Remember in November: Senators who voted 'yes' on the Bring Jobs Home Act

The Bring Jobs Home Act failed in the Senate last week. It would have eliminated tax breaks for corporations that move U.S. jobs overseas and given them tax incentives for moving them back.

A no-brainer, right?

Well, 42 U.S. senators voted against the bill. (Draw your own conclusion.)

You might want to send a thank-you email to the 56 senators who voted FOR the bill.

Here are the 56:

Dan Akaka (D-HI); Max Baucus (D-MT); Mark Begich (D-AK); Michael Bennet (D-CO); Jeff Bingaman (D-NM); Richard Blumenthal (D-CT); Barbara Boxer (D-CA); Sherrod Brown (D-OH); Scott Brown (R-MA); Maria Cantwell (D-WA); Ben Cardin (D-MD); Bob Carper (D-DE); Bob Casey (D-PA); Susan Collins (R-ME); Kent Conrad (D-ND); Christopher Coons (D-DE); Dick Durbin (D-IL); Dianne Feinstein (D-CA); Al Franken (D-MN); Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY); Kay Hagan (D-NC); Tom Harkin (D-IA); Dean Heller (R-NV); Dan Inouye (D-HI); Tim Johnson (D-SD); John Kerry (D-MA); Amy Klobuchar (D-MN); Mary Landrieu (D-LA); Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ); Patrick Leahy (D-VT); Carl Levin (D-MI); Joe Lieberman (ID-CT); Joe Manchin (D-WV); Claire McCaskill (D-MO); Bob Menendez (D-NJ); Jeff Merkley (D-OR); Barbara Mikulski (D-MD); Patty Murray (D-WA); Bill Nelson (D-FL); Ben Nelson (D-NE); Mark Pryor (D-AR); Jack Reed (D-RI); Harry Reid (D-NV); Jay Rockefeller (D-WV); Bernie Sanders (I-VT); Chuck Schumer (D-NY); Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH); Olympia Snowe (R-ME); Debbie Stabenow (D-MI); Jon Tester (D-MT); Mark Udall (D-CO); Tom Udall (D-NM); Mark Warner (D-VA); Jim Webb (D-VA); Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI); Ron Wyden (D-OR).

Send them an email here. Your message can be as simple as this:

Thank you for supporting the Bring Jobs Home Act and voting "YES" for cloture. It is common sense that we should only be rewarding companies that keep jobs here in America, not those that ship them overseas. 

Thank you again for taking a stand on this issue.

Today's Teamster News 07.20.12

GOP senators block top Obama jobs initiative  CNN   ...Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked the No.1 item on the president's congressional "to-do-list," refusing to allow a vote on a bill that would give tax breaks for companies that "insource" jobs to the U.S. from overseas while eliminating tax deductions for companies that move jobs abroad...
Study: Millions in voter ID nightmare  Politico   ...In the states with significant voter ID laws, more than 10 million eligible citizens live 10 or more miles from an office issuing the proper photo IDs and about half a million of those voters don’t have access to a vehicle, according to a study...
Wisconsin is still a leader…in job losses  Badger Democracy   ...Wisconsin (population 5.7 million) is number 4 in initial unemployment claims – behind New York (population 19.4 million), Michigan (population 9.8 million) , Ohio (population 11.5 million), and Pennsylvania (population 12.7 million) – all states with significantly larger populations...
Hostess hothouse  New York Post   ...The two sides are expected to meet in court today to show the judge they are making progress...
Teamsters plan fourth annual food drive to benefit County families  Bangor Daily News   ...Members of the South Portland-based Teamsters Local 340 are once again planning a statewide food drive to benefit Aroostook County families.,,
Canada's Raitt names arbitrator in CP Rail labour dispute  Reuters   ...Canadian Labour Minister Lisa Raitt named William Kaplan as the arbitrator in the dispute between the Canadian Pacific Railway and Teamsters Canada Rail Conference...

Today's Teamster News 07.19.12

Senate set to vote on Stabenow's Bring Jobs Home Act  MLive   ...The "Bring Jobs Home Act," which is No. 1 on President Barack Obama's "to do" list, would pay American companies for businesses costs – and provide a 20 percent credit on expenses – when they close operations abroad and bring work back to the U.S. It would also close a "loophole" that allows employers to obtain a tax credit when shutting down operations here and shipping jobs overseas...
Survey: More Believe College Education A Bad Investment  WKBN.com   ...According to a national survey, 57 percent of adults think college is a good investment, down from 81 percent just four years ago...
L.A. 'slumlord' suit targets U.S. Bank  StarTribune   ...The Los Angeles city attorney's office has filed a lawsuit that accuses U.S. Bancorp of becoming "one of the largest slumlords in the city" and allowing hundreds of foreclosed properties to deteriorate into junk houses...
Governor Brown signs California high-speed rail bill, calls critics 'NIMBYs,' 'fearful men'  San Jose Mercury News   ...With his most public cheerleading yet for California's bullet train, Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday signed the $8 billion bill to kick off high-speed rail construction and showed no sign he was worried about voters' increasing skepticism for the rail line...
Judge rules in favor of picketing Teamsters  The Press-Enterprise   ...A Riverside County Superior Court commissioner has denied Anheuser-Busch’s request for an injunction that would have limited the time that striking Teamsters workers could block vehicles leaving and entering the company’s Riverside distribution center...
Teamsters Fight Poor, Degraded Working and Living Conditions in Cook County Jail  Teamster Local 700   ...This extreme heat, combined with unsanitary conditions and outbreaks of bedbugs, leaves both Officers and inmates at a serious risk for heat exhaustion and disease...
Leading Proxy Voting Advisors Support Teamster Call For Independent Board Leadership At Republic Airways  IBT   ...the country's two leading proxy voting advisory services--ISS and Glass Lewis--have recommend support for a Teamster shareholder proposal at Republic Airways Holdings [Nasdaq: RJET] that calls for an independent chairman of the board of directors. Currently, Bryan Bedford serves as both CEO and chairman of the board...

Bring Jobs Home Act vote in Senate tomorrow

Please call your senators (just follow this link) and tell them to vote "yes" on a procedural vote to end the Republican filibuster of the Bring Jobs Home Act.

The bill would end tax breaks for companies that outsource jobs. Instead, it would help pay for the cost of bringing those jobs home to the United states.

President Obama put out a statement today urging the Senate to pass the bill, which:

...serves to discourage outsourcing in all sectors of the economy, but particularly in our manufacturing sector.  Following a decade in which the United States lost over 5 million manufacturing jobs, the Nation has begun to make progress.  Over the past 28 months, the U.S. manufacturing sector has added roughly 500,000 new jobs, the fastest pace of manufacturing job growth since 1995.  Instead of rewarding firms for shifting production and jobs overseas, the tax code should strengthen the domestic manufacturing sector, support job growth and innovation, and encourage companies from all sectors of the economy to invest in the United States. 

We know we don't need to persuade you to support this bill. But we'd thought you'd like a little inspiration from the video above.

Hoffa to Senate: Bring jobs home now

Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa wants Congress to stop outsourcing and bring American jobs back to America.

Hoffa wrote a letter to the Senate in support of the Bring Jobs Home Act (S. 3364), which will be introduced on the Senate floor this month.

Hoffa wrote:

S. 3364 would reward companies with a tax credit for up to 20% of the expenses they incur for eliminating a business located outside the United States and relocating it within the U.S. – and bring jobs back to America.

This is a common-sense bill that would get rid of the perverse tax incentives to move American jobs overseas.

Last week we told you about the Bring Jobs Home Act and the joint effort by labor and community groups to tell Congress to pass the bill. A vote on S. 3364 is expected to happen next week.

For American workers who are still suffering from high unemployment and an economy that can't create enough new jobs, the Bring Jobs Home Act is a no-brainer.

And that’s exactly what Hoffa told the Senate:

Over the last decade, the U.S. has lost more manufacturing jobs than during the Great Depression. That’s 50,000 facilities and nearly six million manufacturing jobs gone. With unemployment rates still unacceptably high, working families continue to struggle. We have to end this exodus of good jobs and cannot permit our manufacturing base to continue to erode.

Teamsters have been active in the campaign to support the Bring Jobs Home Act. On Wednesday, Georgia Teamsters linked up with religious leaders and elected officials for a press event on the bill.

The Teamsters continue to urge everyone to tell their senators to support this legislation. It’s time to make the Bring Jobs Home Act the law and put the flow of outsourcing in reverse.

-- Union Thug

Teamsters fight to bring jobs home, end war on workers

Georgia Teamsters, elected officials and a religious leader held a press conference last week to bring attention to the Bring Jobs Home Act. The event was held in front of a closed plant where jobs were shipped overseas. Speakers urged rebuilding of our economy ending the offshoring of jobs offshore.

The AFL-CIO Blog tells us:

In Savannah, Ga., last week, union and community activists used the site of a closed Air Liquide plan—the firm shuttered then shipped the jobs to Mexico—to highlight the urgent need to pass the Bring Jobs Home Act. 

Savannah City Alderman Carolyn Bell said: 

We have the talent and the skilled work force to compete with anyone, anywhere in the world, as long as we have a level playing field.

Pittsburgh union activists held a rally today to support the bill. Reports Essential Public Radio:

Toting signs reading “Bring Jobs Home,” several dozen labor activists crowded the lawn of the United Steelworkers building on Monday to demand passage for U.S. Senate Bill 2884... 

The bill would end tax incentives for companies that move their workforces overseas. Under the legislation, tax credits would be given to companies who move jobs back to the United States. 

At the end of the rally, the activists walked from the USW building to Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey’s office, to demand that he support the so-called Bring Jobs Home Act.