Showing posts with label Ferguson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ferguson. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Today's Teamster News 08.11.15

Teamsters
Teamsters, Bauer's Drivers Rally For Labor Harmony in San Francisco  Teamster.org   ...Teamsters and drivers for Bauer’s Intelligent Transportation held an action this morning in San Francisco to call on the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) to adopt a resolution ensuring labor harmony...
Tech-Shuttle Company Is Accused Of Thwarting Efforts To Unionize Its Drivers  Mother Jones   ..."The drivers need and deserve better wages, better benefits, and more respect," says Doug Bloch, the political director for the Northern California chapter of the Teamsters, which is holding a protest in San Francisco's Mission District today to call attention to Bauer's alleged union-busting tactics. "What Bauer's did is an insult to these workers."...

Global Labor & Trade
Japan Anxious At Lull, U.S. 'Giving Up', In Pan-Pacific Trade Talks  Reuters   ...Japan has expressed concern about a loss of momentum in talks on a pan-Pacific trade pact after participants failed to agree to meet again this month to try to clinch a deal that would cover 40 percent of the global economy...
China Devalues Yuan After Poor Economic Data  Huffington Post   ...China devalued its currency on Tuesday after a run of poor economic data, a move it billed as a free-market reform but which some suspect could be the beginning of a longer-term slide in the exchange rate...
After Marathon Talks, Greece And International Lenders Clinch Multi-Billion Euro Bailout Deal  Huffington Post   ...Greece and its international lenders reached a multi-billion euro bailout agreement on Tuesday after talking through the night, officials said, potentially saving the country from financial ruin...
Bounty On Its Head: Wikileaks Raising €100K Reward For Secret Text Of TTIP  Common Dreams   ...The full text of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement (TTIP) now has a bounty on its head. Launched publicly on Tuesday, the media outlet Wikileaks announced its creation of a crowd-sourcing effort that aims to raise a €100,000 reward for the full text of the the TTIP, the corporate-friendly trade pact currently being negotiated in secret by the United States and member countries of the European Union...
Despite Majority Opposition, Japan About To Hit 'Go' On Nuclear Restart  Common Dreams   ...Despite widespread public opposition and lingering safety concerns, Japan on Tuesday will switch on a nuclear reactor for the first time since the 2011 Fukushima disaster...
Hundreds Of Peace Corps Vets Demand US Stop Funding Ethnic Cleansing  Common Dreams   ...Over 500 former Peace Corps volunteers are calling on the U.S. government to withhold military aid and stop funding the Dominican Republic's ethnic cleansing of people of Haitian descent, adding theirs to the cacophony of voices—from Pope Francis to United Nations experts to thousands marching in Port-au-Prince—speaking out against the mass-scale human rights violations...

State & Living Wage Battles
Daily Oil Trains Could Threaten Lives In The Bay Area  San Francisco Chronicle   ...If oil giant Phillips 66 has its way, an oil train disaster and increased air pollution may be coming to a Bay Area town near you. Phillips 66 is proposing an oil transport station to refine Canadian tars sands in San Luis Obispo. If the project is approved by the San Luis Obispo planning commission and board of supervisors, Phillips 66 will have a contract for 500 oil train trips a year that could go right down the spine of the Bay Area...
Wis. Residents Upset About Sand, Oil Train Delays  Winona Daily News   ...Neighbors living near railroad tracks in Wisconsin are becoming increasingly concerned about long train blockages since an increase in sand and oil shipments have caused them to grow into a frequent and dangerous disruption...
Florida Lawmakers Pushing For Higher Minimum Wage  WFSU   ...As workers across the country push for higher minimum wage, two Florida lawmakers are joining the fight. They’ve filed a bill that would raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 per hour. But earning a living wage is about more than a person’s hourly pay...
Study Reveals The True Scope Of Voter Disenfranchisement In Texas  Think Progress   ...A Texas law, which closely resembles similar laws erecting obstacles to the franchise in other states, does far more to keep voters from casting a ballot than previously thought, according to a study conducted by researchers at Rice University and the University of Houston...
Silicon Valley’s Skyrocketing Housing Costs Shut Teachers Out  Alternet   ...Skyrocketing housing prices in Silicon Valley, the red-hot center of tech entrepreneurship and one of the most highly educated enclaves in the world, are making it hard for teachers to call the area home...
Election Rights Advocates Allege New Voter ID Violations In Ohio  WLWT   ...The advocates say the laws allow absentee ballots to be rejected for mistakes such as the wrong birth month even though the voter supplied the correction information when requesting the ballot...

U.S. Labor
Unpredictable Work Hours, Chaotic Life  New York Times   ...The tyranny of erratic work schedules is obvious to employees who don’t know what their schedules will be tomorrow or have to call in to see if there is work. And the effects have been well documented in articles and oral histories. Increasingly, the anecdotal evidence is being confirmed by research...

Social Justice & Other News
Huffington Post, Washington Post Reporters Charged For Doing Journalism In Ferguson  Huffington Post   ...Reporters from The Huffington Post and Washington Post have been charged with trespassing and interfering with a police officer’s performance, a chilling setback for press freedom coming nearly a year after their arrests in Ferguson, Missouri...
Jerry Brown Nixes 'Alien' From California Labor Law  Huffington Post   ...California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed legislation Monday removing the word "alien" in reference to undocumented immigrants from the state's labor code. The measure, which will take effect Jan. 1, seeks to modernize the language used in California state law. Brown signed the legislation, SB 432, along with two other bills updating immigration policy on Monday...
Twitter Activists Slam St. Louis County Officials For Ferguson Response With #WhichEmergency Hashtag  Salon.com   ...Shortly after St. Louis County officials declared a state of emergency last night in response to protesters marking the anniversary of the death of Michael Brown, activists on Twitter did something odd, agreeing with county officials and tweeting that there is, in fact, a state of emergency in St. Louis County — just not the one the officials had declared...
Here's How Much Water Golf Courses, Ski Resorts, And Pools Are Using In California  Mother Jones   ...Of the thirsty nonagricultural businesses, golf takes the lead: The average Palm Springs golf course uses the same amount of water in one day that a family of four does in five years. The 123 golf courses in the Palm Springs area use nearly a quarter of the region's groundwater...
Water Rationing In Puerto Rico Hits The Poor, Leaves Resorts Untouched  Think Progress   ...As the commonwealth’s reservoirs drop to their lowest levels in decades, the government has declared a state of emergency, and implemented strict rationing. Hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans now have had tap water only every third day, and that tightened this past weekend, giving families water only two days a week...
Heavily-Armed Oath Keepers Showed Up To Ferguson Last Night  Mother Jones   ...As demonstrators gathered in Ferguson to continue commemorating the one year anniversary of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown on Monday, five heavily-armed men belonging to a vigilante group called the Oath Keepers were spotted patrolling the streets. According to reports, the Oath Keepers said they were on the scene to provide voluntary protection to a journalist working for the site InfoWars, the conspiracy mill run by noted lunatic Alex Jones...
Racialized Poverty In America Has Nearly Doubled In 21st Century  Common Dreams   ...Discriminatory housing, zoning, and other policy choices are driving the dramatic rise of racialized poverty and segregation across the United States, with the number of people residing in low-income "ghettos, barrios, and slums" nearly doubling in the 21st century alone, a new report finds...

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Today's Teamster News 08.23.14

Trade
U.S. Steel Producers Win Anti-Dumping Case Against Cheap Imports  Reuters   ...The U.S. International Trade Commission on Friday voted to impose anti-dumping duties against steel pipe imports from six countries, exempting two, handing a victory to domestic producers who had complained that the cheap imports were undercutting their prices...
State Battles
Documents Allege Scott Walker Pressured Groups To Donate To Campaign  Huffington Post   ...Newly released court documents include excerpts from emails showing that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's recall election campaign team told him to instruct donors to give to a key conservative group that would run ads for Walker and distribute money to other conservative groups backing him. … The documents are part of a secret investigation into whether Walker's campaign illegally coordinated with conservative groups during the run-up to the June 2012 recall...
Minimum Wage Ballot Campaign Begins  KGTV   ...A campaign spearheaded by local businesses to put the minimum wage ordinance before voters kicked off Thursday. The San Diego Small Business Coalition announced the referendum campaign at a news conference Thursday morning in Sorrento Valley...
Appeals Court Delays Wisconsin Voter ID Decision  WCWF   ...A federal appeals court put off a decision until next month on whether to put Wisconsin’s voter ID law back in place...
Survey: Economy Slows Down In Rural Areas Of Kansas  KMUW   ...A new monthly survey of bankers suggests the economy is slowing down in rural areas of Kansas, Missouri and eight other states...
Cruel Cuts: Philadelphia Public Schools Pay The Price For Pa.’s Expanded Neo-Voucher Program  Americans United   ...For the second year in a row Philadelphia’s public schools are struggling to open on time, and it appears deep budget cuts – including money siphoned for a voucher-like program – are to blame...
War On Workers
Bank Of America Papers Show Conflict And Trickery In Mortgages  New York Times   ...A founder of Countrywide Financial warned three years before the housing market collapsed that his company could face “financial and reputational catastrophe” if it continued holding certain risky mortgages on its balance sheet. Still, Countrywide continued to sell these loans to investors...
Few homeowners expected to benefit from Bank of America's $16.65B settlement  Associated Press   ...Only a fraction of homeowners would be eligible for refinancing under the settlement. And the process by which people would qualify and receive aid could drag on for years, with payouts set to be completed as late as 2018...
Man Claims Uber Driver Promised Him A Low Fare, Then Charged Him $814  LAist   ...A man says that Uber charged his group a whopping $814 for a ride from El Monte to Culver City even though his driver promised it wouldn't be much more than $150...
Rebuilding America, One Bridge At A Time (opinion)  Washington Post   ...Our public infrastructure is rusting, rotting and, in some cases, falling apart, and we now lag behind nations that are investing in modern, efficient, low-carbon infrastructure...
Economic harassment and the Ferguson crisis (opinion)  Los Angeles Times   ...the Ferguson court is a "chronic offender" in legal and economic harassment of its residents. There's not much of a secret why: the municipality collects some $2.6 million a year in fines and court fees, typically from small-scale infractions like traffic violations. This is the second-largest source of income for that small, fiscally-strapped municipality...
A Walmart Manager Describes Walmart's Mismanagement  Gawker   ...Last week, we received an email from a current Walmart manager in Oklahoma asking to share his story. Below is his description of the policies that America's largest employer uses to pit managers against low-level employees, for the benefit of the richest family in America...
A first for Jackson Hole — protesters are here, and they don’t want rate hikes  Marketwatch   ...Protesters, worried that the central bank is about to put its foot on the brakes, have come to the Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole retreat this year to urge the central bank to hold off and give the economy more time to heal. This is believed to be the first time there ever has been protesters at the event...
Miscellaneous
Americans' Satisfaction With Job Security at New High  Gallup   ...In the U.S., 58% of full- or part-time workers are completely satisfied with their job security. This represents an increase from the levels recorded during the aftermath of the Great Recession -- from 2009 to 2013 -- when roughly 50% of Americans said they were completely satisfied...