Former SEC members call out agency for inaction on corporate contributions

Secret corporate political spending is a scourge on U.S. democracy. And despite inaction by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the matter, a bipartisan collection of former SEC members are speaking out saying something has to be done now.

The Teamsters joined with others to call out the SEC last fall.

In a letter sent today to SEC Chairman Mary Jo White, former SEC Chairmen William Donaldson (R) and Arthur Levitt (D), as well as former SEC Commissioner Bevis Longstreth (D) said it is time for the agency to put in place mandatory political spending disclosure laws so that investors know about corporations' giving practices.

They noted when the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in the 2010 Citizens United case, the court expected the SEC to issue rules that would give investors transparency on the company donations. And a petition signed by a record-breaking 1.2 million people also called for intervention. The three wrote:

To date, the Court’s expectation of disclosure, which can only be assured by SEC rule, has been denied. It is now five years since Citizens United and almost four years since Petition 4-637 was filed. The Commission’s inaction is inexplicable. Its failure to act offends not only us, who are alumni of this agency struggling to retain our deep pride of association, but investors and the professionals who serve them. And it flies in the face of the primary mission of the Commission, which has since 1934 been the protection of investors. To use a metaphor, mandatory disclosure of corporate political activities should be a “slam dunk” for the Commission.

The Teamsters have been outspoken critics of this inaction as well. Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa wrote in a Reuters column a year ago:

Companies increasingly are playing an outsized role in U.S. elections. In many cases, they donate money to advocate controversial policies that could antagonize their customers and undermine their businesses. Because so many of these contributions are not disclosed, however, shareholders are left in the dark and unable to evaluate potential conflicts or risks.

That's not how it should be. Unions need to disclose their contributions. And millions of people making retirement investments have a right to know about how the companies they’ve purchased shares in are spending their cash. Many times, political contributions end up biting corporations in the backside and cost their investors dearly. Teamsters, through affiliated pension and benefit funds, have more than $100 billion invested in capital markets. The union relies upon the SEC to ensure that as investors the Teamsters are provided accurate and transparent financial reports by the companies with whom we invest.

Government needs to be responsive to its citizenry. Corporations shouldn’t get a pass on following the same rules as organizations that represent workers.

Teamsters ask: Where is Mary Jo White, and why isn't she making corporations disclose their political contributions?

Dark money is destroying our democracy. Corporations are secretly spending hundreds of millions of dollars to buy political favors. That money comes from ordinary people and institutional investors -- like pension funds -- that invest in those corporations.

Surely investors have a right to know how the corporations they're investing in spend their political dollars.

A month-long ad campaign launched today by investors and public interest organizations aims to persuade the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to require publicly traded corporations to disclose their political spending. The campaign features comic-book style posters at heavily traveled Union Station, which is near the SEC. In the ads, illustrations of frightened investors and voters call on SEC Chair Mary Jo White to save them from monsters that have taken shareholder democracy hostage.

The Teamsters are supporting the ad campaign -- for good reason. The union invests more than $100 billion in the capital markets through affiliated pension and benefit funds.

“Corporations are secretly spending millions of dollars on political campaigns, and as investors, the Teamsters are concerned that we cannot evaluate potential conflicts or risks,” said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is supposed to make sure corporations are open and honest with investors about where their money goes. Five years ago, the Supreme Court opened the floodgates for massive, secret political donations in its Citizens United decisions. Ever since then, investors have been clamoring for corporations to be more open about their political spending.

A proposal to require corporations to disclose their political spending has languished before the SEC. The SEC chair, Mary Jo White,  has received more than 1 million comments supporting the proposal. And yet she hasn't done anything about it.

Rep. Michael Capuano, a Massachusetts Democrat, asked Mary Jo White about that in a recent congressional hearing. According to the New York Times, Capuano,

...observed that shareholders have a right to know how corporate cash is spent, and demanded to know why the S.E.C. has not required disclosure. Ms. White gave the same answer she has given since she became chairwoman in 2013 — essentially, that the agency is too busy with more important issues. 

Since then, however, the S.E.C. has added new issues to its agenda, while neglecting to put political-spending disclosure on its to-do list. The omission is indefensible, because the investors’ need to know will only grow as the level of anonymous giving rises.

You can help pressure the SEC to do the right thing. Follow this link to the Where Is Mary Jo White website and do as it suggests.

Today's Teamster News 03.27.15

Teamsters
Teamsters At Northwest Steel And Pipe Vote Unanimously To Strike  teamster.org   ...Teamster warehouse workers, operators, and drivers at Northwest Steel and Pipe voted unanimously to strike last night. The strike vote took place Tuesday evening outside the company’s facility in Tacoma...
Teamsters Urge Support For Sen. Sanders' Pension Amendment  teamster.org   ...“Sen. Sanders is trying to do the right thing for retired Americans who receive benefits from a multiemployer pension plan like thousands of Teamsters do...
US Foods Volume Declines While Waiting For Merger With Sysco  Chicago Tribune   ...Sysco's attempt to buy US Foods for $3.5 billion was dealt a blow in February when the Federal Trade Commission, on a 3-2 vote, sought to block the deal along with 11 attorneys general. A district court hearing on the preliminary injunction is set to begin in Washington on May 5...
Students’ mosaic to Light up the Night at autism gala  Boston Herald   ...Longtime supporters of the Teamsters Local 25 
Autism Gala know to 
expect a dazzling piece of artwork at tomorrow’s Light up the Night party. And judging from the 
effort the autistic students in Chris Hall’s art class put into their 54,000-piece 
mosaic, they won’t be disappointed...
EXCLUSIVE: NYCHA quietly sold off supplies needed for repairs and cleanup  New York Daily News   ..."They'd say they didn't have material to clean with. It was a continuous complaining and concern. They didn't have mops. They didn't have buckets," said Greg Floyd, president of Teamsters Local 237, which represents 8,000 NYCHA workers. "Now to find out that the Housing Authority was sitting on all of these things? Some of my members didn't have uniforms. Come to find out they had uniforms. They were warehousing all this material."...
Teamsters, ITF Warn Of Possible Disruptions Of LAN Airline Flights  Aero News Network   ...A number of flights of South American LAN Airlines could be affected as the unions of LAN Airlines began a series of actions on Wednesday, March 25th in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Miami...
Trade
Despite Leak Of TPP Text, Obama Officials Say Trade Deal Will Not Let Companies Overturn US Laws  International Business Times   ...Less than three weeks after a classified draft of its proposed 12-nation trade pact included provisions that critics say empower foreign companies to overturn domestic regulations, the Obama administration explicitly declared that the deal would not permit such actions...
Germany’s SPD Won’t Back Down In US Trade Talks  The Nation   ...Germany’s economy minister has promised to block any clauses in a trade deal between the European Union and the United States that go against the ideals of his centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), including investor protection clauses wanted by the Americans...
State Battles
A Rare Victory for Black Voting Rights in the South  The Nation   ...Today the Court, in a 5-4 decision written by Justice Breyer, sided with the black plaintiffs and ordered a district court in Alabama to reexamine whether specific districts, like Ross’s, were improperly drawn with race as the predominant factor...
Indiana income growth slows  Indianapolis Star   ...The income Hoosiers received last year grew slightly slower than the national average, dropping the state from 38th to 39th in per capita income, according the Bureau of Economic Analysis...
Dayton Pushes For $10 Minimum Wage For Airport Workers  Minneapolis Star Tribune   ...“They deserve it, the airline industry can afford it, and one thing about raising the minimum wage at the airport is it’s not going to be a threat to move to South Dakota or China or somewhere else. It’s our airport, it’s a public facility and it ought to better reflect the values of the citizenry.”...
War on Workers
Yes, You Should Ask For A Raise (opinion)  U.S. News and World Report   ...In 2015, nearly 5 million American workers might get a pay raise. By joining together to ask for one. Through a union. Minimum wage hikes, overtime expansion, paid sick leave and other policy improvements are important to raise wages in America. But the best way for workers to get a raise is by asking for one with a collective voice. That’s what workers do – bargain together in unions to improve our lives...
Household Debt Is A National Crisis (opinion)  Truthout   ...Family debt is no personal failing — it's a national crisis. Even as unemployment declines, the debt crisis is holding back a full economic recovery and pushing more people into poverty...
Connecticut Farm Worker Dies After Corn Collapses On Him  New York Daily News   ...A Connecticut farm worker died Monday after a pile of milled corn collapsed and buried him, police said. Donald Merchant, 54, was using equipment to move corn from a large mound at the Square A Farm in Lebanon when some of it toppled onto him when he got off the vehicle...
North Carolina DOT Worker Dead In Accident In Wayne County  WTVD   ...State officials said a North Carolina Department of Transportation worker was killed in an accident on U.S. Highway 70 in Wayne County Monday. It happened just before 11 a.m. at Capps Bridge Road. The area is west of Goldsboro...
A Campaign Finance Idea Whose Time Has Come (opinion)  Washington Post   ...The bill — also known as the Government by the People Act  — would provide House candidates with a way to raise funds without auctioning off themselves to Wall Street and K Street. If candidates chose to limit contributions to their campaigns to no more than $1,000, every contribution they received of $150 or less from residents of their state would trigger a contribution of public funds at a 6-to-1 ratio: A $100 donation would yield $600 in public funds; a $150 donation, $900. To qualify for matching funds, candidates would also have to reject contributions from political action committees, unless those PACS also raised their money in contributions of $150 or less...
Miscellaneous

Today's Teamster News 03.24.15

Teamsters
BMWED/Teamsters: Improving Track Safety Is Key To Oil Train Safety  teamster.org   ...“The key to reducing the frequency of oil train derailments plaguing North America is improved track maintenance,” says Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division President Freddie N. Simpson...
Teamsters, Rhode Island Hospital Forge Tentative Agreement  NPR   ...The Teamsters Union Local 251 and Rhode Island Hospital management have reached a tentative agreement on a four-year contract that the union says will bring $19 million in improved wages and benefits to workers at the Lifespan hospital network...
Sysco, US Foods To Reveal FTC Informants  The Packer   ...Defense attorneys representing Sysco Corp. and US Foods Inc. plan to reveal the names and employers of 92 people who provided information to the Federal Trade Commission for its anti-trust investigation into the foodservice suppliers’ merger...
Teamsters And Technology: Developing Labor Issues For Technology Industry Employers  National Law Review   ...Unions have been using this discontent to increase  their  influence in the TMT industry. Facebook’s shuttle bus drivers voted to unionize this past November and ratified a first contract on February 21 of this year. On February 27th shuttle bus drivers employed by a contractor that provides shuttle services for Apple, eBay, Yahoo, and Zynga employees voted to be represented by the Teamsters...
Trade
TPP Facing Stiff Opposition In Congress (opinion)  Denver Post   ...Keen to reach a trade deal with 11 other countries along the Pacific Rim, the Obama administration is actively engaged in intense negotiations. But the proposed deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal (TPP) — the largest such accord since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) — is facing stiff opposition in Congress, primarily from Democrats...
State Battles
Labor groups fear `union Armageddon' in Nevada Legislature  Associated Press   ...Despite union protests, a bevy of bills to weaken collective bargaining and restructure public employee pensions remain on the legislative agenda, including one scheduled for a hearing Wednesday that labor groups call the "Union Armageddon Bill."...
Oil Giant BP Drops Membership With ALEC  National Journal   ... Major oil-and-gas corporation BP announced Monday it is parting ways with the American Legislative Exchange Council, marking just the latest—and likely most significant—departure of a blue-chip company from the conservative group in recent months, National Journal has learned. Major oil-and-gas corporation BP announced Monday it is parting ways with the American Legislative Exchange Council, marking just the latest—and likely most significant—departure of a blue-chip company from the conservative group in recent months, National Journal has learned...
Minimum Wage Increase Killing Seattle Restaurants? Anatomy Of A Lie From Inside The Bubble  Forbes   ...Never mind that not so much as one of the restaurant closings discussed in the original piece referenced the coming rise in minimum wage as a reason for their decision to shutter their business. And never mind that the owner of one of the four eateries discussed is currently opening two new restaurants in Seattle. It was a headline that opponents of the citywide minimum wage increase could not resist—and the facts could not be allowed to stand in the way...
'It's a disgrace': civil liberties groups in frantic bid to stop Wisconsin voter ID law  Guardian   ...Civil liberties campaigners filed an emergency motion on Monday to stop Wisconsin’s “disenfranchising” new voter identification requirements from going into effect, setting up an instant showdown after the US supreme court turned away an appeal to throw out Wisconsin’s controversial law that forces people already registered to vote to show photo ID...
New St. Louis County Health Chief Promises To Study Bridgeton Landfill Effects  St. Louis Post Dispatch   ...St. Louis County’s new health director made it clear that his department would be more involved in the issues stemming from the smoldering landfill here, promising first a new survey of residents’ health conditions...
War on Workers
If We Don't Overturn Citizens United, the Congress Will Become Paid Employees Of The Billionaire Class (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...Who are those members of Congress elected with the help of billionaires going to be representing? Do you think they're going to be representing the middle class and working families? The answers seem clear to me. Unless the campaign financing system is reformed, the U.S. Congress will become paid employees of the people who pay for their campaigns -- the billionaire class. Needless to say, not everyone on the Committee agreed. It was an interesting and informative debate. Not one Republican supported the amendment and it lost by a 12-10 vote...
Miscellaneous
Congress Won’t Tackle NSA Reform Before Cybersecurity  National Journal   ...Congress likely needs to pass cybersecurity legislation before it can pave the way to addressing the National Security Agency bulk collection of American phone records, despite the looming June expiration of a key surveillance authority, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee says...

Today's Teamster News 01.22.15

Teamsters
Hunts Point Teamsters Vote To Ratify Contract, Call For City Investment  teamster.org   … Workers at Hunts Point Market voted to approve a new, three-year contract today, with 97 percent of workers voting "yes." The 1,300 workers, members of Teamsters Local 202, will receive significant wage increases in each year of the contract...
Teamsters' Partnership Trains Veterans For CDLs  teamster.org   …The Teamsters, the U.S. Army and ABF Freight formally entered into a partnership today which provides for commercial driver's license training for military personnel that are transitioning to civilian life...
Effingham County Quickly Reaches Contract With Union  Effingham Daily News   ...After the Effingham County Board approved a new contract with the Teamsters Union on Tuesday, board Chairman Jim Niemann announced that negotiations with both the Teamsters, which represents Highway Department employees, and the Laborers, who represent county employees in a variety of departments, lasted less than an hour each...
NRMCA Names New Jersey Man 2015 Driver Of The Year  NRMCA   ...[Edward] Rieper, whose home plant is located in Bogota, N.J., was honored for his career achievements, outstanding safety record, professionalism, driving competency and customer service skills. He has worked for Eastern Concrete Materials for more than 29 years, and is a proud member of Teamsters Local 560. “I am very proud of Eddie’s accomplishments,” says Teamsters Local 560 President, Tony Valdner. “It is a testament to the professionalism at Eastern Concrete and their drivers as a whole.”...
Trade
Democrats to fight Obama on secret trade deal authorization  RT   …Congress knows little about the specifics of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement (TPP) trade deal between 12 Asia-Pacific countries, but President Obama used his State of the Union speech to push Congress to support a fast-track vote on the deal...
Troubled TTIP Isn't The Only 'Trade' Takeover Busting Our Sovereignty (opinion)  Common Dreams   ...Even as controversial 'trade' deal, TTIP, sputters, other deals to give corporations as much power as countries are being negotiated even more secretively....
Report Says TTIP Would Undermine Toxic Pesticide Regulations  Manufacturing.net   ...Many Europeans have voiced  concerns that the new agreement will lower the EU’s standards for environmental and food safety, and a new report by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) takes aim at just that — saying that proposals for TTIP could translate into more pesticides making their way into EU food markets...
State Battles
DAVID ROSMAN: Right to work is not right for Missouri (opinion)  Missourian   …As of Jan. 18, more than a half-dozen proposed laws and two state House joint resolutions have been filed concerning the limitations of organizing labor unions. There will be more shortly. All are wrong for the conduct of business in Missouri...
Missouri businesses seek to curb cities’ powers on minimum wage, discrimination  The Kansas City Star   …The chamber is focused on a three-pronged agenda. It wants to ban local governments from implementing discrimination laws that are stricter than the state’s. It wants to prohibit cities from boosting their minimum wage. And it wants to ban cities from mandating benefits such as vacation or sick leave...
Opposition to ‘Right to Work’ measure grows, debate not likely before April elections  Wisconsin Gazette   …A group of business leaders opposed to making Wisconsin a so-called right-to-work state announced 50 new members this week...
Should West Virginia Repeal the Prevailing Wage?  West Virginia Public Broadcasting   …President of the West Virginia AFL-CIO Kenny Perdue disagreed with Cole's position, saying a repeal of the wage could bring in out-of-state contractors and developers with their own workforce at lower wages forcing West Virginians out of their jobs...
[Gov. Susana] Martinez supports right-to-work legislation  Associated Press   …opponents say such measures are an attack on unions and won’t create jobs or save the state any money...
Michigan Supreme Court Hears Challenge to States Right to Work Law  The National Law Review   …in UAW v. Green, Case No. 147700 ... the United Autoworkers (UAW) filed to challenge the application of Michigan’s Right to Work law to 35,000 State employees. The UAW has been arguing that Michigan’s Right to Work law does not apply to state employees who are under the jurisdiction of and whose wages are set by the Michigan Civil Service Commission...
State Ed Department: Brownback’s Budget Cuts $127.4 Million From Schools  Wichita Eagle   ...Gov. Sam Brownback’s proposed budget represents about a $127.4 million cut in schools’ regular K-12 operating funds from this fiscal year to next year, according to a report released Tuesday by the state Department of Education...
Rick Scott's FDLE Scandal Blows Open, Demands Probe (opinion)   ...For those who missed it, the former head of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement — 35-year-veteran Gerald Bailey — has started spilling the beans. Bailey portrays Scott and his staff as a group of unethical, hard-core politicos who would go to great lengths — willing even to fabricate a criminal investigation — to get themselves out of a jam...
War on Workers
DeFazio Pledges To Push Back Against Mexico Truck Program  The Trucker   ...The ranking member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has made it known he is not comfortable with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s decision to open the United States border to Mexican-domiciled trucking companies...
How The Trucking Industry Could Be Vastly More Efficient  Citylab   ...Meet Transfix, a start-up that fashions itself "Uber for trucks."...
Wireless device in two million cars wide open to hacking  ars technica   …An electronic dongle used to connect to the onboard diagnostic systems of more than two million cars and trucks contains few defenses against hacking, an omission that makes them vulnerable to wireless attacks that take control of a vehicle, according to published reports. US-based Progressive Insurance said it has used the SnapShot device in more than two million vehicles since 2008. The dongle tracks users' driving to help determine if they qualify for lower rates…
Five Years On, Citizens United Is Worse Than Anyone Imagined (opinion)  St. Louis Post-Dispatch   ...A hundred years from now, after it’s been reversed, Citizens United will be regarded, with Dred Scott v. Sandford and Plessy v. Ferguson, as one of the most anti-democratic decisions the court ever made...
Help wanted: Fast food cashier, $15 an hour  ScienceDaily   …Researchers from the University of Massachusetts Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) have released a working paper verifying the ability of American fast food restaurants to more than double the minimum wage of their lowest paid workers to $15 an hour over a four-year period without causing the widespread employment losses and decline in profits often cited by critics of such increases...
Construction worker killed while directing traffic on Cahaba River Road  Alabama's 13   …[Chance Richard] Rollan was directing traffic in the back of the construction site on Cahaba River Road when he was struck from behind by a vehicle.  According to Lt. Edwards the vehicle was driven by a 23-year-old female. She told investigators at the scene that she was leaning over to pick up her coffee when she veered off the road and struck Rollan...
Construction worker dies after fall down Manhattan elevator shaft  New York Daily News   …Frank Dragotta, 61 of Morganville, N.J., fell one story from the second floor inside the W. 70th St. building near Columbus Ave. at about 8:45 a.m...
Miscellaneous
4 GOP Hopefuls Expected To Attend Koch Event  Politico   ...Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida, and Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin received coveted invitations to speak to the vaunted network assembled by the billionaire industrialist megadonors Charles and David Koch, the sources said...

Franken: Put Citizens United in the dumpster of bad ideas

January 20 marks the fifth anniversary of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, which declared corporations are people and can spend as much as they want to influence elections.

The corporate purchase of many, many politicians soon followed. And now we see them checking off items on the corporate wish list. Right-to-work laws were passed in states and, in Kentucky, even in counties. Congress attacked Social Security on Day One of the 2015 session. Corporate-owned schools are replacing public schools at a sickening pace.

U.S. Sen. Al Franken published a terrific blog post about his dismay over Citizens United. In it, the Minnesota senator calls Citizens United one of the worst decisions ever by the Supreme Court:

It created just the kind of opportunity special interest groups and shadowy billionaires had been hoping for – a legal way to funnel tens, even hundreds of millions of dollars into American elections. And in many cases, the actors are completely anonymous. 

Consider the numbers. 2008 was the last presidential election year before Citizens United, and outside groups spent about $338 million. In 2012 — the first presidential election of the Citizens United era — outside groups spent a staggering $1.03 billion on elections, and nearly all of that increase came from so-called “independent expenditures.” 

The Supreme Court based its decision on the idea that spending by outside groups, including corporations, will not and cannot give rise to corruption — or even to the appearance of corruption. The Court shred decades of established law with that conclusion. And follow-up cases like SpeechNow.org v. FEC and McCutcheon v. FEC have led us even further down the unlimited-corporate-spending rabbit hole. 

It’s been five years. In those five years, we’ve seen our elections get nastier, and we’ve watched the American people slide from skepticism of Washington to outright contempt. 

And I think they have every right to be upset — corporations pour money into politics, and the policy discussion takes a decidedly pro-corporate tilt, while the voices of middle class families are drowned out. If that’s not corruption, or at least the appearance of corruption, then I don’t know what is. 

As long as Citizens United remains on the books, any campaign finance reforms will be half-measures. We will be lopping off the leaves of the weed, while its roots sink deeper and deeper.

Franken says there are three things we can do:  1. Wait for the Supreme Court to overturn the decision. Not gonna happen anytime soon. 2. Pass a constitutional amendment to overturn the decision. Not gonna happen soon either. 3. Sign a petition to demand Congress overturn Citizens United.

Click here for option 3.

Today's Teamster News 10.15.14

Teamster News

Teamsters Make History With First Ever Organizing Victory At FedEx Freight  teamster.org   ...A group of 47 drivers at FedEx Freight's East Philadelphia terminal in Croydon, Penn. made history today when they overwhelmingly voted to join Teamsters Local 107 in Philadelphia...
Philadelphia FedEx Freight Drivers Vote to Unionize  Wall Street Journal   ...A group of Philadelphia FedEx Freight drivers voted on Tuesday to join a local Teamsters union, a landmark move for the company’s drivers who are seeking improved working conditions...
Mexican trucking pilot expires  Capital Press   ...The Teamsters Union, citing safety and job loss concerns, opposed the pilot program...
Hoffa: Mexican Cross-Border Trucking Program Has Failed  teamster.org   ...After spending tens of millions of dollars over the past three years to monitor and inspect trucks domiciled in Mexico, the Mexican Cross-Border Trucking Program ends today...
SEPTA, Rail Engineers Reach Tentative Agreement  Philadelphia Inquirer   ...Negotiators for SEPTA and Regional Rail locomotive engineers reached a tentative agreement, which will avert a possible commuter rail strike if the pact is accepted by the engineers and the SEPTA board...
State Asks Bridgeton Landfill Owners To Do More To Keep Fire From Spreading  St. Louis Post-Dispatch   ...The owners of the Bridgeton Landfill need to step up their efforts to keep an underground fire from reaching nuclear waste at the adjacent West Lake Landfill, according to a letter released Monday by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources...
Sysco Plying FTC To Save US Foods Deal  New York Post   ...Executives at Sysco, the nation’s No. 1 food supplier to restaurants and schools, are talking with government regulators in an attempt to save the company’s $3.5 billion purchase of US Foods, The Post has learned...
Trade
Anti-TTIP Demonstrations Seize European Capitals  EurActiv   ...Some 400 activist groups marched all over Europe on Saturday (11 October) in protest against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), as the EU-US trade deal crystallises opposition to a wide variety of issues – from shale gas to corporate finance...
State Battles
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker Doesn't Think The Minimum Wage 'Serves A Purpose'  Huffington Post   ...Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) on Tuesday bluntly put into words how he feels about the minimum wage. "Well, I'm not going to repeal it," he said in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "but I don't think it serves a purpose…
Philly Teachers Say They Already Give To Keep Schools Afloat  Philadelphia Inquirer   ...Inez Campbell has paid for students' medicine. Kimberly Lent has footed the bill for prom tickets and class dues. Sharnae Wilson bought her own copier because her school's machine doesn't always work. Emily Cohen has shelled out for enough books to fill a small library. For decades, Philadelphia School District teachers, counselors, nurses, school psychologists, and others made a trade-off, they say...
War on Workers
Nurses at Texas hospital: 'There were no protocols' about Ebola  CNN   ...A union made troubling allegations Tuesday about the Texas hospital where a nurse contracted Ebola, claiming "guidelines were constantly changing" and "there were no protocols" about how to deal with the deadly virus."...
Second Texas health-care worker tests positive for Ebola  USA Today   ...A second hospital worker who helped care for Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan has tested positive for the disease, the Texas Department of State Health Services said in a statement early Wednesday...
Union Urges Protection for Federal Workers at Possible Risk for Ebola Exposure  Government Executive   ...A federal employee union is urging agencies to “take all necessary measures” to protect government employees working at the country’s ports of entry from possible exposure to the Ebola virus...
Construction worker dies after Sept. crash  Toledo Blade   ...A construction worker critically injured last month in a crash on the Anthony Wayne Trail in Maumee died Monday...
Sharp rise in contract workers killed on the job  wsws.org   ...Last year 734 contract workers were killed on the job in the US...The Bureau of Labor Statistics only began keeping figures on the deaths of contract workers in 2011. But in that short time there has already been a dramatic increase in the number of such workers killed. In 2012, 715 contract workers died in on-the-job accidents, up from 542 in 2011...
Koch Donors Uncloaked  Politico   ...New York hedge fund billionaire Bob Mercer wrote the largest check — $2.5 million — followed by Charles and David Koch, who each stroked $2 million checks from trusts in their names. The group received $1 million apiece from Arkansas poultry producer Ronnie Cameron, Wisconsin roofing billionaire Diane Hendricks and Nebraska trucking magnate Clarence Werner...
Walmart’s Cuts To Worker Compensation Are Self-Defeating  Al Jazeera America   ...Walmart is cutting worker compensation — again. The stealthy way the giant retailer is cutting pay for most of its 1.4 million American workers not only throws sand in the gears of the nation’s economic engine but also misleads investors by disguising the company’s weakening finances...
Miscellaneous
Oil Keeps Crashing  Business Insider   ...This is just unbelievable what's happening in oil. Every day it's crashing. Markets are drifting lower overall, contributing to the general "risk off", deflationary-winds vibe. But man, oil! It's close to breaking below $80...
Uber Just Got A Failing Grade From The Better Business Bureau  Jalopnik   ...The heart of the BBB's charge apparently lies in Uber's "surge pricing" model, where the company charges you enormous amounts of money for a ride exactly when you need it most, like when they charged more than seven times the normal rate during a blizzard, or five times the normal rate during a busy conference...

Today's Teamster News 09.12.14

Teamster News
Possible Teamster strike could hit Fred Meyer  Puget Sound Business Journal   ...According to the union, contract talks between its 400 warehouse workers and Fred Meyer broke off last night, with no more talks scheduled. The contract expired on July 12...
Bargaining Between Teamsters And Fred Meyer Breaks Off In Seattle  teamster.org   ...Key issues in bargaining are health care and Fred Meyer’s insistence on language that would allow the company to outsource the workers’ jobs to a third-party subcontractor...
The Link Between Tracy Morgan's Tragic Accident And Trucker Pay  Think Progress   ...International Brotherhood of Teamsters Legislative Director Fred McLuckie explained in an interview. “In a lot of cases compensation isn’t that good, it’s fairly low, so they need their hours behind the wheel to make a living,” he said...
City Council Wavers On De Blasio's Horse-Carriage Ban  Wall Street Journal   ...Demos Demopoulos, secretary-treasurer for Teamsters Local 553, the union that represents the drivers, said the job losses would be severe. "It's 300 hundred people, 300 families will lose their livelihoods," he said...
The Teamsters of New York Are Speaking Out About Climate Change  Huffington Post   ... Drought, rising sea levels, and superstorms like Hurricane Sandy have shown us that climate change is here, and the people hit hardest are workers...
Trade
TISA, the newest bad trade deal, threatens US public and commercial services workers  TeamsterNation   ... TISA is a mega-deal involving many countries. It could lower wages and working conditions for workers who provide services, such as locomotive engineers, airline pilots, bus drivers, truck drivers and warehouse workers. Worse, the TISA could take away their jobs...
Millions (including 67 Teamster affiliates) tell Sen. Wyden to say 'no' to Fast Track  TeamsterNation   ... Congress should not rubber stamp trade deals negotiated in secret, a key U.S. senator was told today in a letter signed by 600 organizations (including 67 Teamsters affiliates and the IBT, of course) representing tens of millions of Americans...
Chances Of A TPP Agreement By Year’s End Fading  The Diplomat   ...As negotiations stand right now there is little chance of the TPP being finalized by the end of the year, and quite possibly for much longer...
US Military Bans 'Made In China' American Flags  Business Insider   ...California Rep. Mike Thompson, a Vietnam War veteran and Purple Heart recipient, wrote the legislation that requires any flag purchased by the Defense Department to be 100-percent made in America...
State Battles
Atlanta Taxi Drivers File Lawsuit Against Uber  WXIA   ...A group of Atlanta taxi drivers is lashing out in a lawsuit naming specific Uber drivers and the company as a whole...
Maine Hard Hit As Stagnant Wages Leave Average Workers Behind (opinion)  Portland Press Herald   ...The recovery, though, is not universal, not yet. Even if the overall signs trend positive, the average worker, particularly here in Maine, is being left behind...
N.J. Rating Cut by S&P as Christie Gets Record Downgrade  Bloomberg   ...New Jersey had its credit rating cut one step by Standard & Poor’s, handing Chris Christie his eighth downgrade, the most ever for a Garden State governor...
Michigan's 'Foreclosure King' Is Trying to Win a Seat in Congress  New Republic   ...The ad dubbed Trott the “foreclosure king,” and criticized him for evicting 101-year-old Texana Hollis, throwing her out into rainy streets at night and tossing her medication in a dumpster...
Executive behind voter fraud billboards sought Scott Walker advice  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ..."As we've seen throughout the criminal investigation of Scott Walker's administration and campaign, he is front and center and directing the operations," Ross said. "The email shows Scott Walker was involved from the start in the voter intimidation billboard effort financed by his campaign co-chair..."
War On Workers
Senate Republicans Quash Citizens United Amendment  Progress Illinois   ...Republicans in the Senate stopped a constitutional amendment on Thursday that would have effectively overturned the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision on political spending...
Conservatives want taxpayers to subsidize low-wage employers  The Hill   ...The EITC is a tax-payer financed subsidy that enables some employers to pay wages so low that workers are forced into poverty. In fact, the EITC helps employers who pay low wages in another way as well. The supplement to workers’ pay acts as an incentive for more workers to be willing to take low wage jobs. That increases the labor supply and drives down the wages of low-paid workers...
House collapse that killed 19-year-old worker involved underpinning  Toronto Star   ...The house was undergoing a type of basement renovation called “underpinning” that has caused other downtown houses to tumble down in recent years...
Switching Sides   East Bay Express   ...California Deputy Attorney General Benjamin Diehl's job was to prosecute banks for defrauding the public. Now he works for them...
Some Retail Workers Find Better Deals With Unions  New York Times   ...So what makes this Macy’s store so different? Its employees are represented by a union, which has insisted on stability in scheduling for its members. (Union workers enjoy similar scheduling arrangements at the Bloomingdale’s, H&M and Modell’s Sporting Goods stores in Manhattan.)...
Walmart Imposes New Employee Dress Code, Suggests Where To Shop For It  Al Jazeera America   ...Effective September 29, Walmart retail workers, or sales "associates," will have to put some of their meager hourly pay toward new clothes...
Chipotle Workers Shut Down Store Over 'Borderline Sweatshop Conditions'  Huffington Post   ...A Chipotle near Pennsylvania State University shut down on Wednesday after managers reportedly quit over brutal work hours and understaffing. A sign posted on the door to the eatery said that most employees resigned in protest of their "borderline sweatshop conditions." Below the message read: “People over profits.”...
U.S. threatened massive fine to force Yahoo to release data  Washington Post   ...The U.S. government threatened to fine Yahoo $250,000 a day in 2008 if it failed to comply with a broad demand to hand over user communications — a request the company believed was unconstitutional — according to court documents unsealed Thursday that illuminate how federal officials forced American tech companies to participate in the National Security Agency’s controversial PRISM program...

How did your senators vote on stopping billionaires from buying elections?

We know Mitch McConnell voted today in favor of billionaires continuing to buy elections. He said no one in Kentucky (his state) cares about it.

Really, Mitch? In May, a poll by CBS News showed something quite different. Here's what the poll found:

• 75 percent of respondents, including 63 percent of Republicans, said that the wealthy have more of a chance of influencing the electoral process.
• 71 percent of respondents, including 65 percent of Republicans, said that campaign contributions by individuals should be limited.
• 76 percent of respondents, including 65 percent of Republicans, said that spending on ads by unaffiliated groups should be limited.

The amendment failed because it needed 60 votes, and only 54 senators voted for it. Did your senators vote with the people or with the billionaires? Find out here.

Mitch McConnell does as he is told (by the Koch brothers)

Earlier this year a top Koch brothers strategist told a group of like-minded (i.e., crazy) rich people that the minimum wage leads to fascism.

This appears to be a talking point of crazy billionaires and their enablers. In March Slate reported,

Following in the footsteps of venture capitalist Tom Perkins, who in January warned that the nation might be on the verge of a “progressive Kristallnacht,” Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone is quoted in Politico today suggesting that populists worried about income inequality are … basically Nazis. 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was at the event where the Koch brothers strategist spoke. (Of course he was at the event. It was filled with people who give him lots of money.) Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid demanded McConnell repudiate those comments. He didn't.

This morning, Mitch McConnell spoke on the Senate floor to slam an effort to stop millionaires and billionaires from buying elections.

McConnell said no one in Kentucky cares about it, and that no one in our home state has asked him about it. (Really Mitch? No one cares that crazy billionaires control the political process?)

The Senate later in the day voted on a constitutional amendment that would overturn the disastrous Citizen United and McCutcheon rulings. Mitch McConnell voted against the amendment. Because it needed 60 votes to proceed, the amendment failed.

People for the American Way in Kentucky are going to rally in front of McConnell's West Louisville headquarters to tell “King Mitch” that they care about overturning Citizens United, and his brand of crony politics for millionaires and billionaires has to end.

To find out more, click here. Meanwhile, watch the video of Mitch McConnell's deer-in-the-headlights response to the question of whether he'd repudiate the Koch strategist's comments.  

Today's Teamster News 09.09.14

Teamster News
Vote On County Pay Raises In The Offing  St. Petersburg Tribune   ...The Teamsters has asked for a $15 per hour minimum. Sholtes said the request has nothing to do with a national movement among fast-food workers for a $15 minimum wage. The union used data from the living wage calculator, which sets the minimum hourly wage at $15 to support two adults and $9.63 for one adult...
EVSC board votes to accept Teamsters contract  14 News   ...Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation board members voted Monday night to accept the contracts of several employee groups, including the Teamsters Union. Members of Teamsters Local 215 includes custodians, bus drivers, bus aids, and secretaries...
Teamsters Port Division Assisting Truck Drivers Fired By TTSI  teamster.org   ...On Wednesday evening, Sept. 3, 2014, at least thirty-three (33) port truck drivers who participated in recent unfair labor practice strikes and filed “wage and hour” claims with the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) were fired by their employer, Total Transportation Services Inc. (TTSI), when they refused to acquiesce to the company’s illegal demand to withdraw their claims for wage theft as misclassified “independent contractors.”...
Trade
The Transatlantic Trade And Investment Partnership: Getting The Criticism Right  The Journal   ...As an investment agreement, the TTIP is probably bad for everyone whose name does not end in Ltd, Plc, or something similar...
China’s Runaway Steel Industry  Trade Reform   ...production capacity for China’s steel industry has grown by an astonishing 200 million tons since late 2012, to 1.1 billion tons today. (By contrast, the entire U.S. steel industry produced only 87 million tons in 2013.) Yet first half domestic consumption of steel stands at 376.1 million tons, up an anemic 0.4 percent over the same period last year. Steel exports are growing but at the expense of “increasing trade conflicts and constant trade remedy investigations.”...
State Battles
The shortfall that wouldn't die  Uppity Wisconsin   ...Today's news that the budget shortfall is nearly 2 billion dollars and apparently rising leads one to believe that maybe too little cash is sticking in Madison.  Other recent news makes it clear that the administration has been helping put more cash in the pockets of some taxpayers (and out-of-staters) than others...
As lawyers prep for John Doe hearing, legal tab tops $672,000  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...The cost to taxpayers for defending the state against lawsuits over an investigation into Gov. Scott Walker and his allies has quickly escalated to more than $672,000...
Voter ID On Trial in Texas (opinion)  New York Times   ...Laws like these used to be blocked by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which required that the federal government preapprove any voting rules enacted by states and localities with a history of discriminatory voting practices. But in a destructive ruling last year, the Supreme Court struck down Section 5 as unconstitutional. Only hours after that ruling, Texas resurrected its voter-ID law, which had been stopped by Section 5...
Ruling In Nebraska Could Have Big Overall Impact On Keystone XL  Nebraska Radio Network   ...A ruling by the state Supreme Court on the law that authorized the Keystone XL route through Nebraska could have ramifications well beyond this state. Attorney General Jon Bruning is confident the Supreme Court will uphold the law that set the route...
War On Workers
The Fast Food Strikes Have Been A Stunning Success For Organized Labor  Slate   ...at this early date, it’s more useful to think of them as the spearhead of a broader living wage movement that has also seen retail workers at stores such as Walmart protest for better pay. Framed that way, the effort has been startlingly effective. For the cost of a few Super Bowl ads, the SEIU and some dedicated fast food workers have managed to completely rewire how the public and politicians thinks about wages...
STILL 1.4 Million Fewer Full-Time Jobs Than in 2008  naked capitalism   ...It’s still 1.4 million below 2008? In 2008, the economy was in full collapse mode. The Fed has expanded its balance sheet by $3.7 trillion since August 2008 and there are fewer full-time jobs now than then? Remind me again what that $3.7 trillion has bought!...
Koch 101  Slate   ...The Koch brothers are paying millions to inject libertarian ideas into high school curriculums...
Koch Industries adopts new public posture to neutralize opponents, recast image  Washington Post   ...Koch Industries, which produces goods ranging from Angel Soft toilet paper to iPhone parts, is adopting a more visible strategy to neutralize critics on the left and promote a warm, patriotic image of its multinational empire...
Evidence Says That Students Do Better In Schools With Strong Teachers’ Unions  Addicting Info   ... Collective bargaining provides a legal, structured process in which local unions and management can develop reforms, such as peer review or performance-based pay...
Senate moves forward with amendment to the Constitution on elections  The Hill   ...The Senate on Monday advanced a constitutional amendment meant to reverse two recent Supreme Court decisions on campaign spending...
Some Uber Drivers Say Company’s Promise Of Big Pay Day Doesn’t Match Reality  Washington Post   ...The lure of taking home 80 percent of the fares he collected as a driver for Uber was a sweet incentive for Demek Dagnachew to sign up with the ride-sharing service in April. But soon after he started ferrying passengers around the District in his 2012 Toyota Camry, he said he noticed his earnings didn’t quite reflect the 80/20 split he’d been promised...
Sources: Taj To File For Bankruptcy, Close In November  CBS News   ...A source confirms to CBS 3 Eyewitness News that the Taj Mahal has already begun the process for bankruptcy and layoff notices could go out to workers next week. As of August, the casino hotel had more than 2,800 employees...
State Consultant Says Bridgeton Landfill Fire Spreading North  St. Louis Post Dispatch   ...The consultant hired by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources says the “subsurface fire” at the Bridgeton Landfill is expanding and moving closer to the radioactive West Lake Landfill...
Miscellaneous
Exclusive: Safety concerns dog Boeing 787  Aljazeera   ...Using a concealed camera, the worker films inside the Boeing South Carolina plant, recording his discussions with colleagues. He randomly asks 15 of his co-workers who assemble the 787 "Dreamliner" if they would fly on the plane. Ten say they would not...

Why billionaires want to hide their campaign contributions

The influence of billionaire dark money groups has dramatically expanded to every level of government ever since the Supreme Court ruling on Citizens United. The high court decision allowed outside organizations like corporations and trade associations to spend unlimited money on political campaigns.

Dark money groups are nonprofits allowed to fund campaigns without disclosing donors to anybody. In the last election cycle, they spent over $400 million.  The Americans for Prosperity super PAC, the Benedict Arnold Koch brothers political slush fund,  directly spent at least $36 million in the 2012 election alone. The group contributed money to other dark money organizations that poured money into elections as well.

Billionaires hide donations in these shady organizations so voters don't know where the funding comes from.  Fact is, when workers learn where the shady campaign money comes from -- and what it's actually pushing into law -- the billionaires lose.

The Koch brothers' fund poured over $15 million into advertising for a 2012 anti-worker California referendum.  But, because workers were aware of how devastating the measure was, millions of workers came out to crush the measure at the polls -- including over 25,000 Teamsters voting for the first time.

Even in campaigns as small as city council elections, the Koch influence is real.  In Coralville, Iowa, a town with fewer than 20,000 people, Koch volunteers have been blanketing the town in flyers.  But local workers are having none of it. Reports the New York Times,

Americans for Prosperity seems to be winning few adherents here, or at least anyone willing to admit so publicly. Thumbing through a survey at Kathyl Jogerst’s door on a rainy afternoon last week, John Sevier, a 22-year-old volunteer with Americans for Prosperity, started a question to her by saying the City Council had moved $5 million out of the school district budget. 

Ms. Jogerst, 61, cut him off.  “No, they didn’t,” she said. “I know the agenda with your group.”

It is important to know the truth about where this group and others like it come from.  After all, once people are aware of the truth, no amount of billionaire cash can change their minds.

Shareholders to SEC: Expose corporate "dark money" in politics

Wouldn't it be nice to know how much of your money is being spent to elect anti-worker politicians to office?

If you have any retirement savings, you probably own stock in a public corporation. And the CEOs of those corporations can spend your money however they wish on politics -- without telling you.

Since the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision, corporations have been pouring millions of dollars into shadowy groups to influence elections. In the 2012 election, up to $400 million was funneled into these "dark money" groups -- that's 500 percent more than in the previous presidential election before Citizens United.

More often than not, that corporate money is being spent to elect anti-worker candidates to public office.

A new SEC rule being considered would require publicly traded companies to disclose to shareholders the corporate funds spent on political campaigns.

Supporters of the new rule, led by Public Citizen, held an event in Washington yesterday where Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) urged the SEC to shine a light on the "dark money" spent by corporations:

We don't have to have legislation for the SEC to do the right thing. They have the power to do the right thing right now. There is no reason for saying a corporation wants to be able to spend shareholders' money and not tell shareholders how that money is being spent.

Advocates for transparency in corporate political spending are also supporting the Shareholder Protection Act, legislation introduced by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) to force the SEC to enact a political disclosure rule. Menendez was also at yesterday's event and said the SEC does not need the legislation to write the new rule now.

 Law professor Ciara Torres-Spelliscy wrote in the Los Angeles Times:

There is no rule at the SEC that requires public companies to tell their shareholders what they are up to in partisan elections.

If the law of the land allows corporations to spend unlimited money on politics, investors deserve to know when, why and how much.

As the Sunlight Foundation observes, the recent government shutdown was just one symptom of the dysfunction sewn by the dark money infecting DC -- all in the interests of right-wing fanatics and their corporate sponsors:

Not all that ails our democracy can be blamed on the Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case, but $1.2 billion in spending by outside groups—at least $300 million of that from undisclosed donors—doesn’t help create a working democracy.

Legislation such as the DISCLOSE Act is still the best chance at comprehensive disclosure of all dark money. But an SEC rule will result in greater accountability by companies that decide to spend money on politics, it will inform investors about how a company spends its profits, and it will help the public identify the messenger behind many of the political ads they see.

A new SEC rule wouldn't solve all of our problems. It probably won't even reduce corporate political spending all that much. But it would be a nice change from the secrecy that shrouds political spending. 

And it will give us a chance to hold CEOs accountable when they spend money on politicians who attack working people.

Corporate America wants even more freedom to buy elections

An upcoming Supreme Court case could make it a lot easier for anti-worker billionaires to buy elections -- not that it's exactly difficult for them to do so already.

It seems the 2010 Citizens United decision declaring money is speech and flooding our democracy with corporate cash just isn't enough. McCutcheon v. FEC could allow the super-rich to pour millions of dollars directly into the campaign coffers of their preferred candidates.

The Huffington Post explains: 

An Alabama millionaire named Shaun McCutcheon is challenging a long-standing law on how much money individual donors can give directly to candidates and party committees. If Mr. McCutcheon wins his case, a single wealthy individual could give a total of more than $2.4 million to his or her favorite candidates, and another million-plus dollars to the party committee of their choice - for a total of 3.5 million dollars.

Mr. McCutcheon claims money is speech and that any legislative measure which hinders his dollar offends "liberty." But irrespective of the patriotic rhetoric, what McCutcheon is really suing for is the right to buy elections. Because 93 percent of the time, the candidate who raises the most money, wins.

Call it Citizens United II. Except this time corporations and billionaires want even more freedom to rig elections, Wall Street-style.

According to Constitution Daily:

In 2010, the Supreme Court delivered its controversial 5-4 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which set the stage for enormous sums of money to be spent in elections through super PACs and other independent entities.

On Tuesday, October 8—less than three years after deciding Citizens United—the Supreme Court will hear arguments in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, a case which has the potential to flood millions of dollars more into United States elections—and this time, directly into the coffers of candidates for elected office.

This graphic from the Center for Responsive Politics shows what's at stake in the McCutcheon case. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of McCutcheon, it would have a multiplying effect on the impact of wealthy donors:

One of the first things that would surely happen without overall limits would be a wave of newly created PACs focused on specific candidates' campaigns, which would allow donors to give $5,000 to any number of committees that would then give the money directly to the candidates.   

In 2012, 78 percent of election spending was attributed to the massive influx of outside money that Citizens United injected into the political process. That's $933 million more in political spending.

And in states like Wisconsin, campaign spending has tripled since Citizens United. The recall election against union-busting Gov. Scott Walker was the most expensive election in Wisconsin's history, with Walker raising over $30.5 million -- seven times more than his opponent.

McCutcheon v. FEC threatens to accelerate the damage that Citizens United has already done to our democracy. While arguments in the case will be heard tomorrow in front of the Supreme Court, hundreds of workers, labor activists and others will be outside the Court rallying against big money in politics. 

As a wealthy GOP backer, McCutcheon argues that limiting individuals' campaign donations is a restriction on their free speech. But for most people, the biggest limitation on their campaign contributions is their wallets. It's too bad then that McCutcheon isn't trying to overturn economic inequality instead of campaign finance restrictions.

Citizens United and McCutcheon are leading a national conspiracy to make corporations into people in the eyes of the law. Of course, if corporations are "people," then real people like us are made to be less than people in our political system.

Today's Teamster News 07.08.13

Freight train derailment causes huge fire and evacuations in Canada  Guardian   ...Train of 73 fuel-carrying rail cars was driverless when it derailed at 1am local time Saturday in Lac-Magéntic, in Quebec...
Deaths in the workplace are no accident  Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette   ...The deaths of two workers in grain bins last month at the Union Mills Co-op and in Veedersburg are even more tragic because they could have been prevented...
Daily CEO Pay Now Exceeds the Average Worker's Annual Salary  The Contributor   ...These “golden parachute” arrangements have had a negative impact on corporate performance, say experts...
Jobless about to take big hit from sequester  NBC News   ...As of July 1, the average weekly benefit of $289 will fall by $43 a week, adding pressure at a time when the labor market is trying to find its bearings but has yet to generate the kind of employment that would indicate a strong recovery...
Banks pushing for repeal of credit unions' federal tax exemption  Los Angeles Times   ...Credit unions have been snatching customers from banks amid consumer frustration over rising fees and outrage over Wall Street's role in the financial crisis. Now banks are fighting back by trying to take away something vital to credit unions — their federal tax exemption...
Jaguar Land Rover production faces shutdown after DHL strike vote  Guardian   ...DHL workers serving Jaguar's Midlands plants at Castle Bromwich and Solihull vote for industrial action over pay...
Greeks close to getting latest bailout payout  BBC News   ...Eurozone finance ministers meet on Monday to decide whether to release the next instalment of rescue funds worth 6.3bn euros ($8.1bn; £5.4bn)...Talks have centred around 4,000 civil service jobs that are due to be cut...
Female inmates sterilized in California prisons without approval  Center for Investigative Reporting   ...At least 148 women received tubal ligations in violation of prison rules during those five years – and there are perhaps 100 more dating back to the late 1990s, according to state documents and interviews...
Fee'd Me: NY AG to Investigate Use of 'Payroll Cards' that Depress Already Low Take-Home Pay  The Contributor   ...Devonte Yates, 21, who earns $7.25 an hour working a drive-through station at a McDonald’s in Milwaukee, says he spends $40 to $50 a month on fees associated with his JPMorgan Chase payroll card. “It’s pretty bad,” he said. “There’s a fee for literally everything you do...”
America's Most Dynamic (Yet Under-Covered) Movement: Overturning 'Citizens United'  The Nation   ...On the eve of the nation’s Fourth of July celebrations, Oregon became the sixteenth state to formally call for an amendment. With bipartisan support, the state House and Senate requested that Congress take necessary steps to re-establish the basic American premise that “money is property and not speech, and [that] the Congress of the United States, state legislatures and local legislative bodies should have the authority to regulate political contributions and expenditures…”
Waltham student wins Teamsters scholarship  Wicked Local   ...Rion Hallaran of Waltham was recently awarded a $2,000 Teamsters Local 25 scholarship...

Sham nonprofits, fake corporations fund US elections

It's bad enough that America's 2012 election was purchased by big corporations and billionaires, but it's even worse that we don't even know who they are.

We do know at least $300 million was spent on campaigns by dark money groups. Shockingly, that amount might be as low as 1 percent of the total.

It's essential to know who's funding these attacks. Working families in America and Canada are under constant attack by corporations and billionaires that want to lower our standard of living and endanger our health. One of their tactics is to divide working people through phony populist groups like FreedomWorks, which is actually funded by very rich people.

Dennis Pierce, a Teamster brother and president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, points out,

The only way we will stop these attacks is to know exactly who the attackers are, what their motives are, and then understand just how hard they are working to turn Americans against unions. As I have said time and time again, labor unions did not cause the financial problems that our great nation faces, labor unions are what helped build the middle class that at its strongest, made our country the undisputed economic powerhouse in the world.

Here's how little we know: The U.S. PIRG Education Fund and Center for Media and Democracy released a report showing hundreds of millions of dollars were poured into the last election through “social welfare” non-profits that are really political vehicles and through shell corporations formed to hide a funder’s identity.

Dark money nonprofits and shell corporations make it impossible to identify violations of election or tax law, such as the infiltration of foreign funds.It's a good bet that some of the dark money that influences our elections comes from outside the country. It's a better bet that the shady donors want to lower wages, ease safety regulations, eliminate consumer protections and enhance corporate power.

The report, "Elections Confidential," reveals that contributions from phony for-profit corporations accounted for 17 percent of all business donations to Super PACs. Other key findings include:

• Shell corporations that do not disclose the sources of their funding funneled at least $17 million to Super PACs in the 2012 elections;
• Dark money non-profits reported spending over $299 million in the 2012 election; however, because these groups ran “issue ads” that need only be reported when aired just before primaries or election day, the total spending by these non-profits is certainly much higher than was reported to the FEC.
• Dark money non-profits, which are not supposed to have electoral intervention as a primary activity, will justify their tax-exempt status in the post-election period by engaging in activities like lobbying. Incredibly, this qualifies as advancing the “social welfare.”

Dark money nonprofits

Here's an example of how it works: The 501(c)(4) American Action Network (AAN) spent $11 million on ads attacking Democrats during the 2012 campaigns. The ads attacked candidates' personal ethics, their support for mining, their position on taxes.  Many were found to be misleading by nonpartisan fact-checkers.

But citizens didn't know that AETNA funneled $3 million to AAN -- until the insurance giant accidentally disclosed it in year-end findings. As the report points out,

AAN’s messages about a candidate’s support for single-payer healthcare, or its $1.2 million campaign in July urging Republicans to overturn the federal health care law, would surely be viewed by voters in a different light when provided with the knowledge that the ads may have been funded by the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. It (allows) them to influence elections and policy without having to publicly stand behind their message.

Here's another example: A non-profit called Montana Hunters and Anglers Action bought ads supporting a third-party candidate in the U.S. Senate race. An investigation by ProPublica found the group has ties to Democrats, which suggests the group really wanted to siphon votes from the Republican candidate.

Another 501(c)(4), the Center to Protect Patient Rights, has ties to the Koch brothers. Not much else is known about it, except that it gave money other dark money groups and to the American Future Fund, which spent at least $46 million attacking Democrats in 2010.

Shell corporations

A shell corporation engages in little or no business activity. Sometimes they're legitimate, but sometimes they're used to evade taxes, launder money, illegally transfer foreign funds and finance terrorist groups.

Most of the shell corporation money went to FreedomWorks and Restore Our Future, the report says. The single largest business donor by far in 2012 was a shell corporation called Specialty Group, Inc., which gave $10.6 million to FreedomWorks.

The report also tells us,

“W SPANN LLC,” a group that made a million dollar contribution to the Pro-Romney Super PAC Restore Our Future. W SPANN LLC caused suspicion when the NBC reporter noticed that the corporation had formed, made the $1 million contribution, then disbanded all in the course of about three months.

Also giving to Restore Our Future were Eli Publishing, F8, SeaSpray Partners, CRC Information Systems, Inc.; Fairbanks Properties, LLC; and Waterbury Properties, LLC. The latter three are all owned by the same person, Robert Brockman.

U.S. PIRG and Center for Media and Democracy make several recommendations for reform. They suggest overturning the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, require publicly traded companies to disclose their political spending and change IRS rules so nonprofits can't be set up under the guise of "education" to influence elections.

Read the whole report here.