Mo., Ky. show businesses don't need RTW

Anti-union forces pushing so-called right-to-work (RTW) legislation from state to state often tout the measure as one that will boost business creation. The thinking is RTW boosts business creation by cutting wages.

But that's just not the case, according to new U.S. Census Bureau data. It shows that in the latest numbers available, the top two states for jobs creation nationally were Missouri and Kentucky, states that currently allow collective bargaining but are being targeted by the corporate class and their legislative friends to make them RTW.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon rejected RTW earlier this year and the Legislature could not overturn his veto. He said the statistics show his state is on the right path:

Small businesses are the engines of our economy, and that’s why we’ve worked hard to help entrepreneurs turn cutting-edge ideas into high-paying jobs for Missourians. This report -- showing Missouri is not only bucking the national trend, but leading the country in new business creation -- is proof positive that our efforts are paying off in a big way.

Business creation increased in 2013 by 16.7 percent. That was followed by Kentucky at 6.1 percent. An additional 1,293 businesses were created in the Show Me State than the previous year, while the Blue Grass State created 251 more than in 2012.

Statistics show that RTW states consistently produce lower pay – thousands of dollars per year per worker -- and fewer protections for workers. But businesses justify their pro-RTW campaigns by saying RTW creates new businesses, which in turn create jobs.

However, only three right-to-work states – Nevada, Arizona and Mississippi – saw any kind of new business growth. Mississippi and Arizona grew less than half a percentage point, while Nevada, at 4.25 percent, lagged far behind Missouri. The other eight growing states, led by Missouri and Kentucky, were non-RTW.

Mike Louis, president of the Missouri AFL-CIO, said:

Right-to-work doesn’t spur new business development. Business is created through innovation and workers earning a decent wage, which they can then invest in the economy.

While Missouri, Kentucky and six other non-RTW states grew, over the same time period, 39 states saw a decrease in new business creation. Of the states that did see an increase in the number of new businesses, Missouri outperformed them dramatically – experiencing a bigger growth in new business creation than all 10 of those states, including the three RTW states on the growth list, combined.

• Press Associates, Inc. contributed to this report.

Today's Teamster News 11.04.15

TEAMSTERS
Union Resubmits Proposals, Seeks Strong Comprehensive Agreement With Great Lakes Coca-Cola  Local 727  ...Bargaining continued for a third day on Monday, November 2, as the Teamsters Local 727 Bargaining Committee resubmitted its non-economic proposals to Great Lake Coca-Cola Distribution management. Although GLCCD representatives have not yet offered any substantive movement on initial proposals, the union is making significant organizational progress throughout negotiations...
Drivers at three Port of Long Beach, Los Angeles carriers end strike  Landline  ...A strike by port drivers working for three port motor carriers at the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach has ended. Labor organizers, however, say a dispute over the classification of drivers as independent contractors rolls on. A five-day driver strike and picket at XPO Logistics, Intermodal Bridge Transport and Gold Pint Transportation ended late last week according to Justice for Port Drivers organization, which is backed by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters...

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Indian capital a mess as sanitation workers strike  USA Today  ...Delhi is a mess, and a worse one than usual. Since late last month sanitation workers here have been on strike, refusing to pick up garbage and even dumping piles of trash in the streets. Sanitation workers have one key demand: their salaries...
Petrobras Oil Output Cut as Workers Protest Austerity  Bloomberg  ...Petroleo Brasileiro SA said its oil and natural-gas production has been cut because of a strike by workers protesting job losses, spending reductions and asset sales at Brazil’s state-controlled producer. The biggest output cuts came on Monday, the second day of the strike, when production fell 273,000 barrels a day...
Policy fights await release of trade deal  The Hill  ...The Obama administration is preparing to release the text of the sweeping Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement, setting the stage for a host of policy fights that could threaten congressional approval of the president’s prized trade deal. Obama has little margin for error as his administration and supporters of the deal press lawmakers to back a 12-nation pact...
TPPA deal will be made public in 2 weeks, says minister  Malaysian Insider  ...The contents of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) will be made public in two weeks' time, Second International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan said. He said as the government had concluded the TPP with the parties involved, the next step is to present the details to the people. It will then be brought before a special parliamentary session in January next year for debate and a vote by the 222 lawmakers...
Text Still Secret One Month After TPP Deal  (opinion) Huffington Post  ...Negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a 12 nation agreement seven years in the making, were finally concluded a month ago. Yet the Obama administration still has not released the text of the agreement. Not even to Congress, much less the public. But this has not stopped the United States Trade Representative (USTR), the office responsible for the negotiations, from making outlandish claims about how great the TPP is...
Political Expert Calls US-Initiated Trans-Pacific Partnership ‘Nonsense’  Sputnik  ...The US invited Russia and China to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). According to political expert Alexei Skopin, the United States pursues its own goals creating such partnerships and does not always declare them openly. The Agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which includes 12 countries so far, was reached on October 5 and is designed to create a free trade area (FTA) in the Asia-Pacific region...
An Urgent Warning Of What TTIP Has In Store  Morning Star  ...Canada is the most sued country in the “developed” world, and that should sound alarm bells in Britain. Several weeks ago hundreds of thousands of people across Europe and Britain marched to protest against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a massive planned new trade deal between Europe and the US...
Canada presses pause on austerity after Justin Trudeau’s election win  The Guardian  ...While Canada is hitting the pause button on austerity, the UK chancellor, is on fast-forward. George Osborne’s 2015 spending review will see a further £20bn cut from public spending to achieve balance by 2019, a move which follows a halving of the deficit over the course of the last parliament...

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Kentucky elects right-to-work governor  Politico  ...Tea Party Republican Matt Bevin beat Democrat Jack Conway for Kentucky’s governorship Tuesday night, an upset victory in one of the last strongholds for Democrats in the right-to-work South. Activists on both side of the right-to-work debate led aggressive outreach in the run-up to the election, and this loss surely stings for the AFL-CIO and its affiliate Working America...
GOP candidates for governor talk right-to-work, rural issues in first forum  Columbia Missourian  ...It didn't take Republican gubernatorial candidates long to hit their party's bread and butter Tuesday night. A full choir of supporters and GOP lawmakers at Missouri Farm Bureau headquarters applauded promises to ban mandatory union fees with a right-to-work law and resist Medicaid expansion...
Thanks To Virginia Reforms, These People Are Voting For The First Time In Decades  Think Progress  ...Before McAuliffe’s reforms, felons in Virginia had a particularly hard time becoming full citizens after their convictions. In most states, voting rights are automatically restored once a felon is released from prison. But in Virginia, felons were required to first get off parole or probation, then file a voting rights restoration application with the governor’s office, a process that was supposed to take 45 to 60 days but often took much longer...
Leading Fight Against Money in Politics, Maine Voters Back Clean Elections  Common Dreams  ...Maine voters on Tuesday reaffirmed their desire to keep the influence of big money out of politics by passing the Clean Elections Initiative, a move that campaigners say serves as a "flare to a nation" desperate to "reclaim control of our democracy" in the wake of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision. According to the Bangor Daily News, the Initiative passed 55 to 45 percent...
Scandal, Explicit Emails, Behind The Most Expensive Supreme Court Race In American History  Think Progress  ...$15,850,297. That’s how much candidates and interested groups have spent to influence the race for three seats on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, according to Justice At Stake, a watchdog group which tracks state judicial races. And that number is only likely to grow as it is based on records that have already been filed in this election...
SEIU starts competing effort to put minimum wage on California ballot  SacBee  ...California’s largest labor union on Tuesday unveiled its own bid to increase the statewide minimum wage, setting up dueling pay measures aimed for next year’s ballot amid persistent concerns over income inequality. The proposed initiative, supported by the Service Employees International Union’s state council, would boost the base wage to $15 per hour by 2020...
Portland, Maine, Rejects $15 Minimum Wage  Huffington Post  ...In a rare setback for living wage activists, voters in Portland, Maine, shot down a $15 minimum wage proposal on Tuesday, voting against a ballot measure that would have doubled the wage floor in just four years. Under the proposal, all employers with 500 or more workers would have had to pay at least $15 per hour by 2017...
The Puerto Rican Debt Crisis: Tax Breaks Offered to Rich While Austerity Measures Imposed on Poor  Democracy Now  ...The Obama administration recently warned Puerto Rico faces a humanitarian crisis unless Congress takes steps to address its crushing debt. The White House wants lawmakers to approve bankruptcy protection for the U.S. territory, expand Medicaid and impose a control board to oversee Puerto Rico’s finances...

U.S. LABOR
NLRB hearing to delay UAW election at Chattanooga's VW plant  Times Free Press ...A union election planned for later this week at Volkswagen's Chattanooga plant is expected to be delayed due to a hearing over whether the 164 maintenance workers slated to vote are too small of a unit. Attorneys for VW and the United Auto Workers argued today at a National Labor Relations Board hearing in Chattanooga that will continue into Wednesday...
Slight majority support GM-UAW deal so far  The Detroit News  ...With about one-third of ballots cast, voting on General Motors Co.’s tentative agreement with the UAW is close, with a slight majority of workers supporting the deal. Voting results at some larger facilities have been tight and roughly two-thirds of the 52,600 hourly workers have not had the opportunity to vote yet. The union is expected to release final results as early as this weekend...
USW files additional unfair labor charges against ATI  Business Times  ...The United Steelworkers have filed a total of 18 unfair labor practice charges against Allegheny Technologies Inc., the union said in an update to its members Monday. The pending charges cover ATI's decision to lock out more than 2,000 union employees in August as well as the company's conduct at the bargaining table, according to the union...
The Uphill Battle For Strippers’ Rights  Think Progress  ...Some dancers flock to the industry in part because of perceived scheduling flexibility, but they often end up just as binding as many other jobs. Most clubs require a dancer to come in a minimum number of days a week and assign them to either a day or night shift. Some also tell dancers what time to show up – even charging them a fine if they’re late...
Wages for top earners soared in 2014: Fly top 0.1 percent, fly  EPI  ...After dipping slightly in 2013, annual earnings of the top 1.0 percent of wages earners grew 4.9 percent in 2014, and the top 0.1 percent’s earnings grew 8.9 percent, according to our analysis of the latest Social Security Administration wage data. This analysis provides the first look at the likely trend of the household incomes of the top 1.0 percent...

SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS 
How Bathroom Fears Conquered Transgender Rights in Houston  The Atlantic  ...After a hard-fought campaign that drew national attention from Hollywood celebrities and presidential. candidates, voters rejected the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, or Proposition 1, handing a victory to conservative critics who argued that its expansive protections for transgender people could endanger women and children...
Republicans Demonize Disabled Social Security Recipients in Latest Budget  Alternet  ...Having failed in numerous frontal assaults on Social Security, the Republican congressional leadership several years ago adopted a new strategy for dismantling the program: attack and demonize Disability Insurance, which they consider to be its soft underbelly. With last week’s passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, they drew blood...
New Study Shows Antarctic Melting Approaching 'Unstoppable' Tipping Point  Common Dreams  ...A new study published Monday warns that "unstoppable" melting in West Antarctica could make a three-meter increase in sea level "unavoidable." According to researchers at Germany's Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, the vulnerable Amundsen Sea sector of West Antarctica "has most likely been destabilized." They point to recent studies indicating that this area of the ice continent is "the first element in the climate system about to tip"...
How GOP & HMOs Undercut Obamacare's Nonprofit Option, Leaving 500K Uninsured  Democracy Now  ...As the Obamacare open enrollment period begins, it’s the end for many healthcare co-ops, leaving hundreds of thousands of people scrambling to find coverage. The co-ops were founded to offer a cheaper alternative on insurance exchanges after Democrats stopped demanding a public option. But since going live three years ago, the co-ops have faced major cutbacks from the Republican-controlled Congress...

Today's Teamster News 03.20.15

Teamsters
Teamsters Allege "Eavesdropping" At San Francisco Zoo, Management Says Technology Was Meant For Medical Emergencies  KNTV   ...The union representing scores of workers at the San Francisco Zoo says management is spying on employees' private conversations — but the zoo says its radio monitoring system was put in place for medical emergencies and denied the eavesdropping claims. Still, the executive director vowed to swiftly investigate the spying allegations...
CCSD Support Staff Union Leadership In Trouble After Challenge  Las Vegas Review Journal   ...A decade long fight between the two unions came to a head earlier this year when 71 percent of workers who voted in a special election backed the Teamsters. However, only 5,190 votes were cast, which was short of the supermajority the Nevada Supreme Court has ruled is needed for one union to oust another...
Transit, shuttle workers get new contract from COG  Sharon Herald   ...Mercer County Regional Council of Governments on Wednesday approved a contract with public transportation drivers, mechanics and washers that gives workers a pay hike but also institutes health-care co-pays and reduces some sick and holiday benefits...
Bremerton approves pay increase for Teamsters  Kitsap Sun   ... The City Council has approved a 2.5 percent bump in pay for its management and for city employees represented by the Teamsters union...
Shell oilsands workers to carry electronic trackers on the job  CBC News   ...The technology is becoming increasingly common in Alberta’s industrial north, said Wayne Garner, the vice president of General Teamsters Local Union No. 362. “It doesn’t really surprise me,” he said. “Electronic monitoring is nothing really new to us.”...
Trade
Hoffa Statement on USTR Trade Deficit Claims  teamster.org   ...“The U.S. Trade Representative has made recent statements claiming that the U.S. has a trade surplus with its free trade agreement partners. The problem is this simply is not true...
Five reasons to fret about Obama’s trade agenda  Financial Times   ...Pro-trade Democrats speak with awe of the pressure being applied by unions in their home districts...
EU Trade Commissioner Suggests Special Court For ISDS Cases  Intellectual Property Watch   ...Acknowledging that the vast majority of citizens rejected ISDS in a recent public consultation and that many members of the EU Parliament Trade Committee (INTA) object to ISDS – INTA Chair and TTIP Rapporteur Bernd Lange said there was just no need for the EU-US deal – Malmstroem offered several amendments to be considered. This includes: A permanent list of arbitrators chosen by governments should avoid conflicts of interest, jumping between ISDS and courts should be banned, and an appeal mechanism should be put in place...
State Battles
Right-To-Work Law Challenged In Dane County Court  WDJT   ...The controversial Right-to-work law has been challenged by state unions as unconstitutional and gets a hearing Thursday morning in Dane County Court. The suit was brought against the State of Wisconsin by workers represented by the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, Machinists Local 1061 and United Steelworkers District 2 on March 10th...
Report: Wisconsin Drops To 40th In Nation In Job Growth  Wisconsin Public radio   ...Wisconsin ranked 40th in the nation in private-sector job growth during the one-year period between September 2013 and September 2014, according to the latest detailed job numbers from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics...
Oldham Tables 'Right-To-Work' Law  Louisville Courier Journal   ...The decision to table the bill, which was approved by a 7-2 vote, was met by applause from a nearly full house of union supporters and those opposing the right-to-work measure. Magistrates Steve Greenwell and J.D. Sparks opposed the motion...
Boone Leaders Pass Right-To-Work Ordinance  Cincinnati.com   ...After Boone County Fiscal Court members unanimously approved a controversial right-to-work ordinance, members of the audience booed and yelled they were going to move to Kenton County, where a similar ordinance was recently tabled...
Delaware Bill Would Raise Minimum Wage To $10.25  News Journal   ...Legislation to raise Delaware's minimum wage to $10.25 by June 2019, and index future wage hikes to cost-of-living increases, is expected to be introduced this week in Dover...
War on Workers
NLRB Stands by ‘Refined' Contractor Test; FedEx Home Fails in Bid for Reconsideration  Bloomberg BNA   ...The National Labor Relations Board March 16 declined to reconsider its September 2014 ruling that a group of Connecticut drivers are employees of FedEx Home Delivery under the National Labor Relations Act, not independent contractors outside the act's protection...
It’s illegal to prevent workers from talking about wages. T-Mobile did it anyway.  Washington Post   ...Last year, however, the NLRB’s general counsel consolidated complaints from four cities into one, putting 12 provisions of the handbook on trial. And on Wednesday, an administrative law judge issued her decision: In 10 of those provisions, T-Mobile’s employee handbook violates federal protections on workers’ right to organize...
Repair The Voting Rights Act (opinion)  Washington Post   ...The Voting Rights Act requires fixed attention, now, from lawmakers. For decades, the value of the act — all of it — has not been a partisan issue. It should not turn into one...
Miscellaneous
Fed Puts Interest-Rate Hikes In Play  Wall Street Journal   ...The Fed, in a statement Wednesday after its two-day meeting, dropped an assurance that it would remain “patient” before acting on rates. In the odd parlance of central bankers, the shift meant the Fed would consider raising short-term rates at its June 16-17 meeting...

Today's Teamster News 02.27.15

Teamsters
Teamsters Seek To Unionize More Tech Shuttle Bus Drivers In Silicon Valley  San Jose Mercury News   ...Shuttle bus drivers for five prominent tech companies will decide whether to unionize on Friday in a vote that has the potential to dramatically expand organized labor's territory in Silicon Valley and embolden others in the tech industry's burgeoning class of service workers to demand better working conditions...
Teamsters-Represented Rail Traffic Controllers In Canada Ratify Labour Deal  RTT News   ...Canadian National Railway Co. announced that members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference-Rail Canada Traffic Controllers union have ratified a new labour agreement. The four-year agreement covers approximately 180 rail traffic controllers in Canada...
Roma Warehouse Workers In California Win Teamster Representation  teamster.org   …California warehouse workers at Roma Food, a Performance Food Group company, have voted by a 3-1 margin in favor of joining Teamsters Local 630 in Los Angeles, Calif. All 53 workers in the bargaining unit participated in the Feb. 25 election...
Bill To Eliminate Michigan's Film Incentives Gains Traction In House Committee  MLive   ...Unions and supporters of the film industry testified against the bill in the House Tax Policy Committee on Wednesday. "We took those jobs from Hollywood and brought them here," said Bill Black, Legislative Liaison for the Teamsters Local 337 in Michigan...
Swissport/Servisair YYZ Below-The-Wing Workers Pick Teamsters Over USW  Aviation Pros   ...Servisair and Swissport below-the-wing employees in Toronto chose the Teamsters over the United Steelworkers as their union, in a representational vote conducted by the CIRB...
Trade
The Trans-Pacific Partnership clause everyone should oppose (opinion)  Washington Post   ...The United States is in the final stages of negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a massive free-trade agreement with Mexico, Canada, Japan, Singapore and seven other countries. Who will benefit from the TPP? American workers? Consumers? Small businesses? Taxpayers? Or the biggest multinational corporations in the world?...
Elizabeth Warren’s next target: Trade deals  Politico   …The Massachusetts senator is stepping up her criticism of the administration’s proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, a centerpiece of the president’s second-term agenda, saying it could allow multinational corporations to gut U.S. regulations and win big settlements funded by U.S. taxpayers but decided by an international tribunal...
White House sees China as trump card in trade debate  Reuters   ...The Obama administration is confident lawmakers will warm up to a proposed Pacific free trade deal on the grounds that it is a chance for America to dictate the rules of Asian trade rather than China, a top official said on Thursday...
Nurses sound a CODE BLUE in D.C. on Fast Track and TPP  Daily Kos   ...With the White House and some of the biggest multinational corporations lobbying Congress to “fast track" the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a massive trade deal between the United States and 11 other countries, National Nurses United today converged on the nation’s capital to explain that what’s good for investors’ balance sheets is not necessarily good for patients...
NAFTA’s Specter May Haunt Keystone Verdict  Politico   ...The 21-year-old free-trade pact allows foreign companies or governments to haul the U.S. in front of an international tribunal to face accusations of putting their investments at risk through regulations or other decisions. The CEO of Keystone developer TransCanada has raised the prospect as a potential last resort if Obama rejects the $8 billion project, although for now the company is focused on getting him to say yes...
State Battles
Walker: I took on unions, I can take on ISIS  The Hill   …Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) argued his fight with unions has prepared him to be commander in chief during his speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference. "If I can take on 100,000 protestors, I can do the same across the world," Walker said in response to a question about international terrorism...
Wisconsin, Workers and the 2016 Election  New York Times   ...In a nation where the long decline in unions has led to a pervasive slump in wages, Republicans’ support for anti-union legislation is at odds with their professed commitments to helping the middle class...
Wisconsin is poised to become the 25th right-to-work state  Los Angeles Times   ...Sometime in the next few weeks, Wisconsin will likely become the 25th state to get a right-to-work law, opposed by organized labor because it eliminates the requirement that workers must pay union fees...
House Passes Right-To-Work Bill On 37-30 Vote  Albuquerque Journal   ...A bruising political battle over whether to add New Mexico to the list of states with right-to-work laws is moving on to the Senate after the House voted 37-30 late Wednesday to approve the change in state labor laws...
‘Right-to-work’ clears House but faces tough battle in Senate Santa Fe New Mexican   ...Last week, both Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Arthur Smith of Deming and Senate President Pro Tem Mary Kay Papen of Las Cruces publicly committed not to helping Senate Republicans “blast” the bill to the Senate floor if the legislation gets stuck in a Senate committee, as expected. Without those two conservative Democrats, even backers of the bill say privately that this greatly hurts the chances of the bill to pass...
Logan County Becomes Right-To-Work  News-Democrat Leader   ...By passing a Right-to-Work ordinance, Logan County officially agrees with a law that prohibits union security agreements, or agreements between labor unions and employers, that govern the extent to which an established union can require employees’ membership, payment of union dues, or fees as a condition of employment, either before or after hiring...
Michigan Right To Work Law Would Extend To Police, Firefighters Under Midland Lawmaker's Proposal  MLive   ...A newly-elected state representative from Midland has drafted legislation to extend the reach of Michigan's Right to Work law to public safety personnel, the only union members exempt under the 2012 law...
Prevailing Wage Bill Clears First House Hurdle  West Virginia Metro News   ...The measure, which has passed the Senate, would transfer the responsibility of determining the wage from the Division of Labor to WorkForce West Virginia and business experts from West Virginia University and Marshall...
War on Workers
Why It's So Difficult to Repair Stuff: It's Made That Way   of two minds   ... once Corporate America books the sale, they're done with customers...
New York Couple Accused of Torturing Housekeeper Over Missing Jewelry  Gawker   …A couple in Bayside, Queens is accused of kidnapping their housekeeper at knifepoint, allegedly burning her body with a plumber's torch while questioning her about missing cash and jewelry...
Worker killed by lift at Sarasota mall  FOX 13 Tampa Bay   …Deputies say a man was crushed to death by a scissor lift at the Westfield Sarasota Square shopping mall...
Miscellaneous
FCC Approves Net Neutrality Rules For 'Open Internet'  NPR   ...The Federal Communications Commission approved the policy known as net neutrality by a 3-2 vote at its Thursday meeting, with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler saying the policy will ensure "that no one — whether government or corporate — should control free open access to the Internet."...

Today's Teamster News 02.26.15

Teamsters
Hoffa: Port Driver Efforts Show The Long, Hard Fight For Justice  Huffington Post   ...The port truck industry is highly fragmented, poorly organized and grossly inefficient. Deregulation has forced trucking companies to engage in cutthroat competition. Consequently, many are gearing up to fight the efforts of drivers and the Teamsters to organize and receive a fair wage. Luckily, more and more decision makers are beginning to side with workers...
Teamsters, Consumers And Community Protest Sprouts Farmers Market  teamster.org   ...“It’s time for UNFI to stop the bullying and stop the intimidation,” said Steve Vairma, Teamsters Warehouse Division Director. “Over the years UNFI has tried to undermine workers who have asserted their rights protected by United States law, even where the Teamsters have been certified as the workers’ union through federally supervised elections. UNFI wants to destroy its workers’ fundamental rights join together to improve their working conditions.”...
Trade
The Trans-Pacific Partnership clause everyone should oppose  Washington Post   …Agreeing to ISDS in this enormous new treaty would tilt the playing field in the United States further in favor of big multinational corporations. Worse, it would undermine U.S. sovereignty...
Obama's Trans-Pacific Partnership Promises Echo Clinton's On NAFTA  Op-Ed News   …NAFTA -- the North American Free Trade Agreement -- was sold with promises of jobs and prosperity on all sides of the border. What really happened was that an increased trade deficit sucked demand and jobs out of the U.S. economy; workers lost bargaining power, resulting in pay and benefit cuts; and income inequality rose as corporations pocketed the wage differential. Now the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is being sold with literally the same promises…
Trade Crazy: The Push For Fast-Track Trade Authority (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...There are many issues in the TPP that our trading partners don't like. They don't like rules that will force them to pay more for drugs from Pfizer and Merck, nor do they like rules that will make them pay more money to Time Warner for Hollywood movies, or to Microsoft for software...
State Battles
Wisconsin Senate approves right-to-work bill  Chicago Tribune   …The Wisconsin state Senate narrowly passed a right-to-work bill Wednesday and sent it on to the Assembly, where the Republican majority is wider...
Koch-Funded Allies Descend on Wisconsin to Push Right to Work  Center for Media and Democracy   …It's a rare citizen who would rush to testify that the higher wages, benefits, and training that unions bring are a bad idea. Fortunately, the Wisconsin GOP had the full support of the Koch-funded "think tanks" that are a critical part of the right-wing infrastructure...
Registrations at Wisconsin Senate hearing overwhelmingly against right-to-work bill  Associated Press   …Opponents to right-to-work outnumbered supporters 70-to-1 at a Wisconsin state Senate public hearing that was cut short before Republicans voted to advance the bill...
Kenton County To Adopt "Right to Work" Ordinance  River City News   ...Kenton County will pass a so-called "Right to Work" ordinance at its next meeting after hearing a first reading on Tuesday night in Covington...
Missouri house passes two voter ID measures  CedarRepublican.com   …The Missouri House passed two measures Thursday, Feb. 19, which would make Missouri the 32nd state to require a government issued ID to vote...
Iowa Senate Approves $8.75 Minimum Wage Bill  Des Moines Register   ...Senate File 269 was approved 27-22 with no debate. All 26 Democrats voted for the bill. Only one Republican, Sen. Rick Bertrand of Sioux City, voted yes. Iowa's minimum wage is currently $7.25 per hour. The bill would increase Iowa's minimum wage to $8 an hour on July 1, 2015, and to $8.75 an hour on July 1, 2016...
This Billionaire Governor Taxed The Rich And Increased The Minimum Wage -- Now, His State's Economy Is One Of The Best In The Country  Huffington Post   ...The reason Gov. Dayton was able to radically transform Minnesota's economy into one of the best in the nation is simple arithmetic. Raising taxes on those who can afford to pay more will turn a deficit into a surplus. Raising the minimum wage will increase the median income. And in a state where education is a budget priority and economic growth is one of the highest in the nation, it only makes sense that more businesses would stay. It's official -- trickle-down economics is bunk. Minnesota has proven it once and for all. If you believe otherwise, you are wrong...
War on Workers
T.J. Maxx to hike minimum wage for workers  CNN Monday  …The owner of T.J. Maxx, Marshall's and Home Goods is raising wages for its workers to at least $10 an hour by next year...
JPMorgan, Still On 2-Year Probation, Under Scrutiny in Gold Fixing Probe  Wall Street on Parade   …the U.S. Justice Department is investigating at least 10 of the biggest U.S. and foreign banks for potentially rigging the gold market and other precious metals markets. That investigation comes while ongoing investigations continue into the potential rigging by big banks of the setting of interest-rate benchmarks and foreign currency...
Student Debt Strikers Take On Corinthian College  Mathbabe   …Good for them. Corinthian College is a predatory and fraudulent company which was in the business of gaming the federal loan system while making false promises to its students. Those students are victims of fraud and should not be the ones paying back the government money for an education they never got. Instead, Corinthian should pay back the money...
Iron Worker At Barclays Center Crushed To Death By Steel Beams  New York Daily News   ...A 52-year-old iron worker constructing a green roof on the Barclays Center in Brooklyn was crushed to death by steel beams on Tuesday, police said. Hardhat Peter Zepf was helping to move the massive beams — called joists — from a truck onto a hoist when four of the parts fell on him near the Atlantic Ave. side of the arena around 1 p.m., witnesses said...
Miscellaneous
Janet Yellen Puts Fed On Path To Lift Rates  Wall Street Journal   ...If the economy continues to strengthen as the Fed anticipates and officials become more confident that low inflation will rise toward their 2% goal, she said, the central bank “will at some point begin considering an increase in the target range for the federal funds rate.”...

Today's Teamster News 02.20.15

Teamsters
Teamsters Congratulate Walmart Workers Who Stood Strong For A Raise And Better Hours  teamster.org   …Today, Walmart workers who spoke out and took action won a raise for 500,000 Walmart workers nationwide. The workers and their families need better pay and regular hours from Walmart, a company that can afford it. Walmart last year earned $16 billion in profits, and it is run by a family with $150 billion in wealth…
Members Of Parliament Join Teamsters At Memphis School Bus Community Forum  teamster.org   ...Teamster school bus drivers and monitors with Durham School Services were joined by members of the British Parliament, labor and faith leaders, community members and Teamsters representatives Wednesday night at a community forum on the state of Shelby County, Tenn., student transportation...
Durham Bus Services Under Fire From British Parliament  localmemphis.com   …Durham is owned by a British company that operates a bus system in the UK called National Express Group. Two members of parliament are here in the United States this week to talk with parents, bus drivers and union leaders about the ongoing issues with Durham…
Tech Shuttle Driver Unionization Effort Heats Up  Silicon Beat   ...The Teamsters have asked tech companies chief executives to speak up to stop what they are calling “union busting.” The workers are planning a Feb. 27 unionization vote, as Julia Love reported in the Mercury News.  Compass has contracts with Apple, eBay, Genentech, Yahoo, Zynga as well as Amtrak...
County Board Approves Contract With Sheriff’s Employees  Ogle County News   ...Ogle County Sheriff’s Department employees will be getting raises thanks to a new four-year contract approved Tuesday by the county board...
British Pols Demand Union Protection For Durham School Bus Drivers  WMC   ...Ian Lavery and Jim Sheridan, both current or former union leaders and members of Britain's House of Commons, said they have investigated Durham School Services' on-going problems in Shelby County. They've concluded most of them are to blame on a hostile work environment, in which drivers are discouraged from filing grievances or from expressing their concerns about multiple routes...
CN Plans Unilateral Contacts Modifications After Talks With Unifor Fail  Toronto Star   ...The company’s last offer on Sunday, rejected by Unifor, called for a three-year agreement with three per cent wage increases in each year. It also contained benefit improvements the company said were in line with what it negotiated recently with the United Steelworkers, which represents 3,000 maintenance-of-way employees; as well as the 1,800-member Teamsters Canada locomotive engineers and the 180-member Teamsters Canada-Rail Canada Traffic Controllers...
Fire Official Says Bridgeton Landfill Hotspots Are Close To Radioactive Waste  St. Louis Post Dispatch   ...A Pattonville Fire District official says new infrared footage of the Bridgeton Landfill shows higher heat readings beyond the base of an ongoing fire, raising questions about whether the fire is contained...
Trade
Fast track trade authority a 'close call' in U.S. Congress -Vilsack  Reuters   …Fast track trade authority a 'close call' in U.S. Congress -Vilsack…  Reuters   …Lawmakers' approval of a bill to streamline the passage of trade deals through the U.S. Congress will be a "close call," U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on Thursday...
U.S. lawmaker sees fast-track trade power soon in step towards trade pact  Reuters   …The chairman of a U.S. congressional committee responsible for trade said on Thursday he expects passage of legislation to fast-track trade deals soon, a vital step towards a Pacific trade pact covering a large chunk of the global economy...
Obama's Trade Deal Rewards A Brutally Anti-Gay Dictator -- And LGBT Lawmakers Are Not Pleased  Huffington Post   … Prominent LGBT members of Congress assailed the Obama administration on Wednesday for including Brunei and Malaysia -- two nations deeply hostile to gay communities -- in major trade talks...
Democrats Introduce Legislation to Ban Investor-State Provisions in Trade Agreements  U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan   … U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) and 12 House Democrats today introduced H.R. 967: Protecting America’s Sovereignty Act, legislation to prohibit investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions in foreign trade agreements...
Intellectual Property Provisions in the Leaked Japanese RCEP Proposal that Threaten the Availability of Generic Medicines  infojustice.org   …Japan’s proposed intellectual property text, which was leaked and has been posted online by KEI, includes numerous TRIPS Plus provisions.  (South Korea is reported to be advocating for TRIPS-Plus provisions too.) Many of the provisions would be especially harmful to the Indian generic industry, which supplies the majority of medicines used by people in developing countries...
State Battles
GOP readies new wave of voting restrictions  MSNBC   …A roundup this month by the Brennan Center found that at least 40 restrictive voting bills have been introduced in state legislatures just since the start of the year...
Conservative Dem Senators Publicly Say They Won't Blast Right to Work Bill  Santa Fe New Mexican   … if any Senate Committee votes to table House Bill 75, it'll be dead for the session...
Koch Group Claims California Endangers Donors by Demanding Names  Bloomberg News   …A Koch brothers advocacy group contends California Attorney General Kamala Harris has no business demanding the names and addresses of its donors, who might face “grotesque threats” if identified…
Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder Says He's Experienced "Gradual Impoverishment" with $86k Salary, Asks for More Money  AFSCME Council 72   ...[Missouri] Lt. Governor Peter Kinder has been pushing hard for so-called Right to Work and Paycheck Deception legislation which would force wages down, but now he has the gall to ask for a raise for himself - even though Missouri state workers are the lowest paid in the country - saying $86,000 per year is leading him into "gradual impoverishment."...
Vote Delayed On Right-To-Work Bill  Albuquerque Journal   ...A vote on a high-profile right-to-work bill was put off Wednesday in the New Mexico House as some Republican lawmakers balked at a plan to tie a minimum wage increase of 50 cents per hour to the proposed change in state labor laws...
Boone County Tackles Right-To-Work Issue  Cincinnati.com   ..."We believe the time has come to put it on the agenda for a first reading to explore if it should or should not be passed in Boone County," said Judge-executive Gary Moore. ...
Scott Walker Is King Of Kochworld  Bloomberg Politics   ...The relationship between the Kochs and Walker was cemented during Walker's bitter war against public unions that led to a recall election in 2012. During the tense weeks of standoff at the capitol in Madison, it was the Kochs' Tea Party troops who provided the main counterforce to the tens of thousands of union activists protesting the governor, in a battle Walker eventually won...
Common Wage Repeal Advances In House On Party-Line Vote  Indianapolis Star   ...The GOP-controlled House Employment, Labor and Pensions Committee voted 8-4 Tuesday afternoon, along party lines, to recommend repealing the law that allows a board of contractors and taxpayers to set baseline wages for public construction projects worth more than $350,000...
War on Workers
Walmart Gives 500,000 Workers A Raise  Huffington Post   ...In a move that could alter the minimum wage debate and improve the image of the world's largest retailer, Walmart announced it will raise the baseline wage of its current store employees to $10 per hour, bringing pay hikes to an estimated 500,000 workers...
Are We Becoming a Part-Time Economy?  Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta   …Compared with 2007, the U.S. labor market now has about 2.5 million more people working part-time and about 2.2 million fewer people working full-time. In this sense, U.S. businesses are more reliant on part-time workers now than in the past...
Corporate Welfare Queens – Shocking “Development Program” Failure Rate in North Carolina  naked capitalism   …Picking Losers shows that the state’s flagship development program, the Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG), has seen 62 of its 102 projects fail in the period from its inception in 2002 until 2013. That is, 60% of the projects failed to meet either their job, investment, or wage goals, and had to have their awards canceled...

Today's Teamster News 02.12.15

Teamsters
Ken Hall: Right to work is wrong for West Virginia  Charleston Gazette   ...West Virginia citizens are correct to be skeptical of politicians proposing a right-to-work law...
Outcome of Teamsters’ bid to represent CCSD workers pending  Las Vegas Review-Journal   …Dozens of Clark County School District’s bus drivers, janitors, cooks and other support staff hoped to learn late Wednesday what union would be representing the 11,263 workers at the bargaining table. But that decision was postponed until Thursday morning when the Nevada Local Government Employee-Management Relations Board will rule on the validity of Teamsters Local 14’s bid to take over as the workers’ union...
San Bernardino County labor union to vote on joining Teamsters  The Sun   …San Bernardino County’s largest labor union announced Wednesday that its board will vote this month on whether to become a chartered, independent local of the Teamsters...
CP faces weekend strike deadline  The Sun   …Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. is bracing for a possible strike this weekend by the Teamsters union that threatens to damp profit at the country’s second-biggest carrier...
Study Finds UC Workers Are Underpaid  Daily Nexus   ...According to initial reports from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) released two weeks ago, sponsored by Teamsters Local 2010, a majority of University of California union workers receive wages less than the basic one-adult, one-child family’s yearly budget...
Hoffa: Walking Man’ Not Alone In His Struggles  Detroit News   ...Sometimes real life can seem like a movie. Such is the case with James Robertson, the 56-year-old Detroit man who walked 21 miles round trip to his factory job in Rochester Hills each day after his car died and his job moved further into the suburbs...
US Regulators Skeptical Of Huge Food Merger Ahead Of Vote  New York Post   ...Regulators are set to vote in the afternoon on the controversial $3.5 billion merger of the top two distributors of food to schools, restaurants and hospitals that critics charge will lead to higher foods costs across the country, The Post has learned...
Trade
NAFTA shadows Obama's efforts to seek clout for trade deals  Ledger-Enquirer   …A 21-year-old ghost haunts President Barack Obama and his allies as he presses Congress for enhanced powers to make trade deals with Japan and other nations. Obama says new trade deals will avoid the shortcomings of NAFTA, the 1994 North America Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada, which many Americans blame for big job losses, especially in manufacturing...
Currency Warriors Get Boost At G-20 Meeting  Wall Street Journal   ...The world’s top finance leaders on Tuesday in effect backed currency depreciation as a tool for promoting growth by signaling strong support for aggressive easy-money policies aimed at boosting the fragile global economy...
Agricultural Reforms in Japan Pave the Way for TPP  The Diplomat   ...Last October, Japan’s powerful farm lobby, the Japan Agriculture Cooperative (JA), still had the clout to stall Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) ministerial negotiations between Japan and the U.S. over tariffs on sensitive farm products. However, recent reforms tip the balance of power firmly in favor of the government, accelerating JA’s slow demise and paving the way for greater market liberalization and deregulation in Japanese agriculture...
State Battles
Missouri takes a step toward becoming ‘right-to-work’ state  Associated Press   …Missouri took a step toward joining 24 other states with right-to-work laws when its House voted Wednesday to bar the collection of fees from workers who choose not to join a union...
New Mexico House Judiciary Postpones Vote On 'Right-To-Work' Bill  Santa Fe Daily Times   ...Opponents and backers of a highly divisive "right-to-work" bill that would prohibit union membership as a condition for employment in New Mexico testified for five hours before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday evening. After hearing public comments on the legislation, the committee decided to hold off on a vote until Friday afternoon...
Butler County OKs Right-To-Work Ordinance  Bowling Green Daily News   ...Butler County Fiscal Court Monday approved the first reading of a right-to-work ordinance. The ordinance was approved with a vote of 4-1, Deputy Judge-Executive Kim West said. District 4 Magistrate David Whittinghill voted against the measure...
Special Election, Right-To-Work Discussed At Fiscal Court  Maysville Ledger Independent   ...During the meeting, Judge-Executive Larry Foxworthy told the court he would like to wait until the right-to-work law is sorted out in the court system before it is discussed any further in Fleming County...
Minimum Wage Bill Passes Ky. House  Louisville Courier Journal   ...A bill to raise Kentucky's minimum wage to $10.10 an hour by 2017 passed the House in a largely party-line vote on Tuesday, but the bill again faces an uphill battle in the Senate...
Compromise Crafted On Prevailing Wage  MetroNews   ...Under the compromise reached Wednesday, the task of determining the prevailing wage would be turned over to the state’s Workforce Development office, which would consult with economists at WVU and Marshall to determine the formula for what the pay should be. That formula would still need to be approved by the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Government and Finance...
War on Workers
Congress and President Obama Cannot Sit Idly By While Companies Use H-1B Guestworkers to Replace American Workers  Economic Policy Institute   …A recent investigation by Computerworld revealed that hundreds of information technology (IT) workers were laid off by Southern California Edison (SCE) and replaced with temporary foreign workers through the H-1B guestworker visa program, which allows employers to hire temporary foreign workers for up to six years if they have at least a college degree (most work in IT)…it doesn’t look like any action will be taken to reverse it…
Bernie Sanders: Keeping US From Becoming Oligarchy 'A Struggle We Must Win'  Common Dreams   ...senator says growing wealth gap, high poverty rates, health care crisis signs of country slipping into control of small billionaire class...
Judge Rules For NSA In Warrantless Search Case  Reuters   ...A U.S. judge on Tuesday ruled in favor of the National Security Agency in a lawsuit challenging the interception of Internet communications without a warrant, according to a court filing...
Justice Department Is Seeking Felony Pleas By Big Banks In Foreign Currency Inquiry  New York Times   ...The Justice Department is pushing some of the biggest banks on Wall Street — including, for the first time in decades, American institutions — to plead guilty to criminal charges that they manipulated the prices of foreign currencies...

Today's Teamster News 01.29.15

Teamsters
Shining the Light on Corporate Tax Breaks  teamster.org   ..."We need a more accurate accounting of tax abatements over the long term to “effectively bargain with our members’ governmental employers and to advocate for sound public policies that benefit our members working in the construction of infrastructure,” Hoffa said...
Tim Hortons can’t cut more than 20 per cent of HQ staff: Ottawa  The Star   ...Industry Canada says Burger King has agreed to keep 80 per cent of corporate jobs in takeover...“This round of layoffs should serve as a warning to Tim Hortons’ franchisees who depend on support from the company to grow their businesses, taxpayers who expect corporations to pay their fair share, and consumers who expect Tim Hortons to be a community leader in Canada,” said a group of union leaders from Unifor, Teamsters and SEIU Healthcare in a statement Wednesday...
Trade
Trans Pacific Pact is Almost Ready, Says US Trade Official Even As Protests Rock New York  International Business Times   …negotiators working on the TPP held parleys in New York City on Monday at an undisclosed location. But braving all secrecy, hundreds of protesters from drawn trade, labour, environmental, health, anti-GMO, food justice, anti-fracking, animal activists protested in the blizzard, against the trade agreement for its reported "fast tracking" by Trade Promotion Authority, according to Oped News...
Rep. Cooper must oppose Fast Track, defend TN economy (opinion)  The Tennessean   ...Rep. Cooper was one of just a handful of Democrats in the House of Representatives to not stand up against an undemocratic 1970s-era procedure known as Fast Track that has been used to railroad the most controversial and damaging of U.S. “trade” deals through Congress...
10 Tall Tales on Trade  Global Trade Watch   ...Here’s a rundown of the top 10 fibs and half-truths that Froman uttered before the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee yesterday in his sales pitch for the administration’s bid to expand the NAFTA “trade” pact model by Fast-Tracking through Congress the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
State Battles
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner Previews 'Right-To-Work Zones' As First-Year Priority  Peoria Journal Star   ...Gov. Bruce Rauner said Tuesday he wants to prioritize creating "right-to-work zones" in economically depressed areas where local officials could decide whether union fees would be voluntary for local workers...
Logan County Gives First Nod To Right-To-Work Ordinance  Bowling Green Daily News   ...Logan County Fiscal Court approved the first reading of a right-to-work ordinance today. The ordinance passed unanimously on the first reading, Logan County Judge-Executive Logan Chick said in a phone interview. A final reading of the ordinance is scheduled for Feb. 24...
'Right To Work' Not Dead  WSAU   ...The controversial right-to-work legislation might not be on a fast track in Wisconsin, but it’s also not a dead issue. That’s according to state Senate majority leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau). “It’s still out there. I think it’s still something that deserves debate. The votes are probably there in the Assembly, which is odd that there’s so much focus on the Senate I guess, but that’s fine. I’m not counting noses, I’ve said all along. I’m still talking to members about how they feel about the issue.”...
New Kansas Job Figures Reveal Another Failure For Sam Brownback’s Tax Cuts (opinion)  Kansas City Star   ...The final Kansas job figures are in for 2014, and Gov. Sam Brownback’s costly income tax cut “experiment” has laid another egg. Total nonfarm employment climbed only 1,700 people in December, according to Tuesday’s release of figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Overall, that means Kansas added a meager 12,800 jobs from December 2013 to December 2014, or barely more than 1,000 a month. That’s a puny growth rate of .9 percent, one of the lowest in the BLS data for 2014...
Senate Republicans Ready For A Fight On Right To Work Bill  Charleston Daily Mail   ...Five Republican lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson, introduced Senate Bill 337 on Tuesday. The bill, known as “Creating Workplace Freedom Act,” would make West Virginia the 25th state in the country to adopt a right to work law. The Mountain State would be the first in the nation since 2012 when Michigan and Indiana became right to work states, if the bill is enacted...
House Panel Kills Minimum Wage Proposal  WTOP   ...A Republican-led House committee has killed a proposal to raise Virginia’s minimum wage...
Washington State House Weighs Minimum Wage Hike  KING5   ...Washington state's minimum wage, already the highest statewide wage in the country, would get a boost to $12 an hour over the next four years if lawmakers pass a bill under consideration by the state House...
War on Workers
Gains From Economic Recovery Still Limited to Top One Percent  New York Times   ... the economic recovery so far has only boosted the incomes of the rich, and it has yielded no improvement for the bottom 99 percent of the distribution. After adjusting for inflation, the average income for the richest 1 percent (excluding capital gains) has risen from $871,100 in 2009 to $968,000 over 2012 and 2013. By contrast, for the remaining 99 percent, average incomes fell by a few dollars from $44,000 to $43,900...
Here's How Much You Have To Earn To Be In The 1 Percent In Each State  Huffington Post   ...What does it take to make it into the 1 percent of earners? In Arkansas, you'd need to pull in $228,298 a year. In Connecticut, the threshold is $677,608...
Mexican authorities pronounce 43 missing students dead but parents reject murder theory  The Independent   ...The 43 students abducted by police in Mexico have been officially declared dead for the first time, despite the fact that remains of only one person have been identified. Parents accuse the government of trying to close an investigation that has implicated security forces, the army and a mayor in a case that shocked the world...
Oil Train Spills Hit Record Level In 2014  NBC News   ...By volume, that's dramatically less crude than trains spilled in 2013, when major derailments in Alabama and North Dakota leached a record 1.4 million gallons -- more than was lost in the prior 40 years combined. But by frequency of spills, 2014 set a new high with 141 "unintentional releases," according to data from the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). By comparison, between 1975 and 2012, U.S. railroads averaged just 25 spills a year...
On-Demand Workers: ‘We Are Not Robots’  Wall Street Journal   ...Current and former workers for Uber, Amazon Inc.’s Mechanical Turk and Handybook, better known as Handy, say on-demand work platforms give them little control over the terms of their labor, and complain that the contracts they’re required to accept force them to shoulder personal and financial risk without the returns or advantages they’d hoped for...
Worker dies on Taiwan film lot to be used for Scorsese movie  Associated Perss   …A worker was killed in an accident Thursday at a Taiwanese film lot during preparations for the shooting of a new Martin Scorsese movie, media reports said...
Miscellaneous
Scott Walker’s “Our American Revival” PAC Uses Foreign Stock Videos In Debut Ad  Buzzfeed   …Republican Gov. Scott Walker announced Tuesday the creation of a political action committee to help him raise money as he mulls a presidential run. The PAC, “Our American Revival,” debuted with this video…Several of the videos ... come from foreign-based photographers and appear to have been purchased through stock image sites...

Workers fight anti-worker local right-to-work laws in Kentucky

You can bet it isn't Kentucky workers who are passing right-to-work laws in six counties so far this year. The workers are fighting them.

It's an out-of-state lawyer named Brent Yessen who is fronting for billionaires and CEOs who want to ship more jobs out of the country to cut workers' wages. The corporate dating service for state lawmakers known as ALEC is also pushing the local right-to-work laws.

Their strategy is to bypass the Legislature, which is unlikely to pass a statewide right-to-work law. Bill Londrigan, president of the Kentucky AFL-CIO, explains:

“This past election cycle, working Kentuckians rejected corporations’ bad faith attempt to take over the state legislature and poison their policies. Now these same out-of-state corporate interests want to take over our county governments by pushing a radical outside agenda. These illegal ordinances will affect all workers, union and non-union. They will decrease wages, lower median household income, increase poverty, and undermine workplace safety.”

In the fall of 2014, Republican candidates for the state House of Representatives promised to pass a right-to-work law if they gained control of the Legislature. The Democrats held their 54-46 edge in the House.

And so Yessen's out-of-state group, called 'Protect My Paycheck,' are claiming a home-rule ordinance allows the counties to pass right-to-work laws.

Right to work has nothing to do with protecting workers' paychecks. They are an attack on unions and workers' right to collectively bargain. They are devious, controversial and confusing. The name 'right to work' was chosen to make such laws seem like something other than what they really are.

Right-to-work laws actually allow government interference with businesses' right to bargain collectively with its workers. They force unions to represent workers who don't pay fees to support the contract they benefit from.

That's the point of right-to-work laws: To drain union resources and allow outside groups like the Koch brothers (or 'Protect My Paycheck') to meddle in union workplaces.

Unfortunately for the anti-worker 'Protect My Paycheck' group, Kentucky's attorney general says the county right-to-work laws are illegal. Earlier this month, nine unions filed suit against the law in one county. According to Reuters,

Nine labor unions filed suit in a Kentucky federal court late on Wednesday to stop a county from enacting right-to-work legislation they say violates the National Labor Relations Act... 

The lawsuit only covers Hardin County, but plaintiffs' attorney Irwin Cutler said the suit could expand to cover challenges to laws passed in Warren, Simpson, Fulton and Todd counties.

And according to the Kentucky State AFL-CIO,

The plaintiffs in the suit are United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America Local 3047, Elizabethtown; UAW, Detroit; International Chemical Workers Union Council of the United Food and Commercial Workers, Akron, Ohio; UFCW Local 970C, Cecelia; UFCW Local 227, Louisville; General Drivers, Warehousemen and Helpers (Teamsters) Local 89, Louisville; International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 369, Louisville; International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine and Furniture Workers-Communications Workers of America, The Industrial Division of the Communications Workers of America, Dayton, Ohio; IUE-CWA, Industrial Division, CWA Local 83766, Elizabethtown. 

Today's Teamster News 01.14.15

Teamsters
Shippers Transport Drivers Join Teamsters At SoCal Ports  Truckinginfo   ...Prior to the start of the year the drivers for Shippers Transport Express, a wholly owned subsidiary of SSA Marine, were classified an independent contracts. In November, all drivers were notified that the company was transitioning to an employee-based business model on Jan. 1, and were invited to apply for employee jobs. Eighty-eight out of 111 employee drivers signed union authorization cards, with the union now beginning the process of negotiating a collective bargaining agreement with their employer...
Teamster Pilots With Allegiant Air Conduct Informational Pickets  teamster.org   ...Teamster pilots with Allegiant Air are conducting informational picketing today in an effort to bring awareness to their plight for investments into Allegiant Air’s operational systems, basic industry averages in salary and for other job protection measures that are standard in the airline industry...
Teamsters, city reach deal  WGAL.com   ...An agreement has been reached with public works employees and the city of York -- no furloughs in exchange for no pay raise...
Trade
Border Opens To Mexican Trucks  San Diego Union Tribune   ...The United States is preparing to open the border to Mexican long-haul truckers, allowing those who qualify for permits to make direct deliveries from Mexico to U.S. destinations — a measure stipulated more than two decades ago under the North American Free Trade Agreement...
TTIP: European commission faces huge scepticism towards free trade deal  Guardian   ...Officials are surprised after receiving 150,000 mainly negative responses to Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership...
State Battles
Michigan Justices To Weigh Right-To-Work Law  Detroit News   ...Michigan’s two-year-old right-to-work law will face the scrutiny of the Michigan Supreme Court during oral arguments Tuesday over a union lawsuit challenging whether the law applies to state workers...
Documents Show Notorious Union-Buster Backing Kentucky’s County Right-To-Work Laws  In These Times   ...Whereas a few months ago, there was a general understanding that the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act only permitted states and territories to pass these laws—which threaten unions’ solvency by allowing workers to receive the benefits of union representation without paying union dues—now five Kentucky counties are on track to pass local laws. And the coalition of conservative organizations promoting these questionable new measures has also morphed, as a new organization with hidden funding sources has formed to finance any possible litigation...
Democrats Propose Minimum Wage Increase, Mandatory Sick Leave For Coming Session  The Oregonian   ...Several bills — which include proposals to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and to require employers to offer paid sick leave — signal an effort by the Democratic majority to follow with a core set of changes in the coming session promised to voters before last fall's election...
War on Workers
Democrat seeks U.S. middle-class tax breaks at expense of wealthy  Reuters   ...A senior U.S. House Democrat on Monday unveiled a more aggressive agenda to boost workers' paychecks by shifting significant tax breaks from the wealthiest Americans to the middle class...
Wage Gains Tepid in 2014 Despite Best Year of Job Creation Since 1999  Wall Street Journal   ...Hourly earnings fell by five cents last month from November to $24.57—marking the largest monthly decrease since at least 2006, the year the government began tracking wages for all private employees...
Senator Warren and America Win in a Skirmish in a Long Struggle Against Wall Street’s Coup  naked capitalism   ...Treasury does not “win” when we appoint such people – Wall Street wins...
Coming soon to a workplace near you: 'wellness or else'  Reuters   ...For some companies, however, just signing up for a wellness program isn't enough. They're linking financial incentives to specific goals such as losing weight, reducing cholesterol, or keeping blood glucose under control. The number of businesses imposing such outcomes-based wellness plans is expected to double this year to 46 percent, the survey found...
Worker Dies After Becoming Entangled In Machine  KSAZ   ...A 31-year-old worker was killed after he became entangled in a metal fabrication machine killed on Monday at an industrial plant...
Construction Worker Killed In Crane Accident  KSDK   ...A construction worker was killed in an industrial accident Monday after being crushed by a crane, said Edwardsville police...
Contract Worker Killed At Northeast Nevada Gold Mine  Las Vegas Sun   ...State and federal officials are investigating the death of a contract worker in an accident at an underground gold mine in northeast Nevada...
Miscellaneous
Senate Advances Bill To Approve Keystone Pipeline Despite Obama's Veto Threat  Huffington Post   ...The Senate voted 63-32 to clear a procedural hurdle and begin debate on the bill. Ten Democrats and one independent, Angus King (Maine), voted with every Republican to move the bill forward. Those Democrats included Sens. Michael Bennet (Colo.), Tom Carper (Del.), Bob Casey (Pa.), Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Jon Tester (Mont.), Tom Udall (N.M.) and Mark Warner (Va.). A final vote is expected later this week...

Today's Teamster News 01.07.15

Teamsters
Agreement between Los Angeles, Long Beach port truck drivers, Carson firm allows Teamsters to enter negotiations  San Jose Mercury News   ...Drivers with Carson-based Shippers Transport Express, a wholly owned subsidiary of SSA Marine, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and their supporters plan to host a press conference in Wilmington on Friday to validate their union authorization cards, opening the door for the Teamsters to begin negotiating a contract, according to Justice for Port Drivers and the Teamsters...
Teamsters Local 728 Reaches Tentative Agreement With First Student  WTOC   ...A representative with Teamsters Local 728 Union has told WTOC it has reached a tentative agreement with First Student after months of negotiations...
Trade
Why The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement Is A Pending Disaster  Huffington Post   ...Republicans who now run Congress say they want to cooperate with President Obama, and point to the administration's Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, as the model. The only problem is the TPP would be a disaster...
Stopping the Biggest Corporate Power Grab in Years  Foreign Policy in Focus   ...How fighting back against one arcane, Nixon-era trade negotiating procedure could put a stop to a global corporate coup...
Austerity Killing You? How About A Trade Deal?  Huffington Post   ...It is a mark of the delusion of Europe's leaders that the EU is putting its chips on a trade deal with the U.S. -- the so-called Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. TTIP is not really a trade deal at all but a series of measures intended to promote further deregulation of economic, financial, health, labor, safety, privacy, and environmental protections on both sides of the Atlantic. TTIP was designed by corporations to weaken labor and government -- and would do just about nothing to get Europe out of its austerity trap...
State Battles
Republicans Prefile Right-To-Work Legislation In NM House  Albuquerque Business First   ...Three members of the Republican-controlled state House announced Monday they prefiled legislation that would prohibit automatic union membership in New Mexico and give workers the right to join or financially contribute to a union — or not...
Butler County Discusses Right-To-Work Ordinance  Bowling Green Daily News   ...Butler County Judge-Executive David Fields said he expects the Fiscal Court to take a vote on a right-to-work ordinance, but that vote might not come until February...
Fischer Signs $9 Minimum Wage Ordinance  Louisville Courier Journal   ...Mayor Greg Fischer signed the ordinance increasing the minimum wage to $9 an hour in Jefferson County on Friday. The law increases the wage to $7.75 by July 1, to $8.25 by July 2016 and $9 by July 2017, and ties future increases to the Department of Labor's Consumer Price Index for urban cities in the region...
New IRS Rules On Dark Money Likely Won’t Be Ready Before 2016 Election  ProPublica   ...The Internal Revenue Service says it won't come out with new proposed rules for so-called dark money groups until late spring at the earliest, increasing the likelihood that no changes will take effect before the 2016 elections...
War on Workers
New GOP Congress Fires Shot At Social Security On Day One  Talking Points Memo   ...The largely overlooked change puts a new restriction on the routine transfer of tax revenues between the traditional Social Security retirement trust fund and the Social Security disability program. ...experts say it would likely mean any reallocation would have to be balanced by new revenues or benefit cuts...
House Republicans Change Rules on Calculating Economic Impact of Bills  New York Times   ...The change on “dynamic scoring” — ardently sought since the 1990s by Republicans — could ease passage of major tax cuts by showing that their impact on economic growth would substantially reduce their cost to the Treasury. The move is widely seen as a way for Republican leaders to set ground rules for an ambitious overhaul of the entire United States tax code...
Atlanta Stagehands Fight ‘Labor Pimps’ Pushing Temp Work, Low Wages  In These Times   ...while those performances net entertainers and concert venues massive amounts of money, the backstage workers like the ones who made Beyoncé’s live performance July 15 in Atlanta possible can’t say the same. Those employees are now attempting to organize a union, hoping to reverse the trend of eroded wages and benefits for the stagehands and others who make these performances so profitable...
Business Groups File Lawsuit To Block NLRB’s Union-Organizing Rule  Wall Street Journal   ...Several business trade groups filed a lawsuit Monday to block the National Labor Relations Board’s new rule that would speed union-organizing elections, alleging the board overstepped its authority...
Oil plummets, but don't expect lower fares soon  Sydney Morning Herald   ...Oil prices may have plunged to near six-year lows, but travellers are unlikely to see Qantas or Virgin Australia rush to slash fares any time soon  – or lower their much maligned fuel surcharges on international flights...
In the US, one lesson from oil prices: rich people win, again  Guardian   ...The most visible economic impact is in gasoline prices, with regular pump prices down about 70 cents a gallon from year ago levels, according to AAA. Consumers across the board benefit from this by having a little more disposable income, but Harris said the impact on households is uneven. Rich people win, again. About 56% of the expense savings goes to households in the top two-fifths of the income distribution versus only 24% to families in the bottom two-fifths…
Mercedes-Benz says will move U.S. headquarters to Atlanta  Reuters   ...Mercedes-Benz will move its U.S. headquarters to Atlanta from northern New Jersey, affecting about 1,000 employees, the company said on Tuesday. The Daimler AG unit is moving to cut costs...
Worker Killed in Mill Accident  North Coast Journal   ...A 64-year-old contract worker was killed this morning when his boom lift apparently came into contact with a high voltage line at an Arcata mill...
Miscellaneous
Why Uber Will—And Should—Be Regulated  Slate   ...Nothing is new under the sun, and that includes the Uber controversy. Price regulation of taxis was thrown into disarray in the 1920s when mass production drove down the cost of cars. When that happened, anyone, including part-timers, could pick up a passenger for a high fare during times of peak demand, depriving the taxis of fares from low-cost trips that they needed to survive and reintroducing price confusion. Governments invented the medallion system to block the part-timers from unraveling the market by siphoning off the lowest-cost fares...