Today's Teamster News 03.05.15

Teamsters

Teamsters and Labor Allies Urge Congress to Oppose Fast Track teamster.org   …Teamsters from around the country joined their union brothers and sisters on Capitol Hill today to meet with members of Congress to discuss their continued opposition to fast-track trade promotion authority, which would have a damaging impact on American workers...
First Student, Teamsters Strike Summer Pay Deal  Savannah Morning News   ...Negotiations between Savannah-Chatham Public Schools transportation provider First Student and Teamsters Local 728 have resulted in a summer pay contract for about 500 bus drivers, monitors and technicians...
Apple To Make Many Security Guards Full-Time Employees  San Jose Mercury News   ...Under a contract approved last month, Facebook drivers working full-time will receive about $33,000 more in wages and benefits than they received before, the Teamsters said...
Lawmakers resume debate over Sunday growler sales  MPR News   …Edward Reynoso, the legislative director for Teamsters Union Joint Council 32, said changing the law to allow growlers to be sold on Sundays could reopen the labor contracts for 850 of his members who work in the liquor industry...
CN Rail reaches collective deal with Teamsters plans to buy back shares via private agreement  MENAFN   …Canadian National Railway Co. (TSE:CNR) the country's largest railroad and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference union have renewed their collective agreement...
Stericycle Inc. and Teamsters reach a collective agreement  Canada NewsWire   …Stericycle Inc. is a trucking company offering waste disposal services and product destruction, including medical and pharmaceutical waste disposal. The collective agreement covering approximately 114 employees working in Brampton and Scarborough, Ontario, expired on December 31, 2014...
Trade
Fate of Obama’s Trade Agenda May Rest on Oregon Senator  New York Times   …From his position in the driver’s seat, Mr. Wyden is putting demands on the fast-track bill that Republicans are not sure they can accept — most important, a shut-off valve that Congress could turn if the details of the Pacific or European accords did not live up to their promise...
White House counts on Sen. Wyden to deliver on a trade deal  Washington Post   …Obama was calling to thank Wyden for his support of the president’s sweeping trade agenda which, in a reflection of the topsy-turvy politics of the issue, has drawn support from Republican leaders and staunch objections from many Democrats...
Japan, U.S. resume TPP talks but pact’s future very much in doubt  Japan Times   …Japanese and U.S. officials resumed talks Thursday in Tokyo on the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, but the outcome of the negotiations remains unclear with political difficulties mounting for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and indications of growing opposition to the deal in the U.S…
Business Rallies Against Secretive TPP Trade Talks (opinion)  Macro Business   ...It is also lamentable that the TPP negotiations have been opened to some large corporations, which are free to lobby for their interests, but barred to individuals and industry groups. This all but ensures that the final deal will not be in the public’s best interests...
State Battles
Assembly debates right-to-work bill today  Associated Press   …With Wisconsin positioned to become the third Midwestern state in as many years to enact a right-to-work law, the Assembly begins debate Thursday on a plan Republican Gov. Scott Walker has promised to quickly sign and Democrats lack the votes to stop...
Assembly Plans 24-Hour Right-To-Work Debate  Green Bay Press Gazette   ...The Wisconsin state Assembly plans to start debate of the right-to-work bill at 9 a.m. Thursday and end no later than 9 a.m. Friday...
Boost In Minimum Wage To $12 Wins Backing In State House  Seattle Times   ...The Washington state House voted along party lines Tuesday to raise the state’s minimum wage — already the nation’s highest — to $12 an hour over the next four years...
Missouri House Passes Voter ID Bills  Northwest Missourian   ...The bill says approved forms of identification would include a current Missouri driver’s license or a current Missouri non-driver’s license, a document issued by the United States of the State of Missouri containing the person’s name and photograph or any armed services identification containing a photograph that is not expired...
Oakland New Minimum Wage Law Now In Effect  Contra Costa Times   ...The law raises the minimum hourly wage from $9 as set by the state to $12.25. Workers also are now entitled to paid sick days under the law that was approved by 82 percent of voters last November...
Governor Wants $10.50 Minimum Wage For NYS  WKBW   ...$10.50 - that's what Governor Andrew Cuomo wants to make the minimum wage in New York State. The Governor made the announcement Tuesday at the Boys & Girls Club on Bailey Avenue alongside  Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul and Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown...
Thousands expected at Capitol for Saturday labor rally West Virginia Gazette   …The “Mountaineers Workers Rising Rally” will protest “legislative attacks on our working families,” according to a news release from the state AFL-CIO. The leaders of the national AFL-CIO, the United Mine Workers of America, the Teamsters, both national teachers unions, the United Utility Workers Union and United Steelworkers are all scheduled to speak...
War on Workers
Injured Workers Suffer As 'Reforms' Limit Workers' Compensation Benefits  NPR   ...Until recently, America's workers could rely on a compact struck at the dawn of the Industrial Age: They'd give up their right to sue. In exchange, if they were injured on the job, their employers would pay their medical bills and enough of their wages to help them get by while they recovered. No longer...
American Airlines Mechanic Killed In Accident At Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport  KXAS   ...A mechanic who had worked for American Airlines for 30 years died Monday after falling from a jet bridge at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport...
Family of Oregon Worker Killed in Blender Sues Meat Distributor  Insurance Journal   …The Oregonian reported that the lawsuit filed last week in Clackamas County Circuit Court accused Interstate Meat Distributors of failing to follow safety procedures...

Today's Teamster News 10.17.14

Teamster News
Ebola outbreak: CDC, Frontier Airlines hunt passengers who flew with nurse  Fox News   ...Amber Joy Vinson, 29, a nurse at Texas Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas who cared earlier this month for the first U.S. patient to die of the virus, flew on two Frontier Airlines flights between Dallas and Cleveland. Two days after she returned to work, she became the third confirmed case of Ebola in the United States. [Teamsters represent Frontier pilots].. 
Airline notifying more passengers of Ebola  Associated Press   ...Frontier Airlines is expanding the circle of passengers being notified that they flew with a nurse who later tested positive for Ebola, or flew on a later flight using the same plane...
Hoffa Hits The Road To GOTV In Philadelphia  teamster.org   ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa visited more than 150 members employed by Penn Auto Team today, urging them to get out and vote on Nov. 4...
No Golden Gate Bus Strike Tomorrow  PR Newswire   ...Teamsters 856 and 665 members working for the Golden Gate Highway & Transportation District will not be holding a bus service strike tomorrow in order to allow for the membership to vote on the District's latest offer...
Connelly returns to talk health insurance in Foster Township  The Bradford Era   ...Connelly said the supervisors would have to begin with non-union employees, asking them to pay copays and deductibles. Then when it’s time to bargain with the Teamsters union, officials could say other workers are paying those...
Safety groups, congressmen say new poll proves public doesn’t want truckers’ hours increased; ‘misleading’ says ATA  The Trucker   ...Safety advocacy groups, The Teamsters Union, a couple of Democratic congressmen and a research group today disclosed a new public opinion poll they said shows “dramatically” and overwhelmingly that the general public would be opposed to truckers being able to increase their work week from 70 to 82 hours...
Ambulance Workers Unionize  The Spectrum   ...Citing a lack of facilities available to the company's 20-plus paramedics and Emergency Medical Technicians working in the St. George area, as well as pay starting as low as $11 per hour for paramedics, employees approached the Utah Teamsters about organizing earlier this year, said Spencer Hogue, secretary treasurer and business agent with the Teamsters Local 222 in Salt Lake City. Employees voted to join in September, and the union has already initiated negotiations with Gold Cross management about improving work conditions, Hogue said...
New Concerns About The Bridgeton Landfill Fire  CBS News   ...It’s not what they know, but what they don’t know about where the Bridgeton Landfill fire is. That’s why Pattonville Fire Department Assistant Chief Matt LaVanchy says the state Department of Natural Resources is sending a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, asking for more information on where the fire is in relation to buried nuclear waste...
Trade
Trade Talk Documents Suggest Access to Medicines May Become Harder  Wall Street Journal   ...As the latest round of talks for the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement begins in Australia next week, negotiators will be discussing revisions in a key document that consumer advocacy groups say would strengthen patent rights for drug makers at the expense of patients in poor countries...
Latest Intellectual Property Chapter Of TPP Agreement Leaked: Would Be A Disaster For Public Health  TechDirt   ...A bunch of countries are pushing for the right to cancel a patent if it "is used in a manner determined to be anti-competitive," but of course, the US and Japan are completely against such a thing...
State Battles
Pa. Senate Defeats Union Dues Measure  Pittsburgh Post Gazette   ...A controversial proposal that would have ended automatic dues deductions and political contributions from unionized public school employees was defeated in the state Senate Wednesday...
Arkansas Voter ID Law Struck Down  Politico   ...Arkansas’ highest court on Wednesday struck down a state law that requires voters to show photo identification before casting a ballot, ruling the requirement unconstitutional just days before early voting begins for the Nov. 4 election...
Minnesota Unemployment Rate Drops To 4.1 Percent  610KDAL   ...The unemployment rate of 4.1 percent is the lowest Minnesota jobless rate in eight years.  The U-S unemployment rate was at 5.9 percent in September...
War on Workers
US hospital worker who may have handled Ebola samples quarantined on cruise ship  MyFox8   ...A Texas hospital health worker who may have handled Thomas Eric Duncan’s fluid samples has been quarantined on a cruise ship in Belize — another reminder of the widespread fears of the deadly virus...
Private Prisons Face Suits, Federal Probes  Clarion Ledger   ...Florida-based GEO got the boot in Mississippi after a federal judge in 2012 called the Walnut Grove Correctional Facility "a cesspool of unconstitutional and inhuman acts and conditions. In Idaho, the FBI is investigating the Tennessee-based Corrections Corporation of America after allegations emerged that records were falsified to cover up staff shortages at the Idaho Correctional Center, that gangs ruled and that violence was so rampant it was called "Gladiator School."...
Worker killed in accident at candy plant in Va.  Associated Press   ...a worker died Wednesday from injuries suffered in what appeared to be an industrial accident at Helms Candy Co. Police identified the worker as 50-year-old Gary Bowers of Washington County, Virginia. Police say Bowers was employed by At Work Personnel, a temporary employment agency...
Tomorrow’s Taxi Commission Hearing Could Limit How Uber And Lyft Operate In New York City  BuzzFeed   ...The Taxi and Limousine Commission will be holding a public hearing on Thursday morning to discuss a proposed change to its rules that could place new restrictions on app-based car services like Lyft and Uber operate in New York City...
Miscellaneous
Bill that would stop Tesla direct sales in Michigan reaches Snyder's desk  Crain's Detroit Business   ...Legislation that would prevent Tesla Motors Inc. from directly selling its electric vehicles in Michigan has cleared the state’s legislative chambers and is awaiting the signature of Gov. Rick Snyder...

Today's Teamster News 10.09.14

Teamster News
The Teamsters launch a television ad campaign on rail safety  Teamsters Canada   ..."We want to send a clear message to the federal government: we need more inspectors on the track," explains Robert Bouvier, president of Teamsters Canada...
Drivers Say Two-Tier System Will Give Uber, Others Unfair Advantage  teamster.org   ...Thousands of D.C. cab drivers affiliated with the Teamsters Union participated in a second “Fairness NOW!” caravan today throughout the city to demand equal regulatory treatment with private sedan services by the D.C. City Council...
A Clear Choice In November (opinion)  Detroit News   ...When you don't fight to close loopholes that encourage companies to ship their jobs overseas, you're not doing what's best for Michigan...
The Antique Car That Might Replace Horse-Drawn Carriages In NYC  Yahoo News   ...The eCarriage is the proposed replacement for all that animal-powered transportation capacity for tourists...
Trade
A New U.S. Tobacco Proposal in TPP?  Politico   ...U.S. trade officials have denied they plan to offer a new tobacco proposal in the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks in Australia later this month. The pushback comes amid growing industry concerns that the United States is discussing the idea of prohibiting tobacco companies from bringing lawsuits against TPP governments under an investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) clause...
Union Boss Len McCluskey Slams Vince Cable Over TTIP Threat To NHS  The Independent   ...unions and a plethora of NGOs are concerned about an element in the agreement which they say could pave the way for US multinationals to sue future British governments if they try to reverse the recent privatization of large parts of the NHS...
State Battles
Fla. Gov. Scott sued over finances by AG candidate  Associated Press   ..."The people of Florida don't really care whether Gov. Scott is worth $3 million or $300 million," said Sheldon. "What they care about is being able to determine whether he has a personal financial stake in the decisions he makes as a public official..."
AFL-CIO leaders decry Johnson's opposition to minimum wage increase  Minneapolis Star Tribune   ...AFL-CIO leaders on Tuesday decried what they say is Republican gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson’s opposition to increasing Minnesota’s minimum wage...
Philadelphia’s school reform debacle: Despised governor crosses the line  Salon   ...Parents, teachers and students have resisted full privatization, New Orleans-style, and have found themselves punished for resistance as Gov. Tom Corbett, who controls the schools after a 2001 takeover by the state, slashes school budgets, wipes out thousands of jobs, and shutters dozens of schools. The latest move by Corbett and the Philadelphia School Reform Commission (SRC), which replaced an elected school board after the 2001 takeover, is to unilaterally cancel the city’s contract with the 15,000 members of the Philadelphia Federation of teachers...
L.A. Lawmakers Lay Out Path To $15.25 Minimum Wage By 2019  Los Angeles Times   ...Six members of the Los Angeles City Council launched an effort Tuesday to take the city's minimum wage to $15.25 by 2019, a move that would be more aggressive than the pay strategy backed by Mayor Eric Garcetti several weeks ago...
Mailers Sent By Koch Group Appear Designed To Misdirect Voters In Key U.S. Senate Race  The American Prospect   ...The North Carolina State Board of Elections announced this week that it is investigating a controversial mailer the conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity Foundation (AFPF) sent to thousands of state residents that contained inaccurate information about voter registration...
Court Decisions On Voting Rules Sow Confusion In State Races  New York Times   ...Just weeks before elections that will decide control of the Senate and crucial governors’ races, a cascade of court rulings about voting rules, issued by judges with an increasingly partisan edge, are sowing confusion and changing voting procedures with the potential to affect outcomes in some states...
Anti-ALEC Activists Pressure eBay to Drop Conservative Group  National Journal   ...More than 80 organizations are asking the e-commerce company to follow the lead of Google and other tech giants and divorce itself from the American Legislative Exchange Council...
Rightwing Groups Try to Stamp Out Local Union Contracts  The Progressive   ...A rightwing legal group is suing the school district, school board, and teacher’s union in Madison, Wisconsin, for honoring a labor contract negotiated before the state supreme court upheld Governor Scott Walker’s divisive Act 10 law, ending most collective bargaining rights for most public employees...
War on Workers
Union blocks traffic to protest casino givebacks  Associated Press   ...Casino workers blocked traffic on a highway Wednesday night to protest demands for contract givebacks being made to keep the Trump Taj Mahal casino open...24 protesters who sat down in the intersection and refused to move when ordered by officers were arrested and charged with obstructing a highway and failure to move...
Republicans Are Trying to Make Sure Minorities and Young People Don't Vote This November  Mother Jones   ...In 15 states, this year's midterms will mark the first federal election with a host of these new voting restrictions in action...
There Were Two Unemployed Persons Per Job Opening in August 2014  Economic Populist   ...If one takes the U-6 broader measure of unemployment that includes people who are forced into part-time work and the marginally attached, the ratio is 3.9 people needing a job to each actual job opening....
Union Miners Rally At EPA To Protest New Emissions Standards  Huffington Post   ...Organizers said about 700 people made it to Washington for the protest, and another 50 or so were on a bus that arrived late. They carried signs that read "EPA Rules Destroy Good Jobs" and "EPA Rules Put Seniors At Risk," and some wore shirts that said "Stop The War On Coal."...
Burdened With Record Amount Of Debt, Graduates Delay Marriage  NBC News   ...Student loans have hit a record high of $1.2 trillion, putting a crimp in The American Dream of owning a home and starting a family. And it’s affecting the broader economy too...
Uber Skimps On Driver Training, Then Charges Drivers $65 For Basic Driver Skills Course  Forbes   ...Uber puts some drivers out on the road with no vehicle inspections and barely any training — and Uber makes them pay out of pocket if they want basic driver training, drivers say...
Worker killed at West Point Kia plant  turnto10.com   ...The worker who died during an industrial accident at the Kia production plant in West Point has been identified as 57-year-old John Edd Dunnivant, of Lanett, the West Point Police Department has announced...
Highway worker dies in Tilden, NE accident  Associated Press   ...55-year-old man has been killed while working on a highway project in northeast Nebraska...

Today's Teamster News 08.24.14

Trade
John Birch Society CEO Exposes Trade Schemes on Alex Jones Show  The New American   ...the TPP and TTIP negotiations are still proceeding apace. However, they are flying under the radar in stealth mode, with the compliant assistance of the mainstream media, which dutifully keeps the American public distracted from the profoundly destructive effect these agreements would have on our constitutional Republic and our entire way of life...
WTO Panel Decides Against U.S. in Meat-Labeling Dispute  Wall Street Journal   ...The U.S. has lost a key round at the World Trade Organization in a trade dispute with Canada and Mexico over meat labeling, according to people familiar with the WTO's findings...
State Battles
Measure 3 support kicks off with labor union rally in Fairbanks  News Miner   ...The chants of the crowd filled the air at Myrtle Thomas Park in Fairbanks on Thursday afternoon during the rally officially launching the Measure 3 campaign to raise and inflation-proof Alaska’s minimum wage...
Charter schools making big profits for private companies  WTSP   ...10 Investigates found a much bigger pot of money CUSA has been able to tap into: rent. When the company helps open a new school, its development arm, Red Apple Development, acquires land and constructs a school. Then, CUSA charges the school high rent...
Labor Day Parade organizers tell Gov. Corbett he's not welcome  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette   ...“I told them he wasn't invited,’’ said Jack Shea, the veteran Labor Council president. “You can’t be trying to do away with us for 364 days a year and then want to march with us.’’...
North Carolina judge rules private school voucher program unconstitutional  Jurist   ...The plaintiffs—public schools grades K through 12 and the taxpayers of North Carolina—will suffer irreparable harm if the state is not permanently enjoined from making unconstitutional disbursement of taxpayer funds to parents for the enrollment of their children in private schools...
New Quarterly Gross State Product Series: Wisconsin and Minnesota  Econbrowser   ...Minnesota per capita income has been statistically significantly higher than Wisconsin since end 2011 (equivalently, Wisconsin’s per capita income lower than Minnesota’s)...
War on Workers
It's Hard To Get Good Help: Trucking Industry Edition  Center for Economic Policy and Research   ...If we had more skilled people running trucking companies they would realize that they could bid away drivers from their competitors and get more people to learn to drive trucks if they offered higher pay...
The Housing Being Built in New York Doesn’t Meet the Needs of New Yorkers  New York Observer   ...The city demands cheaper, smaller housing units, with 57 percent of all adults in the city identifying as “single,” according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and 54.5 percent of the city’s population classified as rent-burdened—or paying more than 30 percent of their income on rent—in 2011, up from 40.7 percent in 2000...
Highway worker killed in St. Michaels work-zone crash  Baltimore Sun   ...A contracted highway worker for the State Highway Administration died Thursday evening after being struck by a vehicle in a work zone in St. Michaels, according to the SHA and Maryland State Police...
Worker killed in fall from I-40 bridge  Commercial Appeal   ...A 52-year-old worker was killed in a fall from the Interstate 40 bridge Friday near West Memphis...
Worker killed after explosion in Northwest Houston  ABC 13 News   ...Police say an explosion caused a large piece of metal to fall on top of employees. One person died, and there are no reports of anyone else injured...
Those Koch Attacks Are Working  Wall Street Journal   ...Democratic Super PACs and party campaign committees are outraising the Republicans...

Minnesota streamlines collective bargaining process for public sector workers

Minnesota in many ways is comparable with Wisconsin in terms of size, population, climate, demographics and industry mix. In other ways it differs: Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton has not busted government worker unions the way Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has.

Guess which state is prospering and which state is struggling? Yup, Minnesota is outperforming Wisconsin in job creation and in economic growth, and now it's doing something constructive with its government worker unions.

Minnesota has a new law on the books that streamlines the collective bargaining process for government workers.

On May 9, Governor Mark Dayton signed legislation establishing a Public Employee Relations Board. It was one of the most significant amendments to the state Public Employment Labor Relations Act since its adoption in the early 1970s. 

The new board will hear unfair labor practice cases previously handled in the court system. Proponents, which include many public employee unions, said this change will save both time and money for taxpayers and public workers. 

The new process “is a useful tool for labor and management – without breaking the bank,” said Eliot Seide, executive director of AFSCME Council 5, the largest state employees’ union. 

Unfair labor practices are violations of the state public employee labor law. In the years since public employees won bargaining rights with the adoption of PELRA, “the process of bringing charges through district court was very expensive, cumbersome and time consuming,” said Sami Gabriel, president of DRIVE, the Teamsters’ political action organization. 

“The typical cost for a labor union to bring a charge was $50,000 to $75,000, and could take years for a decision,” she said. 

Taxpayers also were footing a hefty bill, noted Seide. He gave the example of the City of Bloomington, which spent $150,000 in legal fees to fight union organizing by 23 city employees.
In addition to saving money, the board is expected to speed up the process of resolving such disputes.

We expect Minnesota will continue to outperform Wisconsin in the months to come.

Today's Teamster News 05.10.14

Teamster News
Workplace peril: Irresponsible companies put workers at risk (opinion)  San Jose Mercury News   ..."I told my manager that a work assignment was really hurting my foot. The next day he called me to the office and told me that he didn't care about my foot, and if I couldn't work where I was placed, there's the door. He told me, 'To me, you are nothing. You don't even exist to the company.' "  To curb these abuses, the California Labor Federation and the Teamsters are working with Assemblyman Roger Hernández on legislation, AB 1897, to hold companies accountable for abuses by the labor contractors they hire...
Convention Center remains closed to Teamsters, Carpenters  Philly.com   ...neither the Carpenters Local 8, viewed by management as the center's most difficult and disruptive union, nor the Teamsters Local 107 will be permitted to work at the center after their contracts expire at 11:59 p.m. Saturday...
Teamsters, beverage distributors reach contract agreements  Saturday Gazette-Mail   ...All three contracts include significant wage increases and protect members’ health and pension benefits, said Ken Hall, president of Teamsters Local 175, based in South Charleston, and general secretary-treasurer of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters...
Council Amends All-Star Game 'Clean Zone'  Minneapolis Star-Tribune   ...The City Council voted Friday to modify and clarify the intent of a previous resolution that created a "clean zone" during the Major League Baseball All-Star Game...
Trade
Trans-Pacific Trade Pact On The Slow Track  Financial Post   ...The Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations continue to move along, with Japan now intensively involved and the government of South Korea close to jumping in. With the collapse of the broader multilateral efforts in the World Trade Organization...
State Battles
State Supreme Court To Hear Right To Work Case In September  Indiana Public Media   ...State Attorney General Greg Zoeller last year appealed Lake County Judge John Sedia’s ruling that the law violates a provision of the Indiana Constitution that says no person’s services shall be demanded without just compensation...
John Doe investigation halted again after finding that appeal was 'frivolous'  Wisconsin State Journal   ...The John Doe investigation into possible illegal coordination between Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign and several conservative groups has once again been halted after a federal judge on Thursday dismissed as “frivolous” an interim appeal by the prosecutors in the case...
North Dakota Is The Deadliest State To Work In  Mother Jones   ...Fracking has done some incredible things for North Dakota. It has the fastest growing economy and lowest unemployment in the nation, and is second only to Texas in churning out oil. But with any gold rush, the boom comes with a human cost involved...
ALEC Struggles In Kansas City  Center for Media and Democracy   ...Amidst increasing public scrutiny of ALEC, the group has tried to sneak back into the shadows. ALEC's efforts to evade open records laws and to boot reporters from meetings have been well-documented, but at this meeting ALEC even tried to hide the name of its corporate meeting sponsors...
EXCLUSIVE: Christie officials gave millions in public funds to VC firm, despite “pay to play” rules  Pando Daily   ...Gov. Chris Christie’s administration awarded a public pension contract to a technology venture capital firm shortly after a partner at that same firm made a $10,000 contribution to the New Jersey Republican State Committee...
War On Workers
London black taxis plan congestion chaos to block Uber  BBC News   ...The Licensed Taxi Drivers Association complains that Uber's drivers are using a smartphone app to calculate fares despite it being illegal for private vehicles to be fitted with taximeters...
No Sign of Labor Shortages in Construction: There are Seven Unemployed Construction Workers for Every Job Opening   Economic Policy Institute   ...the real hourly wages of residential building workers are still 4.2% below 2009, a loss significantly deeper than that of the overall private sector workforce, whose wages are 0.9 percent below 2009...
Koch Brothers' Americans For Prosperity Plans $125 Million Spending Spree  Politico   ...The Koch brothers' main political arm plans to spend more than $125 million on an aggressive ground, air and data operation benefiting conservatives, according to a memo distributed to major donors and sources familiar with the group...
Death on the Job Report  AFL-CIO   ...Workplaces are much safer today than when the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act was passed in 1970, which promised workers in this country the right to a safe job. The job fatality rate has been cut by 81 percent; more than 492,000 workers lives have been saved...
Miscellaneous
Amazon expands Sunday delivery to 15 more cities  USA Today   ...Amazon.com's Sunday delivery program is now available in 15 additional cities, beyond the New York and Los Angeles metro areas where the program originally launched last November, the online retailer announced Thursday. Amazon Prime members who order an eligible item as late as Friday can receive the package — delivered by the U.S. Postal Service — as soon as Sunday, under the free two-day shipping benefit that comes with the $99 annual Prime membership...
FAA: U.S. Airliner Nearly Collided With Drone in March  Wall Street Journal   ...A U.S. airliner nearly collided with a drone over Florida earlier this year, a federal official said, a near miss that highlights risks posed by the proliferation of unmanned aircraft in U.S. skies...

Today's Teamster News 02.16.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Celebrate, Remember James R. Hoffa  teamster.org   ... He was the man who introduced himself as “I’m Jimmy Hoffa and I stand up for the American workers...”
Republic Airways reaches tentative deal with pilots union for its three airlines  Dallas Morning News   ...According to a Teamsters press release, "The tentative agreement includes increases in pay that will place Republic pilots at or near the top of its regional airline peers. It also includes improvements in work rules, quality of life enhancements and more flexibility in scheduling as well as a significant signing bonus if ratified...
State Battles
Historic election brings outside interference in the vote of Chattanooga Volkswagen workers  UAW   ...Volkswagen workers voted against joining the union in a vote of 712 to 626. The decision follows three days of voting during an election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board and comes amid a firestorm of interference and threats from special interest groups...
FitzGerald vows to fight for unions if elected  Toledo Blade   ...Ed FitzGerald, the leading Democratic candidate to run against Republican Gov. John Kasich this November, told supporters Thursday at the United Auto Workers headquarters in Maumee that if elected, he would veto any right-to-work bill that gets passed...
County Commissioners get into 'Paycheck Protection' fight: Friday Morning Coffee  The Patriot-News   ...The proxy fight over "Paycheck Protection" being waged by national labor unions and astrotuf groups such as FreedomWorks and the Koch Brothers-funded American Legislative Exchange Council is playing out in the state Legislature with bills in the state House and Senate...
House repeals 2013 election law that angered many  Associated Press   ...The Arizona House voted Thursday to repeal a sweeping 2013 Arizona election law that included trimming the state's permanent early voting list and a host of other provisions that incensed voter-rights advocates...

Estimated Gross State Product for Wisconsin and Minnesota  Econbrowser   ...Since 2011, Minnesota’s per capita GSP has grown a cumulative 2.1 percentage points (log terms) more than Wisconsin’s...
Trade
Spying by N.S.A. Ally Entangled U.S. Law Firm  New York Times   ...A top-secret document, obtained by the former N.S.A. contractor Edward J. Snowden, shows that an American law firm was monitored while representing a foreign government in trade disputes with the United States...
Momentum Builds to Stop Fast Track Trade Deals, Thanks to You  Trade Reform   ...Thanks to the efforts of tens of thousands of people—including people like you—more and more congressional leaders, including Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, are joining the chorus of voices standing up for us—America’s 99%—and saying that Fast Track is wrong...
The War on Workers
Foreclosure Filings Jump as Investors Eye Exits  truthout   ...The reason prices have been rising is because of the Fed’s loosy-goosey monetary policy (fake rates and QE), inventory suppression, bogus gov mortgage modification programs, and unprecedented speculation. (mainly Private Equity and investors groups) Those are the four legs of the stool propping up housing. Only now it looks like a couple of those legs are in the process of being sawed off which is going to put downward pressure on sales and prices...
Brazil's World Cup courts disaster as delays, protests and deaths mount  The Guardian   ...Another week, another storm of teargas and rubber bullets at a World Cup host city in Brazil. This time, the clashes were in the capital, Brasília, where 15,000 protesters from the Landless Workers Movement marched from the Mané Garrincha football stadium to the Palácio do Planalto state office of the president, Dilma Rousseff...
California's New 'Dust Bowl': "It's Gonna Be a Slow, Painful, Agonizing Death" For Farmers  zero hedge   ...For the state that produces one-third of the nation's fruits and vegetables, the driest spell in 500 years has prompted President Obama to make $100 million in livestock-disaster aid available within 60 days to help the state rebound from what he describes is " going to be a very challenging situation this year... and potentially some time to come..."
Rising Inequality – Recovery Occurring Almost Exclusively Among the Wealthy  naked capitalism   ...America’s income inequality has grown so wide that the current “recovery” is driven primarily by the upper fifth of income earners, as revealed by the latest consumer spending data. Right now, more than 60% of all consumer spending is done by just the top 20% of income earners...
AOL's CEO Proves Women and Children Make Easy Scapegoats in the Workplace  Next New Deal   ...AOL CEO Tim Armstrong recently ignited a firestorm of criticism when he announced the company would be restructuring its retirement benefits. Armstrong explained that the financial burden of Obamacare and the deliveries of two “distressed babies”, which cost the company $1 million each, had forced the company to reduce 401(k) matching contributions...

Today's Teamster News 02.15.14

Teamster News
Republic Airways Teamsters Reach Tentative Agreement With Company  teamster.org   ...On Friday, the Teamsters Airline Division announced that it reached a tentative agreement on a new four-year contract with Republic Airways...
YRCW Successfully Refinances Debt  teamster.org ...YRCW Worldwide, Inc. (YRCW) announced on February 13th that it has closed on the financing of a new $700 million term loan and a $450 million asset-based loan facility, which was the final piece to an improved capital structure...
Teamsters Local 357: Pilots say Quality of Life/Pay, NOT Qualifications Causing Pilot Shortage  Teamsters Local 357   ...Pilots who fly for one of the nation's largest regional airline companies say it's not a lack of qualified pilots, but rather a lack of pay and respect that's grounding airplanes and could cause a ripple effect in the nation's air transportation system...
Union braves deep freeze; negotiations remain frigid  Sauk Valley Media   ...Members of Teamsters Local 722 have picketed outside the Bay Valley Foods plant in Dixon, Illinois in subzero temperatures, day and night for more than a week. The company has called in non-union workers to run the plant…
Hatch wins endorsements from major labor unions  Associated Press   ...Major Iowa labor unions, including four Teamsters locals, announced Thursday that they are endorsing Democratic state Sen. Jack Hatch for governor...
State Battles
Volkswagen employees say 'no' to United Auto Workers in Tennessee  CNN   ...Union organizers in the South suffered a setback Friday when workers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, voted against being represented by the United Auto Workers...
Gov. John Kasich has his right-to-work answer -- and he's sticking to it: Ohio Politics Roundup  Cleveland Plain Dealer   ...Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder used to say right-to-work legislation – seen by organized labor as a tool to weaken unions by banning dues-paying requirements – was not on his agenda. Then, in late 2012, Snyder reversed course, setting the stage for a new state law. In Ohio, fellow Republican Gov. John Kasich offers the same phrasing...
Indiana lawmakers to state job agency: "Tell the truth"  WTHR.com   ...Some Indiana lawmakers say new legislation is needed to prevent the state from hiding and distorting its real job numbers. "We just need to tell the truth," said House Minority Leader Scott Pelath (D-Michigan City). "Based on what I've seen, we've got a problem..."
Bills aim to restrict union organizing, picketing  Associated Press   ...Mississippi senators want to restrict some union organizing and picketing practices, as well as local laws that might benefit workers...
Michigan Supreme Court takes on key component of Right to Work law  Beverly Hills Courier   ...As labor groups around the country continue their fight against Right to Work, one of the nation’s most notorious Right to Work battlegrounds is making headlines again now that Michigan’s Supreme Court  is set to rule on the controversial legislation...
Retirement privatization could cost workers millions   WISHTV.com   ...Battle lines are being drawn over a plan to privatize part of Indiana’s public retirement system. Supporters say failing to take action could end up costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. But, critics say it would also leave thousands of public employees facing a new set of retirement risks...
Trade
Joe Biden Admits Vast Obama Trade Deals Are On Hold  Huffington Post   ... The White House's trade plans are on hold, at least for now, Vice President Joe Biden said Friday, in welcome news to many Democrats who oppose the sweeping deals...
No Fast Track to TPP: Fix NAFTA First (Opinion)  Huffington Post   ...The big corporations and the Obama administration are trying to push through a giant new trade treaty that gives corporations even more power, and which will send even more jobs, factories, industries and money out of the country. This is the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and they are pushing something called "fast track" in Congress to help push it through...
War on Workers
Obama Lashes Out At Republicans Over Volkswagen-UAW Organizing Fight Reuters  ...President Barack Obama on Friday waded into Washington's war of words over a union organizing election in Tennessee when he accused Republicans of trying to block labor's efforts at an auto plant in that state, according to a Democratic aide who heard the remarks...
Tipped workers push for a raise after more than 20 years at $2.13  DailyKos   ...The minimum wage for tipped workers is $2.13 an hour. I repeat, $2.13. It's been frozen for well over 20 years, since 1991, but the minimum wage increase Democrats are pushing would increase it over a period of several years...
Companies Squeeze 401K Plans From Facebook to JPMorgan  Bloomberg News   ...Employers are squeezing their workers’ retirement savings, holding back on both the amount and the timing of 401(k) matching funds and dragging out vesting schedules. Taken together, these measures are making it more difficult to save for old age...
New Report: U.S. Employers Have Hijacked State Dept. Cultural Exchange Program, Used It as Cheap Labor Source  AlterNet   ...The Southern Poverty Law Center has documented widespread abuse of J-1 Visa program...
Court Okays Labor Department Rule: Guestworkers Must Earn Prevailing Wages  In These Times   ...The appellate court's unanimous decision in favor of the Labor Department is a significant victory for guest workers, helping protect them from employer exploitation and labor abuses...
High-end fashion mogul to the 99 percent: You’d be rich in China, so don’t complain about inequality   Salon   ...The CEO and co-founder of a luxury fashion company says America's become a nation of whiners and that being poor in the world's richest country isn't so bad...
Hundreds Protest Tax Breaks for Twitter, Tech Companies  Truthout   ...Hundreds of protesters picketed Twitter’s offices because of an exceptionally generous tax break it receives from San Francisco. Meanwhile, municipal workers are being pressured to make concessions about their health care contributions because the city is running at a deficit...

Miscellaneous
‘Exile The Homeless’ City Now Requires Permits And Large Fees To Feed The Homeless  ThinkProgress   ...Last August, Columbia, South Carolina approved a new plan to give its homeless population an impossible choice: leave downtown or be arrested. The city is now taking even more steps to criminalize homelessness...
Severe winter weather estimated to cost U.S. economy nearly $50 billion  Los Angeles Times   ...The severe weather that has hit much of the country this winter has cost the economy nearly $50 billion in lost productivity and 76,000 jobs...
Connecticut Verizon Workers Among Those Affected In Call Center Shake-Up  CBS WTIC 1080   ...About 3,000 Verizon Wireless workers will have to transfer to different offices or find new jobs as part of a shake-up that will close five of the company’s customer call centers...

Today's Teamster News 11.26.13

United Airlines Mechanics Call for Pension Reinstatement During Informational Pickets at Airports Across the U.S.  teamster.org   ...On Monday, United Airlines (UAL) professional aviation mechanics represented by the Teamsters Union held informational pickets at 10 major airports around the country to let the public know they may be forced to strike if the company refuses to keep its promise to reinstate the workers’ pension plans...
BLET Urges Support For Two-Person Crew Bill  ble-t.org   ...The BLET, working jointly with SMART-Transportation Division (formerly the United Transportation Union), made nearly 150 visits to members of the U.S. House of Representatives last week in support of H.R. 3040, the Safe Freight Act...
Thanksgiving Openings Show Lack of Respect for Workers  teamster.org   ...“Many of them are underperforming and desperate for every dollar of sales.”...
Walmart Strikes Hit Three More Cities In Florida And California  ThinkProgress   ...Walmart workers went on strike on in Miami on Monday morning, following strikes in Tampa on Saturday and in Sacramento, CA on Friday...
National, Iowa Right to Work Groups Subsidized State Candidates, Misled IRS, Former Employee Charges  Open Secrets   ...A former political operative with the National Right to Work Committee who was involved with the 2008 and 2012 Ron Paul presidential campaigns has accused the anti-union group of running a sprawling off-the-books mass-mailing operation that violated state campaign finance laws and is at odds with the group's statements to the IRS...
WTO talks fail to agree on global trade deal text  Reuters   ...Marathon talks on the World Trade Organization's first-ever worldwide trade reform in Geneva failed early on Monday to agree on a text to put to ministers who meet in Bali next month...
Why Globalization Is Going Into Reverse  Bloomberg   ...A new study shows that cross-border investment and trade flows declined worldwide in 2012, ending a two-year recovery after the global financial crisis...
Bold Boeing workers refuse to screw over next generation  The Salon   ...By rejecting a contract that amounted to corporate extortion, employees have taken a stand for the middle class...
The Corporate Bully Whose Front Groups, Willful Distortions and Hate-Mongering Has Poisoned U.S. Politics: Meet Richard Berman  AlterNet   ...“Why don’t we know one of the most powerful people in America is? What he has done? Why '60 Minutes' called him Dr. Evil?” asks Saru Jayaraman, a leader in a growing national movement of restaurant workers demanding better pay and working conditions...
H&M: 'Living Wage' Coming To Textile Workers By 2018  Reuters   ...Hennes & Mauritz, the world's second-largest clothing retailer, laid out a plan on Monday to pay a fair "living wage" to some 850,000 textile workers by 2018, saying governments were acting too slowly...
4 Ways the Koch Brothers' Wealth Is Beyond Comprehension  Alternet   ...In 2012, David and Charles Koch made enough money in one second to pay the food bill for an entire year for a homeless woman named Beverly...
10 Biggest Myths About Retail Workers  The Guardian   ...The average age of a retail worker is  37 years old (pdf), and more than half of year-round retail workers  contribute a significant portion (pdf) of their family's total income. For example, researchers found that  a third (pdf) of New York City retail workers support at least one dependent...
Hungry Americans Less Productive as Budget Cuts Deepen: Economy  Bloomberg   ...Hunger costs the U.S. at least $167.5 billion each year in lost economic productivity and earnings, health-care expenses that could have been avoided by better nutrition and the value of charity to keep families fed...
Unions to address austerity measures  Kenora Online   ...Ontario Federation of Labour gathers in Toronto this week to address austerity measures, including anti-union legislation...
A tale of two states  MSNBC   ...After the 2010 elections, Wisconsin got to work targeting collective bargaining, tax cuts, and reduced spending. After the 2010 elections, Minnesota got to work raising taxes on the wealthy and making new in-state investments in areas such as education and infrastructure….Three years into Mr. Walker’s term, Wisconsin lags behind Minnesota in job creation and economic growth...
Heart of Darkness: Criminal Investigation of WI Recall $  Center for Media and Democracy   ...The post-Citizens United dark money showdown is underway in Wisconsin...
Herring wins Virginia attorney general race, elections board announces  Washington Post   ...The State Board of Elections on Monday declared Democrat Mark R. Herring Virginia’s next attorney general, capping a dramatic three-week certification process in the closest statewide race in Virginia history...

Teamster congressman disturbed by DC obsession with money

Rick Nolan worked his way through college as a UPS Teamster and now, for the second time, represents Minnesota's 8th Congressional District. He served for three terms in the '70s, went back to farming, and returned to Washington in January after an absence of 32 years.

He's shocked by the changes since then. He finds that members of Congress don't know each other, don't pass legislation that matters and spend four hours a day raising money. Nolan finds the obsession with raising money "distasteful."

The Boston Globe reports,

Almost immediately after new members got into office, Nolan says, the DCCC began coaching them on fund-raising. A schedule from that session showed that they should spend four hours each day asking for money – more time than any other activity and more than twice the amount of time they should be spending debating issues on the House floor or hammering out legislation in committees. 

Nolan says he understood the impulse — the candidate with the most amount of money typically wins — but he was taken aback. He says he’s been reprimanded by Democratic leadership for not raising enough money. He says he has not set foot in a call center that the DCCC set up near Congress, where cubicles are lined up so that congressmen can come in and dial their donors without using congressional resources. 

“It helps dictate the ultimate decisions around here. We have a saying out in the country, ‘Who pays the fiddler gets to pick the tune,’ ” Nolan says. “Not only does it take away time from governance, but it has an equally adverse tendency to corrupt and pervert the public policy process.”

 Welcome to the plutocracy.

Today's Teamster News 05.17.13

Oil Companies Raided In Price-Fixing Probe  firedoglake   ...BP and Shell have been raided by agents of the European Commission on suspicion of rigging oil prices for over a decade...
Flood of 10,000 Critical Public Comments Spotlights TAFTA Controversy  Public Citizen   ...Submission of more than 10,000 public comments on the Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA) to the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) docket last week punctured the notion that the pact will avoid the controversies that have dogged past trade deals...
Apple on offense over $100B offshore stash  Politico   ...CEO Tim Cook is coming to Washington to testify in front of a panel of senators about stashing more than $100 billion overseas...
Meet the group the IRS actually denied: Democrats!  Salon   ...Although Tea Party applicants got unfair IRS scrutiny, only one known group had status revoked. They’re Democrats...
Jobless Claims in U.S. Jump to Highest Level in Six Weeks  Bloomberg   ...The number of applications for unemployment insurance payments jumped by 32,000 to 360,000 in the week ended May 11, the most since the end of March, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington...
Second appeals court invalidates Obama's NLRB recess appointments  Politico   ...The issue has far-reaching implications for both the NLRB and other boards, including Obama’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has been a frequent target of conservatives and whose director was a recess appointment...
The New Pay-As-You-Go Landscape of American “Democracy”  Huffington Post   ...For now at least, Sheldon Adelson is an extreme example, but he portends a future in which 1-percenters can flood the system with money in ways beyond the dreams of ordinary Americans...
Goodwill Minimum Wage Loophole Will Shock You  Huffington Post   ...Goodwill Industries is the worst charity in America. Yes, the same Goodwill that you just gave all of your old clothing to. Yes, the same Goodwill where you bargain-hunt on the weekends. Yes, the same Goodwill that Beyoncé is encouraging her fans to support with donation drives at her North American concerts...
Collapse at Cambodia shoe factory  BBC News   ...Part of a shoe factory has collapsed in Cambodia, leaving at least two people dead, officials say...Regulatory Oversight Can Save Lives  TriStates Public Radio   ...The West, Texas, fertilizer plant explosion that killed 14 people, injured about 200 others and destroyed dozens of homes was so powerful it could be felt 50 miles away, registering as a 2.1-magnitude earthquake. The blast should continue to rumble throughout the country since its owner apparently didn’t disclose the dangers there, and the government agencies responsible for protecting the area also failed...
Walmart refuses to join worker safety deal  The Guardian   ...Walmart has confirmed it will not sign up to a legally binding agreement on worker safety and building regulations in Bangladesh supported by retailers including H&M, Zara, Primark, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Marks and Spencer, Next, C&A and several others...
Gender pay gap still leaves a divide among earnings  WFMJ-NBC   ...It's been 50 years since President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act in an attempt to end wage disparity based on gender. Congressman Tim Ryan recently called for the passage of bills he originally co-sponsored to address this issue...
NSSA pension benefits to go up in August  NewsDay   …National Social Security Authority (NSSA) minimum pensions go up from August 1, following government’s gazetting of increases in pension contribution rates from June 1 and its raising of the maximum insurable earnings from $200 to $700...
Despite GOP claims that right to work bill is going nowhere, Democrats continue fundraising pleas  Cleveland Plain Dealer   ...Ohio Senate President Keith Faber thought his pledge to kill a package of right to work bills might end "breathless fundraising appeals" from Democrats. How wrong he was...
Senate passes worker rights bill for child care, home health workers Workday Minnesota   ...After Republicans filibustered through the night and past dawn, the Senate passed landmark legislation Wednesday extending collective bargaining rights to 9,000 family child-care providers and 12,000 home health-care workers...

Indiana is a zero in study of states' campaign finance disclosure law for outside groups  Desert Sun   ...Indiana didn’t just get an F in a state-by-state comparison of laws requiring outside groups to report their campaign spending. The state got a zero...
Pennsylvania Senate Narrows Privatization Focus  Shanken News Daily   ...Pennsylvania governor Tom Corbett’s push for total privatization of the state’s wine and spirits retail monopoly appears to be on ice, with state senators suggesting they could support some loosening of alcohol retail restrictions but not a mandatory sell-off of the state’s retail and wholesale infrastructure...
The shadowy conservative group ALEC has members in Nevada’s Legislature  Las Vegas City Life   ...ProgressNow says ALEC is secretive and reports that the Nevada Legislature, which pays for trips by legislators to ALEC’s conferences and annual membership dues, would not release correspondence between ALEC and its legislative members in Nevada because “disclosure of the correspondence would inevitably reveal the Senators’ deliberations...
Show Me Koch Brothers St. Louis American ...According to a new report by Progress Missouri, (state Sen. Jamilah) Nasheed (D-St. Louis) can trace her new right-wing friendships back from Jones and Sinquefield all the way to the Koch brothers...
Mo. House Passes Paycheck Deception, but Veto Expected AFL-CIO Now ...The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), its corporate backers and extremist Missouri lawmakers may have won the first round in their drive to silence working people with a paycheck deception bill, when the House gave it final approval (86-69) earlier this week...
Illinois poised to let 17-year-olds vote in primaries  Chicago Tribune   ...Gov. Pat Quinn and other prospective governor candidates might be targeting a new voting group during the primary elections next year: 17-year-olds...
New Mexico’s State Supreme Court hears arguments in dispute over back pay, raises for state workers  Albuquerque Journal   ...The state Supreme Court heard arguments today in a five-year-old dispute over whether some 10,000 state workers were shortchanged and are owed back pay and ongoing raises...
First Student, union reach tentative deal  Daily News-Miner   ...Fairbanks-area school bus personnel represented by Teamsters Local 959 and the First Student transportation company have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract...
County Ratifies Tentative Agreement for Guards; Abolishes Office of Jury Commissioner  Gant Daily   ...The Clearfield County (Pennsylvania) Commissioners voted to ratify its global tentative agreement with Teamsters Local 205 for the guards at the Clearfield County Jail at Tuesday’s regular board meeting...

Today's Teamster News 04.25.13

Business groups back push for fast-track legislation by June  The Hill   ...The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is among a broad array of business groups that back the efforts of Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) to move forward with legislation that would give President Obama the authority to negotiate trade agreements amid an expanding global agenda...
Japan’s rice lobby visits Capitol Hill to fight free trade pact  Washington Post   ...(The) deep-seated attitude about rice is perhaps the sharpest edge of a Japanese backlash against the proposed free-trade pact. Activists mustered a delegation to bring their case to Capitol Hill, warning that Japan’s decision to take part in the negotiations could sink the whole endeavor...
Just Four Lawmakers Show Up To Congressional Hearing On Long-Term Unemployment  ThinkProgress   ...when Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) scheduled a Joint Economic Committee hearing on one of the biggest jobs-related crises facing the United States, just four of the committee’s 20 members bothered to show up...
Steve Kush, New Mexico GOP Official, Calls 19-Year-Old Labor Advocate 'A Radical B*tch'  Huffington Post   ...Steve Kush, the executive director of the Bernalillo County Republican Party in New Mexico, called a 19-year-old Working America volunteer a "radical bitch" on Twitter Tuesday night after she testified before the county commission in favor of raising the minimum wage...
Roughly 250 Maine lobstermen join new union  WCSH   ...Since December about 250 lobstermen in Maine have joined the Maine Lobstering Union, which is a new branch of the International Associations of Machinists and Aerospace workers...
Privatizing Europe  The Real News   ... it's not just about making cuts that we most famously hear about; almost in every agreement there is a demand for privatization of key national assets and key public services...
Italy needs Churchillian leader to fight 'war damage' of EU austerity (opinion)  The Telegraph   ...Italy’s business lobby Confindustria said this week that austerity policies had caused “devastating damage, comparable with a war”...
Building Collapse in Bangladesh Leaves Scores Dead  New York Times   ...A building housing several factories making clothing for European and American consumers collapsed into a deadly heap on Wednesday, only five months after a horrific fire at a similar facility prompted leading multinational brands to pledge to work to improve safety in the country’s booming but poorly regulated garment industry...
Multiple explosions in fuel barge fire  Fox10TV   ...Officials said three people are in critical condition at USA Medical Center after a barge exploded and caught fire. Officials said units were on the scene on the east side of Mobile River...
USDA Ruffles Feathers With New Poultry Inspection Policy  Mother Jones   ...The Obama administration is on the verge of dramatically scaling back the US Department of Agriculture's oversight of the nation's largest chicken and turkey slaughterhouses—while also allowing companies to speed up their kill lines...
Steelworkers Disgusted by Caterpillar CEO’s Shameful 2012 Cash Grab  NH Labor News   ...USW District 2 Director Michael Bolton said that rewarding Oberholman’s  job performance by boosting his already lavish compensation by nearly one-third in 2012, despite lower than expected earnings, sends a dangerous message to other CEOs that lining their pockets at the expense of their workers is somehow acceptable...
Retail, fast-food workers rally for higher pay in Chicago  Chicago Tribune   ...fast-food and retail workers flocked to downtown Chicago on Wednesday to make a public pitch for higher wages. Their "Fight for $15 campaign" seeks $15 an hour for employees...
Right to Work Could Cost Him His Job as Democrats Are Tied With Rick Snyder  PoliticusUSA   ...Snyder has seen his approval rating plummet, and two unknown Democrats are tied with him in the poll...
Reeling elsewhere, labor poised for Minn. gains  PostBulletin   ...Minnesota has emerged as one of the few places where unions are faring well...
Kasich cuts spur levy, layoffs and sales tax increase in Fairfield County  Plunderbund   ...local governments lost nearly $800 Million in Kasich’s first budget.   And his 2014/2015 budget deepens those cuts, with locals seeing a loss of an additional $1.4 Billion compared to 2010/2011...
Unions protest awards for GOP lawmakers who passed right-to-work  Lansing State Journal   ...A building trades group’s effort to recognize two Republican lawmakers for helping to enact right-to-work legsislation sparked a protest Wednesday outside a hotel...
The spreading of ‘right to work’ ... where will it show up next?  One News Now   ...Matt Patterson, senior fellow for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, sees Pennsylvania as one possibility...

Today's Teamster News 04.01.13

As OSHA emphasizes safety, long-term health risks fester  Herald Tribune   ...OSHA devotes most of its budget and attention to responding to here-and-now dangers rather than preventing the silent, slow killers that, in the end, take far more lives...
Pay for Boards at Banks Soars Amid Cutbacks  New York Times   ...Since the financial crisis, compensation for the directors of the nation’s biggest banks has continued to rise even as the banks themselves, facing difficult markets and regulatory pressures, are reining in bonuses and pay...
Bank of Cyprus depositors to face up to 60 percent losses  McClatchy   ...Depositors in Cyprus with savings of more than 100,000 euros ($128,000) could face losses of up to 60 percent, under tough conditions attached to an international bailout, Finance Minister Michalis Sarris said Saturday...
Foreclosed 'Zombie' Homes Exceed 300,000 Properties: Study  Reuters   ...A national survey found 301,874 "zombie" properties dotting the U.S. landscape in which homeowners in foreclosure have moved out, leaving vacant property susceptible to vandalism and degradation. Florida tops the list of zombie properties with 90,556 vacant homes in foreclosure...
North Dakota, socialist haven?  Salon   ...North Dakota ... fully supports its state-owned Bank of North Dakota (BND), a socialist relic that exists nowhere else in America. ... it works...
Minnesota Brown: Asia expands influence over Iron Range economy  MinnPost   ...Whether it's iron, grain or now airplanes, it's interesting to see how China, India and other emerging nations are shaping the future of northern Minnesota's economy...
Detroit Public Schools Emergency Manager Roy Roberts boldly lies on national television about his “success”  eclectablog   ...The first Emergency Financial Manager, Robert Bobb, actually left the school district in a bigger financial hole than when he arrived...
Odor Problems Elsewhere for Owners of Bridgeton Landfill  CBS News   ...Republic Services Inc., owners of the Bridgeton Sanitary Landfill, ranked near the bottom of a 2009 Newsweek list of 500 major corportions for their track record on enviornmental issues — and 46th of 50 in their industry...
Teamsters shine in autism fund-raiser  Boston Globe   ...Teamsters Local 25 held its annual Light Up the Night Gala on Saturday to raise money for autism research. Angela Peri’s Boston Casting helped with the night by donating items from local films for auction...

Today's Teamster News 03.16.13

JP Morgan accused of hiding losses by Senate report  BBC News   ...The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations found that the bank misled investors and ignored risks...
Yin Wong, Disabled San Francisco Resident, Says She Was Foreclosed On But Never Missed A Payment  Huffington Post   ..."It's a very extreme situation if you're someone who doesn't speak English very well and suddenly, through no fault of your own, someone tells you that you no longer own your home..."
EU summit: Austerity push challenged amid mass protests  BBC News   ...Thousands of protesters rallied outside the summit venue, saying government spending cuts were hitting jobs...
Koch Brothers vs. Rupert Murdoch: The Fight for Tribune Newspapers Is On  Atlantic Wire   ...The Koch brothers are reportedly considering a bid for the Tribune Company newspapers — focusing on the crown jewels of the L.A. Times and Chicago Tribune, or at least what jewels of power are left in the flailing newspaper industry  — but they may face stiff competition in the form of a debt-free, full pocketed media power player named Rupert Murdoch...
House Republicans Unanimously Vote Down Minimum Wage Hike  Talking Points Memo   ...House Republicans unanimously voted down a measure Friday that would have raised the federal minimum wage, from its current $7.25 per hour to $10.10 by 2015. Six Democrats joined 227 Republicans in voting it down; 184 Democrats voted yes...
Missouri Senate passes union paycheck deduction bill  Associated Press   ...The Senate voted 24-10 along party lines Thursday to send the measure to the House. Republicans supported the bill, while Democrats voted against it. The House on Wednesday passed a similar measure that would only require consent to spend dues on political contributions...
Detroit Is 'Olympics Of Restructuring,' New Emergency Manager Says  NPR   ...Kevyn Orr, "a high-powered Washington, D.C., lawyer and University of Michigan graduate who worked on Chrysler's 2009 bankruptcy restructuring," has been given the job of straightening out the city of Detroit's desperate financial mess...
Affidavit: State GOP got rid of redistricting files  Associated Press   ...An affidavit filed in federal court this week said documents were deleted from state redistricting computers last year even after lawmakers' aides were told to preserve all records. The filing raises the possibility that Republican officials or their lawyers could face sanctions from the panel of three federal judges overseeing the case...
Attorney general won't seek Supreme Court review of collective bargaining case ruling  Madison.com   ...Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen will not seek a state Supreme Court review of a decision by the Court of Appeals not to stay a Dane County Circuit Court order declaring part of the collective bargaining law to be unconstitutional...
Kasich’s budget plan lowers aid to public schools, boosts privately run charter schools  Akron Beacon Journal   ...The majority of Ohio and area school districts would get less state funding, while charter schools would get more, in Gov. John Kasich’s proposed changes to the state funding formula, according to an independent analysis by the Legislative Service Commission...
Gov. Dayton Lashes Out At Chamber Of Commerce  CBS Minnesota   ...Gov. Mark Dayton told hundreds of state business leaders on Wednesday he’s not backing down from a plan to raise taxes on high income Minnesotans...The governor unloaded on his Chamber of Commerce hosts and accused the business group of not telling the truth about the state of the state...
Teamsters confront Thorn Creek Basin officials over labor dispute  NWI Times   ...Officials with the Teamsters union local that represents 13 employees of the Thorn Creek Basin Sanitary District will meet Monday with Mayor David Gonzalez, who they perceive as a supporter of their ongoing labor dispute...
LABOR: Teamsters talking contract with ABF  The Press-Enterprise   ...Negotiators for the Teamsters are continuing their contract talks with trucking operator ABF Freight Systems, and these talks are getting close to what now constitutes a deadline...