Torigian and Simone are with the Teamsters, the union that represents attenuator drivers. They said they believe the state is breaking its own law by allowing crash trucks to sit empty...
Trade
U.S. Confirms Duties On Chinese Steel Wire Rod Imports Reuters ...The U.S. Department of Commerce confirmed steep duties on imports of carbon and alloy steel wire rod from China after ruling the products were being sold below cost in the U.S. market and received unfair levels of government subsidies...
Why Are Republicans Talking Like Elizabeth Warren? Huffington Post ... Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will have to expand the scope of President Barack Obama's executive powers if he wants Congress to approve a major free trade agreement currently being negotiated by the administration. And that's making elements of the tea party angry...
State Battles
ALEC Support Drops 19 Percent in 2013 Center for Media and Democracy ...The embattled American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) lost nearly 20 percent in grant revenue between 2012 and 2013 according to new tax filings, reflecting the financial hit that the "corporate bill mill" has suffered as it has been dragged into the sunlight and its corporate members have fled...
Nevada Eyes Voter-ID Bill Following Republican Takeover MSNBC ...State Republicans will have to hurry – Nevada will be a key 2016 battleground, both at the presidential level and with Sen. Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) re-election bid looming. If GOP policymakers are going to impose new restrictions, they’ll no doubt want to have those voting barriers in place before the next Election Day...
War on Workers
Atlantic City Casino Revenue Down 4.4 Pct In Oct. My Central Jersey ...Atlantic City’s casino revenue fell by 4.4 percent in October compared with a year ago. The casinos took in $207 million, compared to $216 million in October 2013...
ATA To Petition FMCSA For Hours Flexibility For Port Truckers Overdrive ...Truckers serving certain ports may soon have some flexibility in compliance with federal hours-of-service rules, if a push by the American Trucking Associations and some ports is successful...
Walmart Workers Promise Biggest Black Friday Strike Ever Think Progress ...Walmart employees who are organizing as part of OUR Walmart are promising the biggest strikes ever on Black Friday, saying more employees will participate than the previous two years. Barbara Gertz, an employee from Denver, Colorado, said organizers are expecting to see protests in 1,600 stores...
Rule Sought On Shipping Oil By Train New York Times ...North Dakota’s top energy industry regulator unveiled new rules on Thursday that would require oil companies to reduce the volatility of crude before it is shipped by rail...
Americans’ Cellphones Targeted In Secret U.S. Spy Program Wall Street Journal ...The Justice Department is scooping up data from thousands of mobile phones through devices deployed on airplanes that mimic cellphone towers, a high-tech hunt for criminal suspects that is snagging a large number of innocent Americans, according to people familiar with the operations...
Worker killed in explosion at Noble County oil and gas facility Columbus Dispatch ...A Virginia man working on an oil and gas pump at a fracking site in Noble County in eastern Ohio died in an explosion on Wednesday. It was the second major incident involving a fracking operation in Ohio in two weeks...
SEPTA worker fights ruling on accident that killed rail inspector philly.com ...A SEPTA worker involved in a fatal 2009 Regional Rail accident is fighting a federal effort to disqualify him from safety-sensitive rail work until 2019...
Miscellaneous
House passes Keystone bill — all eyes shift to Senate Politico ...As expected, the House easily passed a bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline on Friday — setting the stage for drama next week in the Senate, where supporters are inching close to the filibuster-proof majority needed to send the measure to President Barack Obama’s desk...
Friday, November 14, 2014
Today's Teamster News 11.14.14
Teamster News
Teamsters Strike, Allege Wage Theft Los Angeles Business Journal ...Truck drivers who work at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach walked off the job Thursday to protest two trucking firms they accuse of wage theft, according to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which organized the action...
L.A. truck drivers strike as tension mounts at ports Los Angeles Times ...Some truck drivers who work at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach walked off the job Thursday, organizers said, in a protest against two trucking firms they accuse of wage theft...
Walmart sit-down strike follows strikes today by port truck drivers and federal contract workers TeamsterNation ...Walmart workers in a Crenshaw, Calif., store sat down on the job today, even as striking port truck drivers picketed marine terminals and trucking yards at the Port of L.A. and hundreds of federal government contractors marched off the job and onto a Capitol Hill rally...
Teamsters Local 402 Organizes Ready-Mix Drivers teamster.org ...Ready-Mix drivers in Huntsville, Ala., recently voted to be represented by Teamsters Local 402. They are fighting for improved wages and fair treatment on the job...
Teamsters Stand with Students to Stop the Tuition Hikes Teamsters Local 2010 ...Teamsters Local 2010 therefore demands the UC Board of Regents reject the proposed tuition increases and approach both the workers and students to discuss better solutions...
Bus Driver Summer Pay Bargaining Progressing; Other Issues Remain Savannah Morning News ...First Student school transportation provider and Teamsters Union Local 728 are nearing an agreement about year-round pay after three days of bargaining, but continue to disagree on contract and financial issues...
Concord Settles Contract With Employee Union Contra Costa Times ...The city has struck a deal with its largest employee union -- thus averting a threatened strike that could have crippled daily operations. Teamsters Local 856 represents 141 employees -- including administrative clerks, police dispatchers and maintenance workers -- who have been working without a contract since the end of June, despite ongoing negotiations...
William Bounds Jr. Champaign News-Gazette ...Bill continued his career with the Teamsters Union Local 26 in Danville as a business agent. He later was elected president of Local 26 and held that position for 30 years. Bill was also the president of the Teamsters Joint Council 65 located in Springfield for approximately 18 years, overseeing parts of four states and 30,000 members...
Trade
Flaws in granting Mr. Obama fast-track authority (opinion) Washington Post ...Many Republicans, especially in the House, where the real trade action is, question the constitutionality of fast-track trade authority and the wisdom of giving the president even freer rein...
Never Mind ISIS, It’s ISDS That’s The Real Threat The Nation ...mining corporations have taken El Salvador to court for trying to limit their right to open-pit mine the country and pollute its rivers and El Lilly has sued Canada, complaining that its patent laws have hindered profits it could make on an ADD drug...
State Battles
Right-To-Work Legislation Likely To Be On Agenda Albuquerque Journal ...debate is already building over the long-stymied idea of making New Mexico a “right-to-work” state. After seizing control of the state House of Representatives for the first time in 60 years, Republican lawmakers have signaled the legislation will be on the table for the coming session...
Texas GOP’s Voter ID Ploy “Worked”: Turnout Way Down, Provisional Ballots Way Up Salon.com ...Despite a larger population and a contested race for an open gubernatorial seat, turnout in the state of Texas was reportedly down this year... [suggesting] the Texas GOP’s strategy of suppressing the vote this year with polling place Photo ID restrictions seems to have worked...
Emergency Manager Recommended For Atlantic City Press Of Atlantic City ...An emergency manager to oversee the city’s troubled finances and the creation of a new public-private development corporation are part of a package of reforms Gov. Chris Christie will consider to revitalize the struggling resort town...
War on Workers
Walmart Workers Stage First-Ever Sit-In Strike ThinkProgress ...Workers at a Los Angeles Walmart began the first sit-down strike in the company’s history at around 2 p.m. on Thursday. The strike is to protest their low wages and a culture of retaliation at the company...
23 Arrested During Pico Rivera Walmart Protest Associated Press ...Authorities say 23 men and women were arrested Thursday after they blocked traffic at a Pico Rivera intersection during a protest that began with a sit-down strike inside the local Walmart...
U.S. Capitol workers, others strike for higher pay, union Reuters ...Hundreds of striking federal contract workers, including for the first time some from the U.S. Capitol, rallied on Thursday to urge President Barack Obama to boost pay and spur unionization...
Longtime Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship indicted Charleston Gazette ...Don Blankenship, the longtime chief executive officer of Massey Energy, was indicted Thursday on charges that he orchestrated the routine violation of key federal mine safety rules at the company’s Upper Big Branch Mine prior to an April 2010 explosion that killed 29 miners...
Halliburton worker killed in Colorado fracking accident Reuters ...An accident at a fracking site in Colorado killed one Halliburton Co worker and seriously injured two on Thursday as they tried to thaw a high-pressure water line that had frozen in record-breaking cold conditions, the company said...
Worker killed when pedestrian bridge collapses Associated Press ...Officials say one worker was killed and four others were hurt when a pedestrian bridge under construction collapsed at a community college in North Carolina...
Worker dies as wall collapses at Avon Lake construction site cleveland.com ...A construction worker died Thursday afternoon after a wall of a house collapsed on him...
Only 1 State's College Students Graduate With Less Than $20K Of Debt, Report Finds Huffington Post ...For the class of 2013, seven out of 10 college students nationwide carried some form of education debt when they graduated, ... The average graduate was $28,400 in the red, the report says. In six states, students graduated with an average of more than $30,000 in education debt, and only New Mexico grads came in below the $20K mark, with an average of $18,656 in school debt...
Miscellaneous
Keystone On The Move In Congress Politico ...In the House, Republicans quickly announced a vote as early as Thursday on a version of Landrieu’s Keystone bill with Cassidy’s name on it. When Landrieu did not object to a Republican request that Cassidy’s House bill be the measure ultimately sent to Obama — not her own — the Senate agreed to a Tuesday vote on the $8 billion pipeline...
Teamsters Strike, Allege Wage Theft Los Angeles Business Journal ...Truck drivers who work at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach walked off the job Thursday to protest two trucking firms they accuse of wage theft, according to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which organized the action...
L.A. truck drivers strike as tension mounts at ports Los Angeles Times ...Some truck drivers who work at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach walked off the job Thursday, organizers said, in a protest against two trucking firms they accuse of wage theft...
Walmart sit-down strike follows strikes today by port truck drivers and federal contract workers TeamsterNation ...Walmart workers in a Crenshaw, Calif., store sat down on the job today, even as striking port truck drivers picketed marine terminals and trucking yards at the Port of L.A. and hundreds of federal government contractors marched off the job and onto a Capitol Hill rally...
Teamsters Local 402 Organizes Ready-Mix Drivers teamster.org ...Ready-Mix drivers in Huntsville, Ala., recently voted to be represented by Teamsters Local 402. They are fighting for improved wages and fair treatment on the job...
Teamsters Stand with Students to Stop the Tuition Hikes Teamsters Local 2010 ...Teamsters Local 2010 therefore demands the UC Board of Regents reject the proposed tuition increases and approach both the workers and students to discuss better solutions...
Bus Driver Summer Pay Bargaining Progressing; Other Issues Remain Savannah Morning News ...First Student school transportation provider and Teamsters Union Local 728 are nearing an agreement about year-round pay after three days of bargaining, but continue to disagree on contract and financial issues...
Concord Settles Contract With Employee Union Contra Costa Times ...The city has struck a deal with its largest employee union -- thus averting a threatened strike that could have crippled daily operations. Teamsters Local 856 represents 141 employees -- including administrative clerks, police dispatchers and maintenance workers -- who have been working without a contract since the end of June, despite ongoing negotiations...
William Bounds Jr. Champaign News-Gazette ...Bill continued his career with the Teamsters Union Local 26 in Danville as a business agent. He later was elected president of Local 26 and held that position for 30 years. Bill was also the president of the Teamsters Joint Council 65 located in Springfield for approximately 18 years, overseeing parts of four states and 30,000 members...
Trade
Flaws in granting Mr. Obama fast-track authority (opinion) Washington Post ...Many Republicans, especially in the House, where the real trade action is, question the constitutionality of fast-track trade authority and the wisdom of giving the president even freer rein...
Never Mind ISIS, It’s ISDS That’s The Real Threat The Nation ...mining corporations have taken El Salvador to court for trying to limit their right to open-pit mine the country and pollute its rivers and El Lilly has sued Canada, complaining that its patent laws have hindered profits it could make on an ADD drug...
State Battles
Right-To-Work Legislation Likely To Be On Agenda Albuquerque Journal ...debate is already building over the long-stymied idea of making New Mexico a “right-to-work” state. After seizing control of the state House of Representatives for the first time in 60 years, Republican lawmakers have signaled the legislation will be on the table for the coming session...
Texas GOP’s Voter ID Ploy “Worked”: Turnout Way Down, Provisional Ballots Way Up Salon.com ...Despite a larger population and a contested race for an open gubernatorial seat, turnout in the state of Texas was reportedly down this year... [suggesting] the Texas GOP’s strategy of suppressing the vote this year with polling place Photo ID restrictions seems to have worked...
Emergency Manager Recommended For Atlantic City Press Of Atlantic City ...An emergency manager to oversee the city’s troubled finances and the creation of a new public-private development corporation are part of a package of reforms Gov. Chris Christie will consider to revitalize the struggling resort town...
War on Workers
Walmart Workers Stage First-Ever Sit-In Strike ThinkProgress ...Workers at a Los Angeles Walmart began the first sit-down strike in the company’s history at around 2 p.m. on Thursday. The strike is to protest their low wages and a culture of retaliation at the company...
23 Arrested During Pico Rivera Walmart Protest Associated Press ...Authorities say 23 men and women were arrested Thursday after they blocked traffic at a Pico Rivera intersection during a protest that began with a sit-down strike inside the local Walmart...
U.S. Capitol workers, others strike for higher pay, union Reuters ...Hundreds of striking federal contract workers, including for the first time some from the U.S. Capitol, rallied on Thursday to urge President Barack Obama to boost pay and spur unionization...
Longtime Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship indicted Charleston Gazette ...Don Blankenship, the longtime chief executive officer of Massey Energy, was indicted Thursday on charges that he orchestrated the routine violation of key federal mine safety rules at the company’s Upper Big Branch Mine prior to an April 2010 explosion that killed 29 miners...
Halliburton worker killed in Colorado fracking accident Reuters ...An accident at a fracking site in Colorado killed one Halliburton Co worker and seriously injured two on Thursday as they tried to thaw a high-pressure water line that had frozen in record-breaking cold conditions, the company said...
Worker killed when pedestrian bridge collapses Associated Press ...Officials say one worker was killed and four others were hurt when a pedestrian bridge under construction collapsed at a community college in North Carolina...
Worker dies as wall collapses at Avon Lake construction site cleveland.com ...A construction worker died Thursday afternoon after a wall of a house collapsed on him...
Only 1 State's College Students Graduate With Less Than $20K Of Debt, Report Finds Huffington Post ...For the class of 2013, seven out of 10 college students nationwide carried some form of education debt when they graduated, ... The average graduate was $28,400 in the red, the report says. In six states, students graduated with an average of more than $30,000 in education debt, and only New Mexico grads came in below the $20K mark, with an average of $18,656 in school debt...
Miscellaneous
Keystone On The Move In Congress Politico ...In the House, Republicans quickly announced a vote as early as Thursday on a version of Landrieu’s Keystone bill with Cassidy’s name on it. When Landrieu did not object to a Republican request that Cassidy’s House bill be the measure ultimately sent to Obama — not her own — the Senate agreed to a Tuesday vote on the $8 billion pipeline...
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Today's Teamster News 11.12.14
Teamsters
Drug Distributor Punishes Vets While Receiving Billions From VA Huffington Post ...McKesson is locked in a three-year battle with workers at its Lakeland, Fla. distribution center that voted in 2011 to join the Teamsters but still don't have a first contract...
Trade
Defending Foreign Corporations' Privileges Is Hard, Especially When Looking At The Facts Public Citizen ...it is no easy task to defend a system that empowers foreign corporations to bypass domestic courts and laws to demand taxpayer compensation for domestic policies that apply equally to their local competitors, but that they claim frustrate special privileges granted to them as foreign investors...
State Battles
Kansas revenues will fall $1 billion short of 2015 and 2016 expenses, fiscal experts say Kansas City Star ...The new figure raises the prospect of deep cuts in the state budget following controversial income tax cuts that Brownback vigorously defended during his re-election campaign against Democrat Paul Davis. Critics worry that schools, roads and social services will be among the areas cut in coming months...
Voter suppression laws are already deciding elections Washington Post ... it looks like the margin of victory in some of the most competitive races around the country was as big as the likely “margin of disenfranchisement,” as Weiser puts it. That is, more people were newly denied the right to vote than actually cast deciding ballots...
War on Workers
214,000 More Jobs Are Great. But Where Are the Raises? Bloomberg ...The U.S. economy added 214,000 jobs in October and the unemployment rate fell to a six-year low of 5.8 percent, but average earnings rose just 3 cents an hour...
Finding, and Battling, Hidden Costs of 401(k) Plans New York Times ...In many retirement plans, a significant amount of future retirees’ funds are devoured by fees. According to a 2012 study published by the progressive think tank Demos, high 401(k) fees can drain $155,000 from an average household over a lifetime...
Work Slowdown at Busiest U.S. Port Prompts Plea to Obama Bloomberg ...U.S. retailers appealed to President Barack Obama to intervene in contract negotiations between West Coast dockworkers and maritime companies after a work slowdown spread to the nation’s largest container hub ahead of the holiday shopping season...
Taj Mahal asks union to drop cost-savings appeal Philadelphia Inquirer ...Carl Icahn has jacked the interest rate up on the Trump loans from 6.2 percent to 12 percent, ripped $350 million out of this company in four years, and now he says workers can't have health care, pensions, paid breaks and many other things that other Atlantic City casino workers enjoy," union president Bob McDevitt said...
Missing Mexico students: Who is responsible? AlJazeera ...It's a case that has shocked a nation already hardened by gang violence and drug related crime - the disappearance of 43 students in Mexico, suspected of being abducted and murdered. The government, a mayor, police officers and gang members have all been implicated...
Construction worker dies 8 days after 30-foot fall Associated Press ...Officials say Moran took a 30-foot fall Nov. 3 at the former site of Del Castle-Legate Place. The once-palatial residence also was known as the Al Capone home...
Worker cleaning Ohio pond pulled from water, dies Associated Press ...a Michigan man in his 20s was using scuba equipment Tuesday to clean a 15-foot-deep pond at an office complex in New Albany, northeast of Columbus. When he didn't resurface when he was supposed to, a fellow worker called for help and said the man's tank had likely run out of oxygen...
Drug Distributor Punishes Vets While Receiving Billions From VA Huffington Post ...McKesson is locked in a three-year battle with workers at its Lakeland, Fla. distribution center that voted in 2011 to join the Teamsters but still don't have a first contract...
Trade
Defending Foreign Corporations' Privileges Is Hard, Especially When Looking At The Facts Public Citizen ...it is no easy task to defend a system that empowers foreign corporations to bypass domestic courts and laws to demand taxpayer compensation for domestic policies that apply equally to their local competitors, but that they claim frustrate special privileges granted to them as foreign investors...
State Battles
Kansas revenues will fall $1 billion short of 2015 and 2016 expenses, fiscal experts say Kansas City Star ...The new figure raises the prospect of deep cuts in the state budget following controversial income tax cuts that Brownback vigorously defended during his re-election campaign against Democrat Paul Davis. Critics worry that schools, roads and social services will be among the areas cut in coming months...
Voter suppression laws are already deciding elections Washington Post ... it looks like the margin of victory in some of the most competitive races around the country was as big as the likely “margin of disenfranchisement,” as Weiser puts it. That is, more people were newly denied the right to vote than actually cast deciding ballots...
War on Workers
214,000 More Jobs Are Great. But Where Are the Raises? Bloomberg ...The U.S. economy added 214,000 jobs in October and the unemployment rate fell to a six-year low of 5.8 percent, but average earnings rose just 3 cents an hour...
Finding, and Battling, Hidden Costs of 401(k) Plans New York Times ...In many retirement plans, a significant amount of future retirees’ funds are devoured by fees. According to a 2012 study published by the progressive think tank Demos, high 401(k) fees can drain $155,000 from an average household over a lifetime...
Work Slowdown at Busiest U.S. Port Prompts Plea to Obama Bloomberg ...U.S. retailers appealed to President Barack Obama to intervene in contract negotiations between West Coast dockworkers and maritime companies after a work slowdown spread to the nation’s largest container hub ahead of the holiday shopping season...
Taj Mahal asks union to drop cost-savings appeal Philadelphia Inquirer ...Carl Icahn has jacked the interest rate up on the Trump loans from 6.2 percent to 12 percent, ripped $350 million out of this company in four years, and now he says workers can't have health care, pensions, paid breaks and many other things that other Atlantic City casino workers enjoy," union president Bob McDevitt said...
Missing Mexico students: Who is responsible? AlJazeera ...It's a case that has shocked a nation already hardened by gang violence and drug related crime - the disappearance of 43 students in Mexico, suspected of being abducted and murdered. The government, a mayor, police officers and gang members have all been implicated...
Construction worker dies 8 days after 30-foot fall Associated Press ...Officials say Moran took a 30-foot fall Nov. 3 at the former site of Del Castle-Legate Place. The once-palatial residence also was known as the Al Capone home...
Worker cleaning Ohio pond pulled from water, dies Associated Press ...a Michigan man in his 20s was using scuba equipment Tuesday to clean a 15-foot-deep pond at an office complex in New Albany, northeast of Columbus. When he didn't resurface when he was supposed to, a fellow worker called for help and said the man's tank had likely run out of oxygen...
Saturday, November 1, 2014
Today's Teamster News 11.01.14
Teamster News
FedEx Freight Workers In New Jersey Vote To Join Teamsters Local 701 teamster.org ...A group of 113 drivers at FedEx Freight’s South Brunswick, N.J., terminal voted today to join Teamsters Local 701. The vote was 66 to 42...
Teamsters Local 988 Laundry Drivers Ratify Contract teamster.org ...Laundry drivers and members of Teamsters Local 988 in Houston have voted unanimously to ratify a two-year contract with Angelica Textile...
The Ballot Box Is The Great Equalizer For Workers (opinion) Huffington Post ...There are real consequences for workers if they don't make it to the ballot box,...
NYC Carriage Horses Clip-Clop Away While De Blasio Stalls Bloomberg Businessweek ...New York Mayor Bill de Blasio assured animal-rights activists during his run for City Hall that he would rid Central Park of horse-drawn carriages, which he called inhumane….Now, 10 months into his term, tourists still pay $50 for a 20-minute trot through the park, while at City Hall, a draft for legislation has yet to be written and no one is saying why....
Nicholas Lanzilli Secures Additional Endorsements Medford Transcript ...I am honored to receive additional endorsements by a number of respected groups in the area. ...Teamsters Local 25...
Teamsters Trumpet Unemployment Payout To LA-LB Port Truck Driver Journal of Commerce ...A Los Angeles-Long Beach port truck driver who said she was misclassified as an independent contractor was awarded a check for $9,000 in unemployment benefits by the California Employment Development Department this week, giving Teamsters fuel in their campaign to organize local drayage drivers...
Unfinished Construction Has Protesters Marching Near The West Lake Landfill Fox 2 St. Louis ...Unfinished construction work along St. Charles Rock Road has demonstrators raising public health concerns...
Trade
TTIP Debate Suffering From Lack Of Transparency The Parliament Magazine ...The transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP), currently being negotiated between the EU and the US, is by far the most controversial agreement the EU has ever negotiated. Since the start of discussions, opposition has been growing among the civilian population and certain political parties, despite the fact that the final content of the project cannot be discussed in detail, even one year on...
State Battles
McConnell victory could make Kentucky right-to-work Politico ... “Should the Kentucky House go Republican,” writes Labor & Employment’s Mike Elk, “state Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer has already said that his first priority will be to pass a right-to-work bill.” Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear would likely veto, but to no avail: In Kentucky, all it takes to override a gubernatorial veto is a simple majority of both houses...
Mark Schauer will ax the 'retirement tax' - and Republicans will help him Michigan Live ...If Mark Schauer is elected governor, you can probably kiss the reviled "retirement tax" and other tax hikes goodbye...
All about absentees? Michigan Democratic Party push appears to be paying off in early returns Michigan Live ...One out of every three or four residents who vote in Michigan's general election could do so via absentee ballot before the polls even open on Tuesday, and early indications suggest the trend may benefit Democrats...
Ohio May Disenfranchise Voters For Technical Errors ThinkProgress ...election officials in Ohio can throw out legitimate absentee and provisional ballots that have small errors — such as leaving out a middle name — and in many cases they don’t have to give the voter a chance to fix the problem...
Closing Argument: Kochs Fight To Save Candidate Cronies In Critical Election RealKochFacts ...learn more about Republican candidates who share the Koch agenda and are being propped up by the secretive billionaires in North Carolina, Colorado, Iowa, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Michigan, Oregon,Wisconsin, and Florida...
Midterms 2014: Candidates With Ties To Pension Business May Gain Control Of State Pension Funds International Business Times ...government ethics experts express concern that governors drawn from the ranks of companies that manage pension money could bring an inherent conflict of interest: Their duty to do right by taxpayers and retirees could be pitted against their personal financial interests and their loyalties to longtime Wall Street associates...
“Indescribably insane”: A public school system from hell Salon ...The needs of [Philadelphia] children are secondary, however, to a right-wing governor in Tom Corbett who remains fixated on breaking the district in order to crush the teachers union and divert money to unproven experiments like vouchers and privately run charters. If the city’s children are left uneducated and impoverished among the smoldering wreckage of a broken school system, so be it...
San Francisco To Raise Minimum Wage To $11.05 Per Hour Reuters ...San Francisco will raise the city's minimum wage to $11.05 per hour from the start of next year, up from $10.74 currently, the mayor's office said on Thursday...
Kansas tax cuts fail again, as new revenue numbers plague Sam Brownback but help Paul Davis Kansas City Star ...In October, individual income tax receipts were almost $27 million below what the state had estimated it would take in, or a jarring 15 percent off expectations. Why does that matter? Because this is the tax that Brownback and the Legislature cut in 2012. The promise then was that more jobs would flood Kansas, eventually pumping back up income tax collections. That’s not working — at all...
More Than 750 people Turn Out For Meeting On Oil-Train Study Seattle Times ...State officials are proposing more funding and more regulatory authority to step up oversight of the surging numbers of oil trains carrying crude through Washington, and to better prepare for any possible spills...
Donors get special access to GOP governors as potential 2016 contenders Washington Post ...One key to the [Republican Governors' Association] fundraising prowess is the exclusive donor access effort, called the Executive Roundtable program, which gives wealthy contributors up-close access to governors at quarterly policy seminars. The initiative has helped create a permanent network of high-net-worth donors who augment the group’s funding from corporation...
War on Workers
Judge in Maine Eases Restrictions on Nurse New York Times ...In a victory for a nurse who treated Ebola patients in West Africa, a judge in Maine on Friday rejected arguments by the state that her movements should be firmly restricted, praising her “compassion” even as he acknowledged the public’s fears about the virus...
Casino Closings Take Toll On Atlantic City Travel Press of Atlantic City ...Fewer cars, buses, airport passengers and rail riders are heading to Atlantic City following the shutdown of three casinos in recent weeks, the latest travel figures show...
Police: Construction worker killed by dump truck DelawareOnLine ...State troopers and emergency crews are on the scene of a fatality in Lewes where a construction worker was hit by a dump truck, police said...
Lafayette construction worker dies on the job KLFY ...Scott Police responded to a 911 call just before 9 a.m. Tuesday regarding a Scott Materials employee that was fatally injured on the job...
Miscellaneous
Starbucks to deliver coffee to your desk starting in 2015 Los Angeles Times ...The delivery service will be available through Starbucks Corp.’s mobile app, which currently lets customers pay at the store through their phone, Schultz said...
Lack of mechanics threatens U.S. Air Force target date for F-35 Reuters ...The U.S. Air Force may miss its target of August 2016 to start using the Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jet in combat if Congress blocks the service's plan to retire its A-10 tank-killer aircraft, a top U.S. general said...
FedEx Freight Workers In New Jersey Vote To Join Teamsters Local 701 teamster.org ...A group of 113 drivers at FedEx Freight’s South Brunswick, N.J., terminal voted today to join Teamsters Local 701. The vote was 66 to 42...
Teamsters Local 988 Laundry Drivers Ratify Contract teamster.org ...Laundry drivers and members of Teamsters Local 988 in Houston have voted unanimously to ratify a two-year contract with Angelica Textile...
The Ballot Box Is The Great Equalizer For Workers (opinion) Huffington Post ...There are real consequences for workers if they don't make it to the ballot box,...
NYC Carriage Horses Clip-Clop Away While De Blasio Stalls Bloomberg Businessweek ...New York Mayor Bill de Blasio assured animal-rights activists during his run for City Hall that he would rid Central Park of horse-drawn carriages, which he called inhumane….Now, 10 months into his term, tourists still pay $50 for a 20-minute trot through the park, while at City Hall, a draft for legislation has yet to be written and no one is saying why....
Nicholas Lanzilli Secures Additional Endorsements Medford Transcript ...I am honored to receive additional endorsements by a number of respected groups in the area. ...Teamsters Local 25...
Teamsters Trumpet Unemployment Payout To LA-LB Port Truck Driver Journal of Commerce ...A Los Angeles-Long Beach port truck driver who said she was misclassified as an independent contractor was awarded a check for $9,000 in unemployment benefits by the California Employment Development Department this week, giving Teamsters fuel in their campaign to organize local drayage drivers...
Unfinished Construction Has Protesters Marching Near The West Lake Landfill Fox 2 St. Louis ...Unfinished construction work along St. Charles Rock Road has demonstrators raising public health concerns...
Trade
TTIP Debate Suffering From Lack Of Transparency The Parliament Magazine ...The transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP), currently being negotiated between the EU and the US, is by far the most controversial agreement the EU has ever negotiated. Since the start of discussions, opposition has been growing among the civilian population and certain political parties, despite the fact that the final content of the project cannot be discussed in detail, even one year on...
State Battles
McConnell victory could make Kentucky right-to-work Politico ... “Should the Kentucky House go Republican,” writes Labor & Employment’s Mike Elk, “state Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer has already said that his first priority will be to pass a right-to-work bill.” Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear would likely veto, but to no avail: In Kentucky, all it takes to override a gubernatorial veto is a simple majority of both houses...
Mark Schauer will ax the 'retirement tax' - and Republicans will help him Michigan Live ...If Mark Schauer is elected governor, you can probably kiss the reviled "retirement tax" and other tax hikes goodbye...
All about absentees? Michigan Democratic Party push appears to be paying off in early returns Michigan Live ...One out of every three or four residents who vote in Michigan's general election could do so via absentee ballot before the polls even open on Tuesday, and early indications suggest the trend may benefit Democrats...
Ohio May Disenfranchise Voters For Technical Errors ThinkProgress ...election officials in Ohio can throw out legitimate absentee and provisional ballots that have small errors — such as leaving out a middle name — and in many cases they don’t have to give the voter a chance to fix the problem...
Closing Argument: Kochs Fight To Save Candidate Cronies In Critical Election RealKochFacts ...learn more about Republican candidates who share the Koch agenda and are being propped up by the secretive billionaires in North Carolina, Colorado, Iowa, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Michigan, Oregon,Wisconsin, and Florida...
Midterms 2014: Candidates With Ties To Pension Business May Gain Control Of State Pension Funds International Business Times ...government ethics experts express concern that governors drawn from the ranks of companies that manage pension money could bring an inherent conflict of interest: Their duty to do right by taxpayers and retirees could be pitted against their personal financial interests and their loyalties to longtime Wall Street associates...
“Indescribably insane”: A public school system from hell Salon ...The needs of [Philadelphia] children are secondary, however, to a right-wing governor in Tom Corbett who remains fixated on breaking the district in order to crush the teachers union and divert money to unproven experiments like vouchers and privately run charters. If the city’s children are left uneducated and impoverished among the smoldering wreckage of a broken school system, so be it...
San Francisco To Raise Minimum Wage To $11.05 Per Hour Reuters ...San Francisco will raise the city's minimum wage to $11.05 per hour from the start of next year, up from $10.74 currently, the mayor's office said on Thursday...
Kansas tax cuts fail again, as new revenue numbers plague Sam Brownback but help Paul Davis Kansas City Star ...In October, individual income tax receipts were almost $27 million below what the state had estimated it would take in, or a jarring 15 percent off expectations. Why does that matter? Because this is the tax that Brownback and the Legislature cut in 2012. The promise then was that more jobs would flood Kansas, eventually pumping back up income tax collections. That’s not working — at all...
More Than 750 people Turn Out For Meeting On Oil-Train Study Seattle Times ...State officials are proposing more funding and more regulatory authority to step up oversight of the surging numbers of oil trains carrying crude through Washington, and to better prepare for any possible spills...
Donors get special access to GOP governors as potential 2016 contenders Washington Post ...One key to the [Republican Governors' Association] fundraising prowess is the exclusive donor access effort, called the Executive Roundtable program, which gives wealthy contributors up-close access to governors at quarterly policy seminars. The initiative has helped create a permanent network of high-net-worth donors who augment the group’s funding from corporation...
War on Workers
Judge in Maine Eases Restrictions on Nurse New York Times ...In a victory for a nurse who treated Ebola patients in West Africa, a judge in Maine on Friday rejected arguments by the state that her movements should be firmly restricted, praising her “compassion” even as he acknowledged the public’s fears about the virus...
Casino Closings Take Toll On Atlantic City Travel Press of Atlantic City ...Fewer cars, buses, airport passengers and rail riders are heading to Atlantic City following the shutdown of three casinos in recent weeks, the latest travel figures show...
Police: Construction worker killed by dump truck DelawareOnLine ...State troopers and emergency crews are on the scene of a fatality in Lewes where a construction worker was hit by a dump truck, police said...
Lafayette construction worker dies on the job KLFY ...Scott Police responded to a 911 call just before 9 a.m. Tuesday regarding a Scott Materials employee that was fatally injured on the job...
Miscellaneous
Starbucks to deliver coffee to your desk starting in 2015 Los Angeles Times ...The delivery service will be available through Starbucks Corp.’s mobile app, which currently lets customers pay at the store through their phone, Schultz said...
Lack of mechanics threatens U.S. Air Force target date for F-35 Reuters ...The U.S. Air Force may miss its target of August 2016 to start using the Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jet in combat if Congress blocks the service's plan to retire its A-10 tank-killer aircraft, a top U.S. general said...
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Today's Teamster News 10.25.14
Teamster News
Oakland School Bus Drivers Choose Teamsters Representation teamster.org ...First Student school bus drivers in Oakland, Calif., have voted by an overwhelming 15-1 margin in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif. The 150 drivers transport children in the Oakland Unified School District...
Meeting Celebrates Million Worker March Movement Workers World ...Founding members of the Million Worker March Movement held a 10th commemorative anniversary meeting Oct. 16 at Teamsters Local 808 in Long Island City, Queens, N.Y...
DiNapoli, Schneiderman hold “get out the vote’ rally in Orange County MidHudson News ...Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli brought their “get out the vote” tour to the Teamsters Local 445 hall in Rock Tavern on Friday...
Trade
Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement: Secret Deal Means Bad News For Consumers, Choice Warns News.com ...The TPP is being negotiated in secret by 12 countries, including Australia, with governments having full access to the draft agreement while the public have nothing, a WikiLeaks press release said. WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Julian Assange said it had a duty to reveal what is in the TPP. “The selective secrecy surrounding the TPP negotiations, which has let in a few cashed-up megacorps but excluded everyone else, reveals a fear of public scrutiny,” he said. “By publishing this text we allow the public to engage in issues that will have such a fundamental impact on their lives...
State Battles
Minimum Wage: Scott Walker Based 'Living Wage' Ruling On Restaurant Industry Study Business Insider ...Under pressure to raise the state's minimum wage, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker confidently declared that there was no need....That official government finding ... was largely based on information provided by the state's restaurant industry -- which represents major low-wage employers including fast-food companies...
Sacramento Crude Oil Transfers Halted; Air Quality Official Says Permit Was Granted In Error Sacramento Bee ...A Sacramento fuel distributor has agreed to stop unloading train shipments of crude oil at McClellan Business Park after the county’s top air quality official said his agency mistakenly skirted the state’s environmental rules by issuing a permit for the operation...
A GOP Governor Tried A Radical Tax 'Experiment' — And Now He's Hanging On For His Political Life Business Insider ...Kansas' budget, which has to be balanced each year by law, has serious revenue shortfalls. The state's credit rating has been downgraded by two major ratings agencies — Moody's and Standard and Poor's. School funding is being stretched thin, and there are whispers of concerns in rural parts of the state that some will close entirely. And now, a governor is in trouble...
War on Workers
The 1% are more likely to vote than the poor or the middle class, and it matters — a lot Vox ...After 1972, voters and non-voters differ significantly on most issues relating to the role of government in redistributive policies. In addition to these differences being evident in nearly every election since 1972, we also note that the nature of the electoral bias is clear as well: voters are substantially more conservative than non-voters on class-based issues...
Billionaire Investor Says Atlantic City's Taj 'Will Almost Certainly Close' NBC News ...Billionaire investor Carl Icahn says the struggling Trump Taj Mahal casino "will almost certainly close." The would-be purchaser of the casino told The Associated Press on Thursday night that the casino's finances are dire...
Picket Lines Due At Atlantic City's Taj Mahal Casino Friday NBC News ...Picket lines were to go up outside Atlantic City's Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort as union members planned to protest the court-ordered termination of their health insurance and pension plans. The picketing was scheduled to run from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday...
The Real Bailout Victims (opinion) New York Times ...It’s certainly true that the government deserves criticism for how it spent the A.I.G. bailout money: It funneled the money to the banks to make them whole on deals they had done with A.I.G., instead of requiring them to absorb some of the losses. But again, the real victim of the overly generous treatment of the banks is the American public...
Plutocrats Against Democracy (opinion) New York Times ...now you understand why there’s so much furor on the right over the alleged but actually almost nonexistent problem of voter fraud, and so much support for voter ID laws that make it hard for the poor and even the working class to cast ballots. American politicians don’t dare say outright that only the wealthy should have political rights ...a lot of what’s going on in American politics is, at root, a fight between democracy and plutocracy. And it’s by no means clear which side will win...
Construction worker dies in hit and run Associated Press ... 53-year-old Barry Asbury of Vance was struck and killed shortly after 2 a.m. Thursday on state Highway 170. Asbury was working with a paving crew on the road in Okatie when he was struck by a car...
Miscellaneous
Where Is The Investigation Into Financial Corruption At The NSA? The Atlantic ...Earlier this year, when Keith Alexander resigned as head of the National Security Agency, he began trying to cash in on expertise he'd gained while in government, pitching himself as a security consultant who could protect Wall Street banks and other large corporations from cyber-attacks by hackers or foreign governments. Early reports focused on the eye-popping price tag for his services: He reportedly asked for $1 million a month, later decreasing his rate to $600,000...
Oakland School Bus Drivers Choose Teamsters Representation teamster.org ...First Student school bus drivers in Oakland, Calif., have voted by an overwhelming 15-1 margin in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif. The 150 drivers transport children in the Oakland Unified School District...
Meeting Celebrates Million Worker March Movement Workers World ...Founding members of the Million Worker March Movement held a 10th commemorative anniversary meeting Oct. 16 at Teamsters Local 808 in Long Island City, Queens, N.Y...
DiNapoli, Schneiderman hold “get out the vote’ rally in Orange County MidHudson News ...Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli brought their “get out the vote” tour to the Teamsters Local 445 hall in Rock Tavern on Friday...
Trade
Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement: Secret Deal Means Bad News For Consumers, Choice Warns News.com ...The TPP is being negotiated in secret by 12 countries, including Australia, with governments having full access to the draft agreement while the public have nothing, a WikiLeaks press release said. WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Julian Assange said it had a duty to reveal what is in the TPP. “The selective secrecy surrounding the TPP negotiations, which has let in a few cashed-up megacorps but excluded everyone else, reveals a fear of public scrutiny,” he said. “By publishing this text we allow the public to engage in issues that will have such a fundamental impact on their lives...
State Battles
Minimum Wage: Scott Walker Based 'Living Wage' Ruling On Restaurant Industry Study Business Insider ...Under pressure to raise the state's minimum wage, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker confidently declared that there was no need....That official government finding ... was largely based on information provided by the state's restaurant industry -- which represents major low-wage employers including fast-food companies...
Sacramento Crude Oil Transfers Halted; Air Quality Official Says Permit Was Granted In Error Sacramento Bee ...A Sacramento fuel distributor has agreed to stop unloading train shipments of crude oil at McClellan Business Park after the county’s top air quality official said his agency mistakenly skirted the state’s environmental rules by issuing a permit for the operation...
A GOP Governor Tried A Radical Tax 'Experiment' — And Now He's Hanging On For His Political Life Business Insider ...Kansas' budget, which has to be balanced each year by law, has serious revenue shortfalls. The state's credit rating has been downgraded by two major ratings agencies — Moody's and Standard and Poor's. School funding is being stretched thin, and there are whispers of concerns in rural parts of the state that some will close entirely. And now, a governor is in trouble...
War on Workers
The 1% are more likely to vote than the poor or the middle class, and it matters — a lot Vox ...After 1972, voters and non-voters differ significantly on most issues relating to the role of government in redistributive policies. In addition to these differences being evident in nearly every election since 1972, we also note that the nature of the electoral bias is clear as well: voters are substantially more conservative than non-voters on class-based issues...
Billionaire Investor Says Atlantic City's Taj 'Will Almost Certainly Close' NBC News ...Billionaire investor Carl Icahn says the struggling Trump Taj Mahal casino "will almost certainly close." The would-be purchaser of the casino told The Associated Press on Thursday night that the casino's finances are dire...
Picket Lines Due At Atlantic City's Taj Mahal Casino Friday NBC News ...Picket lines were to go up outside Atlantic City's Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort as union members planned to protest the court-ordered termination of their health insurance and pension plans. The picketing was scheduled to run from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday...
The Real Bailout Victims (opinion) New York Times ...It’s certainly true that the government deserves criticism for how it spent the A.I.G. bailout money: It funneled the money to the banks to make them whole on deals they had done with A.I.G., instead of requiring them to absorb some of the losses. But again, the real victim of the overly generous treatment of the banks is the American public...
Plutocrats Against Democracy (opinion) New York Times ...now you understand why there’s so much furor on the right over the alleged but actually almost nonexistent problem of voter fraud, and so much support for voter ID laws that make it hard for the poor and even the working class to cast ballots. American politicians don’t dare say outright that only the wealthy should have political rights ...a lot of what’s going on in American politics is, at root, a fight between democracy and plutocracy. And it’s by no means clear which side will win...
Construction worker dies in hit and run Associated Press ... 53-year-old Barry Asbury of Vance was struck and killed shortly after 2 a.m. Thursday on state Highway 170. Asbury was working with a paving crew on the road in Okatie when he was struck by a car...
Miscellaneous
Where Is The Investigation Into Financial Corruption At The NSA? The Atlantic ...Earlier this year, when Keith Alexander resigned as head of the National Security Agency, he began trying to cash in on expertise he'd gained while in government, pitching himself as a security consultant who could protect Wall Street banks and other large corporations from cyber-attacks by hackers or foreign governments. Early reports focused on the eye-popping price tag for his services: He reportedly asked for $1 million a month, later decreasing his rate to $600,000...
Friday, October 24, 2014
Today's Teamster News 10.24.14
Teamster News
Teamsters Continue Get-Out-The-Vote Effort in Chicago teamster.org ...Brewers and bottlers at Lagunitas Brewery Company, members of Teamsters Local 727 in Chicago, today confirmed they will be voting in advance of the Nov. 4 election during a visit by Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa...
Uber Drivers Protest Company's Business Practices Outside Santa Monica Office CBS Local ...Teamsters Local 989 organized the demonstration at 11 a.m. outside Uber Technology offices, 1437 Seventh St. in Santa Monica...
Online petition calls for living wage for Facebook drivers USA Today ...Activist group CREDO Action is calling on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to support paying a living wage to shuttle bus drivers who ferry Facebook workers to and from the company's Menlo Park, Calif., campus...
Facebook drivers plan union vote Fusion ...Facebook’s bus drivers have scheduled an election to unionize to seek better working conditions...
How Fedex is trying to save the business model that saved it millions Washington Post ...In FedEx’s case, courts in several states, including California and Massachusetts, have told the company that its strategy of treating drivers as independent contractors doesn’t fly, prompting the shift to the independent service provider model. Now, at least one court has questioned whether even this new model passes muster...
Trade
The Trans-Pacific Partnership – One Sick Treaty? RT ...The TPP will help to maximize profits by increasing the ability of large corporations to acquire or hold international monopolies on a product for longer periods than they are currently able to. They can use this position to ensure that prices remain high – too high for many. Those unable to afford necessary medicine will suffer, become sicker, and in many cases die...
State Battles
Kansas and Wisconsin Continue to Lag Nation Econbrowser ...Some observers have argued that Wisconsin’s poor performance is attributable to regional shocks; if so, it is strange that Minnesota — Wisconsin’s next door neighbor — has failed to evidence a similar slowdown relative to the United States...
St. Pete Plans $12.50 Minimum Wage For City Workers St. Petersburg Tribune ...St. Petersburg is planning to introduce a $12.50 per hour minimum wage for all city workers. ... That will mean a pay raise for about 70 city workers who earn below that amount, including library assistants, sanitation workers, custodians and laborers. Increasing their pay will cost about $125,000...
Kansas Faces Additional Revenue Shortfalls After Tax Cuts New York Times ...Revenue numbers for July through September, the first three months of fiscal year 2015, suggest Kansas’ revenue gap is permanent, not temporary...
Judge Extends Blocking Wisconsin Campaign Law FOX6 ...A federal judge has extended until Nov. 12 his order blocking a Wisconsin campaign coordination law that’s at the center of an investigation into Gov. Scott Walker’s 2012 recall campaign and more than two dozen conservative groups...
Gov. Rick Scott To Avoid Testifying In Public Records Lawsuit Before Election WESH ...Scott was scheduled to give a deposition this Friday over private Google email accounts set up by the governor and two former aides...
War on Workers
Compensation shrinks for all income groups – except the very highest Aljazeera America ...Average pay for 2013 was $43,041 — down $79 from the previous year when measured in 2013 dollars. Worse, average pay fell $508 below the 2007 level, my analysis of the new Social Security Administration data shows...
Elizabeth Warren Demands An Investigation Of Mortgage Companies Mother Jones ...Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called on the Government Accountability Office to investigate non-bank companies that service Americans' mortgages, noting in a letter co-signed by Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) that an increasing number of lawsuits has been filed in recent years against these firms—which are not regulated as strictly as banks...
Port Has Valid Concerns About Oil Trains (opinion) The Olympian ...all South Sound residents should worry about the environmental and economic impacts of building terminals that could bring dangerous oil tanker trains moving 175,000 barrels of highly flammable Bakken crude oil per day through Thurston County...
SC Construction Worker Killed In Hit And Run On Highway 170 WSAV ...A construction worker was killed early Thursday morning in a hit and run on S.C. Highway 170 near Cherry Point. Beaufort County Deputy Coroner David Ott identifies the man as 53-year-old Barry Asbury...
Construction worker dies on-site in southern Saskatchewan Leader-Post ...A 43-year-old man from Kelvington is dead after a construction-site accident in southern Saskatchewan...
The Bottom 90 Percent Are Poorer Today Than They Were In 1987 Washington Post ...Once upon a time, the American economy worked for everybody, and even the middle class got richer. But this story has only been a fairy tale for almost 30 years now. The new, harsh reality is that the bottom 90 percent of households are poorer today than they were in 1987...
Miscellaneous
Owners: Taj Mahal To Stay Open Throughout November NBC News ...Trump Entertainment Resorts is dropping its threat to close Atlantic City's Taj Mahal casino on Nov. 13. The company said Wednesday it still cannot guarantee the Taj Mahal won't close by the end of the year, but added it will definitely remain open throughout the month of November...
Why Was The NSA Chief Playing The Market? Foreign Policy ...At the same time that he was running the United States' biggest intelligence-gathering organization, former National Security Agency Director Keith Alexander owned and sold shares in commodities linked to China and Russia, two countries that the NSA was spying on heavily...
Teamsters Continue Get-Out-The-Vote Effort in Chicago teamster.org ...Brewers and bottlers at Lagunitas Brewery Company, members of Teamsters Local 727 in Chicago, today confirmed they will be voting in advance of the Nov. 4 election during a visit by Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa...
Uber Drivers Protest Company's Business Practices Outside Santa Monica Office CBS Local ...Teamsters Local 989 organized the demonstration at 11 a.m. outside Uber Technology offices, 1437 Seventh St. in Santa Monica...
Online petition calls for living wage for Facebook drivers USA Today ...Activist group CREDO Action is calling on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to support paying a living wage to shuttle bus drivers who ferry Facebook workers to and from the company's Menlo Park, Calif., campus...
Facebook drivers plan union vote Fusion ...Facebook’s bus drivers have scheduled an election to unionize to seek better working conditions...
How Fedex is trying to save the business model that saved it millions Washington Post ...In FedEx’s case, courts in several states, including California and Massachusetts, have told the company that its strategy of treating drivers as independent contractors doesn’t fly, prompting the shift to the independent service provider model. Now, at least one court has questioned whether even this new model passes muster...
Trade
The Trans-Pacific Partnership – One Sick Treaty? RT ...The TPP will help to maximize profits by increasing the ability of large corporations to acquire or hold international monopolies on a product for longer periods than they are currently able to. They can use this position to ensure that prices remain high – too high for many. Those unable to afford necessary medicine will suffer, become sicker, and in many cases die...
State Battles
Kansas and Wisconsin Continue to Lag Nation Econbrowser ...Some observers have argued that Wisconsin’s poor performance is attributable to regional shocks; if so, it is strange that Minnesota — Wisconsin’s next door neighbor — has failed to evidence a similar slowdown relative to the United States...
St. Pete Plans $12.50 Minimum Wage For City Workers St. Petersburg Tribune ...St. Petersburg is planning to introduce a $12.50 per hour minimum wage for all city workers. ... That will mean a pay raise for about 70 city workers who earn below that amount, including library assistants, sanitation workers, custodians and laborers. Increasing their pay will cost about $125,000...
Kansas Faces Additional Revenue Shortfalls After Tax Cuts New York Times ...Revenue numbers for July through September, the first three months of fiscal year 2015, suggest Kansas’ revenue gap is permanent, not temporary...
Judge Extends Blocking Wisconsin Campaign Law FOX6 ...A federal judge has extended until Nov. 12 his order blocking a Wisconsin campaign coordination law that’s at the center of an investigation into Gov. Scott Walker’s 2012 recall campaign and more than two dozen conservative groups...
Gov. Rick Scott To Avoid Testifying In Public Records Lawsuit Before Election WESH ...Scott was scheduled to give a deposition this Friday over private Google email accounts set up by the governor and two former aides...
War on Workers
Compensation shrinks for all income groups – except the very highest Aljazeera America ...Average pay for 2013 was $43,041 — down $79 from the previous year when measured in 2013 dollars. Worse, average pay fell $508 below the 2007 level, my analysis of the new Social Security Administration data shows...
Elizabeth Warren Demands An Investigation Of Mortgage Companies Mother Jones ...Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called on the Government Accountability Office to investigate non-bank companies that service Americans' mortgages, noting in a letter co-signed by Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) that an increasing number of lawsuits has been filed in recent years against these firms—which are not regulated as strictly as banks...
Port Has Valid Concerns About Oil Trains (opinion) The Olympian ...all South Sound residents should worry about the environmental and economic impacts of building terminals that could bring dangerous oil tanker trains moving 175,000 barrels of highly flammable Bakken crude oil per day through Thurston County...
SC Construction Worker Killed In Hit And Run On Highway 170 WSAV ...A construction worker was killed early Thursday morning in a hit and run on S.C. Highway 170 near Cherry Point. Beaufort County Deputy Coroner David Ott identifies the man as 53-year-old Barry Asbury...
Construction worker dies on-site in southern Saskatchewan Leader-Post ...A 43-year-old man from Kelvington is dead after a construction-site accident in southern Saskatchewan...
The Bottom 90 Percent Are Poorer Today Than They Were In 1987 Washington Post ...Once upon a time, the American economy worked for everybody, and even the middle class got richer. But this story has only been a fairy tale for almost 30 years now. The new, harsh reality is that the bottom 90 percent of households are poorer today than they were in 1987...
Miscellaneous
Owners: Taj Mahal To Stay Open Throughout November NBC News ...Trump Entertainment Resorts is dropping its threat to close Atlantic City's Taj Mahal casino on Nov. 13. The company said Wednesday it still cannot guarantee the Taj Mahal won't close by the end of the year, but added it will definitely remain open throughout the month of November...
Why Was The NSA Chief Playing The Market? Foreign Policy ...At the same time that he was running the United States' biggest intelligence-gathering organization, former National Security Agency Director Keith Alexander owned and sold shares in commodities linked to China and Russia, two countries that the NSA was spying on heavily...
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Today's Teamster News 09.30.14
Teamster News
Gov. Brown Signs Protections For Temp Workers Into Law teamster.org ...Gov. Jerry Brown signed AB 1897 into law Sunday. The new law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, 2015, will hold companies accountable for serious violations of the rights of workers on their premises that are committed by their own labor suppliers...
Teach-in this weekend about Bill Gates' burning, radioactive landfill in Missouri TeamsterNation ...There's only one place in the country where a landfill fire smolders hundreds of away a nuclear dump site, and there are hundreds of Teamsters families living near it...
Parents, Health Officials Search For Answers About Sick Kids St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...Kirbi Pemberton pulled her 7-year-old daughter out of Rose Acres Elementary School in Maryland Heights this year over her concerns about potential health risks from the nearby radioactive West Lake Landfill...
Woot! Local 117 Teamsters ratify Fred Meyer contract! TeamsterNation ...Great news from Washington State, where our brothers and sisters from Teamsters Local 117 voted on Saturday to ratify a contract with Fred Meyer, a subsidiary of Kroger, Inc. They stood together and bargained a contract that maintains affordable health care and protects members against subcontracting...
Teamsters win arbitration award giving Corrections’ employees 9.8% raises over two years The News Tribune ...The ruling in favor of the Teamsters provides pay raises of 5.5 percent in July 2015 and another 4.3 percent in 2016 — with additional raises of 2.5 percent for select positions. About 6,000 employees at the Department of Corrections are covered by the Teamsters contract...
Trade
History’s largest trade agreements are being negotiated in secret Aljazeera America ...For the past four years, Froman and Selig have headed the U.S. team of unelected representatives secretly negotiating history’s two biggest trade agreements. If both treaties — drafted on behalf of 1.6 billion people — are approved, they will regulate almost three-quarters of all trade and investment in the world. The deals would void national legislation on environmental policy, labor rights, financial regulation and intellectual property...
Voters Will Oppose Politicians Who Support “NAFTA-Style” Trade Deals Trade Reform ...the polling overwhelmingly shows that the public “gets it” that these “trade” agreements have been used to send jobs out of the country and force wages down...
China's Tech Factories Turn To Student Labor Wall Street Journal ...Schools send thousands of teenagers here to put together electronic devices for some of the world's largest brands. Many students say they are given no choice. "I was suddenly told I had to spend the summer making computers or I couldn't graduate," said a 16-year-old girl surnamed Xiao...
State Battles
Early voting in Ohio blocked (UPDATED) SCOTUS Blog ...With just sixteen hours before polling stations were to open in Ohio, the Supreme Court on Monday afternoon blocked voters from beginning tomorrow to cast their ballots in this year’s general election...
Large Oil Company Bolts From ALEC National Journal ...Occidental Petroleum sent a letter Friday to an investment-management company indicating its intention to sever ties with ALEC, a conservative coalition of state legislators and major corporations that actively opposes environmental regulations...
Expedia under fire over membership to rightwing lobby group Alec Guardian ...Expedia, the world’s largest online travel company, has declined to follow the lead of other big internet firms, instead choosing to remain a member of a controversial rightwing lobby group that works against climate change legislation...
Silicon Valley's Done With American Legislative Exchange Council U.S. News ...ALEC takes a conservative, national political approach down to the state level through model bills that do the bidding of big, corporate interests which provide the funding. ALEC bills are generally promoted word for word at the state level by GOP legislators on issues ranging from information technology to renewable energy...
45 Million Americans Still Stuck Below Poverty Line: Census Huffington Post ...Median household income barely budged last year, edging up to $51,939 from $51,759 in 2012, the Census Bureau noted separately. Median income is still far from the $56,436 in 2007 and the all-time high of $56,895 in 1999...
Taxis In Washington DC Losing Their Identity With Modern Makeover As Drivers Compete With Car-Sharing App Uber ABC News ...The car-sharing service launched in San Francisco in 2010 has since gone global, invariably causing a chorus of complaint and sparking legal challenges from local cab industries...
Arguments Set This Week In Arkansas Voter ID Case Times Record ...Arkansas’ highest court is set to take up a case this week that could decide whether the state’s voters will be required to show photo identification at the polls in the November election...
War On Workers
FAA Approves Drone Use For Hollywood Productions, Sets Guidelines – Update Deadline Hollywood ...The FAA has approved the limited use of drones as camera platforms for film and TV productions, opening the skies to swarms of small, camera-mounted planes and mini-helicopters over film locations across the country. Unmanned aerial cameras are legal elsewhere in the world, but have been prohibited for commercial use in the U.S. until now...
Finally, the Truth About the A.I.G. Bailout (opinion) New York Times ...the government has never provided a plausible explanation for why the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which had enormous leverage over banks like Goldman thanks to its role as their regulator, didn’t lean on them to accept less than 100 cents on the dollar in their payouts from A.I.G...
Almost Three-Quarters Of Big Companies To Increase Outsourcing Computer Weekly ...Almost three quarters of global businesses will increase their investment in outsourced services, according to research by KPMG. The research also indicates that more firms are taking advantage of global delivery models including functions such as finance, procurement and HR delivered centrally, often offshore...
Philadelphia zoo worker killed after being pinned under golf cart, report says South Jersey Times ...The 57-year-old employee became trapped under the cart around 11 a.m. at the zoo, located on West Girdard Avenue. He was then taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he died, according to the report...
Trump Seeks Pact To End Union Pension To Save Atlantic City Casino Reuters ...Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc is seeking to impose a new contract on its unionized workers and end pension contributions as part of a plan backed by billionaire Carl Icahn to save the Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey...
Miscellaneous
NTSB: Truck showed no signs of trying to avoid North Texas softball team's bus Dallas Morning News ...National Transportation Safety Board investigators said Sunday that the truck drove through the median for 820 feet on a shallow angle before colliding with the bus. It did not brake or appear to take any action to avoid the crash. They found no apparent problems with the truck’s brakes...
Walmart Faults Tracy Morgan for Not Wearing Seatbelt During Car Accident (Exclusive) Hollywood Reporter ...Among nine affirmative defenses, Walmart says that injuries "were caused, in whole or in part, by plaintiffs' failure to properly wear an appropriate available seatbelt restraint device."...
Will More Coal, Oil Trains Rumble Through Northwest? Public News Service ...About two dozen projects have been proposed in the past two years to move the Northwest toward becoming a transportation hub for coal, oil and gas to Asia...
Gov. Brown Signs Protections For Temp Workers Into Law teamster.org ...Gov. Jerry Brown signed AB 1897 into law Sunday. The new law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, 2015, will hold companies accountable for serious violations of the rights of workers on their premises that are committed by their own labor suppliers...
Teach-in this weekend about Bill Gates' burning, radioactive landfill in Missouri TeamsterNation ...There's only one place in the country where a landfill fire smolders hundreds of away a nuclear dump site, and there are hundreds of Teamsters families living near it...
Parents, Health Officials Search For Answers About Sick Kids St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...Kirbi Pemberton pulled her 7-year-old daughter out of Rose Acres Elementary School in Maryland Heights this year over her concerns about potential health risks from the nearby radioactive West Lake Landfill...
Woot! Local 117 Teamsters ratify Fred Meyer contract! TeamsterNation ...Great news from Washington State, where our brothers and sisters from Teamsters Local 117 voted on Saturday to ratify a contract with Fred Meyer, a subsidiary of Kroger, Inc. They stood together and bargained a contract that maintains affordable health care and protects members against subcontracting...
Teamsters win arbitration award giving Corrections’ employees 9.8% raises over two years The News Tribune ...The ruling in favor of the Teamsters provides pay raises of 5.5 percent in July 2015 and another 4.3 percent in 2016 — with additional raises of 2.5 percent for select positions. About 6,000 employees at the Department of Corrections are covered by the Teamsters contract...
Trade
History’s largest trade agreements are being negotiated in secret Aljazeera America ...For the past four years, Froman and Selig have headed the U.S. team of unelected representatives secretly negotiating history’s two biggest trade agreements. If both treaties — drafted on behalf of 1.6 billion people — are approved, they will regulate almost three-quarters of all trade and investment in the world. The deals would void national legislation on environmental policy, labor rights, financial regulation and intellectual property...
Voters Will Oppose Politicians Who Support “NAFTA-Style” Trade Deals Trade Reform ...the polling overwhelmingly shows that the public “gets it” that these “trade” agreements have been used to send jobs out of the country and force wages down...
China's Tech Factories Turn To Student Labor Wall Street Journal ...Schools send thousands of teenagers here to put together electronic devices for some of the world's largest brands. Many students say they are given no choice. "I was suddenly told I had to spend the summer making computers or I couldn't graduate," said a 16-year-old girl surnamed Xiao...
State Battles
Early voting in Ohio blocked (UPDATED) SCOTUS Blog ...With just sixteen hours before polling stations were to open in Ohio, the Supreme Court on Monday afternoon blocked voters from beginning tomorrow to cast their ballots in this year’s general election...
Large Oil Company Bolts From ALEC National Journal ...Occidental Petroleum sent a letter Friday to an investment-management company indicating its intention to sever ties with ALEC, a conservative coalition of state legislators and major corporations that actively opposes environmental regulations...
Expedia under fire over membership to rightwing lobby group Alec Guardian ...Expedia, the world’s largest online travel company, has declined to follow the lead of other big internet firms, instead choosing to remain a member of a controversial rightwing lobby group that works against climate change legislation...
Silicon Valley's Done With American Legislative Exchange Council U.S. News ...ALEC takes a conservative, national political approach down to the state level through model bills that do the bidding of big, corporate interests which provide the funding. ALEC bills are generally promoted word for word at the state level by GOP legislators on issues ranging from information technology to renewable energy...
45 Million Americans Still Stuck Below Poverty Line: Census Huffington Post ...Median household income barely budged last year, edging up to $51,939 from $51,759 in 2012, the Census Bureau noted separately. Median income is still far from the $56,436 in 2007 and the all-time high of $56,895 in 1999...
Taxis In Washington DC Losing Their Identity With Modern Makeover As Drivers Compete With Car-Sharing App Uber ABC News ...The car-sharing service launched in San Francisco in 2010 has since gone global, invariably causing a chorus of complaint and sparking legal challenges from local cab industries...
Arguments Set This Week In Arkansas Voter ID Case Times Record ...Arkansas’ highest court is set to take up a case this week that could decide whether the state’s voters will be required to show photo identification at the polls in the November election...
War On Workers
FAA Approves Drone Use For Hollywood Productions, Sets Guidelines – Update Deadline Hollywood ...The FAA has approved the limited use of drones as camera platforms for film and TV productions, opening the skies to swarms of small, camera-mounted planes and mini-helicopters over film locations across the country. Unmanned aerial cameras are legal elsewhere in the world, but have been prohibited for commercial use in the U.S. until now...
Finally, the Truth About the A.I.G. Bailout (opinion) New York Times ...the government has never provided a plausible explanation for why the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which had enormous leverage over banks like Goldman thanks to its role as their regulator, didn’t lean on them to accept less than 100 cents on the dollar in their payouts from A.I.G...
Almost Three-Quarters Of Big Companies To Increase Outsourcing Computer Weekly ...Almost three quarters of global businesses will increase their investment in outsourced services, according to research by KPMG. The research also indicates that more firms are taking advantage of global delivery models including functions such as finance, procurement and HR delivered centrally, often offshore...
Philadelphia zoo worker killed after being pinned under golf cart, report says South Jersey Times ...The 57-year-old employee became trapped under the cart around 11 a.m. at the zoo, located on West Girdard Avenue. He was then taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he died, according to the report...
Trump Seeks Pact To End Union Pension To Save Atlantic City Casino Reuters ...Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc is seeking to impose a new contract on its unionized workers and end pension contributions as part of a plan backed by billionaire Carl Icahn to save the Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey...
Miscellaneous
NTSB: Truck showed no signs of trying to avoid North Texas softball team's bus Dallas Morning News ...National Transportation Safety Board investigators said Sunday that the truck drove through the median for 820 feet on a shallow angle before colliding with the bus. It did not brake or appear to take any action to avoid the crash. They found no apparent problems with the truck’s brakes...
Walmart Faults Tracy Morgan for Not Wearing Seatbelt During Car Accident (Exclusive) Hollywood Reporter ...Among nine affirmative defenses, Walmart says that injuries "were caused, in whole or in part, by plaintiffs' failure to properly wear an appropriate available seatbelt restraint device."...
Will More Coal, Oil Trains Rumble Through Northwest? Public News Service ...About two dozen projects have been proposed in the past two years to move the Northwest toward becoming a transportation hub for coal, oil and gas to Asia...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)