Teamsters
Teamsters Women's Conference Kicks off in Boston Teamster.org ...More than a thousand Teamsters gathered in Boston Thursday to kick off the 2015 Teamsters Women’s Conference. The annual event, now in its 15th year, welcomed Teamsters from throughout North America for an exciting three days of solidarity and strength. “This conference gets bigger and better every year. This is about coming together, seeing each other and sisterhood,” said Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General President...
Teamsters Applaud National Labor Relations Board on Joint Employer Ruling Teamster.org ...The Teamsters Union today applauded the National Labor Relations Board on its “joint employer” ruling in the case of Browning-Ferris Industries, Inc., as an additional step to protect and provide a voice to millions of American workers by holding employers that rely on temporary or contracted workers accountable...
How 2 Phoenix companies are at the center of NLRB decision on temp agencies, franchises Business Journal ...The NLRB decision is based on a case involving Phoenix-based Leadpoint Business Services, its staffing of 150 to 200 workers to Browning Ferris Industries recycling plant in Milpitas, California, and International Brotherhood of Teamsters efforts to unionize there.
Browning Ferris is owned by Phoenix-based Republic Services...
Teamsters Local 104's Sun Tran Workers Hold Strong On Picket Lines Teamster.org ...Teamsters Local Union 104’s Unfair Labor Practice strike against Sun Tran has now begun its fourth week with no end in sight. Day twenty two begins the same as the previous twenty one days with the striking employees and their supporters continuing to walk the picket lines at the Ronstadt Transit Center in downtown Tucson, as well as the north and south facilities...
Still no solution between Sun Tran and Teamsters 104 Tucson News ...As the union worker strike against Sun Tran moves into its fourth week, both sides are still far apart in finding a solution. The union said this is an insult. "I'm offended they came back with a regressive offer which is bargaining in bad faith," said Teamsters Spokesman Andrew Marshall. "I mean how do you expect us to do anything but reject it"...
Tech shuttle Bauer’s Intelligent Transportation accused of forming "sham" union Business Journal ...Local tech shuttle company Bauer’s Intelligent Transportation is being accused by the National Labor Relations Board of creating a fake union in order to avoid a Teamster effort to organize its workforce, reports the San Francisco Examiner. Bauer’s is well known for its commuter shuttles used by marquee-name Bay Area tech companies like Cisco Systems...
Skyway Negotiations at Standstill; Toll Collectors Prepare for Strike Beginning Labor Day Weekend Local 727 ...Chicago Skyway toll collectors may be forced to strike because Skyway Concession Company has ground contract negotiations to a halt. The current three-year contract was set to expire July 3, but Teamsters Local 727 agreed on a two-month extension. The final negotiation meeting is scheduled for Aug. 31 — the day the contract extension expires. The members are scheduled to take a vote on Sept. 2...
Truckin’ on The Economist ...Mr McGregor reportedly earned $500,000 (not including bonuses or sponsorships) for a recent bout. But most UFC fighters make decidedly less. The median pay per fight is $24,500, and most pugilists get in the ring only a couple of times a year. Some fighters think the muscle of a union might help them get better pay and more say. Earlier this month, the Teamsters, along with a local culinary union, announced that they intended to help fighters organise...
Global Labor & Trade
TTIP deal: Business lobbyists dominate talks at expense of trade unions and NGOs Belfast Telegraph ...The world’s biggest companies in finance, technology, pharma, tobacco and telecoms are dominating discussions with the EU executive body’s trade department responsible for the proposed EU-US free trade treaty, which could become the biggest such deal ever made. Between January 2012 and February 2014, as TTIP discussions began, the Commission’s trade department (DG Trade) had 597 behind-closed-door meetings with lobbyists to discuss the negotiations...
Will China’s currency devaluation complicate the Trans-Pacific Partnership? Lexology ...As trade ministers from 12 Pacific Rim countries continue to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal, China’s recent currency devaluation has sparked a debate over the inclusion of currency manipulation controls in global trade agreements. China is not currently part of the TPP, however, the agreement includes a mechanism for allowing other countries, including China, to join the agreement in the future...
TISA and Tech's Double Standards On Secret Government Internet Deals EFF.org ...The stash of previously-secret correspondence about the Trade In Services Agreement (TISA) that EFF obtained and published this week speaks volumes about the extent to which technology companies such as IBM and Google, and trade lobby groups such as the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and Internet Digital Economy Alliance (IDEA), have bought into the dangerous idea that trade agreements should be used to govern the Internet...
The TPP Must Not Undermine North America’s Dairy Sector (opinion) CitizensTrade.org ...As international trade negotiators continue attempting to conclude the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), farm, labor and consumer groups from throughout the Pacific Rim are demanding that they not interfere with nations’ sovereign right and responsibility to protect family farmers, processing workers and domestic food supplies – including North America’s dairy sector...
Guatemala President Faces Arrest as Business Interests and U.S. Scramble to Contain Uprising Democracy Now ...In Guatemala, a judge has ordered that former Vice President Roxana Baldetti must remain in prison while her corruption trial takes place. The ruling comes on the heels of the Guatemalan Supreme Court’s decision Tuesday to lift the immunity from prosecution for President Otto Pérez Molina, clearing the way for his impeachment. The court passed the impeachment recommendation along to Congress. A general strike has been called in Guatemala for today...
200 Migrants Feared Dead as Europe’s Refugee Death Toll Creeps Towards 2,500 This Year Slate ...In the latest of what seems to be an accelerating series of now-hourly tragedies, hundreds are feared dead after two small boats carrying up to 500 migrants capsized en route to Italy from Libya. The migrant crisis on Europe's shores continues to spiral as the death toll approaches 2,500 this year...
Is austerity saving or sinking Brazil's troubled economy? BBC ...Brazil's Finance Minister Joaquim Levy has been on a drive to fix Brazil's troubled economy through austerity measures. That means spending less on unemployment benefits. Most workers now need to have been employed for a full year to receive government aid. President Rousseff might have thought she could cut spending without damaging the economy. But, as one Brazilian saying goes, the cure is now at risk of "killing the patient"...
State & Living Wage Battles
Governors Have Collected Millions In Presidential Campaign Contributions From State Contractors Think Progress ...New Jersey law currently prevents state contractors from giving more than $300 to statewide candidates’ campaigns. But that hasn’t stopped New Jersey contractors from donating more than $500,000 in total to the super PAC supporting Gov. Chris Christie’s (R) presidential campaign...
Focus on 'right to work' gets more intense as legislators consider override attempt St. Louis Public Radio ...After a brief hiatus, both sides in the battle over “right to work” are back with a vengeance as they gear up for the Missouri General Assembly’s veto session in just over two weeks. The dueling campaigns may be aimed, in part, at influencing Missouri House Speaker Todd Richardson, R-Cape Girardeau. A spokesman said the speaker has yet to decide whether to bring up the “right to work” bill, which was vetoed by Gov. Jay Nixon earlier this summer...
Prevailing wage still in Rauner’s crosshairs (opinion) Pekin Daily Times ...Before Gov. Bruce Rauner compromises on a state budget, he’s demanding lawmakers agree to his “Turnaround Agenda,” a misnamed list of changes ranging from limiting settlements judges and juries can award in lawsuits to restricting workers compensation protections. In the mix is his bid to abolish prevailing-wage laws...
Bill to raise California minimum wage stalls in Assembly SacBee ...A controversial measure to raise California’s minimum wage to $13 per hour over the next two years was held Thursday in a key financial committee, but the proposal may continue forward next session. Despite last-minute amendments put forth by author Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, to delay the increase by another year, Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez, chair of the Assembly Appropriations Committee, suggested he would look for other changes to advance Senate Bill 3 next year...
This State Just Became The First In The Nation To End Chronic Veteran Homelessness Think Progress ...On Thursday, the federal government announced that Connecticut is the first state in the country to end chronic homelessness among veterans. That means the state has found permanent housing for all veterans who have been homeless for at least one year or four times in the past three years, or has an immediate path to housing in place for them...
U.S. Labor
In landmark case, labor board will let more workers bargain with their employer’s employer Washington Post ...A federal labor board voted Thursday to redefine the employee-employer relationship granting new bargaining powers to workers caught up in an economy increasingly reliant on subcontractors, franchisees and temporary staffing agencies. The decision by the National Labor Relations Board could upend the traditional arms-length relationship that has prevailed between corporate titans such as McDonald’s and its neighborhood fast-food franchises...
The Labor Ruling McDonald's Has Been Dreading Just Became A Reality Huffington Post ...McDonald's, Burger King and every other company that relies on a franchise business model just suffered the legal setback they've been fearing for years. The National Labor Relations Board ruled on Thursday that Browning Ferris Industries, a waste management company, qualifies as a "joint employer" alongside one of its subcontractors...
IKEA Says They’re “Socially Responsible.” So Why Are Workers Accusing Them of Union-Busting? In These Times ...With a potential strike deadline looming at one its largest U.S. warehouses, Sweden-based home furnishings retailer IKEA is facing renewed skepticism over its self-proclaimed commitment to fair labor policies, both in the United States and elsewhere. The deadline has immediate impact for about 450 unionized warehouse workers in Perryville, Maryland, many of whom find themselves puzzled at what they say is IKEA’s refusal to negotiate seriously over a new contract...
KapStone workers on strike TDN.com ...After 15 months of failed contract negotiations, KapStone millworkers officially went on strike early Thursday morning. The strike began at 3 a.m. Thursday after the union gave the company a three-hour notice at midnight. Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers Local 153 officials said the length of the strike is open-ended...
USW plans another rally as contract deadline nears NWI Times ...The United Steelworkers union is planning another big rally at AcelorMittal Burns Harbor on Sept. 1, when the current three-year contracts with ArcelorMittal and U.S. Steel expire. If no new contracts are reached by Sept. 1, the USW could go on strike, work without a contract, or agree to extend the current contract and continue to work while a new contract is negotiated by the company...
SEIU home-care workers sign 'historic' contract Statesman Journal ...The Service Employees Union International Local 503, which represents 24,000 Oregon home-care workers, has signed a contract with the state they're calling historic. The contract paves the way for a $15 an hour wage for home-care workers by 2017, among other provisions. "Our workers, personal support and home care, really need to have a living wage," said Eileen Ordway, a home-care worker and member of the SEIU's bargaining team...
Behind the Business Attire, Many Bank Workers Earn Poverty Wages In These Times ...The collared shirts and pressed slacks may be hiding the reality: a significant portion of customer service workers in the retail banking industry make salaries low enough to make public assistance necessary. The Committee for Better Banks (CBB), a Communications Workers of America (CWA)-affiliated community and labor coalition, was created in 2013 to put an end to that...
Home Care Workers' Inclusion in Basic Labor Protections Is Just the Beginning Truthout ...Today, workers in the fastest growing workforce in the country - home care - have to live on poverty wages, struggling to pay for the gas that will get them to the seniors they assist each day. In many ways, the workers who provide those services have not changed; they are still largely women, with women of color and especially Black women providing a disproportionate amount of the care for all in the nation...
Social Justice & Other News
Detention Program Allegedly Barred Lawyers From Visiting Their Immigrant Clients Think Progress ...Advocates from an immigration detention visitation group say they have been barred from visiting potential clients in California and Alabama just a few weeks after they filed a complaint alleging abusive conditions at one detention facility. Shutting attorneys out of detention centers has been on the rise across the country...
After Hurricane Katrina, Poor Black Women Were Largely Ignored, Study Says Mother Jones ...Ten years after Hurricane Katrina displaced 40,000 people in New Orleans, opinions about the recovery can be traced along racial lines. A pair of new studies underscores that African American women, particularly those who lived in public housing, faced some of the biggest hurdles after the storm. Nearly four in five white residents in New Orleans say their state has "mostly recovered," while nearly three in five African American residents say it has not...
How Hedge Funds Are Exploiting Baltimore’s Poorest Residents Think Progress ...The death of Freddie Gray in police custody in Baltimore and the ensuing protests brought the nation’s attention to the economic devastation that continues to grip the city. Now, new data shows powerful hedge funds are profiting off of struggling families in Baltimore by buying up debts as small as $250, charging high interest rates, and taking their homes when they fail to pay...
Showing posts with label IKEA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IKEA. Show all posts
Friday, August 28, 2015
Monday, October 20, 2014
Today's Teamster News 10.20.14
Teamsters
Ikea and union to start mediation Vancouver Sun ...Mediation is set to begin Monday between Ikea and the Teamsters’ Union Local 213, which represents employees at the company’s store in Richmond...
Coakley, Baker rally supporters as election looms Boston Globe ...At a cavernous union hall in Charlestown Sunday morning, her voice resonating off the walls, Democrat Martha Coakley exhorted members of Teamsters Local 25 to get out the vote for her...
Casino question could be a jackpot Boston Herald ...“Obviously Question 3 (the repeal initiative) is a big question for organized labor and also for the economy of Massachusetts,” Teamsters Local 25 President Sean O’Brien said yesterday at a raucous Charlestown rally of hundreds of union members for Democratic candidate Martha Coakley...
Trade
The TPP Would Enroll More Online Spies Public Citizen ... the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) includes draft rules that would increase significantly the role of online service providers in keeping an eye on their users, under the pretext of combatting copyright piracy. Even if you are not an infringer, your Internet service provider (ISP) will be watching you, just in case...
Jack Lew Sees No Evil: Treasury Fails To Name China as a Currency Manipulator for the 12th Time Economic Policy Institute ...China purchased $681 billion in total foreign exchange reserves between December 2012 and June 2014, and more than $2 trillion since this Administration took office. Currency manipulation by China and approximately 20 other countries has increased the U.S. trade deficit by $200 to $500 billion. Elimination of currency manipulation would create 2.3 million to 5.8 million U.S. jobs, without raising public spending at all (indeed, reducing the trade deficit through currency re-alignment would reduce the federal budget deficit)...
TPP proposal is a bad deal (LTE) News and Sentinel ...I do not want my children to wonder where they are going to work because manufacturing will be done in third world countries for pennies on the dollar...
State Battles
Snyder, Schauer spar over fairness of tax rewrite Lansing State Journal ...Democrat Mark Schauer is centering his populist message against Republican Gov. Rick Snyder around a 3-year-old tax overhaul that lowered the burden on business but raised it on individuals...
Letters: State worse under Walker (LTE) Post-Crescent ...the state’s median income has dropped from $54,210 in 2009 to $51,647 in 2013 and that the percentage of children living in poverty has risen from 13.3 percent in 2008 to 18.4 percent in 2013...
War on Workers
The Social Security office of judges who hear appeals for disability benefits is 990,399 cases behind Washington Post ...What’s left now is an office that costs taxpayers billions and still forces applicants to wait more than a year — often, without a paycheck — before delivering an answer about their benefits...
Poor kids who do everything right don’t do better than rich kids who do everything wrong Washington Post ...rich high school dropouts remain in the top about as much as poor college grads stay stuck in the bottom — 14 versus 16 percent, respectively. Not only that, but these low-income strivers are just as likely to end up in the bottom as these wealthy ne'er-do-wells...
Ebola fear, monitoring eases for some in Dallas Associated Press ...Ebola fears began to ease for some Monday as a monitoring period passed for those who had close contact with a victim of the disease and after a cruise ship scare ended with the boat returning to port and a lab worker on board testing negative for the virus...
Harold Meyerson: How workers lost the power struggle — and their pay raises (opinion) Washington Post ...The distribution of income is a function not just of global forces but also of social and institutional power. And over the past four decades, U.S. workers have suffered a loss of power that may exceed even their loss of income...
Behind Private Equity’s Curtain New York Times ...public employees are relying on their pensions for financial security. Private equity firms are relying on their pensions, too. Over the last 10 years, pension funds have piled into private equity buyout funds. But in exchange for what they hope will be hefty returns, many pension funds have signed onto a kind of omerta, or code of silence, about the terms of the funds’ investments...
Ikea and union to start mediation Vancouver Sun ...Mediation is set to begin Monday between Ikea and the Teamsters’ Union Local 213, which represents employees at the company’s store in Richmond...
Coakley, Baker rally supporters as election looms Boston Globe ...At a cavernous union hall in Charlestown Sunday morning, her voice resonating off the walls, Democrat Martha Coakley exhorted members of Teamsters Local 25 to get out the vote for her...
Casino question could be a jackpot Boston Herald ...“Obviously Question 3 (the repeal initiative) is a big question for organized labor and also for the economy of Massachusetts,” Teamsters Local 25 President Sean O’Brien said yesterday at a raucous Charlestown rally of hundreds of union members for Democratic candidate Martha Coakley...
Trade
The TPP Would Enroll More Online Spies Public Citizen ... the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) includes draft rules that would increase significantly the role of online service providers in keeping an eye on their users, under the pretext of combatting copyright piracy. Even if you are not an infringer, your Internet service provider (ISP) will be watching you, just in case...
Jack Lew Sees No Evil: Treasury Fails To Name China as a Currency Manipulator for the 12th Time Economic Policy Institute ...China purchased $681 billion in total foreign exchange reserves between December 2012 and June 2014, and more than $2 trillion since this Administration took office. Currency manipulation by China and approximately 20 other countries has increased the U.S. trade deficit by $200 to $500 billion. Elimination of currency manipulation would create 2.3 million to 5.8 million U.S. jobs, without raising public spending at all (indeed, reducing the trade deficit through currency re-alignment would reduce the federal budget deficit)...
TPP proposal is a bad deal (LTE) News and Sentinel ...I do not want my children to wonder where they are going to work because manufacturing will be done in third world countries for pennies on the dollar...
State Battles
Snyder, Schauer spar over fairness of tax rewrite Lansing State Journal ...Democrat Mark Schauer is centering his populist message against Republican Gov. Rick Snyder around a 3-year-old tax overhaul that lowered the burden on business but raised it on individuals...
Letters: State worse under Walker (LTE) Post-Crescent ...the state’s median income has dropped from $54,210 in 2009 to $51,647 in 2013 and that the percentage of children living in poverty has risen from 13.3 percent in 2008 to 18.4 percent in 2013...
War on Workers
The Social Security office of judges who hear appeals for disability benefits is 990,399 cases behind Washington Post ...What’s left now is an office that costs taxpayers billions and still forces applicants to wait more than a year — often, without a paycheck — before delivering an answer about their benefits...
Poor kids who do everything right don’t do better than rich kids who do everything wrong Washington Post ...rich high school dropouts remain in the top about as much as poor college grads stay stuck in the bottom — 14 versus 16 percent, respectively. Not only that, but these low-income strivers are just as likely to end up in the bottom as these wealthy ne'er-do-wells...
Ebola fear, monitoring eases for some in Dallas Associated Press ...Ebola fears began to ease for some Monday as a monitoring period passed for those who had close contact with a victim of the disease and after a cruise ship scare ended with the boat returning to port and a lab worker on board testing negative for the virus...
Harold Meyerson: How workers lost the power struggle — and their pay raises (opinion) Washington Post ...The distribution of income is a function not just of global forces but also of social and institutional power. And over the past four decades, U.S. workers have suffered a loss of power that may exceed even their loss of income...
Behind Private Equity’s Curtain New York Times ...public employees are relying on their pensions for financial security. Private equity firms are relying on their pensions, too. Over the last 10 years, pension funds have piled into private equity buyout funds. But in exchange for what they hope will be hefty returns, many pension funds have signed onto a kind of omerta, or code of silence, about the terms of the funds’ investments...
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Today's Teamster News 09.21.14
Teamsters
Carpenters, Teamsters protest 'unfair lockout' at Pa. Convention Center Philly.com ...Hundreds of workers staged a rally Saturday morning to protest what they claim is an “unfair lockout” barring members of two unions from working at the Pennsylvania Convention Center...
International Teamsters Union Announces Strike Support for Warehouse Workers at Fred Meyer Teamsters Local 117 ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) has officially sanctioned strike benefits for 388 warehouse workers employed at the Fred Meyer distribution center in Puyallup and an additional 4,318 Teamsters who could become involved in connection with a potential work stoppage at the facility. Fred Meyer is a subsidiary of Kroger, Inc., a $100 billion company and the second-largest grocery retailer in the country...
BC Labour Relations Board: IKEA is bargaining in bad faith All About Work ...The negotiations between IKEA and the Teamsters have stalled because of disputes over a number of bargaining items, including the union’s demand that, when the dispute is resolved, the returning workers not have to work with employees who crossed the picket line during the lockout...
Trade
Japan, U.S. plan agenda for ministerial TPP talks Japan Times ...Working-level officials of Japan and the United States held a teleconference Saturday to narrow down trade topics for a bilateral ministerial meeting next week on the Trans-Pacific Partnership pact...
State Battles
'Wisconsin Poll Watcher Militia' plans to confront Scott Walker recall petition signers at polls Chippewa FallS Herald ...A self-described militia group claims to be checking names on the 2012 Scott Walker recall petition and plans to confront those found to have outstanding warrants or tax defaults at the polls on Nov. 4...
War on Workers
Wage Theft Is A Crime, Unions Are the Crime Busters cognitive dissidence ...In Seattle, one such contractor, Dathan Williams, was just convicted and sentenced to jail for wage theft. Williams would hire undocumented people and pay them just a fraction of what he was supposed to pay them. If they complained, he'd threaten to call ICE on them and have them deported…Williams was only caught because the unions gathered the information about Williams' crimes and presented them to the district attorney, as well as the crimes of other contractors…
Financial Criminals Have Been Fined Billions, but They Rarely Pay The Atlantic ...There’s still $97 billion out there in penalties that the Justice Department has failed to recover, and between September 2012 and September 2013, the department collected only 22 percent of penalties doled out. One particularly demoralizing figure was that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission had collected about a tenth of a percent of the $3.7 billion owed to wronged investors...
Walmart Fined For Fake 'Sugar Tax' On Coca-Cola Sales Forbes ...Walmart advertised a sale on Coca-Cola soft drinks but actually charged customers across New York State more than the advertised sale price...
Yes, Roosters Fought Inside a Walmart. No, the Company Says, It Wasn't a Cockfight Bloomberg ... a Mexican soft drink company staged the event at a store in the city of Boca del Rio on Sept. 15. Photos of brawling roosters in a store aisle—surrounded by shoppers—quickly made it on to social media...
In Checking Accounts, the Less You Have, the More You May Pay New York Times ...for someone who overdraws 12 times a year, uses an out-of-network A.T.M. once a month and averages an end-of-month balance of $50…the average annual cost of a checking account … was $499.02...the average annual cost for customers whose monthly balance never drops below $5,000 and who use only their own bank’s A.T.M. machines was just $17.85...
Ex-Employees Say Home Depot Left Data Vulnerable New York Times ... The biggest data breach in retailing history had compromised 56 million of its customers’ credit cards. The data has popped up on black markets and, by one estimate, could be used to make $3 billion in illegal purchases...
Worker dies in fall off roof on Long Island Associated Press ...Suffolk County police say 57-year-old Lech Chrostowski was working on the roof of a building when he fell 20 feet to the ground...
Oilfield Worker Lost in New Mexico Flooding Dies Associated Press ...One oil field worker was killed and 40 more were stranded in flood waters as the remnants of Hurricane Odile moved through southeastern New Mexico on Friday, authorities said...
Police Officer Dies in Bronx Crash New York Times ...A New York City police officer died early Sunday morning after the van in which he was riding crashed into a median on the Bruckner Expressway in the Bronx, the department said...
Carpenters, Teamsters protest 'unfair lockout' at Pa. Convention Center Philly.com ...Hundreds of workers staged a rally Saturday morning to protest what they claim is an “unfair lockout” barring members of two unions from working at the Pennsylvania Convention Center...
International Teamsters Union Announces Strike Support for Warehouse Workers at Fred Meyer Teamsters Local 117 ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) has officially sanctioned strike benefits for 388 warehouse workers employed at the Fred Meyer distribution center in Puyallup and an additional 4,318 Teamsters who could become involved in connection with a potential work stoppage at the facility. Fred Meyer is a subsidiary of Kroger, Inc., a $100 billion company and the second-largest grocery retailer in the country...
BC Labour Relations Board: IKEA is bargaining in bad faith All About Work ...The negotiations between IKEA and the Teamsters have stalled because of disputes over a number of bargaining items, including the union’s demand that, when the dispute is resolved, the returning workers not have to work with employees who crossed the picket line during the lockout...
Trade
Japan, U.S. plan agenda for ministerial TPP talks Japan Times ...Working-level officials of Japan and the United States held a teleconference Saturday to narrow down trade topics for a bilateral ministerial meeting next week on the Trans-Pacific Partnership pact...
State Battles
'Wisconsin Poll Watcher Militia' plans to confront Scott Walker recall petition signers at polls Chippewa FallS Herald ...A self-described militia group claims to be checking names on the 2012 Scott Walker recall petition and plans to confront those found to have outstanding warrants or tax defaults at the polls on Nov. 4...
War on Workers
Wage Theft Is A Crime, Unions Are the Crime Busters cognitive dissidence ...In Seattle, one such contractor, Dathan Williams, was just convicted and sentenced to jail for wage theft. Williams would hire undocumented people and pay them just a fraction of what he was supposed to pay them. If they complained, he'd threaten to call ICE on them and have them deported…Williams was only caught because the unions gathered the information about Williams' crimes and presented them to the district attorney, as well as the crimes of other contractors…
Financial Criminals Have Been Fined Billions, but They Rarely Pay The Atlantic ...There’s still $97 billion out there in penalties that the Justice Department has failed to recover, and between September 2012 and September 2013, the department collected only 22 percent of penalties doled out. One particularly demoralizing figure was that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission had collected about a tenth of a percent of the $3.7 billion owed to wronged investors...
Walmart Fined For Fake 'Sugar Tax' On Coca-Cola Sales Forbes ...Walmart advertised a sale on Coca-Cola soft drinks but actually charged customers across New York State more than the advertised sale price...
Yes, Roosters Fought Inside a Walmart. No, the Company Says, It Wasn't a Cockfight Bloomberg ... a Mexican soft drink company staged the event at a store in the city of Boca del Rio on Sept. 15. Photos of brawling roosters in a store aisle—surrounded by shoppers—quickly made it on to social media...
In Checking Accounts, the Less You Have, the More You May Pay New York Times ...for someone who overdraws 12 times a year, uses an out-of-network A.T.M. once a month and averages an end-of-month balance of $50…the average annual cost of a checking account … was $499.02...the average annual cost for customers whose monthly balance never drops below $5,000 and who use only their own bank’s A.T.M. machines was just $17.85...
Ex-Employees Say Home Depot Left Data Vulnerable New York Times ... The biggest data breach in retailing history had compromised 56 million of its customers’ credit cards. The data has popped up on black markets and, by one estimate, could be used to make $3 billion in illegal purchases...
Worker dies in fall off roof on Long Island Associated Press ...Suffolk County police say 57-year-old Lech Chrostowski was working on the roof of a building when he fell 20 feet to the ground...
Oilfield Worker Lost in New Mexico Flooding Dies Associated Press ...One oil field worker was killed and 40 more were stranded in flood waters as the remnants of Hurricane Odile moved through southeastern New Mexico on Friday, authorities said...
Police Officer Dies in Bronx Crash New York Times ...A New York City police officer died early Sunday morning after the van in which he was riding crashed into a median on the Bruckner Expressway in the Bronx, the department said...
Saturday, September 13, 2014
Today's Teamster News 09.13.14
Teamster News
Con-Way Freight Workers in Texas Join Teamsters Local 657 teamster.org ...On September 12, 2014, drivers and dockworkers at Con-Way Freight in Laredo, Texas voted to join Teamsters Local 657...There are 113 workers in the bargaining unit...
Teamsters file lawsuit to halt Quinn layoffs Chicago Tribune ...The Teamsters filed a lawsuit today to block the layoffs of dozens of workers Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration decided to let go...
Teamsters Push For FedEx Freight Union Vote In Indianapolis Memphis Business Journal ...The Teamsters union, as part of a national push to unionize FedEx Corp. employees, could soon ask for a secret vote in Indianapolis, Indiana...
Reading Of LRB Ruling Differs Richmond News ...Anita Dawson, who represents the 300 or so workers belonging to Teamsters Local 213, said talks resumed with the Swedish furniture giant Monday, and bargaining is expected to carry over into next week...
Teamsters Local 371 Endorse Anderson Aledo Times Record ...State Senate Candidate Neil Anderson (Rock Island) is honored to announce that the Teamsters Local 371 has endorsed his candidacy for the 36th District...
Trade
Outrage as EU blocks democratic challenge to US trade deal (opinion) politics.co.uk ...There is something rotten in the state of Europe when an unelected, unaccountable EU body can glibly inform millions of us that we no longer have the right to question its most dangerous and unpopular policies...
Sachs on TPP: "This is a NAFTA Treaty Writ Large" Public Citizen ..."These (trade deals) are largely industry- and lobby-driven activities. They are not yet in any way proved to be in the interest of American people, and this is a matter of significant concern...
State Battles
Federal appeals court reinstates voter ID law Wisconsin State Journal ...In a stunningly fast decision, a federal appeals court in Chicago reinstated Wisconsin’s voter photo identification law on Friday — just hours after three Republican-appointed judges heard arguments on reactivating the hotly debated law in time for the November election...
Uber Ride-Share Service Hits D.M. Today; Officials Balk Des Moines Register ...A popular ride-sharing service will debut today in Des Moines despite opposition from officials who say the company is not welcome unless it goes through the city's permitting process...
In The South, Workers Choosing To Unite And Triumph (opinion) Raleigh News Observer ...According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the five states last year with the most growth in union membership were all in the South...
NJ AFL-CIO files ethics complaint alleging pay-to-play in pension investment decisions by Christie Administration NJ Politicker ...New Jersey State AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech highlighted reports exposing what he sees as a disturbing pattern of big contributions to Christie for Governor or Republican organizations by firms handpicked to manage hundreds of millions in state pension funds...
War On Workers
Employers Are Stealing Billions Of Dollars A Year From Their Workers New Republic ...If wage theft is as prevalent in the rest of the United States as it is in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, then it costs workers more than $50 billion a year...
This Chart Shows How Meager U.S. Minimum Wage Truly Is New Republic ...minimum wage workers can buy much less with their wages than minimum wage workers in other developed countries...
A Showdown on the Pay Gap (opinion) New York Times ...The key vote, which will decide whether the Paycheck Fairness Act is allowed an up-or-down vote on the floor, is expected to occur on Monday....
Temporary foreign worker dies in freak accident, leaves chilling testimony CBC News ...A video uncovered by Radio-Canada paints a grim picture of the working conditions one temporary foreign worker allegedly experienced on an Ormstown, Que., farm...
Markets and Morality: Koch brothers foundation bankrolls Hope College student group MLive ...The Charles Koch Foundation supports more than 300 colleges and universities across the U.S., ranging from large public research institutions like Ohio State University to small private religious schools...
America's Poor, Deeper in Debt Than Ever Bloomberg ...More ominous is a steady increase in installment debt, a category that includes both student and auto loans -- areas that have recently seen a lot of questionable lending to lower-income borrowers...
It’s disgusting, and it’s still about race: Southern Republicans simply don’t want minorities to vote Salon ...the Republicans are actually creating the machinery for a carefully organized campaign to intimidate voters and to frighten members of minority groups from casting their ballots on November 3rd...
Miscellaneous
Wash. State Eyes WHL Teams Over Child Labor Laws USA Today ...Matt Erlich, a spokesman for the Washington Department of Labor and Industries, said that a 2013 complaint to the department pointed to how much money the players were paid in relation to time worked. The allegation hinted that it might be below the state's minimum wage...
Con-Way Freight Workers in Texas Join Teamsters Local 657 teamster.org ...On September 12, 2014, drivers and dockworkers at Con-Way Freight in Laredo, Texas voted to join Teamsters Local 657...There are 113 workers in the bargaining unit...
Teamsters file lawsuit to halt Quinn layoffs Chicago Tribune ...The Teamsters filed a lawsuit today to block the layoffs of dozens of workers Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration decided to let go...
Teamsters Push For FedEx Freight Union Vote In Indianapolis Memphis Business Journal ...The Teamsters union, as part of a national push to unionize FedEx Corp. employees, could soon ask for a secret vote in Indianapolis, Indiana...
Reading Of LRB Ruling Differs Richmond News ...Anita Dawson, who represents the 300 or so workers belonging to Teamsters Local 213, said talks resumed with the Swedish furniture giant Monday, and bargaining is expected to carry over into next week...
Teamsters Local 371 Endorse Anderson Aledo Times Record ...State Senate Candidate Neil Anderson (Rock Island) is honored to announce that the Teamsters Local 371 has endorsed his candidacy for the 36th District...
Trade
Outrage as EU blocks democratic challenge to US trade deal (opinion) politics.co.uk ...There is something rotten in the state of Europe when an unelected, unaccountable EU body can glibly inform millions of us that we no longer have the right to question its most dangerous and unpopular policies...
Sachs on TPP: "This is a NAFTA Treaty Writ Large" Public Citizen ..."These (trade deals) are largely industry- and lobby-driven activities. They are not yet in any way proved to be in the interest of American people, and this is a matter of significant concern...
State Battles
Federal appeals court reinstates voter ID law Wisconsin State Journal ...In a stunningly fast decision, a federal appeals court in Chicago reinstated Wisconsin’s voter photo identification law on Friday — just hours after three Republican-appointed judges heard arguments on reactivating the hotly debated law in time for the November election...
Uber Ride-Share Service Hits D.M. Today; Officials Balk Des Moines Register ...A popular ride-sharing service will debut today in Des Moines despite opposition from officials who say the company is not welcome unless it goes through the city's permitting process...
In The South, Workers Choosing To Unite And Triumph (opinion) Raleigh News Observer ...According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the five states last year with the most growth in union membership were all in the South...
NJ AFL-CIO files ethics complaint alleging pay-to-play in pension investment decisions by Christie Administration NJ Politicker ...New Jersey State AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech highlighted reports exposing what he sees as a disturbing pattern of big contributions to Christie for Governor or Republican organizations by firms handpicked to manage hundreds of millions in state pension funds...
War On Workers
Employers Are Stealing Billions Of Dollars A Year From Their Workers New Republic ...If wage theft is as prevalent in the rest of the United States as it is in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, then it costs workers more than $50 billion a year...
This Chart Shows How Meager U.S. Minimum Wage Truly Is New Republic ...minimum wage workers can buy much less with their wages than minimum wage workers in other developed countries...
A Showdown on the Pay Gap (opinion) New York Times ...The key vote, which will decide whether the Paycheck Fairness Act is allowed an up-or-down vote on the floor, is expected to occur on Monday....
Temporary foreign worker dies in freak accident, leaves chilling testimony CBC News ...A video uncovered by Radio-Canada paints a grim picture of the working conditions one temporary foreign worker allegedly experienced on an Ormstown, Que., farm...
Markets and Morality: Koch brothers foundation bankrolls Hope College student group MLive ...The Charles Koch Foundation supports more than 300 colleges and universities across the U.S., ranging from large public research institutions like Ohio State University to small private religious schools...
America's Poor, Deeper in Debt Than Ever Bloomberg ...More ominous is a steady increase in installment debt, a category that includes both student and auto loans -- areas that have recently seen a lot of questionable lending to lower-income borrowers...
It’s disgusting, and it’s still about race: Southern Republicans simply don’t want minorities to vote Salon ...the Republicans are actually creating the machinery for a carefully organized campaign to intimidate voters and to frighten members of minority groups from casting their ballots on November 3rd...
Miscellaneous
Wash. State Eyes WHL Teams Over Child Labor Laws USA Today ...Matt Erlich, a spokesman for the Washington Department of Labor and Industries, said that a 2013 complaint to the department pointed to how much money the players were paid in relation to time worked. The allegation hinted that it might be below the state's minimum wage...
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Today's Teamster News 07.31.14
Teamster News
Consumer Watchdog Campaign: Teamsters, Transit Workers Back Prop 46 Campaign To Protect Patient Safety Insurance News ...Two powerful labor groups, the California Teamsters Public Affairs Council and the California Conference Board-Amalgamated Transit Union, have joined the growing list of organizations and individuals that support Proposition 46, the patient safety initiative on California's Nov. 4 ballot...
Police Union Endorses Lake County Sheriff’s Challenger, Jason Patt Lake Forester ...The Teamsters Local 700, the union representing corrections officers and supervisors along with lieutenants and sergeants of the Lake County Sheriff’s Highway Patrol Division, has endorsed the sheriff’s opponent in the upcoming election...
Teamsters Applaud Putnam County Decision To Reject Republic Services’ Florida Landfill Bid teamster.org ...The Teamsters Union is lauding the Putnam County (Fla.) Board of Commissioners today on its decision to reject Republic Services’ [NYSE: RSG] bid to buy the Putnam County landfill...
IKEA Canada To Pay Damages To The Teamsters Union teamster.org ...The British Columbia Labour Relations Board … concluded that Ikea violated the law when it negotiated directly with workers and offered to all workers who accepted to cross the picket line better working conditions (including a $2.50 an hour premium and a $500 bonus) than the working conditions that it had offered to the Teamsters at the bargaining table...
NLRB Reviews Local Teamster Petition to Expand Definition of 'Dual Employer' National Legal and Policy Center ...When does being employed by a contractor also mean being employed by the corporation with which it contracts? The National Labor Relations Board currently is reviewing this issue in a potential landmark case. If the board rules in favor of a Teamsters local, unions everywhere could have a powerful organizing weapon...
LA Unified reaches agreement with principals, police, teamsters LA School Report ...Teamsters Local 572, whose members include school administrative assistants, cafeteria managers, area operations supervisors and bus supervisors approved a similar contract with a bonus payment for the last year...
State Battles
Chris Christie Pension Cuts Could Damage Economy: Report International Business Times ...when combined with private pension benefits, the spending generated by the national retirement system supports more than 6 million jobs: 4.4 percent of the total national workforce. The report also says that the economic multiplier effect from retirees spending their pension benefits generates $135 billion a year in federal, state and local tax revenues...
N.J. Unions Update Lawsuits To Block Christie's Pension Cuts Newark Star-Ledger ...More than a dozen public-worker unions have updated their lawsuits aiming to stop Gov. Chris Christie from slashing scheduled payments to New Jersey's pension system for government employees...
In Kansas, Brownback tried a red-state ‘experiment.’ Now he may be paying a political price Washington Post ...Advised by Arthur Laffer, the father of supply-side economics, and supported by special interest groups backed by conservative billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, he pushed through legislation that cut taxes and spending, eliminated state jobs and denied far more applications for welfare assistance...
The Republican Occupation of Detroit Daily Beast ...City agencies and entire school districts have been outsourced or privatized; public employees have been laid off in droves; municipalities have sold off vast swaths of public land; and city employee unions have seen their contracts whittled down to nothing...
Cargill to close Milwaukee beef facility, cut 600 jobs Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ..."It is unfortunate that we must close any beef plant because of the impact to good people, their families and the community...
Democratic Assembly Candidates In Northern Wisconsin Say Act 10 Has Caused ‘Teacher Flight' Wisconsin Public Radio ...Gov. Scott Walker’s Act 10 law, saying it’s causing teachers to leave the state. When Walker pushed Act 10 through the Legislature in his first few months as governor in 2011, he called it a tool for local governments and school boards to balance budgets because it took away almost all union bargaining power...
Sick Leave Policies Pick Up Steam CNN Money ...the San Diego city council was one of two cities -- the other being Eugene, Ore. -- to pass new laws mandating paid sick leave on Monday...
War On Workers
Employees’ Pay in U.S. Is Smaller Slice of Income Pie Bloomberg ...Worker pay was a smaller piece of the U.S. income pie than earlier estimated as some Americans collected significantly more in interest and dividend payments over the past two years...
White Collar Wage Theft Is Trending: Companies Using Jail And Illegal Arrangements To Prevent Employees From Leaving Forbes ...white collar occupations such as engineers and developers are facing intricate wage theft schemes that are obfuscated by backroom deals and threats of criminal prosecution on a national scale...
A Bill to Get the Labor Movement Back on Offense The Nation ...The Ellison-Lewis legislation would amend the National Labor Relations Act to include protections found under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to include labor organizing as a fundamental right. That would give workers a broader range of legal options if they feel discriminated against for trying to form a union...
Banks Cash In On Inversion Deals Intended To Elude Taxes New York Times ...Investment banks are estimated to have collected, or will soon collect, nearly $1 billion in fees over the last three years advising and persuading American companies to move the address of their headquarters abroad (without actually moving)...
The Charter School Profiteers Jacobin ...When we welcome schools that lack democratic accountability (charter school boards are appointed, not elected), when we allow public dollars to be used by those with a bottom line (such as the for-profit management companies that proliferate in Michigan), we open doors for opportunism and corruption...
Construction Worker Killed At FSU Construction Site Tallahassee Democrat ...A 25-year-old construction worker was killed Monday afternoon in a construction elevator accident on Florida State University campus, said Major Jim Russell, Florida State University Police Department spokesman...
Higher Minimum Wage, Faster Job Creation (opinion) New York Times ...The minimum wage has been raised many times without hurting employment...
Miscellaneous
Wall Street Analysts Predict The Slow Demise Of Walmart And Target Huffington Post ...Shoppers are increasingly turning to the web or to smaller, more conveniently located stores, cutting into the market share of big-box retailers like Walmart and Target, the analysts wrote...
Consumer Watchdog Campaign: Teamsters, Transit Workers Back Prop 46 Campaign To Protect Patient Safety Insurance News ...Two powerful labor groups, the California Teamsters Public Affairs Council and the California Conference Board-Amalgamated Transit Union, have joined the growing list of organizations and individuals that support Proposition 46, the patient safety initiative on California's Nov. 4 ballot...
Police Union Endorses Lake County Sheriff’s Challenger, Jason Patt Lake Forester ...The Teamsters Local 700, the union representing corrections officers and supervisors along with lieutenants and sergeants of the Lake County Sheriff’s Highway Patrol Division, has endorsed the sheriff’s opponent in the upcoming election...
Teamsters Applaud Putnam County Decision To Reject Republic Services’ Florida Landfill Bid teamster.org ...The Teamsters Union is lauding the Putnam County (Fla.) Board of Commissioners today on its decision to reject Republic Services’ [NYSE: RSG] bid to buy the Putnam County landfill...
IKEA Canada To Pay Damages To The Teamsters Union teamster.org ...The British Columbia Labour Relations Board … concluded that Ikea violated the law when it negotiated directly with workers and offered to all workers who accepted to cross the picket line better working conditions (including a $2.50 an hour premium and a $500 bonus) than the working conditions that it had offered to the Teamsters at the bargaining table...
NLRB Reviews Local Teamster Petition to Expand Definition of 'Dual Employer' National Legal and Policy Center ...When does being employed by a contractor also mean being employed by the corporation with which it contracts? The National Labor Relations Board currently is reviewing this issue in a potential landmark case. If the board rules in favor of a Teamsters local, unions everywhere could have a powerful organizing weapon...
LA Unified reaches agreement with principals, police, teamsters LA School Report ...Teamsters Local 572, whose members include school administrative assistants, cafeteria managers, area operations supervisors and bus supervisors approved a similar contract with a bonus payment for the last year...
State Battles
Chris Christie Pension Cuts Could Damage Economy: Report International Business Times ...when combined with private pension benefits, the spending generated by the national retirement system supports more than 6 million jobs: 4.4 percent of the total national workforce. The report also says that the economic multiplier effect from retirees spending their pension benefits generates $135 billion a year in federal, state and local tax revenues...
N.J. Unions Update Lawsuits To Block Christie's Pension Cuts Newark Star-Ledger ...More than a dozen public-worker unions have updated their lawsuits aiming to stop Gov. Chris Christie from slashing scheduled payments to New Jersey's pension system for government employees...
In Kansas, Brownback tried a red-state ‘experiment.’ Now he may be paying a political price Washington Post ...Advised by Arthur Laffer, the father of supply-side economics, and supported by special interest groups backed by conservative billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, he pushed through legislation that cut taxes and spending, eliminated state jobs and denied far more applications for welfare assistance...
The Republican Occupation of Detroit Daily Beast ...City agencies and entire school districts have been outsourced or privatized; public employees have been laid off in droves; municipalities have sold off vast swaths of public land; and city employee unions have seen their contracts whittled down to nothing...
Cargill to close Milwaukee beef facility, cut 600 jobs Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ..."It is unfortunate that we must close any beef plant because of the impact to good people, their families and the community...
Democratic Assembly Candidates In Northern Wisconsin Say Act 10 Has Caused ‘Teacher Flight' Wisconsin Public Radio ...Gov. Scott Walker’s Act 10 law, saying it’s causing teachers to leave the state. When Walker pushed Act 10 through the Legislature in his first few months as governor in 2011, he called it a tool for local governments and school boards to balance budgets because it took away almost all union bargaining power...
Sick Leave Policies Pick Up Steam CNN Money ...the San Diego city council was one of two cities -- the other being Eugene, Ore. -- to pass new laws mandating paid sick leave on Monday...
War On Workers
Employees’ Pay in U.S. Is Smaller Slice of Income Pie Bloomberg ...Worker pay was a smaller piece of the U.S. income pie than earlier estimated as some Americans collected significantly more in interest and dividend payments over the past two years...
White Collar Wage Theft Is Trending: Companies Using Jail And Illegal Arrangements To Prevent Employees From Leaving Forbes ...white collar occupations such as engineers and developers are facing intricate wage theft schemes that are obfuscated by backroom deals and threats of criminal prosecution on a national scale...
A Bill to Get the Labor Movement Back on Offense The Nation ...The Ellison-Lewis legislation would amend the National Labor Relations Act to include protections found under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to include labor organizing as a fundamental right. That would give workers a broader range of legal options if they feel discriminated against for trying to form a union...
Banks Cash In On Inversion Deals Intended To Elude Taxes New York Times ...Investment banks are estimated to have collected, or will soon collect, nearly $1 billion in fees over the last three years advising and persuading American companies to move the address of their headquarters abroad (without actually moving)...
The Charter School Profiteers Jacobin ...When we welcome schools that lack democratic accountability (charter school boards are appointed, not elected), when we allow public dollars to be used by those with a bottom line (such as the for-profit management companies that proliferate in Michigan), we open doors for opportunism and corruption...
Construction Worker Killed At FSU Construction Site Tallahassee Democrat ...A 25-year-old construction worker was killed Monday afternoon in a construction elevator accident on Florida State University campus, said Major Jim Russell, Florida State University Police Department spokesman...
Higher Minimum Wage, Faster Job Creation (opinion) New York Times ...The minimum wage has been raised many times without hurting employment...
Miscellaneous
Wall Street Analysts Predict The Slow Demise Of Walmart And Target Huffington Post ...Shoppers are increasingly turning to the web or to smaller, more conveniently located stores, cutting into the market share of big-box retailers like Walmart and Target, the analysts wrote...
Friday, June 27, 2014
Today's Teamster News 06.27.14
Teamster News
Supreme Court Ruling Forces NLRB to Scramble to Revisit Cases Wall Street Journal ...The Supreme Court ruling that President Barack Obama exceeded his authority in 2012 by appointing three people to the National Labor Relations Board kicks off a scramble by the current board to revisit hundreds of labor decisions made while the now-departed appointees were seated...The company, a division of Noel Corp. of Yakima, Wash., argued the recess appointments were invalid, leaving the NLRB without a quorum when it made the bottler comply with a Teamsters collective-bargaining agreement...
Supreme Court Rebukes Obama on Right of Appointment New York Times ...At the same time, the court largely reinstated an uneasy, centuries-long accommodation between the executive branch and the Senate, in which recess appointments were allowed during more substantial breaks...
EVSC employee groups represented by Teamsters Local 215 have until noon Friday to accept 'final offer' Evansville Courier & Press ...Teamsters Local 215 have until noon Friday to accept the EVSC School Board's final offer...
Ulster RRA Approves New Contract With Teamster Employees Mid Hudson News ...The Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency Board has approved a four-year contract with Teamsters Local 445. The last agreement between the workers and the RRA expired at the end of 2012...
Twinsburg Teamster's Union To See 3% Raises Under New Contract Twinsburg Bulletin ...The union employees of the city's wastewater treatment department will see three percent raises to their hourly wages under a new contract approved between the city and Teamsters Local No. 436....
Fed-Up Uber Drivers Give Company Policies A One-Star Rating LAist ...A large group of Uber drivers, their family members and teamsters gathered in front of the company's office in Santa Monica on Tuesday to protest what they called a "general lack of communication, arbitrary treatment and unfair business practices." They're also lobbying for state legislation that they say would protect their livelihoods...
Trade
Trans-Pacific Partnership (NAFTA On Steroids) Threatens Sovereignty The New American ...Of all the weapons aimed at our freedom and founding documents, though, there is perhaps none more potent than the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
State Battles
New York’s Ban on Big Sodas Is Rejected by Final Court New York Times ...The Bloomberg big-soda ban is officially dead...
With Minimum Wage Increase Accomplished, Massachusetts Labor Activists Turn To Campaign For Earned Sick Time MassLive ...The Legislature passed, and Gov. Deval Patrick is expected to sign, a bill raising the state's minimum wage to $11 an hour by 2017....
Wisconsin second only to Alabama in cuts to education funding, study shows The Cap Times ...Spending per pupil in Wisconsin was down $1,038 from 2008 for the school year just ended. Alabama cut per-pupil spending by $1,242...
Lawyer clarifies Walker not target Politico ...“At the time the investigation was halted, Governor Walker was not a target of the investigation,” Schmitz lawyer Randall Crocker wrote in a one-page statement...
LePage includes Social Security among ‘welfare’ programs Portland Press Herald ...He also puts Medicare and jobless aid in that category while arguing that Maine’s personal-income ranking would be better if such federal payments were excluded...
Secrecy in Pensions Triggers Legislative Brawl in North Carolina Bloomberg ...(North Carolina Treasurer Janet) Cowell, a 45-year-old Democrat, opposed a bill by the State Employees Association of North Carolina to require more disclosure about deals with Wall Street firms hired to manage alternatives to stocks and bonds for the $87 billion pension she controls...
War On Workers
What’s at Stake in Harris v. Quinn Economic Policy Institute ...The Supreme Court is about to issue a decision on a case that could hit working people—especially working women—right in the paycheck. Harris v. Quinn is about isolating individual workers so they are weak and unable to protect themselves in a labor market that fails to reward their hard work...
Oakland emails give another glimpse into the Google-Military-Surveillance Complex Pando Daily ...The “Domain Awareness Center” (DAC) — a federally funded project that, if built as planned, would link up real time audio and video feeds from thousands of sensors across the city — including CCTV cameras in public schools and public housing projects, as well as Oakland Police Department mobile license plate scanners ... city officials were more interested in using DAC’s surveillance capabilities to monitor political protests rather than fighting crime. The evidence was abundant and overwhelming: in email after email, Oakland officials had discussed the DAC usefulness for keeping tabs on activists, monitoring non-violent political protests and minimize port disruption due to union/labor strikes...
'We Need Respect: Meet The New 'Rosie The Riveters' Washington Post ...From the cashier at the Pentagon Dunkin’ Donuts to the custodian at Union Station, working women, mothers and grandmothers from about 50 companies that do business with the federal government marched to call for higher wages and the right to unionize...
Ikea Will Raise The Minimum Wage For Its American Workers Think Progress ...Ikea will announce Thursday a plan to raise its average minimum wage at U.S. stores to $10.76 an hour, a 17 percent increase over the current wage...
Consumer Inflation Hits Highest Level Since 2012, Near Fed’s 2% Target Wall Street Journal ...The price index for personal consumption expenditures — the Fed’s preferred gauge — advanced 1.8% in May from a year earlier, the Commerce Department said Thursday. That was the highest level since October 2012 and a stark pickup from February when annual inflation stood at just 0.8%...
Miscellaneous
Pilots To Begin Contract Negotiations With American in July SkyTalk ...American Airlines and its pilots union have agreed to begin contract talks on July 8, the union said on Tuesday. The Allied Pilots Association, which represents American's pilots, said it plans to tackle challenging issues in the contract talks with management...
Union Group Hits $10B Goal, Has Money To Lend On U.S. Infrastructure Denver Post ...One of the nation's largest trade union federations announced Tuesday at The Clinton Global Initiative in Denver it has raised $10 billion for investment in America's built infrastructure that it pledged in 2011...
Supreme Court Ruling Forces NLRB to Scramble to Revisit Cases Wall Street Journal ...The Supreme Court ruling that President Barack Obama exceeded his authority in 2012 by appointing three people to the National Labor Relations Board kicks off a scramble by the current board to revisit hundreds of labor decisions made while the now-departed appointees were seated...The company, a division of Noel Corp. of Yakima, Wash., argued the recess appointments were invalid, leaving the NLRB without a quorum when it made the bottler comply with a Teamsters collective-bargaining agreement...
Supreme Court Rebukes Obama on Right of Appointment New York Times ...At the same time, the court largely reinstated an uneasy, centuries-long accommodation between the executive branch and the Senate, in which recess appointments were allowed during more substantial breaks...
EVSC employee groups represented by Teamsters Local 215 have until noon Friday to accept 'final offer' Evansville Courier & Press ...Teamsters Local 215 have until noon Friday to accept the EVSC School Board's final offer...
Ulster RRA Approves New Contract With Teamster Employees Mid Hudson News ...The Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency Board has approved a four-year contract with Teamsters Local 445. The last agreement between the workers and the RRA expired at the end of 2012...
Twinsburg Teamster's Union To See 3% Raises Under New Contract Twinsburg Bulletin ...The union employees of the city's wastewater treatment department will see three percent raises to their hourly wages under a new contract approved between the city and Teamsters Local No. 436....
Fed-Up Uber Drivers Give Company Policies A One-Star Rating LAist ...A large group of Uber drivers, their family members and teamsters gathered in front of the company's office in Santa Monica on Tuesday to protest what they called a "general lack of communication, arbitrary treatment and unfair business practices." They're also lobbying for state legislation that they say would protect their livelihoods...
Trade
Trans-Pacific Partnership (NAFTA On Steroids) Threatens Sovereignty The New American ...Of all the weapons aimed at our freedom and founding documents, though, there is perhaps none more potent than the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
State Battles
New York’s Ban on Big Sodas Is Rejected by Final Court New York Times ...The Bloomberg big-soda ban is officially dead...
With Minimum Wage Increase Accomplished, Massachusetts Labor Activists Turn To Campaign For Earned Sick Time MassLive ...The Legislature passed, and Gov. Deval Patrick is expected to sign, a bill raising the state's minimum wage to $11 an hour by 2017....
Wisconsin second only to Alabama in cuts to education funding, study shows The Cap Times ...Spending per pupil in Wisconsin was down $1,038 from 2008 for the school year just ended. Alabama cut per-pupil spending by $1,242...
Lawyer clarifies Walker not target Politico ...“At the time the investigation was halted, Governor Walker was not a target of the investigation,” Schmitz lawyer Randall Crocker wrote in a one-page statement...
LePage includes Social Security among ‘welfare’ programs Portland Press Herald ...He also puts Medicare and jobless aid in that category while arguing that Maine’s personal-income ranking would be better if such federal payments were excluded...
Secrecy in Pensions Triggers Legislative Brawl in North Carolina Bloomberg ...(North Carolina Treasurer Janet) Cowell, a 45-year-old Democrat, opposed a bill by the State Employees Association of North Carolina to require more disclosure about deals with Wall Street firms hired to manage alternatives to stocks and bonds for the $87 billion pension she controls...
War On Workers
What’s at Stake in Harris v. Quinn Economic Policy Institute ...The Supreme Court is about to issue a decision on a case that could hit working people—especially working women—right in the paycheck. Harris v. Quinn is about isolating individual workers so they are weak and unable to protect themselves in a labor market that fails to reward their hard work...
Oakland emails give another glimpse into the Google-Military-Surveillance Complex Pando Daily ...The “Domain Awareness Center” (DAC) — a federally funded project that, if built as planned, would link up real time audio and video feeds from thousands of sensors across the city — including CCTV cameras in public schools and public housing projects, as well as Oakland Police Department mobile license plate scanners ... city officials were more interested in using DAC’s surveillance capabilities to monitor political protests rather than fighting crime. The evidence was abundant and overwhelming: in email after email, Oakland officials had discussed the DAC usefulness for keeping tabs on activists, monitoring non-violent political protests and minimize port disruption due to union/labor strikes...
'We Need Respect: Meet The New 'Rosie The Riveters' Washington Post ...From the cashier at the Pentagon Dunkin’ Donuts to the custodian at Union Station, working women, mothers and grandmothers from about 50 companies that do business with the federal government marched to call for higher wages and the right to unionize...
Ikea Will Raise The Minimum Wage For Its American Workers Think Progress ...Ikea will announce Thursday a plan to raise its average minimum wage at U.S. stores to $10.76 an hour, a 17 percent increase over the current wage...
Consumer Inflation Hits Highest Level Since 2012, Near Fed’s 2% Target Wall Street Journal ...The price index for personal consumption expenditures — the Fed’s preferred gauge — advanced 1.8% in May from a year earlier, the Commerce Department said Thursday. That was the highest level since October 2012 and a stark pickup from February when annual inflation stood at just 0.8%...
Miscellaneous
Pilots To Begin Contract Negotiations With American in July SkyTalk ...American Airlines and its pilots union have agreed to begin contract talks on July 8, the union said on Tuesday. The Allied Pilots Association, which represents American's pilots, said it plans to tackle challenging issues in the contract talks with management...
Union Group Hits $10B Goal, Has Money To Lend On U.S. Infrastructure Denver Post ...One of the nation's largest trade union federations announced Tuesday at The Clinton Global Initiative in Denver it has raised $10 billion for investment in America's built infrastructure that it pledged in 2011...
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Today's Teamster News 05.08.14
Teamster News
Richmond Ikea Labor Dispute Heads Into Year Two--With No End In Sight The Province ...The seasons and the calendar may have changed, but the labor dispute at Ikea's Richmond store remains as workers get set to mark a year on the picket line. About 300 members of Teamsters Local 213 have been surviving on strike pay...
York City approves new Teamsters contract York Dispatch ..."Both parties made concessions. Both parties got things," said Tom Ray, the city's deputy business administrator for human resources. According to the city's 2014 budget, 58 of the city's 364 employees are members of the Teamsters union...
Trade
Hollywood Boycott Threatens Trans Pacific Partnership Huffington Post ...A Hollywood boycott is threatening the Obama administration's Trans Pacific Partnership agreement. The southeast Asian nation of Brunei, a would be member of the TPP, is under fire from Hollywood...
State Battles
Koch Brothers And Big Utilities Campaign To Unplug Solar Power Los Angeles Times ...The Koch brothers have a new ploy to protect the traditional energy business that helped make them the planet's fifth and sixth richest humans...
State Ad Campaign Spreads Word Of Wage Theft The California Report ...Waiters earning only tips. Car wash workers not paid until customers drive up. Farm workers paid for fruit picked, rest breaks not included. Most of us have a sense this thing happens a lot--but it's not legal...
Conflicting Rulings Cloud Wisconsin Campaign Finance Inquiry New York Times ...An investigation into possible campaign finance violations involving conservative groups in Wisconsin and Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign committee has become entangled in back-to-back federal court rulings on whether it should continue...
War On Workers
U.S. Companies Often Assume Black Job Applicants Do Drugs Huffington Post ...More than any other group, black applicants are being turned away by U.S. companies under the implicit assumption that they are using illegal drugs, according to a new study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)...
Last year, 25 hedge fund managers earned more than double every kindergarten teacher combined Vox ...it's good to be a successful hedge fund manager: the top 25 earned a collective $21.1 billion this year...
Former NFL Cheerleader Sues Jets, Alleging Wage Theft Al-Jazeera ...The New York Jets have become the fourth National Football League (NFL) team to be sued by former cheerleaders alleging wage-theft and other labor-law violations...
CEOs Are Spending More And More Of Their Company's Money On Vacations Think Progress ...Corporate CEOs are back to using company jets for personal travel after the practice dipped briefly following the financial crisis, Bloomberg reports. "Non-business travel expenses" increased for the third straight year...
Charter Schools Are Cheating Your Kids: New Report Reveals Massive Fraud, Mismanagement, Abuse Salon.com ...Just in time for National Charter School Week, there's a new report highlighting the predictable perils of turning education into a poorly regulated business...
Miscellaneous
Wide Majorities Losing Faith In John Roberts' Supreme Court, Want Term Limits Huffington Post ...An overwhelming majority of voters would support sweeping reforms to the Supreme Court, as trust and confidence in the institution has eroded in recent years, according to a new survey...
Richmond Ikea Labor Dispute Heads Into Year Two--With No End In Sight The Province ...The seasons and the calendar may have changed, but the labor dispute at Ikea's Richmond store remains as workers get set to mark a year on the picket line. About 300 members of Teamsters Local 213 have been surviving on strike pay...
York City approves new Teamsters contract York Dispatch ..."Both parties made concessions. Both parties got things," said Tom Ray, the city's deputy business administrator for human resources. According to the city's 2014 budget, 58 of the city's 364 employees are members of the Teamsters union...
Trade
Hollywood Boycott Threatens Trans Pacific Partnership Huffington Post ...A Hollywood boycott is threatening the Obama administration's Trans Pacific Partnership agreement. The southeast Asian nation of Brunei, a would be member of the TPP, is under fire from Hollywood...
State Battles
Koch Brothers And Big Utilities Campaign To Unplug Solar Power Los Angeles Times ...The Koch brothers have a new ploy to protect the traditional energy business that helped make them the planet's fifth and sixth richest humans...
State Ad Campaign Spreads Word Of Wage Theft The California Report ...Waiters earning only tips. Car wash workers not paid until customers drive up. Farm workers paid for fruit picked, rest breaks not included. Most of us have a sense this thing happens a lot--but it's not legal...
Conflicting Rulings Cloud Wisconsin Campaign Finance Inquiry New York Times ...An investigation into possible campaign finance violations involving conservative groups in Wisconsin and Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign committee has become entangled in back-to-back federal court rulings on whether it should continue...
War On Workers
U.S. Companies Often Assume Black Job Applicants Do Drugs Huffington Post ...More than any other group, black applicants are being turned away by U.S. companies under the implicit assumption that they are using illegal drugs, according to a new study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)...
Last year, 25 hedge fund managers earned more than double every kindergarten teacher combined Vox ...it's good to be a successful hedge fund manager: the top 25 earned a collective $21.1 billion this year...
Former NFL Cheerleader Sues Jets, Alleging Wage Theft Al-Jazeera ...The New York Jets have become the fourth National Football League (NFL) team to be sued by former cheerleaders alleging wage-theft and other labor-law violations...
CEOs Are Spending More And More Of Their Company's Money On Vacations Think Progress ...Corporate CEOs are back to using company jets for personal travel after the practice dipped briefly following the financial crisis, Bloomberg reports. "Non-business travel expenses" increased for the third straight year...
Charter Schools Are Cheating Your Kids: New Report Reveals Massive Fraud, Mismanagement, Abuse Salon.com ...Just in time for National Charter School Week, there's a new report highlighting the predictable perils of turning education into a poorly regulated business...
Miscellaneous
Wide Majorities Losing Faith In John Roberts' Supreme Court, Want Term Limits Huffington Post ...An overwhelming majority of voters would support sweeping reforms to the Supreme Court, as trust and confidence in the institution has eroded in recent years, according to a new survey...
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Today's Teamster News 01.02.14
Little Holiday Cheer for IKEA Workers truthout ...IKEA's inconsistent labor relations violate international union standards, leaving hundreds of employees without work in Canada and other countries across the globe...
Chief Justice Warns Sequestration Cuts Already Threatening Public Safety ThinkProgress ...Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts, in his annual Year-End Report on the State of the Federal Judiciary, blasted the 2011 Budget Control Act’s automatic “sequestration” federal spending cuts and warned that the cuts to the federal court system’s budget “pose a genuine threat to public safety.”...
50 Is the New 65: Older Americans Are Getting Booted from Their Jobs -- and Denied New Opportunities Alternet ...Workers as young as 50 are shocked to find themselves suddenly tossed onto the employment rubbish heap, just when they felt on top of their game. They’re feeling stressed, angry and betrayed by a society which has benefited greatly from their contributions...
Pomp and Exceptional Circumstance: How Students Are Forced to Prop Up the Education Bubble Boston Review ...The challenge of student debt, like climate change and other urgent needs, threatens to exceed the capacity of our current political and economic systems...
Apple’s Top Crimes of 2013 Counterpunch ...From tax dodging to toxic sweatshops...
Overthrow the Speculators (opinion) OpEdNews ...Speculators at megabanks or investment firms such as Goldman Sachs are not, in a strict sense, capitalists. They do not make money from the means of production. Rather, they ignore or rewrite the law -- ostensibly put in place to protect the vulnerable from the powerful -- to steal from everyone, including their shareholders. They are parasites...
The Life of a Fast-Food Worker New Yorker ...According to estimates from union groups, paying workers a living wage would raise the price of a burger or a bucket of chicken by a couple of cents per meal...
The Top 25 Most Censored Stories of 2013 Project Censored ...The news that didn't make the news...
Chief Justice Warns Sequestration Cuts Already Threatening Public Safety ThinkProgress ...Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts, in his annual Year-End Report on the State of the Federal Judiciary, blasted the 2011 Budget Control Act’s automatic “sequestration” federal spending cuts and warned that the cuts to the federal court system’s budget “pose a genuine threat to public safety.”...
50 Is the New 65: Older Americans Are Getting Booted from Their Jobs -- and Denied New Opportunities Alternet ...Workers as young as 50 are shocked to find themselves suddenly tossed onto the employment rubbish heap, just when they felt on top of their game. They’re feeling stressed, angry and betrayed by a society which has benefited greatly from their contributions...
Pomp and Exceptional Circumstance: How Students Are Forced to Prop Up the Education Bubble Boston Review ...The challenge of student debt, like climate change and other urgent needs, threatens to exceed the capacity of our current political and economic systems...
Apple’s Top Crimes of 2013 Counterpunch ...From tax dodging to toxic sweatshops...
Overthrow the Speculators (opinion) OpEdNews ...Speculators at megabanks or investment firms such as Goldman Sachs are not, in a strict sense, capitalists. They do not make money from the means of production. Rather, they ignore or rewrite the law -- ostensibly put in place to protect the vulnerable from the powerful -- to steal from everyone, including their shareholders. They are parasites...
The Life of a Fast-Food Worker New Yorker ...According to estimates from union groups, paying workers a living wage would raise the price of a burger or a bucket of chicken by a couple of cents per meal...
The Top 25 Most Censored Stories of 2013 Project Censored ...The news that didn't make the news...
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Today's Teamster News 12.31.13
Northern Tier shuts crude distillation unit -union Reuters ...Chris Riley, the business agent for Teamsters Local 120, which represents workers at the 89,500-barrel-per-day (bpd) plant in St. Paul, Minnesota, said a maintenance problem prompted the shutdown of the larger of two crude units for six to seven days. The unit shutdown at Northern Tier's only refinery came as a Dec. 31 contract expiration loomed. The union was considering a strike...
Train Derailment Causes Fiery Destruction In Casselton, ND Associated Press ...Authorities urged residents to evacuate a small North Dakota town Monday night after a mile-long train carrying crude oil derailed outside of town, shaking residents with a series of explosions that sent flames and black smoke skyward...
Fired Walmart Warehouse Workers Win $50,000 in Back Pay In These Times ... Last Monday, just days after a Walmart contractor agreed to pay out $4.7 million for alleged wage theft to more than 500 warehouse workers in southern California, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) secured a settlement over illegal retaliation against employees at the retail giant's distribution center in Elwood, Ill...
Clothing Brands Sidestep Blame for Safety Lapses New York Times ... four brands agreed last week to help finance a landmark $40 million compensation fund for the victims. But many other brands, including Mango, have so far refused to contribute to the fund…
Out of jobs, out of benefits, out of luck (Opinion. Note the author.) CNN ...People who can't work still must eat. Americans in distress have a claim on the rest of the nation. Extend unemployment insurance. Sustain food stamps. While we're looking for a new deal, at least quit deluding ourselves that the old deal is still operable. It's not...
I worked on the US drone program. The public should know what really goes on (opinion) The Guardian ... "How many soldiers have you seen die on the side of a road in Afghanistan because our ever-so-accurate UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] were unable to detect an IED [improvised explosive device] that awaited their convoy?"...
Younger military veterans are angered by budget cuts to their pension benefits Washington Post ...The plan to trim pension increases for working-age military retirees such as Preston is by far the most controversial provision in a bipartisan budget deal approved by Congress and signed last week by President Obama...
Nafta at 20 (.pdf) Public Citizen ...One Million U.S. Jobs Lost, Mass Displacement and Instability in Mexico, Record Income Inequality, Scores of Corporate Attacks on Environmental and Health Laws...
Moguls Rent South Dakota Addresses to Shelter Wealth Forever Bloomberg ...South Dakota’s sudden popularity illustrates how, at a time of rising U.S. economic inequality, the wealthiest Americans are embracing ever more creative ways to reduce taxes legally...
Ikea Isn't Only Furnishing Your Bedroom, It's Watching You There truthout ...Ikea has been able to access personal records including bank account information, driving records, vehicle registrations and property records. It has used these in vetting job applicants and in building cases against employees accused of wrongdoing...
South Korea's railway workers end three-week strike Straits Times ...Thousands of South Korean railway workers agreed on Monday to end a three-week partial strike after lawmakers promised to reflect their opinions in the government's controversial plan to reorganise railway services...
Greek prison system collapsing, labeled 'inhuman' Associated Press ...The crisis is playing out as Greece goes through a dramatic economic meltdown. As a result, prison populations are surging even as funds for guards and facilities are shrinking, a toxic mix that police and justice officials warn could explode in violence at any time...
Train Derailment Causes Fiery Destruction In Casselton, ND Associated Press ...Authorities urged residents to evacuate a small North Dakota town Monday night after a mile-long train carrying crude oil derailed outside of town, shaking residents with a series of explosions that sent flames and black smoke skyward...
Fired Walmart Warehouse Workers Win $50,000 in Back Pay In These Times ... Last Monday, just days after a Walmart contractor agreed to pay out $4.7 million for alleged wage theft to more than 500 warehouse workers in southern California, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) secured a settlement over illegal retaliation against employees at the retail giant's distribution center in Elwood, Ill...
Clothing Brands Sidestep Blame for Safety Lapses New York Times ... four brands agreed last week to help finance a landmark $40 million compensation fund for the victims. But many other brands, including Mango, have so far refused to contribute to the fund…
Out of jobs, out of benefits, out of luck (Opinion. Note the author.) CNN ...People who can't work still must eat. Americans in distress have a claim on the rest of the nation. Extend unemployment insurance. Sustain food stamps. While we're looking for a new deal, at least quit deluding ourselves that the old deal is still operable. It's not...
I worked on the US drone program. The public should know what really goes on (opinion) The Guardian ... "How many soldiers have you seen die on the side of a road in Afghanistan because our ever-so-accurate UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] were unable to detect an IED [improvised explosive device] that awaited their convoy?"...
Younger military veterans are angered by budget cuts to their pension benefits Washington Post ...The plan to trim pension increases for working-age military retirees such as Preston is by far the most controversial provision in a bipartisan budget deal approved by Congress and signed last week by President Obama...
Nafta at 20 (.pdf) Public Citizen ...One Million U.S. Jobs Lost, Mass Displacement and Instability in Mexico, Record Income Inequality, Scores of Corporate Attacks on Environmental and Health Laws...
Moguls Rent South Dakota Addresses to Shelter Wealth Forever Bloomberg ...South Dakota’s sudden popularity illustrates how, at a time of rising U.S. economic inequality, the wealthiest Americans are embracing ever more creative ways to reduce taxes legally...
Ikea Isn't Only Furnishing Your Bedroom, It's Watching You There truthout ...Ikea has been able to access personal records including bank account information, driving records, vehicle registrations and property records. It has used these in vetting job applicants and in building cases against employees accused of wrongdoing...
South Korea's railway workers end three-week strike Straits Times ...Thousands of South Korean railway workers agreed on Monday to end a three-week partial strike after lawmakers promised to reflect their opinions in the government's controversial plan to reorganise railway services...
Greek prison system collapsing, labeled 'inhuman' Associated Press ...The crisis is playing out as Greece goes through a dramatic economic meltdown. As a result, prison populations are surging even as funds for guards and facilities are shrinking, a toxic mix that police and justice officials warn could explode in violence at any time...
Friday, December 20, 2013
Jon Stewart targets IKEA for spying on employees
IKEA's 7-month lockout of our Teamster brothers and sisters in Richmond, Canada, is drawing international attention -- as are allegations that IKEA spied on employees in Europe.
Now Jon Stewart is mocking the IKEA on The Daily Show.
Let's hope IKEA decides to clean up its act soon!
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Today's Teamster News 12.18.13
Teamsters Stand in Solidarity with Korean Railway Workers on Strike teamster.org ...The Teamsters and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division of the Teamsters are standing in solidarity with striking Korean railway workers...
Port Workers In IKEA Supply Chain Hold Solidarity Actions Over Lockout teamster.org ...hundreds of dock workers at 10 ports around the globe held rallies to show their support for the 350 Teamsters who have been locked out from their jobs without pay for seven months at IKEA’s store in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada...
Teamsters Donating Toys to Hershey Ronald McDonald House teamster.org ...Teamsters Local Union 776 in Harrisburg will be donating more than $7,500 in toys to the Ronald McDonald House in Hershey...
SCI Deceives Grieving Family For $15,000 Funeral, Relatives Outraged teamster.org ...“We had no clue there was a change of ownership,” Johnson said. “We went there on the memory of a good family business only to find out it is owned by this huge conglomerate that is mistreating workers and basically spitting on the memory of my mom...”
Northern Tier Refinery Workers Vote To Strike teamster.org ...workers from the Northern Tier refinery in St. Paul Park, Minn. voted overwhelmingly to strike if necessary, rejecting cuts proposed by management that could dramatically undermine the safety of operations. The refinery workers are represented by Teamsters Local 120...
GES Exposition Services Threatens Chicago's Convention Business teamster.org ...The company is demanding a laundry list of concessions from the Teamsters, including more work-rule restrictions, further crew-size reductions and changes in seniority...
It’s Time to Halt Middle-Class Housing Crisis teamster.org ...10 million homeowners still owe more than their homes are worth...
Accidental Tax Break Saves Wealthiest Americans $100 Billion Bloomberg ...By shuffling his company stock in and out of more than 30 trusts, he’s given at least $7.9 billion to his heirs while legally avoiding about $2.8 billion in U.S. gift taxes since 2010, according to calculations based on data in Adelson’s U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings...
U.S. preparing civil charges against Citigroup, Merrill Lynch: sources Reuters ...Civil investigators have compiled evidence that allegedly shows that investors lost tens of billions of dollars after purchasing securities Citigroup had marketed as safe even though the bank had reason to believe otherwise...
Elizabeth Warren’s New Bill Aims to Stop Employers Discriminating Against the Poor truthdig ...Employers often use credit scores to weed out poorer applicants despite the fact that studies show these numbers have nothing to do with productivity or dedication, but the Equal Employment for All Act introduced Tuesday would prohibit this form of discrimination from taking place...
Why are we letting China buy American companies? New York Post ...The Smithfield buyout is a great loss because the company has become a huge exporter, to Japan and elsewhere, and has developed, with taxpayer assistance, systems and technologies that are best in class. Of course, that was why it became a target and why China Inc. overpaid to get it. But the only American beneficiaries will be a handful of investors. The rest of Smithfield’s stakeholders, and the American economy, will be bruised...
Another Apple Supplier in China Admits Gross Violations of Worker Rights Economic Policy Institute ...In a swift reaction to ugly publicity about suicides, injuries, and mistreatment of workers, Biel Crystal, one of Apple’s most important suppliers of touchscreen cover glass for its iPhones, reached an agreement with the Chinese labor rights group, SACOM, to take three steps toward better conditions by January 2014...
Mexico's rights body warns of growth of vigilantes Associated Press ...Raul Plascencia, president of the National Human Rights Commission, said the growth of these groups are already undermining the rule of law but could also lead to more violence. He blamed the emergence of such groups on an official failure to provide security...
Merkel compared NSA to Stasi in heated encounter with Obama The Guardian ...German chancellor furious after revelations US intelligence agency listened in on her personal mobile phone...
Court: Occupy Columbia can sue Haley over arrests Associated Press ...Gov. Nikki Haley isn't immune from being sued by Occupy Columbia protesters who were kicked off the Statehouse grounds in 2011, a federal appeals court ruled Monday...
Port Workers In IKEA Supply Chain Hold Solidarity Actions Over Lockout teamster.org ...hundreds of dock workers at 10 ports around the globe held rallies to show their support for the 350 Teamsters who have been locked out from their jobs without pay for seven months at IKEA’s store in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada...
Teamsters Donating Toys to Hershey Ronald McDonald House teamster.org ...Teamsters Local Union 776 in Harrisburg will be donating more than $7,500 in toys to the Ronald McDonald House in Hershey...
SCI Deceives Grieving Family For $15,000 Funeral, Relatives Outraged teamster.org ...“We had no clue there was a change of ownership,” Johnson said. “We went there on the memory of a good family business only to find out it is owned by this huge conglomerate that is mistreating workers and basically spitting on the memory of my mom...”
Northern Tier Refinery Workers Vote To Strike teamster.org ...workers from the Northern Tier refinery in St. Paul Park, Minn. voted overwhelmingly to strike if necessary, rejecting cuts proposed by management that could dramatically undermine the safety of operations. The refinery workers are represented by Teamsters Local 120...
GES Exposition Services Threatens Chicago's Convention Business teamster.org ...The company is demanding a laundry list of concessions from the Teamsters, including more work-rule restrictions, further crew-size reductions and changes in seniority...
It’s Time to Halt Middle-Class Housing Crisis teamster.org ...10 million homeowners still owe more than their homes are worth...
Accidental Tax Break Saves Wealthiest Americans $100 Billion Bloomberg ...By shuffling his company stock in and out of more than 30 trusts, he’s given at least $7.9 billion to his heirs while legally avoiding about $2.8 billion in U.S. gift taxes since 2010, according to calculations based on data in Adelson’s U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings...
U.S. preparing civil charges against Citigroup, Merrill Lynch: sources Reuters ...Civil investigators have compiled evidence that allegedly shows that investors lost tens of billions of dollars after purchasing securities Citigroup had marketed as safe even though the bank had reason to believe otherwise...
Elizabeth Warren’s New Bill Aims to Stop Employers Discriminating Against the Poor truthdig ...Employers often use credit scores to weed out poorer applicants despite the fact that studies show these numbers have nothing to do with productivity or dedication, but the Equal Employment for All Act introduced Tuesday would prohibit this form of discrimination from taking place...
Why are we letting China buy American companies? New York Post ...The Smithfield buyout is a great loss because the company has become a huge exporter, to Japan and elsewhere, and has developed, with taxpayer assistance, systems and technologies that are best in class. Of course, that was why it became a target and why China Inc. overpaid to get it. But the only American beneficiaries will be a handful of investors. The rest of Smithfield’s stakeholders, and the American economy, will be bruised...
Another Apple Supplier in China Admits Gross Violations of Worker Rights Economic Policy Institute ...In a swift reaction to ugly publicity about suicides, injuries, and mistreatment of workers, Biel Crystal, one of Apple’s most important suppliers of touchscreen cover glass for its iPhones, reached an agreement with the Chinese labor rights group, SACOM, to take three steps toward better conditions by January 2014...
Mexico's rights body warns of growth of vigilantes Associated Press ...Raul Plascencia, president of the National Human Rights Commission, said the growth of these groups are already undermining the rule of law but could also lead to more violence. He blamed the emergence of such groups on an official failure to provide security...
Merkel compared NSA to Stasi in heated encounter with Obama The Guardian ...German chancellor furious after revelations US intelligence agency listened in on her personal mobile phone...
Court: Occupy Columbia can sue Haley over arrests Associated Press ...Gov. Nikki Haley isn't immune from being sued by Occupy Columbia protesters who were kicked off the Statehouse grounds in 2011, a federal appeals court ruled Monday...
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Dockworkers in 10 countries rally for locked-out IKEA Teamsters
 |
| Dockworkers in Norway support locked-out IKEA Teamsters |
According to the Teamsters press statement,
The dock workers, members of 11 unions that belong to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), carried banners that read “Dockers Solidarity with IKEA Workers/ITF.”
Dock workers held rallies at ports in Sweden, the Netherlands, Australia, Japan, Norway, Finland, Belgium, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Canada. To view photos from the rallies, visit www.IKEAHurtsFamilies.com.
 |
| Dockworkers in Belgium support locked-out IKEA Teamsters |
“IKEA’s actions are inexcusable,” said ITF representative Peter Lahay. “IKEA has put its workers on the street for seven months purely for retaliation. These workers exercised their legal right to vote down IKEA’s demands for a discriminatory wage system and cuts to family health care benefits. Now, IKEA is holding the workers hostage while they stand outside in the winter, at Christmas time.”IKEA's abuse of its Teamster workers and their families is receiving global press attention. An international delegation traveled to Richmond to assess the situation and has reported its findings in Sweden. The company, which purports to be family friendly, cannot be happy with the attention.
The Tyee in Canada recently reported, for example,
"IKEA management at their store in Richmond has adopted a radical anti-worker
agenda that opposes unionization campaigns and encourages union decertification."
 |
| Solidarity from dockworkers in Japan |
That's how a union-sponsored, European-based fact-finding commission describes the lengthy, ongoing dispute between IKEA management and unionized workers at the iconic Swedish furniture retailer's Richmond, B.C. location.
The commission, which held B.C. hearings on the dispute in early November, issued its scathing final report this week, titled "How IKEA Is Hurting Families."Let's hope our brothers and sisters can go back to work soon. Solidarity!
Today's Teamster News 12.17.13
Teamsters Urge Dialogue, Caution Around Sysco/US Foods Deal teamster.org ...Sysco’s acquisition of US Foods announced last week raises serious concerns for workers, stakeholders and customers as the combined company becomes the country’s largest institutional/restaurant food service provider...
Locked Out Teamsters Buy 'Christmas Carol' Tickets for Corporate Funeral Scrooge SCI teamster.org ...After 170 days of being humbugged by Service Corporation International [NYSE: SCI], locked out Teamster funeral directors and drivers hope to bring some Christmas cheer to SCI CEO Thomas L. Ryan with two tickets to the Goodman Theatre’s production of “A Christmas Carol...
Teamsters deliver Christmas West Virginia Metro News ...The staff at the Children’s Home Society in Charleston got an early Christmas gift Monday. The Teamsters Local 175 delivered a tractor trailer filled with toys and non-perishable food to the Davis Child Center...
Revelations That Ikea Spied on Its Employees Stir Outrage in France New York Times ...A regional court in Versailles, near Paris, is now examining whether Ikea executives in France broke the law by ordering personal investigations — not only of Ms. Paulin but of hundreds of other people over the course of a decade...
Finally paying for Wal-Mart’s sins: Wage theft settlement yields millions Salon ...Workers at a California Wal-Mart warehouse are owed $4.7 million for alleged theft of their wages, under a proposed settlement approved this week by a federal judge. The 568 workers were employed by the Wal-Mart contractor Schneider...
White House: Trans Pacific Partnership ‘remains a top priority’ for Obama Agence France-Presse ...The White House sent a strong signal Monday of its desire to create a huge Pacific free trade area, despite the slippage of its year-end deadline for the 12-nation project...
The Financial Crisis: Why Have No High-Level Executives Been Prosecuted? New York Review of Books ...In striking contrast with these past prosecutions, not a single high-level executive has been successfully prosecuted in connection with the recent financial crisis, and given the fact that most of the relevant criminal provisions are governed by a five-year statute of limitations, it appears likely that none will be...
Amazon workers in Germany launch strike over wages Al-Jazeera America ...Hundreds of workers at Amazon.com in Germany have walked off the job in an effort, times to coincide with the busy pre-Christmas period, to pressure the American online retailer to settle a months-long dispute over pay...
Independent Labor Candidates Win Two Dozen City Council Seats in Ohio The Real News ...Two dozen city candidates on an independent labor ticket were recently elected as city counselors of Lorain County, Ohio. Most of the candidates were union members of the AFL-CIO who chose to run after they felt that the traditional Democratic leadership failed...
Locked Out Teamsters Buy 'Christmas Carol' Tickets for Corporate Funeral Scrooge SCI teamster.org ...After 170 days of being humbugged by Service Corporation International [NYSE: SCI], locked out Teamster funeral directors and drivers hope to bring some Christmas cheer to SCI CEO Thomas L. Ryan with two tickets to the Goodman Theatre’s production of “A Christmas Carol...
Teamsters deliver Christmas West Virginia Metro News ...The staff at the Children’s Home Society in Charleston got an early Christmas gift Monday. The Teamsters Local 175 delivered a tractor trailer filled with toys and non-perishable food to the Davis Child Center...
Revelations That Ikea Spied on Its Employees Stir Outrage in France New York Times ...A regional court in Versailles, near Paris, is now examining whether Ikea executives in France broke the law by ordering personal investigations — not only of Ms. Paulin but of hundreds of other people over the course of a decade...
Finally paying for Wal-Mart’s sins: Wage theft settlement yields millions Salon ...Workers at a California Wal-Mart warehouse are owed $4.7 million for alleged theft of their wages, under a proposed settlement approved this week by a federal judge. The 568 workers were employed by the Wal-Mart contractor Schneider...
White House: Trans Pacific Partnership ‘remains a top priority’ for Obama Agence France-Presse ...The White House sent a strong signal Monday of its desire to create a huge Pacific free trade area, despite the slippage of its year-end deadline for the 12-nation project...
The Financial Crisis: Why Have No High-Level Executives Been Prosecuted? New York Review of Books ...In striking contrast with these past prosecutions, not a single high-level executive has been successfully prosecuted in connection with the recent financial crisis, and given the fact that most of the relevant criminal provisions are governed by a five-year statute of limitations, it appears likely that none will be...
Amazon workers in Germany launch strike over wages Al-Jazeera America ...Hundreds of workers at Amazon.com in Germany have walked off the job in an effort, times to coincide with the busy pre-Christmas period, to pressure the American online retailer to settle a months-long dispute over pay...
Independent Labor Candidates Win Two Dozen City Council Seats in Ohio The Real News ...Two dozen city candidates on an independent labor ticket were recently elected as city counselors of Lorain County, Ohio. Most of the candidates were union members of the AFL-CIO who chose to run after they felt that the traditional Democratic leadership failed...
Victims of Misclassification (opinion) New York Times ...In 2000, a United States Department of Labor study estimated that up to 30 percent of employers misclassify workers. This year, the Treasury Department’s inspector general concluded that the problem had worsened...
NSA phone surveillance program likely unconstitutional, federal judge rules The Guardian ...A federal judge in Washington ruled on Monday that the bulk collection of Americans’ telephone records by the National Security Agency is likely to violate the US constitution, in the most significant legal setback for the agency since the publication of the first surveillance disclosures by the whistleblower Edward Snowden...
Center For American Progress Discloses Corporate Donors After Investigations firedoglake ...A review of CAP’s research track record shows that the group’s work is dictated by two simple mainsprings: its obvious and overwhelming fealty to the Democratic Party, and the pursuit of corporate cash…
Unemployment Benefits End Right After Christmas. Here’s What Happens Next. National Journal ...On Jan. 6, Majority Leader Harry Reid will reconvene the Senate and attempt to pass a retroactive extension of the benefits as emergency spending. That means the bill won't have an offset and would raise the deficit—sheer blasphemy to most Republicans. It's not clear that it will pass...
NSA phone surveillance program likely unconstitutional, federal judge rules The Guardian ...A federal judge in Washington ruled on Monday that the bulk collection of Americans’ telephone records by the National Security Agency is likely to violate the US constitution, in the most significant legal setback for the agency since the publication of the first surveillance disclosures by the whistleblower Edward Snowden...
Center For American Progress Discloses Corporate Donors After Investigations firedoglake ...A review of CAP’s research track record shows that the group’s work is dictated by two simple mainsprings: its obvious and overwhelming fealty to the Democratic Party, and the pursuit of corporate cash…
Unemployment Benefits End Right After Christmas. Here’s What Happens Next. National Journal ...On Jan. 6, Majority Leader Harry Reid will reconvene the Senate and attempt to pass a retroactive extension of the benefits as emergency spending. That means the bill won't have an offset and would raise the deficit—sheer blasphemy to most Republicans. It's not clear that it will pass...
Friday, December 13, 2013
Teamsters take IKEA fight to Sweden
 |
| Teamster Keith Austin in Sweden. |
They came armed with a report that describes how far IKEA departed from its original Swedish values. The company locked out more than 300 workers at its Richmond store without pay for more than six months. Now IKEA is trying to smear them because they exercised their legal right to vote down IKEA’s demand they accept a discriminatory two-tiered wage system and cut-off of health care benefits.
The report calls on IKEA to end its lockout and end its use of anti-union lawyers at the bargaining table.
The media coverage is all in Swedish, naturally, but we have a translation of one item from TT News, which reports:
Employees at an Ikea store in Vancouver has been without a job and salary for seven months.The delegation to Sweden included:
Follow their struggle at the ikeahurtsfamilies.org website.
Today's Teamster News 12.13.13
Funeral Giant SCI Refuses Interest Arbitration teamster.org ...SCI, which operates under the Dignity Memorial brand name, rejected the arbitration deal after turning down an unconditional offer to return to work made by Teamsters Local 727 in September. The lockout affects 59 funeral directors and livery drivers at 16 Dignity Memorial funeral homes...
Teamsters Announce Formation Of Pennsylvania Law Enforcement Association Teamsters Pennsylvania Conference ...The association will represent the more than 2,000 law enforcement officers working in over 100 Pennsylvania borough and county departments who already belong to the Teamsters Union...
Teamsters Rally for Justice, Fair Election at Ohio Bottle Manufacturer teamster.org ...Teamsters Local 377 Secretary-Treasurer Sam Cook talks about the fight for a fair and free election for workers who manufacture aluminum bottles at EXAL Corp. in Youngstown, Ohio--a fight that the Teamsters recently took all the way to Canada...
Canadian IKEA Employees in Sweden to Appeal to Kamprad Sveriges Television ...300 workers at an IKEA store in Canada have been without a job for seven months during a protracted conflict between the union and the employer. The company has lost its Swedish values, they say, and now they visit Sweden to meet IKEA's founder Ingvar Kamprad...
House Passes Budget Bill to Increase Spending, Reverse Some Automatic Cuts Time ...Although Democrats are upset that unemployment benefits will not be extended in the deal, the agreement drafted by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington) drew bipartisan support in a fiercely divided Congress...
The Top 10 Threats of the Trans-Atlantic “Trade” Deal To U.S. Consumers Public Citizen ...A “trade” deal only in name, TAFTA, which corporate proponents have tried to rebrand as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), would require the United States and EU to conform domestic food and product safety standards, financial regulations, climate policies, data privacy protections and other non-trade policies to TAFTA rules – rules being negotiated in secret...
Iceland Sends Four Bank Bosses to the Slammer truthdig ...The onetime CEO of Iceland’s Kaupthing bank, one Hreidar Mar Sigurdsson, is going to jail for five and a half years for his part in his firm’s downfall—which also helped his country’s economy bottom out in 2008. He’ll be in good company. Three other former high-level Kaupthing execs, including ousted board Chairman Sigurdur Einarsson, will join Sigurdsson for shorter stints in prison for aiding in the cover-up of a sham deal with a Qatari financier that sank the firm late that year...
Ford to hire 11,000 workers in US and Asia in 2014 BBC News ...About 5,000 workers will be hired in the US and 6,000 in Asia, where Ford is opening two plants in China next year...
Feds To Examine NY commuter rail line for 2 months Associated Press ...Federal experts will spend the next two months examining safety compliance and safety culture at a commuter railroad that operated a train that derailed and killed four people this month...
Grass-roots economic protests spread across Italy Associated Press ...Students are marching through cities and towns, small business owners are blocking highway entrances and demonstrators have even tried to close the border with France. Their singular aim: To send all the politicians home in hopes of ending the country's malaise...
Orr: Detroit pensions still at risk in bankruptcy Associated Press ...Orr, appointed by the governor last spring to run Detroit, said he "absolutely" supports a campaign to tap foundations and wealthy people to prevent the possible sale of city-owned art and preserve pensions. But he warned that the "expectations of the retiree community should be sober..."
Group’s conservative funding questioned Nashua Telegraph ...A left-leaning interest group charged that the Concord-based, Josiah Bartlett Center was secretly bankrolled by national conservatives and promoting a national corporate agenda...
Teamsters Announce Formation Of Pennsylvania Law Enforcement Association Teamsters Pennsylvania Conference ...The association will represent the more than 2,000 law enforcement officers working in over 100 Pennsylvania borough and county departments who already belong to the Teamsters Union...
Teamsters Rally for Justice, Fair Election at Ohio Bottle Manufacturer teamster.org ...Teamsters Local 377 Secretary-Treasurer Sam Cook talks about the fight for a fair and free election for workers who manufacture aluminum bottles at EXAL Corp. in Youngstown, Ohio--a fight that the Teamsters recently took all the way to Canada...
Canadian IKEA Employees in Sweden to Appeal to Kamprad Sveriges Television ...300 workers at an IKEA store in Canada have been without a job for seven months during a protracted conflict between the union and the employer. The company has lost its Swedish values, they say, and now they visit Sweden to meet IKEA's founder Ingvar Kamprad...
House Passes Budget Bill to Increase Spending, Reverse Some Automatic Cuts Time ...Although Democrats are upset that unemployment benefits will not be extended in the deal, the agreement drafted by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington) drew bipartisan support in a fiercely divided Congress...
The Top 10 Threats of the Trans-Atlantic “Trade” Deal To U.S. Consumers Public Citizen ...A “trade” deal only in name, TAFTA, which corporate proponents have tried to rebrand as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), would require the United States and EU to conform domestic food and product safety standards, financial regulations, climate policies, data privacy protections and other non-trade policies to TAFTA rules – rules being negotiated in secret...
Iceland Sends Four Bank Bosses to the Slammer truthdig ...The onetime CEO of Iceland’s Kaupthing bank, one Hreidar Mar Sigurdsson, is going to jail for five and a half years for his part in his firm’s downfall—which also helped his country’s economy bottom out in 2008. He’ll be in good company. Three other former high-level Kaupthing execs, including ousted board Chairman Sigurdur Einarsson, will join Sigurdsson for shorter stints in prison for aiding in the cover-up of a sham deal with a Qatari financier that sank the firm late that year...
Ford to hire 11,000 workers in US and Asia in 2014 BBC News ...About 5,000 workers will be hired in the US and 6,000 in Asia, where Ford is opening two plants in China next year...
Feds To Examine NY commuter rail line for 2 months Associated Press ...Federal experts will spend the next two months examining safety compliance and safety culture at a commuter railroad that operated a train that derailed and killed four people this month...
Grass-roots economic protests spread across Italy Associated Press ...Students are marching through cities and towns, small business owners are blocking highway entrances and demonstrators have even tried to close the border with France. Their singular aim: To send all the politicians home in hopes of ending the country's malaise...
Orr: Detroit pensions still at risk in bankruptcy Associated Press ...Orr, appointed by the governor last spring to run Detroit, said he "absolutely" supports a campaign to tap foundations and wealthy people to prevent the possible sale of city-owned art and preserve pensions. But he warned that the "expectations of the retiree community should be sober..."
Group’s conservative funding questioned Nashua Telegraph ...A left-leaning interest group charged that the Concord-based, Josiah Bartlett Center was secretly bankrolled by national conservatives and promoting a national corporate agenda...
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