TEAMSTERS
Linde Gas Workers in Texas Join Teamsters Local 745 Teamster.org ...On November 4, 2015, workers at Linde Gas in Farmers Branch, Texas voted to join Teamsters Local 745 in Dallas. The drivers and warehouse workers voted 11 to 6 to become Teamsters. There are 17 workers in the bargaining unit. Linde manufactures and supplies industrial, specialty and medical gases and related equipment...
Protecting truckers’ rest breaks makes highways safer: James P. Hoffa LA Daily News ...Driving a truck can be an arduous job. The hours are long and road congestion and bad weather can make travel grueling. Thankfully, the state of California recognized this long ago and enacted meal and rest break rules that help keep truckers alert behind the wheel. The provisions are not burdensome. In fact, they apply to most of the state’s workforce...
Chicago TV Series Keep Teamsters Working Year-Round Local 727 ...Teamsters Local 727 members are having their busiest television season ever with four network shows filming concurrently in Chicago. More than 100 Teamsters are hard at work on Fox’s ratings juggernaut “Empire” and the NBC franchise of “Chicago Fire,” “Chicago PD” and “Chicago Med” — both on set at Cinespace Chicago Film Studios and on location throughout the city...
EVSC/Teamsters Contracts Ratified TriState Homepage ...Contracts between the EVSC an a local union that have been in the works since June are one step closer to approval. Teamsters Local 215 President Chuck Whobrey says all five employee contracts have been ratified. EVSC School Board President Mike Duckworth tells Eyewitness News the board will choose to accept or decline the approved proposals at their next meeting...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Greece paralyzed by austerity strikes DW.com ...A massive general strike brought Greece to a standstill on Thursday, as tens of thousands of people protested spending cuts pushed through by the country's leftist government in exchange for European bailout money. Feeling betrayed by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who was elected on an anti-austerity ticket, Greek unions launched a 24-hour strike...
Obama Faces a Tough Road with TPP Trade Deal Fortune ...In an election year, the knives are out for Obama’s signature trade pact. The mammoth Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal is by far the biggest thing left on President Barack Obama’s legislative agenda. But Obama has Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, labor unions, and even the tobacco industry standing in his way...
White House to work with Congress on TPP vote timing Reuters ...The Obama administration will work with Congress on the best time to bring a 12-nation Pacific trade pact before lawmakers for a vote, the top U.S. trade official said on Thursday. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said the administration, which gave 90 days notice last week of its intent to sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), was doing everything within its power to move the deal along...
Obama Enlists Former Diplomats Albright, Baker in TPP Push Bloomberg ...President Barack Obama, hoping to kick off a new phase of selling the Trans-Pacific Partnership at home while enhancing its prospects overseas, has enlisted some of the nation’s top current and former diplomatic and national security officials to give testimonials. Obama is meeting Friday at the White House with a group that includes Madeleine Albright...
WHO chief raises ‘serious concerns’ over TPP impact on vital drug prices RT ...The head of the World Health Organization has voiced concern over the impact the newly formed 12-nation Trans Pacific Partnership will have on vital drug prices, as it could limit the availability of cheaper generic medicines in favour of patent holders...
"A Very Big Mistake": Joseph Stiglitz Slams Obama for Pushing the TPP Democracy Now ...As Congress debates the Trans-Pacific Partnership, we speak to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz about the trade deal. "The irony is that the president came out and said, 'This is about who makes the trade rules—China or the United States?'" Stiglitz said. "But I think the big issue is, this is about who makes the rules of trade—the American people, our democratic process, or the corporations?"...
Germany Protests to United States Over Secrecy in Huge TTIP Trade Deal Sputnik News ...The German Government has filed an official note of protest to the US over the lack of access that its country's lawmakers have to documents associated with the controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations. The controversial TTIP agreement, under negotiation between the European Union (EU) and the United States could lead to the world's largest free-trade area...
United Steel Workers in Liberia to Support Firestone Workers Ahead of New CBA Bush Chicken ...A two-man delegation from the United Steel Workers, a North American workers union, is in the country to visit the Firestone Agricultural Workers Union of Liberia, FAWUL. USW International Vice President Fred Raymond and Director for Strategic Campaigns Mark Zalinski told The Bush Chicken that they were here to strengthen the partnership with FAWUL and assist in negotiating a collective bargaining agreement with Firestone...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
New California Law Gives Farmworkers Right To Back Pay KCPR ...The law says workers who weren’t paid accurately from July 2012 to December 2015 have the right to back pay for rest periods and unproductive time. This includes time for training, traveling, and moving from and to fields. The United Farm Workers union is currently reaching out to farm laborers to let them know about the law before it goes into effect January 1st...
Scott Walker's Legacy of Double-Dealing for Friends and Donors Revealed in New John Doe Emails PR Watch ...In 2011, prosecutors in the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office suspected that Scott Walker committed felony misconduct while serving as Milwaukee County Executive due to his direct involvement in a multi-million dollar lease renewal for county offices at a privately held building called the Reuss Federal Plaza. Newly-released emails, made public as part of a federal lawsuit, reveal crucial details about these bid-rigging allegations...
Walmart Workers Escalate Thanksgiving Wage Protests With Weeks Of Fasting Think Progress ...Tired of being left to rely on the charity of others to feed their families, Walmart workers around the country are launching two weeks of fasting in the run-up to Thanksgiving to demand livable wages and full-time schedules. “I’ve had to forgo meals so my boys would have enough to eat,” Walmart associate Jasmine Dixon said Thursday...
L.A. County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl backs statewide minimum wage measure LA Times ...The elected official who led Los Angeles County's adoption of a $15 minimum wage has endorsed one of two proposed 2016 ballot initiatives that would extend the same base pay rate statewide. L.A. County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl on Thursday threw her support behind the so-called Fair Wage Act...
In classic battle, minimum wage movement pits labor against business Open Secrets ..Fast food and other low-wage workers took to the streets of cities across the country this week to demand a minimum wage of $15, earning the support of liberal mayors, governors and even presidential candidates. In New York, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo stood with the “Fight for $15” crusade, announcing he would take executive action to establish a $15-per-hour floor for state employees...
Donald Trump wants the U.S. to 'compete with other countries' on minimum wage. But which countries? Daily Kos ...Donald Trump is not backing down from his assertion that "our wages are too high" during the most recent Republican presidential debate. Exactly which other countries does Trump think we need to compete with by keeping the minimum wage low? Because if you’re looking at other advanced countries, the United States lags behind Australia, Luxembourg, France, Belgium, Ireland, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Austria...
U.S. LABOR
Kaiser mental health workers to go on strike Monday Press Democrat ...The union representing Kaiser Permanente mental health care workers in Sonoma County said its members will go on strike Monday, walking off the job for the second time in 10 months. Unlike a January strike that lasted five days, next week’s National Union of Health Care Workers strike has no ending date...
UAW members voting on Ford contract that would bring $1.1B to Chicago area Chicago Tribune ...Union workers at Ford's Chicago Heights body panel plant began voting Thursday on a national labor deal that would see $1.1 billion invested in Ford's two Chicago-area plants. The deal — tentatively agreed to by national negotiators last week — would see $900 million invested and about 200 more workers hired at the Torrence Avenue assembly plant, where 4,100 United Auto Workers members are currently employed...
Access-a-Ride-workers threaten strike over labor conditions AM New York ...The transit union that represents many MTA workers threatened a strike Thursday at the Access-a-Ride call center. The company Global Contact Services has about 500 workers at the call center who set up Access-a-Ride trips, a service used by passengers who need wheelchair-accessible cars. Workers have made complaints to the MTA's board and Inspector General about their labor conditions...
How Apple And eBay Have Been Benefiting From Wage Theft Think Progress ...The Department of Labor (DOL) banned two Silicon Valley contracting firms used by Apple, eBay, and Cisco from hiring immigrant workers with high-skilled visas for underpaying employees nearly $1,000 a month. Sunnyvale, California-based contractors Orian Engineers and Scopus Consulting Group improperly classified immigrant employees with H-1B visas as entry level despite them having significant work experience or graduate-level degrees...
Postal Workers Endorse Austerity-Foe Bernie Sanders The Nation ... The APWU endorsement recalls the historic “reward our friends” calculus, as Sanders has for years been an ardent congressional advocate for postal workers and the United States Postal Service. Long before he considered presidential politics, the senator from Vermont was arguing against the austerity economics that seeks to balance the books by cutting public services...
US weekly jobless claims total 276,000 vs 270,000 estimate CNBC ...New U.S. applications for unemployment benefits last week held steady at levels consistent with sustained labor market strength that could encourage the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates next month. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits were unchanged at a seasonally adjusted 276,000 for the week ended Nov. 7, the Labor Department said on Thursday...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Report: Neglected Railways Increase Risk of Exploding Oil "Bomb Trains" Truthout ...According to a new report out this week from Waterkeeper Alliance, ForestEthics and Riverkeeper, since 2008, oil train traffic has increased more than 5,000 percent along routes "leading from oil fields in central Canada, the Great Plains and the Rockies to refineries and crude oil hubs along our nation's coasts." The report describes the significant threat posed by explosive crude oil "bomb trains" traveling across aging and neglected US rail infrastructure...
Leading Powers to Double Renewable Energy Supply by 2030 Common Dreams ...Eight of the world’s leading economies will double their renewable energy supply by 2030 if they live up to their pledges to contribute to curbing global warming, which will be included in the new climate treaty. A study published this month by the World Resources Institute (WRI) analysed the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) of the 10 largest greenhouse gas emitters...
Students across U.S. march over debt, free public college Reuters ...Students held demonstrations on university campuses across the United States on Thursday to protest ballooning student loan debt for higher education and rally for tuition-free public colleges. The demonstrations, dubbed the Million Student March, were planned just two days after thousands of fast-food workers took to the streets in a nationwide day of action pushing for a $15-an-hour minimum wage and union rights for the industry...
In Nationwide Student Revolt over Campus Racism, NY's Ithaca College is Latest School to Erupt Democracy Now ...In a week that began with a victorious revolt by African-American students at the University of Missouri and brought solidarity rallies to campuses around the country, a similar protest has erupted at Ithaca College in upstate New York. On Wednesday, thousands of faculty, students and staff staged a walkout to call for the resignation of President Tom Rochon...
Yet Another Report Excuses Police in Tamir Rice's Death The Atlantic ...A report commissioned by the Cuyahoga County prosecutor has found that officers acted reasonably in the shooting of Tamir Rice, an unarmed 12-year-old boy whose death was captured on surveillance camera. The report is the third independent report Prosecutor Timothy McGinty has released. Activists and Rice’s relatives have charged that the reports are being released in an attempt to justify a decision not to charge Loehmann for Rice’s death...
Showing posts with label Liberia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Liberia. Show all posts
Friday, November 13, 2015
Monday, June 29, 2015
Today's Teamster News 6.29.15
Teamsters
Teamsters, Airgas employees on West Side, reject contract Charleston Gazette ...On Saturday, Teamster members working for Airgas Mid-America in Charleston unanimously rejected the company’s offer for a collective bargaining agreement. This would be the first contract negotiated by the union since the company’s employees on Charleston’s West Side voted to have the Teamsters represent them in July 2014. Local Airgas workers rejected the proposed contract in large part because the company refused to raise wages for their Charleston employees to a rate comparable to wages paid by its local competitor...
Global Labor & Trade
Pelosi on trade: 'The fight will continue' The Hill ...House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi vowed Thursday that liberals will carry their trade fight into the ongoing talks over a trans-Pacific deal at the top of President Obama's legislative wish list. The California Democrat said this week's passage of fast-track legislation, a key part of Obama's trade agenda, is just one setback in the much larger debate over the emerging Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
U.S. Democrats shrug off retribution threats for pro-trade votes Reuters ...Democrats in the U.S. Congress who backed legislation key to sealing a Pacific Rim trade pact this week shrugged off threats of retribution from labor unions and liberal activists who have vowed to hold them accountable at future elections. Forty-one Democrats this week defied pressure and supported legislation to let the White House seal trade deals and send them on a fast track through Congress...
The Trans-Pacific Partnership’s glaring double standard Salon ...Recently leaked drafts of the agreement show the pact includes the kind of “Investor-State Dispute Settlement” (ISDS) provisions written into most major trade deals passed since the North American Free Trade Agreement. Those provisions allow companies to use secretive international tribunals to sue sovereign governments. But also like past trade deals, the TPP is not expected to allow unions and public-interest groups to bring their own suits in the same tribunalss...
Why trade deals hurt Americans PBS ...The flood of imports has kept workers’ wages stagnant in the U.S. for decades and median household incomes declining—all at a time when importers like Wal-Mart and Apple are profiting tremendously from cheap overseas labor. While it costs only $2 to make bands for the Apple watch in Asia, those same bands retail at $49 in the U.S., making Apple a 96 percent profit. No wonder Apple has three times as much cash on hand as Uncle Sam. By shipping jobs overseas, companies make big profits, but deny Americans jobs. So yes, our trade policy is adding to inequality in the U.S...
King Obama, His Royal Court, and the TPP (opinion) Common Dreams ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) – a global corporate noose around U.S. local, state, and national sovereignty – narrowly passed a major procedural hurdle in the Congress by gaining “fast track” status. This term “fast track” is a euphemism for your members of Congress – senators and representatives – handcuffing themselves, so as to prevent any amendments or adequate debate before the final vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership – another euphemism that is used to avoid the word “treaty”...
Anti-austerity protesters rally at Greek parliament Reuters ...Several hundred anti-austerity protesters, chanting slogans against the European Union and IMF, rallied near parliament in Athens on Sunday as a deepening crisis forced Greece's leftist government to announce capital controls on the banking system. The protest was the latest in a string of rallies both for and against the government in recent weeks...
Cash Withdrawals and Hoarding as Default Looms Over Greece New York Times ...Five years of economic misery have taught many Greeks how to endure hardship. There was no panic on the streets, even as the breakdown of negotiations in Brussels between the leftist government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the country’s creditors could ultimately push Greece out of the eurozone...
Liberia Law Boosts Rights of Informal-Economy Workers Solidarity Center ...Liberian domestic workers and other informal-economy workers in Liberia are set to receive significant wage gains, collective bargaining rights and labor law protection under the Decent Work Bill signed today by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. The bill takes effect when printed into handbills for distribution. Unskilled workers will earn a minimum of $3.50 per day, an amount that is more than five times the $15 per month salary...
State & Living Wage Battles
State Moves To Block Cities From Increasing Minimum Wage Or Requiring Paid Sick Leave Think Progress ...Michigan’s legislature passed a bill this week that blocks any cities in the state from passing their own minimum wage increases or paid sick leave requirements. The text of the bill states that “the regulation of the employment relationship between a nonpublic employer and its employees is a matter of state concern”...
Assembly plan would scale back prevailing wage as budget stalemate enters fifth week Star Tribune ...Nearly 60 percent of public projects in Wisconsin would not be subject to the prevailing wage law under a proposal introduced Monday by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos as the state budget stalemate enters its fifth week. Gov. Scott Walker, who had previously said he wouldn't announce a presidential bid until after he signs the budget, is now planning to state his intentions as soon as July 13...
Maine lawmakers team-up to take down Right to Work PR News Channel ...In a move that surprised many labor supporters, especially in Ohio, Maine’s latest Right to Work effort was taken down with help from an unlikely source: state Republicans. Backed by Republican Gov. Paul LePage, the latest Right to Work bill was defeated 21-14 in the Republican-controlled state Senate. The Senate’s vote follows a similar result in the Democrat-controlled House earlier this month...
Changes to NC voter ID rankle some, but could preserve law Citizen-Times ...Federal and state lawsuits filed nearly two years ago challenging what’s in North Carolina’s election overhaul law are finally heading to trial starting next month. But unexpected moves on the way to the courthouse could break down arguments of plaintiffs seeking to overturn the law’s most high-profile component: a photo identification requirement to vote in person starting next year...
Jackson County Board votes to oppose 'Right to Work' The Southern ...In one of its largest gatherings in some time, the members of the Jackson County Board voted to support a resolution opposing right to work initiative. Last month, Gov. Bruce Rauner's proposal to allow Right to Work zones received zero votes from members of the Illinois State House...
U.S. Labor
Communications Workers Of America Ratify Agreement For AT&T Nasdaq ...AT&T on Friday said that wireline employees represented by the Communications Workers of America have voted to ratify a three-year contract for AT&T Corp. (CWA Telecommunications and Technology Office). The AT&T Corp. contract covers about 4,500 employees located throughout the country.
Milwaukee County Transit union members to vote on new contract Fox 6 Now ...A new contract is on the table. But no agreement has been reached between Milwaukee County and its bus drivers. The two sides spent Friday, June 26th negotiating. While a new proposal is out there, a strike is not out of the question. Drivers will vote on the contract on Monday, June 29th. The county is offering more money in this newest contract. But the Amalgamated Transit Union says, that’s not what this is about...
NLRB intervenes in clash between Time Inc. and News Guild Capital New York ...The National Labor Relations Board has announced its intent to issue a complaint against Time Inc. by the end of this month if the magazine publisher and the News Guild of New York fail to reach an agreement amenable to the federal agency. The announcement comes several months after the union filed a charge against Time Inc. with the NLRB, pushing back against what it characterized as the company's unilateral implementation of its "last, best and final offer"...
AFSCME, MAPE come to tentative contract agreements with state of Minnesota Star Tribune ...The two largest state government unions reached tentative contract agreements with the administration of Gov. Mark Dayton, giving raises to more than 30,000 state workers of 2.5 percent in July 2015 and another 2.5 percent in 2016. “It’s a proper balance between managing the state budget and a good pay package for the employees” that will help recruit, develop and retain a solid workforce...
Could This Be the Biggest Blow Yet to Uber’s Business Model? The Nation ...The sharing economy has been having a rough ride lately: Enraged taxi drivers rose up against Uber with flaming street blockades in Paris and San Francisco cabbies rallied at Uber headquarters to protest the “ride-share” platform’s outsized grip on local taxi markets. But another potentially more disruptive development unfolded more quietly, in a San Francisco courtroom, with the simple words “alleged employee”...
“I think America is out of hand”: The shocking numbers that reveal just how burnt out American workers are Salon ...The American worker is overworked, underpaid, and suffering from severe burnout. This sentiment isn’t populist rhetoric, there are numbers to back it up. A new study from WorkPlaceTrends — an HR-focused research firm — and Staples Advantage polled over 2,500 workers and reached troubling results. According to the data, 53 percent of American workers report feeling burned out at work...
Once Again, Bosses Are Trying To Eliminate New Protections for Guestworkers In These Times ...Once again, the beleaguered H-2B guestworker program is the subject of a legal battle. Once again, the battle is over basic worker protections. While employers are fighting in court and in Congress to have newly implemented protections removed, guestworker advocates are calling for the public to demand that the government keep them...
GOP battles to defund work of Obama labor board The Hill ...Congressional Republicans are using the power of the purse to do battle against a series of controversial labor regulations from the Obama administration. They say the National Labor Relations Board (NRLB) gave a gift to labor unions by issuing what they call an “ambush election” rule that speeds up the process for organizing in the workplace...
Miscellaneous
Sysco Pulling Out of US Foods Buyout After FTC Move New York Times ...Sysco is scrapping its proposed $3.5 billion buyout of US Foods after a Federal Trade Commission legal victory that temporarily blocked the deal to combine the two food-service companies. The FTC opposed the deal, saying it would reduce competition. The U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., granted the halt on Tuesday...
Consumers Score Huge Victory as Federal Judge Blocks Sysco and US Foods Merger Alternet ...In a stunning victory for people, independent restaurants and public cafeterias, a federal judge struck down the proposed merger of Sysco and US Foods, the only two national food distribution companies in the United States. Sysco and US Foods are the only companies that provide national distribution networks to foodservice customers such as schools, restaurants and hospitals...
College is a con: The savage truth about your bachelor’s degree Salon ...Higher education wears the cloak of liberalism, but in policy and practice, it can be a corrupt and cutthroat system of power and exploitation. Tthe reality is that while college administrators might affix “down with the man” stickers on their office doors, many prop up a system that is severely unfair to American students and professors, a shocking number of whom struggle to make ends meet...
With Marriage Equality Won, LGBTQ Activism Continues for Bias Protections & Overlooked Trans Issues Democracy Now ...After the Supreme Court’s historic ruling on marriage equality, many LGBTQ leaders are now redirecting their attention to obtaining federal, state and local legal protections in areas of employment, housing and commerce. Nationwide, anti-discrimination laws for gay people are inconsistent and unequal with only 22 states barring discrimination based on sexual orientation...
The Supreme Court Knocks Down Major Death Penalty Challenge Mother Jones ...On Monday, the Supreme Court rejected a challenge to a state lethal injection protocol, allowing Oklahoma and other states to continue using a controversial sedative that's been implicated in a number of botched executions. The 5-4 decision in Glossip v. Gross was a win for conservatives who support the death penalty...
Teamsters, Airgas employees on West Side, reject contract Charleston Gazette ...On Saturday, Teamster members working for Airgas Mid-America in Charleston unanimously rejected the company’s offer for a collective bargaining agreement. This would be the first contract negotiated by the union since the company’s employees on Charleston’s West Side voted to have the Teamsters represent them in July 2014. Local Airgas workers rejected the proposed contract in large part because the company refused to raise wages for their Charleston employees to a rate comparable to wages paid by its local competitor...
Global Labor & Trade
Pelosi on trade: 'The fight will continue' The Hill ...House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi vowed Thursday that liberals will carry their trade fight into the ongoing talks over a trans-Pacific deal at the top of President Obama's legislative wish list. The California Democrat said this week's passage of fast-track legislation, a key part of Obama's trade agenda, is just one setback in the much larger debate over the emerging Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
U.S. Democrats shrug off retribution threats for pro-trade votes Reuters ...Democrats in the U.S. Congress who backed legislation key to sealing a Pacific Rim trade pact this week shrugged off threats of retribution from labor unions and liberal activists who have vowed to hold them accountable at future elections. Forty-one Democrats this week defied pressure and supported legislation to let the White House seal trade deals and send them on a fast track through Congress...
The Trans-Pacific Partnership’s glaring double standard Salon ...Recently leaked drafts of the agreement show the pact includes the kind of “Investor-State Dispute Settlement” (ISDS) provisions written into most major trade deals passed since the North American Free Trade Agreement. Those provisions allow companies to use secretive international tribunals to sue sovereign governments. But also like past trade deals, the TPP is not expected to allow unions and public-interest groups to bring their own suits in the same tribunalss...
Why trade deals hurt Americans PBS ...The flood of imports has kept workers’ wages stagnant in the U.S. for decades and median household incomes declining—all at a time when importers like Wal-Mart and Apple are profiting tremendously from cheap overseas labor. While it costs only $2 to make bands for the Apple watch in Asia, those same bands retail at $49 in the U.S., making Apple a 96 percent profit. No wonder Apple has three times as much cash on hand as Uncle Sam. By shipping jobs overseas, companies make big profits, but deny Americans jobs. So yes, our trade policy is adding to inequality in the U.S...
King Obama, His Royal Court, and the TPP (opinion) Common Dreams ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) – a global corporate noose around U.S. local, state, and national sovereignty – narrowly passed a major procedural hurdle in the Congress by gaining “fast track” status. This term “fast track” is a euphemism for your members of Congress – senators and representatives – handcuffing themselves, so as to prevent any amendments or adequate debate before the final vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership – another euphemism that is used to avoid the word “treaty”...
Anti-austerity protesters rally at Greek parliament Reuters ...Several hundred anti-austerity protesters, chanting slogans against the European Union and IMF, rallied near parliament in Athens on Sunday as a deepening crisis forced Greece's leftist government to announce capital controls on the banking system. The protest was the latest in a string of rallies both for and against the government in recent weeks...
Cash Withdrawals and Hoarding as Default Looms Over Greece New York Times ...Five years of economic misery have taught many Greeks how to endure hardship. There was no panic on the streets, even as the breakdown of negotiations in Brussels between the leftist government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the country’s creditors could ultimately push Greece out of the eurozone...
Liberia Law Boosts Rights of Informal-Economy Workers Solidarity Center ...Liberian domestic workers and other informal-economy workers in Liberia are set to receive significant wage gains, collective bargaining rights and labor law protection under the Decent Work Bill signed today by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. The bill takes effect when printed into handbills for distribution. Unskilled workers will earn a minimum of $3.50 per day, an amount that is more than five times the $15 per month salary...
State & Living Wage Battles
State Moves To Block Cities From Increasing Minimum Wage Or Requiring Paid Sick Leave Think Progress ...Michigan’s legislature passed a bill this week that blocks any cities in the state from passing their own minimum wage increases or paid sick leave requirements. The text of the bill states that “the regulation of the employment relationship between a nonpublic employer and its employees is a matter of state concern”...
Assembly plan would scale back prevailing wage as budget stalemate enters fifth week Star Tribune ...Nearly 60 percent of public projects in Wisconsin would not be subject to the prevailing wage law under a proposal introduced Monday by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos as the state budget stalemate enters its fifth week. Gov. Scott Walker, who had previously said he wouldn't announce a presidential bid until after he signs the budget, is now planning to state his intentions as soon as July 13...
Maine lawmakers team-up to take down Right to Work PR News Channel ...In a move that surprised many labor supporters, especially in Ohio, Maine’s latest Right to Work effort was taken down with help from an unlikely source: state Republicans. Backed by Republican Gov. Paul LePage, the latest Right to Work bill was defeated 21-14 in the Republican-controlled state Senate. The Senate’s vote follows a similar result in the Democrat-controlled House earlier this month...
Changes to NC voter ID rankle some, but could preserve law Citizen-Times ...Federal and state lawsuits filed nearly two years ago challenging what’s in North Carolina’s election overhaul law are finally heading to trial starting next month. But unexpected moves on the way to the courthouse could break down arguments of plaintiffs seeking to overturn the law’s most high-profile component: a photo identification requirement to vote in person starting next year...
Jackson County Board votes to oppose 'Right to Work' The Southern ...In one of its largest gatherings in some time, the members of the Jackson County Board voted to support a resolution opposing right to work initiative. Last month, Gov. Bruce Rauner's proposal to allow Right to Work zones received zero votes from members of the Illinois State House...
U.S. Labor
Communications Workers Of America Ratify Agreement For AT&T Nasdaq ...AT&T on Friday said that wireline employees represented by the Communications Workers of America have voted to ratify a three-year contract for AT&T Corp. (CWA Telecommunications and Technology Office). The AT&T Corp. contract covers about 4,500 employees located throughout the country.
Milwaukee County Transit union members to vote on new contract Fox 6 Now ...A new contract is on the table. But no agreement has been reached between Milwaukee County and its bus drivers. The two sides spent Friday, June 26th negotiating. While a new proposal is out there, a strike is not out of the question. Drivers will vote on the contract on Monday, June 29th. The county is offering more money in this newest contract. But the Amalgamated Transit Union says, that’s not what this is about...
NLRB intervenes in clash between Time Inc. and News Guild Capital New York ...The National Labor Relations Board has announced its intent to issue a complaint against Time Inc. by the end of this month if the magazine publisher and the News Guild of New York fail to reach an agreement amenable to the federal agency. The announcement comes several months after the union filed a charge against Time Inc. with the NLRB, pushing back against what it characterized as the company's unilateral implementation of its "last, best and final offer"...
AFSCME, MAPE come to tentative contract agreements with state of Minnesota Star Tribune ...The two largest state government unions reached tentative contract agreements with the administration of Gov. Mark Dayton, giving raises to more than 30,000 state workers of 2.5 percent in July 2015 and another 2.5 percent in 2016. “It’s a proper balance between managing the state budget and a good pay package for the employees” that will help recruit, develop and retain a solid workforce...
Could This Be the Biggest Blow Yet to Uber’s Business Model? The Nation ...The sharing economy has been having a rough ride lately: Enraged taxi drivers rose up against Uber with flaming street blockades in Paris and San Francisco cabbies rallied at Uber headquarters to protest the “ride-share” platform’s outsized grip on local taxi markets. But another potentially more disruptive development unfolded more quietly, in a San Francisco courtroom, with the simple words “alleged employee”...
“I think America is out of hand”: The shocking numbers that reveal just how burnt out American workers are Salon ...The American worker is overworked, underpaid, and suffering from severe burnout. This sentiment isn’t populist rhetoric, there are numbers to back it up. A new study from WorkPlaceTrends — an HR-focused research firm — and Staples Advantage polled over 2,500 workers and reached troubling results. According to the data, 53 percent of American workers report feeling burned out at work...
Once Again, Bosses Are Trying To Eliminate New Protections for Guestworkers In These Times ...Once again, the beleaguered H-2B guestworker program is the subject of a legal battle. Once again, the battle is over basic worker protections. While employers are fighting in court and in Congress to have newly implemented protections removed, guestworker advocates are calling for the public to demand that the government keep them...
GOP battles to defund work of Obama labor board The Hill ...Congressional Republicans are using the power of the purse to do battle against a series of controversial labor regulations from the Obama administration. They say the National Labor Relations Board (NRLB) gave a gift to labor unions by issuing what they call an “ambush election” rule that speeds up the process for organizing in the workplace...
Miscellaneous
Sysco Pulling Out of US Foods Buyout After FTC Move New York Times ...Sysco is scrapping its proposed $3.5 billion buyout of US Foods after a Federal Trade Commission legal victory that temporarily blocked the deal to combine the two food-service companies. The FTC opposed the deal, saying it would reduce competition. The U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., granted the halt on Tuesday...
Consumers Score Huge Victory as Federal Judge Blocks Sysco and US Foods Merger Alternet ...In a stunning victory for people, independent restaurants and public cafeterias, a federal judge struck down the proposed merger of Sysco and US Foods, the only two national food distribution companies in the United States. Sysco and US Foods are the only companies that provide national distribution networks to foodservice customers such as schools, restaurants and hospitals...
College is a con: The savage truth about your bachelor’s degree Salon ...Higher education wears the cloak of liberalism, but in policy and practice, it can be a corrupt and cutthroat system of power and exploitation. Tthe reality is that while college administrators might affix “down with the man” stickers on their office doors, many prop up a system that is severely unfair to American students and professors, a shocking number of whom struggle to make ends meet...
With Marriage Equality Won, LGBTQ Activism Continues for Bias Protections & Overlooked Trans Issues Democracy Now ...After the Supreme Court’s historic ruling on marriage equality, many LGBTQ leaders are now redirecting their attention to obtaining federal, state and local legal protections in areas of employment, housing and commerce. Nationwide, anti-discrimination laws for gay people are inconsistent and unequal with only 22 states barring discrimination based on sexual orientation...
The Supreme Court Knocks Down Major Death Penalty Challenge Mother Jones ...On Monday, the Supreme Court rejected a challenge to a state lethal injection protocol, allowing Oklahoma and other states to continue using a controversial sedative that's been implicated in a number of botched executions. The 5-4 decision in Glossip v. Gross was a win for conservatives who support the death penalty...
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