Today's Teamster News 03.13.12

Scott Walker’s Wisconsin Voter ID Law Violates Constitution, Judge Rules  Bloomberg   ...Texas and Wisconsin officials were barred from enforcing laws requiring voters to produce a government-issued photo identification before casting ballots...
Fla. Legal Bill: $475 per Hour per Lawyer (opinion)  The Ledger   ...Here's what is simply wrong: The state paid the Atlanta law firm Alston & Bird $500,000 to defend against the state workers' (pension) lawsuit in circuit court...
Pennsylvania's voter ID bill faces final vote  Republican Herald   ...The Republican-controlled House Rules Committee voted for the bill Monday along party lines after defeating amendments by Democratic lawmakers to address concerns about senior citizens not bringing proper ID to the polls...
Foes of Ohio right-to-work effort target new proposal  Associated Press   ...We Are Ohio, the organization behind a 2011 campaign against Ohio's law limiting collective bargaining, says it's ready to unleash volunteers and hundreds of thousands of email and social media followers against an emerging right-to-work initiative in the state...
Late Night FDL: Pensions Are Good for You   firedoglake   ...Good for business, good for the economy, even good for the 1 percent...
Government asks judge to approve landmark settlement over banks’ foreclosure practices  Bloomberg   ...as many as 750,000 borrowers who lost their homes to foreclosure since 2008 would be eligible for payouts of about $2,000 each...

Today's Teamster News 11.22.11

Right-to-work battle begins again Tuesday  NWITimes.com   ...Hundreds of Northwest Indiana union workers will be at the Statehouse on Tuesday hoping to speak with state lawmakers as they convene for the ceremonial first day of the legislative session, known as Organization Day...
Gov. wins major tax ruling at Mich. Supreme Court  Associated Press   ...Key parts of a Michigan law that taxes public pension income for the first time are constitutional, the state Supreme Court said Friday in a major victory for Gov. Rick Snyder...
14 arrested as unions, Occupy St. Louis protestors unite  St. Louis Post-Dispatch   ...About 800 people, bolstered by representatives of the Teamsters, United Auto Workers, Service Employees International and other unions, participated in the rally and the subsequent march north through downtown...
Americans For Prosperity NH will be there on Nov 30th WILL YOU?  NH Labor News   ... the Koch Funded Americans For Prosperity of New Hampshire is trying to get members to show up to push for RTW...
Ohio’s job market remains sluggish  Policy Matters Ohio   ...Since July, the state has lost 8,300 jobs after gains earlier in the year. The unemployment rate in October inched down 0.1 point to 9.0 percent from a month earlier...
Egypt’s Cabinet Offers to Resign as Protests Rage  New York Times   ... The cabinet offered its resignation on Monday to Egypt’s transitional military rulers as security forces carried out an increasingly lethal crackdown on three days of violent street protests...
Deutsche Bank Could Transfer Financial Contagion: Simon Johnson  Bloomberg   ...You’ve probably never heard of Taunus Corp., but according to the Federal Reserve, it’s the U.S.’s eighth-largest bank holding company...

Sen. Brown praises OWS at jobs conference

Twenty percent of U.S. adults are in jobs that pay poverty wages and more are at risk of falling into poverty. While there is a jobs crisis in America, there is also a job quality crisis. This was the topic of discussion at today’s Good Jobs for a Strong Economy Conference held on Capitol Hill.

The event brought together anti-poverty, labor and other progressive organizations to discuss the crisis and potential solutions. The Teamsters' good friend Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) gave the keynote address:  

Real class warfare in this country is corporate America’s war on the working class. There used to be a consensus on collective bargaining rights, voting rights, women’s rights, and all this has gone out the window. There is now opposition to families joining the middle class. This is what politics has become and that’s the beauty of Occupy Wall Street. It is up to us in elected office to use their energy and progressive ideals to move the country forward.

Brown also talked about Ohio’s SB-5 battle and the importance of collective bargaining:

As a nation, we will move forward because of activism. In Ohio we’re fighting against the collective bargaining issue and the reason we’re going to win is because we have committed activists behind us.

Of course, among the committed activists opposing SB-5 and rallying at the Occupy events, are Teamsters.

For more information and materials from the Good Jobs For A Stronger Economy Conference, visit Demos.