TEAMSTERS
Strike Ends as Chicago Teamsters Reach Tentative Agreement with Coca-Cola Teamster.org ...Teamsters Local 727 ended its unfair labor practice strike against Coca-Cola Refreshments late on Tuesday, Dec. 29, after reaching tentative agreement on a fair three-year contract for 319 production and warehouse workers. Upon ratification, the tentative agreement will transfer Local 727 members into a new health and welfare plan previously available to Coca-Cola management...
Teamsters reach tentative pact with Coca-Cola, end strike Chicago Tribune ...Coca-Cola workers who have been on strike for nearly a month are heading back to work after their union reached a tentative three-year contract with the company. Teamsters Local 727, which says it represents 319 production workers at Coca-Cola plants in Niles and Alsip, announced late Tuesday that the bargaining committee recommended ratification of what it called a "fair" contract offer by Coke...
Teamsters: Port Drivers Win Nearly $7 Million in Wages, End Misclassification Teamster.org ...On Dec. 14, the California Labor Commissioner determined that 38 drivers at leading port trucking company Pacific 9 Transportation, which hauls containers from the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach for some of America’s premiere brands – including Costco, Goodyear Tires, Ugg Boots, and Microsoft – are in fact employees, not independent contractors, and ordered Pac 9 to pay them nearly $6.9 million in stolen wages...
Port drivers win millions in back pay from trucking firm LA Times ...A port trucking firm in Carson has been ordered to turn over nearly $7 million in back pay to 38 drivers, the latest in a series of recent wins for port drivers and the Teamsters union that has been trying to organize them. The state Labor Commissioner's Office ruled this month that the drivers at Pacific 9 Transportation were improperly treated as independent contractors rather than as employees...
NYC horse carriage industry thanks supporters for help Daily News ...Horse carriages — which for the past two years have operated under a cloud of uncertainty — are starting 2016 on a positive note. The industry, which Mayor de Blasio threatened to ban on his first day in office, bought a full page ad in Friday’s Daily News thanking its supporters for helping them stay around for the past two years...
American Red Cross Workers Vote To Join Teamsters In Maine PR Newswire ...Workers at the American Red Cross' Portland donation center have voted to join Teamsters Local 340. The blood donation center's 57 employees will now form a bargaining unit that includes collections technicians, collections specialists and mobile unit assistants of various classifications. These employees are responsible for setting up and administering blood drives across the southern half of the state...
Beer hauler moves to bust Teamsters union NW Labor Press ...Teamsters Local 162 is facing what more and more looks like a union-busting effort by General Distributors Inc. When truck drivers, warehouse workers, and sales employees learned that the profitable company would seek $1.5 million a year in concessions from them in their next union contract, they voted 59 to 5 to strike, and about 80 members of Teamsters Local 162 walked off the job Nov. 17. In response, the company threatened to permanently replace them...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Zimbabwe: Public workers threaten strike over delayed pay Africa Report ...The year is opening on a tense note for the Zimbabwean government, as tens of thousands of public workers have threatened to go on strike over delayed salaries. Civil servants in the southern African nation are yet to be paid their December salaries, with the government promising to pay them by Tuesday, but this has not been enough to calm the restive workers...
Jerusalem sanitation workers strike after 170 fired Times of Israel ...Jerusalem sanitation workers went on strike Thursday, after the city sent termination letters to 170 employees in the department. The municipality also warned that the move was the first of many necessary cutbacks to come — with up to 2,000 more firings — if the Finance Ministry does not transfer to the city the funds needed to keep a balanced budget in 2016...
U.S. Election Debate Complicates Passage of Pacific Trade Pact Wall Street Journal ...An international trade agreement embraced by President Barack Obama and the Republican-controlled Congress is drawing fire from many presidential candidates, illustrating the populist shift of both parties in the age of Donald Trump. Contenders ranging from Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas have spoken out against the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership...
TPP nations arranging to sign free-trade deal in early February Japan Times ...Japan, the United States and 10 other nations that reached a broad agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade pact in October are arranging to sign the deal in early February, an official from one of the nations has said. Following the broad agreement after more than five years of negotiations, the 12 nations released the text of the landmark trade deal in November...
TPP trade deal pits Pittsburgh against Philadelphia Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...Pittsburgh manufactures the products. Philadelphia ships them around the world. One city stands to gain from expanding trade into the Pacific Rim while the other has much to lose, their mayors say. That’s why Philadelphia’s outgoing mayor, Michael Nutter, has been helping the White House stump for the Trans-Pacific Partnership while Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto stands opposed...
The Corporate-Friendly Trade Deals Threatening Ordinary People in 2016 Common Dreams ...Corporate media failed to cover the dangers of business-friendly trade deals in 2015, despite growing grassroots opposition to such pacts—and increasing public awareness about their contents. Will 2016 be the year looming toxic trade policies catapult into the mainstream? Sierra Club trade representative Ilana Solomon hopes so...
Greece Not to Agree to Creditors Unreasonable Austerity Demands - Tsipras Sputnik News ...Athens will follow the memorandum signed with its international creditors, but will not agree to unreasonable austerity demands, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said, as quoted by the local media on Sunday. According to Tsipras, 2016 will be a pivotal year, after several years of crisis for the country. The Greek economy has been severely strained because of the country’s multibillion debt accumulated after the 2008 world economic crisis...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Minimum wage rises in 14 states and several cities Al Jazeera ...As the United States marks more than six years without an increase in the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, 14 states and several cities are moving forward with their own increases, with most having taken effect Jan. 1. California and Massachusetts are highest among the states, both increasing from $9 to $10 an hour, according to an analysis by the National Conference of State Legislatures...
American workers see progress on paid sick leave, no thanks to Congress Daily Kos ...Paid sick days have gained a lot of ground in the last few years, and continued to do so in 2015. Oregon became the fourth state to require paid sick leave for most workers, following Connecticut, California, and Massachusetts. The cities of Tacoma, Washington, and Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, also passed paid sick leave laws...
Missouri speaker sounds doubtful over 'right to work' STL Today ...When it comes to a GOP-led charge to make Missouri a “right to work” state, a top Republican is throwing cold water on one of the hot-button issues of the last legislative session. In an interview with the Post-Dispatch, House Speaker Todd Richardson sounded doubtful that right to work would be a top goal for Republicans when the House and Senate return Wednesday...
Wages in NH expected to increase in 2016 Union Leader ...Wal-Mart, the state's largest retail employer, plans to raise wages for its 7,785 New Hampshire employees in 2016, in one of several signs that the year ahead could finally see meaningful improvement in earnings for hourly workers after years of wage stagnation...
Chris Christie Refuses To Help Unemployed New Jersey Residents Hold Onto Food Stamps Think Progress ...About 11,000 New Jersey residents are set to lose their food stamps after Gov. Chris Christie (R)’s administration said it won’t seek any waivers from the program’s work requirements. Since 2009, state governors have been encouraged to get waivers from the federal government for the requirement that able-bodied, childless adults work at least 20 hours a week to enroll in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)...
Judge's ruling a mixed bag for those challenging voter ID law Journal Sentinel ...A federal judge has thrown out portions of a challenge to Wisconsin's voting laws but is allowing a key part of the lawsuit to proceed that could allow more types of identification to be used under the voter ID law. In his ruling last month, U.S. District Judge James Peterson in Madison also found the liberal One Wisconsin Institute could pursue its argument that recent restrictions on early voting violate the U.S. Constitution...
U.S. LABOR
Tentative agreement prevents custodial workers strike Bristol Press ...Just one day before a strike could have begun, a bargaining committee representing more than 2,100 janitors in Hartford, New Haven and other Connecticut cities and towns reached a tentative agreement with the Hartford County Cleaning Contractors Association. The four-year contract agreed to Wednesday — subject to ratification — includes incremental wage increases...
Labor board hands Whole Foods workers a victory CBS ...Whole Foods Market (WFM) can no longer forbid its employees from taking photographs or recording conversations at work, according to a recent federal ruling. "Smartphone pics and videos in this day and age are particularly 'essential' to proving an employee's rights have been violated," said the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in a decision issued late last week...
150 Muslims Fired For Protesting Their Workplace’s Prayer Policies Think Progress ...About 150 Muslim workers at a meat processing plant have been fired for refusing to show up for work during an ongoing dispute over prayer accommodations. The controversy began on December 18, when 11 Somali Muslim workers at the Cargill Meat Solutions plant in Fort Morgan, Colorado requested to visit the building’s prayer room at the same time...
Ten of the Best Things That Happened to American Workers in 2015 Huffington Post ...Historians may remember 2015 as the year of the minimum wage -- and for good reason. Twenty-one states and multiple cities raised the minimum wage in the past 12 months, scarcely two years after the "Fight for $15" was dismissed as a pipe dream by some observers. The past year also saw other major advances for working Americans...
The End Of Unions? Upcoming Supreme Court Case Could Overturn Power To Collect Fees IBTimes ...A Supreme Court case beginning Jan. 11 has union members wondering if a ruling could sound a death knell on labor organizations that have grown accustomed to heightened limitations and declining memberships in recent years. Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association will determine whether mandatory union dues violate workers' freedom of speech, and experts say a ruling could dictate the future of unions' ability to collect fees...
Workers' Comp Industrial Complex: The Middlemen Silencing Injured Workers Truthout ...Workers' comp is supposed to be simple. If you're injured on the job, your employer pays your medical bills and part of your wages while you recover. But over the past two decades, a cottage industry of middlemen has emerged, which some have dubbed the "workers' comp industrial complex." Even private equity firms have bought in, seeing profit opportunities in employers' and insurers' quest to contain spending...
Adjuncts at Loyola University Chicago Want a Union. Will the Jesuit University Respect Their Demands? The Nation ...Loyola University Chicago now faces the challenge of putting its Jesuit principles into practice as frustrated professors push for a union. The administration argues a union would interfere with the university’s “mission.” But according to Loyola’s struggling non-tenured faculty members, their poverty wages and exhausting working conditions prove that it is the administration’s corporate greed that is flouting the Jesuit tradition of social justice...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Happy New Year. You’re Deported. The Nation ...This is how the Department of Homeland Security says happy holidays: The federal government will reportedly begin raids to deport families who’ve arrived in the country in the last two years, according to The Washington Post. The enforcement operation could begin in a matter of weeks, and was first reported on Christmas Eve. The raids would target hundreds of adults and children who have a standing order of deportation against them...
Hundreds Demand Prosecutor In Tamir Rice Case Resign Think Progress ...Protests continued on Friday following a grand jury’s recent decision not to indict the two white police officers who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice. More than 100 activists marched to the home of the prosecutor who handled Rice’s case, Timothy McGinty, on New Year’s Day and demanded his resignation. Chanting “New year, no more!”...
Media Coverage of Oregon Militia Standoff Raises Eyebrows — and Ire Common Dreams ...After members of a rightwing militia seized the headquarters of a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon on Saturday afternoon, observers questioned the corporate media's treatment of the event, pointing to a double standard in coverage compared to other recent protests. Watchdog site Media Matters pointed out that while Fox's coverage of campus protests against racial discrimination was dismissive, its reporting "looked drastically different when those protesting have aligned with the network's conservative agenda"...
They’d be killed if they were black: The racial double standard at the heart of the new Bundy family standoff Salon ...At least 150 armed white men have seized control of a federal building outside of Burns, Oregon. The actions taken by Ammon Bundy, Ryan Bundy, and their supporters in Oregon are the very definition of terrorism and armed insurrection. If Muslims took up arms, occupied a federal building, recorded martyrdom videos, and threatened to kill police and other authorities, they would be called “terrorists”...
Showing posts with label NYC horse carriage drivers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NYC horse carriage drivers. Show all posts
Monday, January 4, 2016
Friday, August 21, 2015
Today's Teamster News 08.21.15
Teamsters
Labor, Community And Environmental Advocates Call On McDonald's To Protect Workers In Its Supply Chain Teamster.org ...Advocates from labor, community and environmental organizations joined together to today at a rally outside a McDonald’s in downtown San Francisco, to demand that the company adhere to its own supplier code of conduct and protect workers’ rights throughout supply chain...
Teamsters Break Strike Record, Plan To Rally Arizona Daily Star ...The strike has passed the record for the longest ever. In 2001, the workers were on strike for 12 days. Teamsters Local 104 is holding a rally at 4 p.m. today, at Ronstadt Transit Center, 215 E. Congress St...
EVSC, Teamsters Plan To Meet Again In Late August Evansville Courier & Press ...Teamsters Local 215 and the Evansville Vanderburgh School Board negotiating teams have scheduled a collective bargaining session for Aug. 29 to further discuss contract proposals exchanged a week ago...
Carriage Horse Drivers Hesitate To Declare Victory Over Animal Rights Advocates On Proposed Ban New York Daily News ...Round one of the carriage horse wars goes to the Teamsters union — but drivers are skittish about declaring a runaway victory over animal rights activists...
Teamsters Win Union Recognition For Fuelers At Newark Airport Patch ...In a decision announced on Wednesday, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ordered Allied Aviation Service Company of New Jersey to recognize and bargain with Local 553, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, AFL–CIO, which represents a group of about 40 workers at the airport...
Support Staff, Board Agree On Contract After Eight Years Akron Leader ...For the first time in eight years, support staff in the Copley-Fairlawn City School District will be working under a contract. The district’s Board of Education approved the contract with support staff represented by Teamsters Local 348 at a special Aug. 13 meeting and board retreat. The contract was presented to the union in May and union members voted Aug. 8 to accept it, said Treasurer John Wheadon...
Driver Drug Testing: Teamsters, Other Labor Groups Ask House To Reject Senate Changes Overdrive ...17 workers’ advocate associations, including the Teamsters and a branch of the AFL-CIO, have asked those in the House tasked with crafting the lower chamber’s version of the DRIVE Act to nix the provision that would make hair testing a regulator-recognized option. The House has not yet taken up the Senate’s version of the legislation, and House lawmakers have not indicated whether the lower chamber will in its upcoming fall session...
Global Labor & Trade
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras Calls For New Elections New York Times ...Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of Greece called Thursday for new national elections in a bid to consolidate his power and press ahead with the 86 billion euro bailout plan he agreed to with European creditors...
Macedonia Troops Fire Stun Grenades At Crowds Of Migrants On Border Huffington Post ...Macedonian special police forces fired stun grenades Friday to disperse thousands of migrants stuck on a no-man's land with Greece, a day after declaring a state of emergency on its border to deal with a massive influx of migrants heading north to the European Union...
Congress Is Sick of the Secrecy Around the TPP The Nation ...This has consistently irritated members of Congress, especially those already suspicious of the wide-reaching pact. Their aggravation is especially sharp now that the deal is nearing completion—this is the period in which legislators can actually influence the shape of the document. Once the deal is signed, Congress will not be able to amend the TPP, as per the rules of the fast-track legislation passed earlier this summer, and the deal will only need a simple majority in the Senate...
State & Living Wage Battles
Roseville Rep. Chirkun Seeks To Repeal Right-To-Work Laws Macomb Daily ...John Chirkun, a Roseville Democrat, announced Wednesday he is introducing a pair of bills that would overturn the right-to-work legislation that eliminated compulsory dues for unions in many workplaces. In a release, he said the pair of House bills “would return Michigan to a ‘free bargaining’ state, where unions are better positioned to negotiate for pay, benefits and working conditions on behalf of their members.”...
Minimum Wage Petition Is Approved For KC’s November Ballot, But It Could Get Withdrawn Kansas City Star ...The Kansas City Council agreed Thursday to place a citizens petition initiative on the November ballot that seeks a local minimum wage increase to $15 per hour by 2020. But the council also said the petition may get withdrawn from the ballot if the Missouri General Assembly acts in September to prevent a higher minimum wage...
Court Says Minimum Wage Increase Applies To Airport Workers ABC News ...A divided Washington Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a first-in-the nation initiative to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour in the city of SeaTac should apply to thousands of workers at the airport. In its 5-4 ruling, the majority upheld the entirety of Proposition 1, writing that there was no indication that the law would interfere with airport operations. SeaTac's minimum wage was raised to $15 an hour in 2014 and increased again to $15.24 this January because it is tied to the consumer price index...
The Housing Crisis Is More Complex Than A Few People Paying Too Little In Rent Washington Post ...Affordable housing programs need more money to revamp old units, build new ones for mixed-income use and provide vouchers generous enough to get people out of bad neighborhoods and into better ones. Otherwise, wait lists will not go down, and those on them will have no chance to make their way up...
U.S. Labor
U.S. Factories Still Haven’t Recovered From The Recession Washington Post ...It took less than a year for America's factory output to rebound from the 1991 recession. It took 3½ years to bounce back from the 2001 recession. Now, six years clear of the Great Recession, manufacturing output still hasn't returned to the pre-crisis levels it reached in 2007, according to revised economic data from the Federal Reserve...
Social Justice & Other News
Consumers Are Cutting The Cord To Gain Choices And Pay Less New York Times ...On the whole, cutting the cord with cable should benefit consumers. It will help people save money and gain more control over their entertainment by allowing them to pay only for what they want to watch. Many Americans chafe at having to pay about $67 a month for dozens of TV channels they never use so they can watch a handful of shows. The price of cable and satellite TV service has roughly doubled over the last 20 years, rising about twice as fast as inflation, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics...
Can Our Transit System Get Any Worse? New York Times ...Of course, we must find money to repair and expand our subway systems, and we must sort out the interstate political rivalries at the Port Authority. But it’s our crisis-driven approach to infrastructure that most needs to change...
FAA Records Detail Hundreds Of Close Calls Between Airplanes And Drones Washington Post ...Before last year, close encounters with rogue drones were unheard of. But as a result of a sales boom, small, largely unregulated remote-control aircraft are clogging U.S. airspace, snarling air traffic and giving the FAA fits...
“People Know Next To Nothing About Reconstruction”: The Pernicious Civil War Revisionism Poisoning American History Students Salon.com ...Yes, slavery got washed out of the writing on the war. But it didn’t happen in a straight line. When it comes to the Civil War, what historians write is a reflection of the world they are living in at the moment...
The Largest Movie-Theater Chain In America Is Going To Start Searching Your Bags Think Progress ...Regal Cinemas, the biggest movie-theater chain in the United States, will start to search ticket-buyers’ bags before they enter any of its movie theaters...
Labor, Community And Environmental Advocates Call On McDonald's To Protect Workers In Its Supply Chain Teamster.org ...Advocates from labor, community and environmental organizations joined together to today at a rally outside a McDonald’s in downtown San Francisco, to demand that the company adhere to its own supplier code of conduct and protect workers’ rights throughout supply chain...
Teamsters Break Strike Record, Plan To Rally Arizona Daily Star ...The strike has passed the record for the longest ever. In 2001, the workers were on strike for 12 days. Teamsters Local 104 is holding a rally at 4 p.m. today, at Ronstadt Transit Center, 215 E. Congress St...
EVSC, Teamsters Plan To Meet Again In Late August Evansville Courier & Press ...Teamsters Local 215 and the Evansville Vanderburgh School Board negotiating teams have scheduled a collective bargaining session for Aug. 29 to further discuss contract proposals exchanged a week ago...
Carriage Horse Drivers Hesitate To Declare Victory Over Animal Rights Advocates On Proposed Ban New York Daily News ...Round one of the carriage horse wars goes to the Teamsters union — but drivers are skittish about declaring a runaway victory over animal rights activists...
Teamsters Win Union Recognition For Fuelers At Newark Airport Patch ...In a decision announced on Wednesday, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ordered Allied Aviation Service Company of New Jersey to recognize and bargain with Local 553, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, AFL–CIO, which represents a group of about 40 workers at the airport...
Support Staff, Board Agree On Contract After Eight Years Akron Leader ...For the first time in eight years, support staff in the Copley-Fairlawn City School District will be working under a contract. The district’s Board of Education approved the contract with support staff represented by Teamsters Local 348 at a special Aug. 13 meeting and board retreat. The contract was presented to the union in May and union members voted Aug. 8 to accept it, said Treasurer John Wheadon...
Driver Drug Testing: Teamsters, Other Labor Groups Ask House To Reject Senate Changes Overdrive ...17 workers’ advocate associations, including the Teamsters and a branch of the AFL-CIO, have asked those in the House tasked with crafting the lower chamber’s version of the DRIVE Act to nix the provision that would make hair testing a regulator-recognized option. The House has not yet taken up the Senate’s version of the legislation, and House lawmakers have not indicated whether the lower chamber will in its upcoming fall session...
Global Labor & Trade
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras Calls For New Elections New York Times ...Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of Greece called Thursday for new national elections in a bid to consolidate his power and press ahead with the 86 billion euro bailout plan he agreed to with European creditors...
Macedonia Troops Fire Stun Grenades At Crowds Of Migrants On Border Huffington Post ...Macedonian special police forces fired stun grenades Friday to disperse thousands of migrants stuck on a no-man's land with Greece, a day after declaring a state of emergency on its border to deal with a massive influx of migrants heading north to the European Union...
Congress Is Sick of the Secrecy Around the TPP The Nation ...This has consistently irritated members of Congress, especially those already suspicious of the wide-reaching pact. Their aggravation is especially sharp now that the deal is nearing completion—this is the period in which legislators can actually influence the shape of the document. Once the deal is signed, Congress will not be able to amend the TPP, as per the rules of the fast-track legislation passed earlier this summer, and the deal will only need a simple majority in the Senate...
State & Living Wage Battles
Roseville Rep. Chirkun Seeks To Repeal Right-To-Work Laws Macomb Daily ...John Chirkun, a Roseville Democrat, announced Wednesday he is introducing a pair of bills that would overturn the right-to-work legislation that eliminated compulsory dues for unions in many workplaces. In a release, he said the pair of House bills “would return Michigan to a ‘free bargaining’ state, where unions are better positioned to negotiate for pay, benefits and working conditions on behalf of their members.”...
Minimum Wage Petition Is Approved For KC’s November Ballot, But It Could Get Withdrawn Kansas City Star ...The Kansas City Council agreed Thursday to place a citizens petition initiative on the November ballot that seeks a local minimum wage increase to $15 per hour by 2020. But the council also said the petition may get withdrawn from the ballot if the Missouri General Assembly acts in September to prevent a higher minimum wage...
Court Says Minimum Wage Increase Applies To Airport Workers ABC News ...A divided Washington Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a first-in-the nation initiative to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour in the city of SeaTac should apply to thousands of workers at the airport. In its 5-4 ruling, the majority upheld the entirety of Proposition 1, writing that there was no indication that the law would interfere with airport operations. SeaTac's minimum wage was raised to $15 an hour in 2014 and increased again to $15.24 this January because it is tied to the consumer price index...
The Housing Crisis Is More Complex Than A Few People Paying Too Little In Rent Washington Post ...Affordable housing programs need more money to revamp old units, build new ones for mixed-income use and provide vouchers generous enough to get people out of bad neighborhoods and into better ones. Otherwise, wait lists will not go down, and those on them will have no chance to make their way up...
U.S. Labor
U.S. Factories Still Haven’t Recovered From The Recession Washington Post ...It took less than a year for America's factory output to rebound from the 1991 recession. It took 3½ years to bounce back from the 2001 recession. Now, six years clear of the Great Recession, manufacturing output still hasn't returned to the pre-crisis levels it reached in 2007, according to revised economic data from the Federal Reserve...
Social Justice & Other News
Consumers Are Cutting The Cord To Gain Choices And Pay Less New York Times ...On the whole, cutting the cord with cable should benefit consumers. It will help people save money and gain more control over their entertainment by allowing them to pay only for what they want to watch. Many Americans chafe at having to pay about $67 a month for dozens of TV channels they never use so they can watch a handful of shows. The price of cable and satellite TV service has roughly doubled over the last 20 years, rising about twice as fast as inflation, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics...
Can Our Transit System Get Any Worse? New York Times ...Of course, we must find money to repair and expand our subway systems, and we must sort out the interstate political rivalries at the Port Authority. But it’s our crisis-driven approach to infrastructure that most needs to change...
FAA Records Detail Hundreds Of Close Calls Between Airplanes And Drones Washington Post ...Before last year, close encounters with rogue drones were unheard of. But as a result of a sales boom, small, largely unregulated remote-control aircraft are clogging U.S. airspace, snarling air traffic and giving the FAA fits...
“People Know Next To Nothing About Reconstruction”: The Pernicious Civil War Revisionism Poisoning American History Students Salon.com ...Yes, slavery got washed out of the writing on the war. But it didn’t happen in a straight line. When it comes to the Civil War, what historians write is a reflection of the world they are living in at the moment...
The Largest Movie-Theater Chain In America Is Going To Start Searching Your Bags Think Progress ...Regal Cinemas, the biggest movie-theater chain in the United States, will start to search ticket-buyers’ bags before they enter any of its movie theaters...
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Today's Teamster News 08.20.15
Teamsters
City Council Stands In Way Of Carriage Horse Ban, de Blasio Tells Activists New York Times ...Mayor Bill de Blasio made a promise as a candidate to animal-rights activists that he would end the Central Park horse-carriage industry on the first day of his administration. Nearly 600 days into his tenure, the horses are still clopping. And the mayor has a new message for activists: Talk to somebody else...
Strike Out Tucson Weekly ...Shortly after his return, he had an altercation with a bus rider who snuck in a beer. The man ended up throwing the beer in Kirk's face, after Kirk asked him to get rid of it. "Passengers realize that there is no accountability ... the disrespect ... they don't have to abide by any rules," he says. All-in-all, there have been 22 assaults on bus drivers in the past 13 months, according to the Teamsters Local Union 104, which is leading the strike. That includes beer-throwing, spitting and more violent incidents...
Bus Service Resumes To Normal In Loudoun County Washington Post ...Teamsters Local 570 and Transdev have been in talks over a collective bargaining agreement for the past six months, according to Loudoun County officials...
Global Labor & Trade
Chinese Shares Trade Lower Again After Days Of Volatility BBC News ...The mainland's benchmark Shanghai Composite was 1.5% down to 3,735.92 points. The negative open comes after the index had seen strong volatility since the beginning of the week...
Russia Used To Have A Powerful Weapon In Its Energy Sector. Not Anymore. Washington Post ...For years, Russia’s ability to choke off energy shipments any time tensions spiked with the West was a potent threat, one that could force much of Europe to shiver during the wintertime. But with energy prices swooning, the Kremlin’s pipeline politics are looking a lot less threatening...
State & Living Wage Battles
Unions Press Congress To Take Off On FAA Bill The Hill ...The AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department is pushing Congress to approve a new round of funding for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) when lawmakers return to Washington next month. The FAA bill, which includes funding for air traffic controllers, is scheduled to expire on Sept. 30...
Missouri Orders New Measures To Prevent Spread Of Bridgeton Landfill Fire St. Louis Post Dispatch ...Missouri regulators are ordering the owner of the smoldering Bridgeton Landfill to add more safeguards and develop a backup plan to prevent the spread of an underground fire past existing defenses...
Landfill Fire Slowing, Closer To Radioactive Waste KMOX ...The Pattonville Fire Protection District is keeping a close eye on the Bridgeton Landfill, after new data shows the underground fire may be getting closer to nuclear material buried in the nearby Westlake Landfill...
Justice Dept. Presses Civil Rights Agenda In Local Courts New York Times ...Burlington, Wash., was a small city fighting what seemed like a local lawsuit. Three poor people said that their public lawyers were too overworked to adequately represent them in municipal court cases. The dispute went mostly unnoticed for two years, until the Obama administration became involved. Unannounced, the Justice Department filed documents in the case and told the judge that he had broad authority to demand changes in Burlington and nearby Mount Vernon. The judge quickly agreed and ordered the cities to hire a new public defense supervisor. He also said he would monitor their legal aid program for three years...
After Criticism, HUD Says It’s Trying To Give The Boot To Public Housing Families Who Earn Too Much Money Washington Post ...In response to an unsparing audit by its watchdog, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has flipped its stance and now says it is urging housing authorities nationwide to evict tenants who earn too much to qualify for government subsidies...
Court Documents: Legal Challenge To N.C. Voter ID Could Be Settled Winston-Salem Journal ...The recent federal trial on North Carolina’s Voter Information Verification Act that ended about two weeks ago did not deal with the state’s photo ID requirement that goes into effect in 2016. It only dealt with other provisions of the law, which reduced the early voting period, eliminated same-day voter registration, prohibited county election officials from counting ballots cast in the wrong precinct but correct county, and abolished preregistration for 16- and 17-year-olds...
KC City Council To Meet, Clarify Minimum Wage Issues WDAF ...Workers in Kansas City could get some clarity on the minimum wage issue Thursday afternoon after the City Council meets to discuss the ordinance. The council meets at 3 p.m...
U.S. Labor
Uber Missed Criminal Records Of Drivers, Prosecutors Assert New York Times ...For more than a year, regulators in various cities have questioned whether Uber, the ride-hailing service, vets its drivers for criminal backgrounds as carefully as traditional taxi companies. Now the district attorneys of San Francisco and Los Angeles have offered perhaps the most concrete evidence to date that people convicted of murder, sex offenses and various property crimes have driven for Uber, despite assurances from the company that it employs “industry-leading” screening...
Private Prison Firms Buy Access To Public Officials At Lavish Industry Conferences Truthout ...The prison industry in the United States has grown so large that there are no less than seven professional associations for people who work at prisons and jails. The industry conferences held by these associations provide a perfect venue for private corrections companies to influence government officials with little public oversight, according to a recent report by the watchdog group In The Public Interest (ITPA)...
Social Justice & Other News
U.S. Consumer Prices Rise For Sixth Straight Month Wall Street Journal ...The consumer-price index, which reflects what Americans pay for everything from razors to radishes, rose a seasonally adjusted 0.1% in July from a month earlier, the Labor Department said Wednesday. From a year earlier, prices are up a very mild 0.2%, but when excluding volatile food and energy categories, the gain in the so-called core index was a more solid 1.8%...
The Military’s Outdated Gender Standards Are Finally Breaking Down Think Progress ...While women still face numerous obstacles when it comes to serving in the military, one barrier is soon to be broken. In an interview with the Navy Times Tuesday Adm. Jon Greenert said women would soon be welcome to participate in one of the military’s most elite units: – the Navy SEALs...
Goldman Sachs' New Loan Program Enters Underregulated, Potentially Abusive Loan Marketplace Truthout ...Though the bank itself hadn't directly seeded high-interest mortgages into communities of color around the country, like Countrywide or other banks that offered mortgages directly had done, Goldman Sachs had profited from selling subprime mortgage-backed securities - and from betting on the failure of these same products. "That was one of the reasons the [financial] crisis really took off," Murray said...
Ohio Planned To Import Death Penalty Drug Illegally Mother Jones ...The state of Ohio planned to illegally import sodium thiopental, a drug used for executions, according to a Food and Drug Administration letter obtained by BuzzFeed through a Freedom of Information Act request...
A Regulator’s Deal With Promontory Skirts A Big Problem New York Times ...Since by necessity it focuses on specific allegations, it leaves untouched a larger problem that goes beyond breaches of consultants’ supposed independence: the increasing extent to which regulators and prosecutors have come to rely on consultants to investigate suspected bank wrongdoing, rather than devoting the time and resources to do investigations themselves...
Black Lives Matter Isn't Stopping Politico ...Memo to 2016 candidates from Black Lives Matter: We will continue to disrupt your events no matter what you do or say, and we won’t stop anytime soon...
Obama Administration Plans To Overhaul Rules On Student Debt Forgiveness Washington Post ...The Obama administration said Wednesday it will overhaul the loan forgiveness process for students who believe they have been defrauded by their colleges, in light of the collapse of controversial for-profit Corinthian Colleges...
City Council Stands In Way Of Carriage Horse Ban, de Blasio Tells Activists New York Times ...Mayor Bill de Blasio made a promise as a candidate to animal-rights activists that he would end the Central Park horse-carriage industry on the first day of his administration. Nearly 600 days into his tenure, the horses are still clopping. And the mayor has a new message for activists: Talk to somebody else...
Strike Out Tucson Weekly ...Shortly after his return, he had an altercation with a bus rider who snuck in a beer. The man ended up throwing the beer in Kirk's face, after Kirk asked him to get rid of it. "Passengers realize that there is no accountability ... the disrespect ... they don't have to abide by any rules," he says. All-in-all, there have been 22 assaults on bus drivers in the past 13 months, according to the Teamsters Local Union 104, which is leading the strike. That includes beer-throwing, spitting and more violent incidents...
Bus Service Resumes To Normal In Loudoun County Washington Post ...Teamsters Local 570 and Transdev have been in talks over a collective bargaining agreement for the past six months, according to Loudoun County officials...
Global Labor & Trade
Chinese Shares Trade Lower Again After Days Of Volatility BBC News ...The mainland's benchmark Shanghai Composite was 1.5% down to 3,735.92 points. The negative open comes after the index had seen strong volatility since the beginning of the week...
Russia Used To Have A Powerful Weapon In Its Energy Sector. Not Anymore. Washington Post ...For years, Russia’s ability to choke off energy shipments any time tensions spiked with the West was a potent threat, one that could force much of Europe to shiver during the wintertime. But with energy prices swooning, the Kremlin’s pipeline politics are looking a lot less threatening...
State & Living Wage Battles
Unions Press Congress To Take Off On FAA Bill The Hill ...The AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department is pushing Congress to approve a new round of funding for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) when lawmakers return to Washington next month. The FAA bill, which includes funding for air traffic controllers, is scheduled to expire on Sept. 30...
Missouri Orders New Measures To Prevent Spread Of Bridgeton Landfill Fire St. Louis Post Dispatch ...Missouri regulators are ordering the owner of the smoldering Bridgeton Landfill to add more safeguards and develop a backup plan to prevent the spread of an underground fire past existing defenses...
Landfill Fire Slowing, Closer To Radioactive Waste KMOX ...The Pattonville Fire Protection District is keeping a close eye on the Bridgeton Landfill, after new data shows the underground fire may be getting closer to nuclear material buried in the nearby Westlake Landfill...
Justice Dept. Presses Civil Rights Agenda In Local Courts New York Times ...Burlington, Wash., was a small city fighting what seemed like a local lawsuit. Three poor people said that their public lawyers were too overworked to adequately represent them in municipal court cases. The dispute went mostly unnoticed for two years, until the Obama administration became involved. Unannounced, the Justice Department filed documents in the case and told the judge that he had broad authority to demand changes in Burlington and nearby Mount Vernon. The judge quickly agreed and ordered the cities to hire a new public defense supervisor. He also said he would monitor their legal aid program for three years...
After Criticism, HUD Says It’s Trying To Give The Boot To Public Housing Families Who Earn Too Much Money Washington Post ...In response to an unsparing audit by its watchdog, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has flipped its stance and now says it is urging housing authorities nationwide to evict tenants who earn too much to qualify for government subsidies...
Court Documents: Legal Challenge To N.C. Voter ID Could Be Settled Winston-Salem Journal ...The recent federal trial on North Carolina’s Voter Information Verification Act that ended about two weeks ago did not deal with the state’s photo ID requirement that goes into effect in 2016. It only dealt with other provisions of the law, which reduced the early voting period, eliminated same-day voter registration, prohibited county election officials from counting ballots cast in the wrong precinct but correct county, and abolished preregistration for 16- and 17-year-olds...
KC City Council To Meet, Clarify Minimum Wage Issues WDAF ...Workers in Kansas City could get some clarity on the minimum wage issue Thursday afternoon after the City Council meets to discuss the ordinance. The council meets at 3 p.m...
U.S. Labor
Uber Missed Criminal Records Of Drivers, Prosecutors Assert New York Times ...For more than a year, regulators in various cities have questioned whether Uber, the ride-hailing service, vets its drivers for criminal backgrounds as carefully as traditional taxi companies. Now the district attorneys of San Francisco and Los Angeles have offered perhaps the most concrete evidence to date that people convicted of murder, sex offenses and various property crimes have driven for Uber, despite assurances from the company that it employs “industry-leading” screening...
Private Prison Firms Buy Access To Public Officials At Lavish Industry Conferences Truthout ...The prison industry in the United States has grown so large that there are no less than seven professional associations for people who work at prisons and jails. The industry conferences held by these associations provide a perfect venue for private corrections companies to influence government officials with little public oversight, according to a recent report by the watchdog group In The Public Interest (ITPA)...
Social Justice & Other News
U.S. Consumer Prices Rise For Sixth Straight Month Wall Street Journal ...The consumer-price index, which reflects what Americans pay for everything from razors to radishes, rose a seasonally adjusted 0.1% in July from a month earlier, the Labor Department said Wednesday. From a year earlier, prices are up a very mild 0.2%, but when excluding volatile food and energy categories, the gain in the so-called core index was a more solid 1.8%...
The Military’s Outdated Gender Standards Are Finally Breaking Down Think Progress ...While women still face numerous obstacles when it comes to serving in the military, one barrier is soon to be broken. In an interview with the Navy Times Tuesday Adm. Jon Greenert said women would soon be welcome to participate in one of the military’s most elite units: – the Navy SEALs...
Goldman Sachs' New Loan Program Enters Underregulated, Potentially Abusive Loan Marketplace Truthout ...Though the bank itself hadn't directly seeded high-interest mortgages into communities of color around the country, like Countrywide or other banks that offered mortgages directly had done, Goldman Sachs had profited from selling subprime mortgage-backed securities - and from betting on the failure of these same products. "That was one of the reasons the [financial] crisis really took off," Murray said...
Ohio Planned To Import Death Penalty Drug Illegally Mother Jones ...The state of Ohio planned to illegally import sodium thiopental, a drug used for executions, according to a Food and Drug Administration letter obtained by BuzzFeed through a Freedom of Information Act request...
A Regulator’s Deal With Promontory Skirts A Big Problem New York Times ...Since by necessity it focuses on specific allegations, it leaves untouched a larger problem that goes beyond breaches of consultants’ supposed independence: the increasing extent to which regulators and prosecutors have come to rely on consultants to investigate suspected bank wrongdoing, rather than devoting the time and resources to do investigations themselves...
Black Lives Matter Isn't Stopping Politico ...Memo to 2016 candidates from Black Lives Matter: We will continue to disrupt your events no matter what you do or say, and we won’t stop anytime soon...
Obama Administration Plans To Overhaul Rules On Student Debt Forgiveness Washington Post ...The Obama administration said Wednesday it will overhaul the loan forgiveness process for students who believe they have been defrauded by their colleges, in light of the collapse of controversial for-profit Corinthian Colleges...
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Teamster are winning the battle to save NYC horse carriages
 |
| Teamster Brother Steve Malone |
Since Mayor Bill de Blasio first announced his crusade to ban Central Park's horse carriages, Teamsters led by Joint Council 16 have locked arms with a diverse coalition of unions and other organizations standing in solidarity with the carriage drivers.
The mayor's war against the industry has suffered more setbacks since Teamsters held a spirited rally at City Hall last December. As Joint Council 16 tells us:
After he was elected in 2013, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio famously declared that he would ban Central Park's horse carriages on "Day One." 534 days later, the carriages are still rolling through the park, and a ban seems less likely than ever.
According to a report last week in the New York Post, de Blasio only has three City Council votes on his side in the key committee needed to move the ban legislation forward -- far short of majority:
Under the cover of budget negotiations, Mayor Bill de Blasio is trying to persuade City Council members to pass his proposed ban on Central Park’s carriage horses — but is coming up lame, sources told The Post.
The sources said de Blasio has lined up no more than three definite “yes” votes on the 13-member Transportation Committee, the first step in moving his legislation to the full council for a vote.This development followed a City Council briefing hosted by Joint Council 16 in May with Dr. Joesph Bertone who studied the stress hormones in carriage horses. Bertone presented his findings to the City Council, explaining that the horses were not stressed, the Daily News reported:
Joe Bertone, who specializes in equine medicine at Western University of Health Sciences, made the presentation to Democratic City Councilman Rafael Espinal and representatives for several other members, including Dan Garodnick (D-Manhattan) and Carlos Menchaca (D-Brooklyn).
Bertone’s study examined the horses’ cortisol levels, which can spike during stress, and found the horses were chilled out.
Reports this spring revealed that the consulting firm hired to conduct a legally mandated, impartial review of the proposed ban was extremely biased:
The consultant is supposed to be impartial, and the city says it is. But drivers counter that the hired firm can't be trusted. Here's why: the president and CEO on the firm's website has lent support to NYCLASS, the leading group pushing the ban.
The firm also lists as a client the company long led by NYCLASS' founder. It's also working to develop the Far West Side. Horse carriage drivers say their stables are valuable real estate.This glaring conflict of interests was enough to put de Blasio's ban bill even further off track.
The struggle continues for New York Teamsters and the livelihoods of the carriage drivers. But once again Teamsters are proving that when we fight back, we win!
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Today's Teamster News 06.17.15
Teamsters
ONTC and Teamsters reach five-year agreement Nugget ...Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (Ontario Northland) and Teamsters Rail Conference Maintenance of Way Employees Division (TCRC MWED) announced today that they have reached a tentative five year collective agreement. TCRC MWED represents 161 unionized employees who are responsible for maintaining Ontario Northland’s rail infrastructure, including track, buildings and bridges along the rail line...
Dozens of FXI employees on strike Wane.com ...The employees, represented by Teamsters Local 414, have been negotiating their contract with FXI for the last three years. According to George Gurdis, the officer of Teamsters Local 414, the group of FXI workers was organized about three years ago and have never been on a contract. Now, FXI wants to slice their wages and lower their benefits. FXI produces foam for homes, healthcare, electronics, industrial, personal care and transportation markets...
Mogul may have hired PIs to tail horse-carriage drivers NY Post ...A deep-pocketed animal-rights activist paid a team of private eyes to spy on Central Park horse carriage drivers for three months in the hope of catching them breaking the law. Up to six gumshoes would camp outside Manhattan horse stables at 5:30 a.m. and follow drivers all day, sometimes until after midnight, confirmed Mike Ciravolo, an exec at celebrity investigative firm Beau Dietl & Associates...
Rollex Ordered to Make Changes for Member Safety Teamsters Local 727 ...The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has ordered Rollex Corporation to fix 31 machines by July 31 after Teamsters Local 727 representatives insisted the changes be made immediately. Local 727 represents about 100 workers at the aluminum soffit and steel siding manufacturer located in Elk Grove Village, Ill...
Global Labor & Trade
GOP leaders hatch trade workaround Politico ...Under the emerging plan, the House would vote on a bill that would give Obama fast-track authority to negotiate a sweeping trade deal with Pacific Rim countries, sending it to the Senate for final approval. To alleviate Democratic concerns, the Senate then would amend a separate bill on trade preferences to include Trade Adjustment Assistance...
GOP Leaders Putting Together Trade Rescue Plan Associated Press ...After talks with President Barack Obama, top Republican leaders in Congress put together a quick rescue plan Tuesday for highly controversial, White House-backed trade legislation that Democrats derailed in the House last week. Officials said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., were likely to split the stalled bill into two parts in hopes of sending them to the president separately...
House Moves to Delay Action on Trade Bill for 6 Weeks New York Times ...Mr. Obama has now turned his focus to House Speaker John A. Boehner and Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, to find a legislative strategy that would preserve trade promotion authority, which would give the president accelerated power to negotiate the broader Trans-Pacific Partnership accord with 11 other nations from Japan to Chile...
As NAFTA Memories Linger, Unions Hold Fast Against New Trade Deal NPR ..."Labor has enough of a institutional memory to know what happened with NAFTA," [Roland Zullo] says. "There was a theory behind NAFTA; there was a theory that by integrating Canada, U.S. and Mexico, there would be a sort of overall net economic benefit." But that didn't happen for U.S. workers in sectors like manufacturing. Michigan auto workers, for example, lost more than 100,000 jobs in the years that followed NAFTA's passage.
House GOP poised to pursue fast-track without aid for workers Politico ...The House is on the brink of scheduling a standalone vote on giving President Barack Obama fast-track trade authority without accompanying worker assistance legislation, according to multiple sources familiar with the plan. The House could vote on Trade Promotion Authority as early as this week, the sources said...
Domestic Workers: ‘Bought and Paid for in the Gulf States’ Solidarity Center ...In the Gulf, “employers feel they have bought domestic workers because they paid the recruitment fee,” Varia said. The situation is exacerbated in Gulf countries by the kefala system, which ties employment of foreign workers to their employers, and makes it illegal for workers to get another job in the country. Employers also typically take the passports of domestic workers, who toil unseen from the public and are especially vulnerable to abuse...
Qatar’s World Cup Preparations Could Kill as Many as 4,000 Migrant Workers The Nation ...While FIFA continues to sink deeper into a mire of scandal, the deepest hell in the world football body’s dominion is reserved for the workers toiling at the sweltering construction zones of Qatar, the 2022 World Cup host. As the legal turmoil swells in Geneva, however, human rights groups see a potential opening to revisit the controversy over whether Qatar deserves to be hosting the games at all...
State & Living Wage Battles
A Farmworkers Bill of Rights in New York May Finally End “Abhorrent and Unacceptable” Treatment In These Times ...Farmworkers in New York are not currently guaranteed a full 24-hour day off each week. They also lack the right to overtime pay, to unemployment and workers compensation insurance and are without collective bargaining rights—in an industry that’s worth some $5.7 billion annually. Legislation now being considered by the New York State Senate and Assembly aims to change this status quo...
Michigan House passes bill designed to bar cities from setting minimum wages News Maine ...Michigan House on Tuesday approved a bill designed to prohibit local governments from passing ordinances regarding minimum wages, benefits or work rules for companies operating within the premises of their towns. The Republican-led House voted 59 to 51 to approve a bill similar to one approved by the state Senate previous week...
Kotek minimum wage plan falls short of $15 an hour Portland Tribune ...House Speaker Tina Kotek has proposed increasing Oregon’s minimum wage in stages to $13 per hour by 2018 and allowing cities and counties to raise it even more. Kotek, a Democrat from Portland, disclosed details of her plan to reporters Monday, ahead of a hearing Wednesday by the House Rules Committee...
Clergy March on Billionaires as Moral Mondays Come to Chicago In These Times ...The activists, including Chicago’s Lutheran Bishop Wayne Miller, rallied before marching on the corporate headquarters of billionaire Sam Zell, a supporter of Gov. Rauner, awarded $4 million to Turnaround Illinois, a Rauner-allied super political action committee that supports banning political donations by government worker unions...
With Oregon's Bill, Paid Sick Leave Gains Momentum The American Prospect ...Building on a strong and growing level of momentum nationwide, on Friday, the Oregon legislature passed a bill that mandates paid sick leave. Governor Kate Brown, a progressive Democrat, is sure to sign the bill, making Oregon the fourth state to pass mandated paid sick leave. The vote is a significant win for a nationwide movement that’s been quietly gaining steam among cities, states, and presidential candidates in recent years...
Failing the Poor and the Economy, Kansas Gov Signs 'Regressive' Tax Deal Common Dreams ...Following the end of the longest legislative session in state history, which dragged on an extra 23 days, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback on Tuesday signed a massive budget deal into law that includes a $384 million tax hike—mostly on the poor. It's the largest tax increase ever introduced in the state, and more than half of it will come from sales tax and cigarette tax, which financial experts have long warned are regressive...
101-year-old woman can't vote due to voter ID laws, newspaper reports NOLA.com ...A 101-year-old Texas woman has shed a new perspective on the debate over voter ID laws. In a commentary essay for the San Antonio Express-News, 101-year-old Mary Lou Miller wrote that she was denied the right to vote because she does not have a government-issued ID, and has not had one since she stopped driving in her 80s...
How A Pay Rise For NY Fast-Food Workers Could Spread Across America Buzzfeed ...Success in obtaining a pay rise in New York — which would be the first of its kind in the country — will form part of a precedent the labor movement plans to export to cities across America. Leaders of the Fight for 15 movement to raise fast-food wages say they plan to treat a $15 sector-wide minimum wage in New York as a springboard to a well of strategic next steps for their campaign...
U.S. Labor
Labor Movement Hopes to Get a Bump From Pope Francis Visit Time ...Cardinal Donald Wuerl spoke in front of a sparkling mosaic on Monday morning, and he was not in a church. The backdrop was not even Biblical, at least not technically. Instead the mosaic was a wall-sized portrait honoring workers at the AFL-CIO headquarters, where Wuerl, Catholic archbishop of Washington, was speaking alongside the labor organization’s president, Richard Trumka. Together, the two men championed care for workers...
SEIU says Clark County overreaching on new labor rules Las Vegas Review-Journal ...Leaders of the Service Employees International Union Local 1107 urged Clark County commissioners Tuesday to reconsider county actions tied to a new state law. The county recently ordered SEIU Local 1107 President Martin Bassick to return from paid union leave to his county job, saying the new law doesn’t allow the leave to continue. The county also notified the union last week that wage and benefit increases will stop for SEIU-affiliated employees...
ATI braces for failure of labor talks, USW says Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...United Steelworkers union officials say Allegheny Technologies is making contingency staffing and security plans in case they fail to negotiate a new labor agreement to replace one that expires June 30. USW headquarters officials last week told members that the Pittsburgh specialty metals producer has hired Strom Engineering, a Minnetonka, Minn., firm that helps companies with labor disputes...
Communications workers union passes Black Lives Matter resolution St. Louis American ...Union members at the Communications Workers of America (CWA) national convention on June 10 passed a “Black Lives Matter” resolution to address the issues of “systematic racism” in the United States. “Part of our goal in passing the resolution is to start active members of CWA talking about these issues,” said Bradley Harmon, president of the CWA Local 6355. “That has already started. I think it deepened our commitment towards working for racial justice”...
When I Lost My Hands Making Flatscreens I Can't Afford, Nobody Would Help Me The Guardian ...I’ve worked in factories most of my life. I know I am not the first person to be injured. But more needs to be done to help the workers who are making the products that so many Americans buy. We don’t ask for even a tiny share of the billions these companies make. We are just asking for enough to take care of our families and, when we are hurt, to take care of ourselves, too...
Is Gawker’s Unionization a Sign That Creative Workers Are Finally Realizing Their Worth? The Nation ...Last week, the staff of Gawker, one of the most iconic web media companies, voted by a 75-25 margin to form a union with Writers Guild of America East. Representing more than 100 online editorial staffers, the bargaining unit covers a network of Gawker Media’s outlets. The exact form of the unit and contract demands will be hammered out later, but the bottom line appears to be that staff wanted to unionize to protect their current wages and benefits...
Miscellaneous
Clinton v Bush: America is getting the dynastic matchup it said it didn't want The Guardian ...Neither family would be a stranger to the upper echelons of US government. Clinton’s eight years as first lady to husband Bill and four years as President Obama’s secretary of state is matched not only by eight years as president by Jeb’s brother, George W Bush, but four years as president by their father George HW Bush and another eight years as vice-president under Ronald Reagan...
Here's the Latest Evidence of How Private Prisons Are Exploiting Inmates for Profit Mother Jones ...The for-profit prison industry sells itself as a cost-effective option for cash-strapped states, but according to a new study from the University of Wisconsin, privatized prisons are keeping inmates locked up longer in order to boost profits. Researcher Anita Mukherjee studied a decade of data from Mississippi and found that private prisons there doled out twice the amount of infractions against inmates, lengthening their sentences by an average of 2-3 months...
RNC Official Awkwardly Refuses To Denounce Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Screed Think Progress ...Hours after Donald Trump launched into an anti-immigrant tirade during his presidential campaign announcement and claimed that Mexican immigrants are rapists and drug dealers, a top Republican party official has done nothing to denounce those comments...
ONTC and Teamsters reach five-year agreement Nugget ...Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (Ontario Northland) and Teamsters Rail Conference Maintenance of Way Employees Division (TCRC MWED) announced today that they have reached a tentative five year collective agreement. TCRC MWED represents 161 unionized employees who are responsible for maintaining Ontario Northland’s rail infrastructure, including track, buildings and bridges along the rail line...
Dozens of FXI employees on strike Wane.com ...The employees, represented by Teamsters Local 414, have been negotiating their contract with FXI for the last three years. According to George Gurdis, the officer of Teamsters Local 414, the group of FXI workers was organized about three years ago and have never been on a contract. Now, FXI wants to slice their wages and lower their benefits. FXI produces foam for homes, healthcare, electronics, industrial, personal care and transportation markets...
Mogul may have hired PIs to tail horse-carriage drivers NY Post ...A deep-pocketed animal-rights activist paid a team of private eyes to spy on Central Park horse carriage drivers for three months in the hope of catching them breaking the law. Up to six gumshoes would camp outside Manhattan horse stables at 5:30 a.m. and follow drivers all day, sometimes until after midnight, confirmed Mike Ciravolo, an exec at celebrity investigative firm Beau Dietl & Associates...
Rollex Ordered to Make Changes for Member Safety Teamsters Local 727 ...The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has ordered Rollex Corporation to fix 31 machines by July 31 after Teamsters Local 727 representatives insisted the changes be made immediately. Local 727 represents about 100 workers at the aluminum soffit and steel siding manufacturer located in Elk Grove Village, Ill...
Global Labor & Trade
GOP leaders hatch trade workaround Politico ...Under the emerging plan, the House would vote on a bill that would give Obama fast-track authority to negotiate a sweeping trade deal with Pacific Rim countries, sending it to the Senate for final approval. To alleviate Democratic concerns, the Senate then would amend a separate bill on trade preferences to include Trade Adjustment Assistance...
GOP Leaders Putting Together Trade Rescue Plan Associated Press ...After talks with President Barack Obama, top Republican leaders in Congress put together a quick rescue plan Tuesday for highly controversial, White House-backed trade legislation that Democrats derailed in the House last week. Officials said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., were likely to split the stalled bill into two parts in hopes of sending them to the president separately...
House Moves to Delay Action on Trade Bill for 6 Weeks New York Times ...Mr. Obama has now turned his focus to House Speaker John A. Boehner and Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, to find a legislative strategy that would preserve trade promotion authority, which would give the president accelerated power to negotiate the broader Trans-Pacific Partnership accord with 11 other nations from Japan to Chile...
As NAFTA Memories Linger, Unions Hold Fast Against New Trade Deal NPR ..."Labor has enough of a institutional memory to know what happened with NAFTA," [Roland Zullo] says. "There was a theory behind NAFTA; there was a theory that by integrating Canada, U.S. and Mexico, there would be a sort of overall net economic benefit." But that didn't happen for U.S. workers in sectors like manufacturing. Michigan auto workers, for example, lost more than 100,000 jobs in the years that followed NAFTA's passage.
House GOP poised to pursue fast-track without aid for workers Politico ...The House is on the brink of scheduling a standalone vote on giving President Barack Obama fast-track trade authority without accompanying worker assistance legislation, according to multiple sources familiar with the plan. The House could vote on Trade Promotion Authority as early as this week, the sources said...
Domestic Workers: ‘Bought and Paid for in the Gulf States’ Solidarity Center ...In the Gulf, “employers feel they have bought domestic workers because they paid the recruitment fee,” Varia said. The situation is exacerbated in Gulf countries by the kefala system, which ties employment of foreign workers to their employers, and makes it illegal for workers to get another job in the country. Employers also typically take the passports of domestic workers, who toil unseen from the public and are especially vulnerable to abuse...
Qatar’s World Cup Preparations Could Kill as Many as 4,000 Migrant Workers The Nation ...While FIFA continues to sink deeper into a mire of scandal, the deepest hell in the world football body’s dominion is reserved for the workers toiling at the sweltering construction zones of Qatar, the 2022 World Cup host. As the legal turmoil swells in Geneva, however, human rights groups see a potential opening to revisit the controversy over whether Qatar deserves to be hosting the games at all...
State & Living Wage Battles
A Farmworkers Bill of Rights in New York May Finally End “Abhorrent and Unacceptable” Treatment In These Times ...Farmworkers in New York are not currently guaranteed a full 24-hour day off each week. They also lack the right to overtime pay, to unemployment and workers compensation insurance and are without collective bargaining rights—in an industry that’s worth some $5.7 billion annually. Legislation now being considered by the New York State Senate and Assembly aims to change this status quo...
Michigan House passes bill designed to bar cities from setting minimum wages News Maine ...Michigan House on Tuesday approved a bill designed to prohibit local governments from passing ordinances regarding minimum wages, benefits or work rules for companies operating within the premises of their towns. The Republican-led House voted 59 to 51 to approve a bill similar to one approved by the state Senate previous week...
Kotek minimum wage plan falls short of $15 an hour Portland Tribune ...House Speaker Tina Kotek has proposed increasing Oregon’s minimum wage in stages to $13 per hour by 2018 and allowing cities and counties to raise it even more. Kotek, a Democrat from Portland, disclosed details of her plan to reporters Monday, ahead of a hearing Wednesday by the House Rules Committee...
Clergy March on Billionaires as Moral Mondays Come to Chicago In These Times ...The activists, including Chicago’s Lutheran Bishop Wayne Miller, rallied before marching on the corporate headquarters of billionaire Sam Zell, a supporter of Gov. Rauner, awarded $4 million to Turnaround Illinois, a Rauner-allied super political action committee that supports banning political donations by government worker unions...
With Oregon's Bill, Paid Sick Leave Gains Momentum The American Prospect ...Building on a strong and growing level of momentum nationwide, on Friday, the Oregon legislature passed a bill that mandates paid sick leave. Governor Kate Brown, a progressive Democrat, is sure to sign the bill, making Oregon the fourth state to pass mandated paid sick leave. The vote is a significant win for a nationwide movement that’s been quietly gaining steam among cities, states, and presidential candidates in recent years...
Failing the Poor and the Economy, Kansas Gov Signs 'Regressive' Tax Deal Common Dreams ...Following the end of the longest legislative session in state history, which dragged on an extra 23 days, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback on Tuesday signed a massive budget deal into law that includes a $384 million tax hike—mostly on the poor. It's the largest tax increase ever introduced in the state, and more than half of it will come from sales tax and cigarette tax, which financial experts have long warned are regressive...
101-year-old woman can't vote due to voter ID laws, newspaper reports NOLA.com ...A 101-year-old Texas woman has shed a new perspective on the debate over voter ID laws. In a commentary essay for the San Antonio Express-News, 101-year-old Mary Lou Miller wrote that she was denied the right to vote because she does not have a government-issued ID, and has not had one since she stopped driving in her 80s...
How A Pay Rise For NY Fast-Food Workers Could Spread Across America Buzzfeed ...Success in obtaining a pay rise in New York — which would be the first of its kind in the country — will form part of a precedent the labor movement plans to export to cities across America. Leaders of the Fight for 15 movement to raise fast-food wages say they plan to treat a $15 sector-wide minimum wage in New York as a springboard to a well of strategic next steps for their campaign...
U.S. Labor
Labor Movement Hopes to Get a Bump From Pope Francis Visit Time ...Cardinal Donald Wuerl spoke in front of a sparkling mosaic on Monday morning, and he was not in a church. The backdrop was not even Biblical, at least not technically. Instead the mosaic was a wall-sized portrait honoring workers at the AFL-CIO headquarters, where Wuerl, Catholic archbishop of Washington, was speaking alongside the labor organization’s president, Richard Trumka. Together, the two men championed care for workers...
SEIU says Clark County overreaching on new labor rules Las Vegas Review-Journal ...Leaders of the Service Employees International Union Local 1107 urged Clark County commissioners Tuesday to reconsider county actions tied to a new state law. The county recently ordered SEIU Local 1107 President Martin Bassick to return from paid union leave to his county job, saying the new law doesn’t allow the leave to continue. The county also notified the union last week that wage and benefit increases will stop for SEIU-affiliated employees...
ATI braces for failure of labor talks, USW says Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...United Steelworkers union officials say Allegheny Technologies is making contingency staffing and security plans in case they fail to negotiate a new labor agreement to replace one that expires June 30. USW headquarters officials last week told members that the Pittsburgh specialty metals producer has hired Strom Engineering, a Minnetonka, Minn., firm that helps companies with labor disputes...
Communications workers union passes Black Lives Matter resolution St. Louis American ...Union members at the Communications Workers of America (CWA) national convention on June 10 passed a “Black Lives Matter” resolution to address the issues of “systematic racism” in the United States. “Part of our goal in passing the resolution is to start active members of CWA talking about these issues,” said Bradley Harmon, president of the CWA Local 6355. “That has already started. I think it deepened our commitment towards working for racial justice”...
When I Lost My Hands Making Flatscreens I Can't Afford, Nobody Would Help Me The Guardian ...I’ve worked in factories most of my life. I know I am not the first person to be injured. But more needs to be done to help the workers who are making the products that so many Americans buy. We don’t ask for even a tiny share of the billions these companies make. We are just asking for enough to take care of our families and, when we are hurt, to take care of ourselves, too...
Is Gawker’s Unionization a Sign That Creative Workers Are Finally Realizing Their Worth? The Nation ...Last week, the staff of Gawker, one of the most iconic web media companies, voted by a 75-25 margin to form a union with Writers Guild of America East. Representing more than 100 online editorial staffers, the bargaining unit covers a network of Gawker Media’s outlets. The exact form of the unit and contract demands will be hammered out later, but the bottom line appears to be that staff wanted to unionize to protect their current wages and benefits...
Miscellaneous
Clinton v Bush: America is getting the dynastic matchup it said it didn't want The Guardian ...Neither family would be a stranger to the upper echelons of US government. Clinton’s eight years as first lady to husband Bill and four years as President Obama’s secretary of state is matched not only by eight years as president by Jeb’s brother, George W Bush, but four years as president by their father George HW Bush and another eight years as vice-president under Ronald Reagan...
Here's the Latest Evidence of How Private Prisons Are Exploiting Inmates for Profit Mother Jones ...The for-profit prison industry sells itself as a cost-effective option for cash-strapped states, but according to a new study from the University of Wisconsin, privatized prisons are keeping inmates locked up longer in order to boost profits. Researcher Anita Mukherjee studied a decade of data from Mississippi and found that private prisons there doled out twice the amount of infractions against inmates, lengthening their sentences by an average of 2-3 months...
RNC Official Awkwardly Refuses To Denounce Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Screed Think Progress ...Hours after Donald Trump launched into an anti-immigrant tirade during his presidential campaign announcement and claimed that Mexican immigrants are rapists and drug dealers, a top Republican party official has done nothing to denounce those comments...
Friday, May 8, 2015
Today's Teamster News 05.08.15
Teamsters
Teamsters Support Alaska Airlines Contract Workers Fight for $15, Union Teamster.org ...The Teamsters Airline Division has pledged its support of contract workers at Alaska Airlines who are fighting for fair wages and union representation. The contract workers picketed outside airports across country today in an effort to raise public awareness of their fight...
Fired Workers Win Back Their Jobs Times News Weekly ...Allan Henry, an organizer for the Teamsters, said that after speaking out against Five Star Carting and their working conditions, Bush and Darden were told to sign papers deeming them terminated before they could receive their paychecks. “Now they both have their jobs back, but this is the type of working conditions and the type of retaliation these workers are dealing in this industry,” Henry said...
Strike At McMahon Distributeur Pharmaceutique Inc’s Montreal DC Materials Management & Distribution ...Unionized employees, represented by the Teamsters Québec, local 1999, are on strike at McMahon Distributeur pharmaceutique inc’s Montreal DC. The union rejected the company’s offer after several months of bargaining...
De Blasio Administration To Begin Horse-Carriage Outreach Capital New York ...The de Blasio administration began its outreach on Monday to horse-carriage drivers and others who would be affected by legislation to abolish the industry...
Global Labor & Trade
Costa Rica Announces Plan To Eradicate Child Labor By 2020 Tico Times ...During an event Monday morning, Costa Rica announced an initiative to get more than 40,000 children out of the workforce. The multi-pronged approach builds off previous efforts to reduce child labor and aims to eliminate the practice altogether by 2020...
TTIP Talks Dubbed Secretive And Undemocratic Sputnik ...As the EU Foreign Affairs Council re-starts discussions on Thursday on the trade and investment partnership with the United States (TTIP), a senior UN official has dubbed the talks undemocratic and secretive. The controversial TTIP agreement has been pushed through by US President Barack Obama, who has called for the negotiations for the world's biggest trade agreement to be speeded up. As the talks get underway in Brussels on May 7, the Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, Alfred de Zayas, expressed deep concerns over the talks...
TPP, TTIP And TISA: How The Media Misrepresent Obama’s “Fast Track” “Secret” International Trade Deals Centre for Research on Globalization ...Both conservative and liberal ‘news’ media misrepresent U.S. President Barack Obama’s proposed international trade-deals as if they were about only such things as lowering tariffs and reducing national trade-protectionism — which are relatively minor surface-features of these huge proposed treaties: TTIP with Europe, TPP with Asia, and TISA (Trade in Services Agreement)...
Obama's Scheduled Visit To Nike Has Trade Deal Skeptics Scratching Their Heads Huffington Post ...Nike, which is regarded as a pioneer in overseas outsourcing, has a long and checkered labor history in Vietnam. The footwear and apparel giant was pilloried for alleged sweatshop conditions in its contracted factories in Vietnam back in the 1990s, bruising its public image. By most accounts, Nike has helped make significant safety improvements in factories through its own monitoring programs since then, but wages in Vietnam are still extremely low, and the government has a poor track record of enforcing labor laws there...
State & Living Wage Battles
Pennsylvania Senate OKs Public Employee Collective Bargaining Bills Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...Republicans on Wednesday gave Senate approval to two bills that they said would increase transparency in collective bargaining for public employees, but which Democrats equated to union-busting...
Wisconsin GOP’s Latest Attack On Food Stamp Recipients Would Cost The State Millions Think Progress ...Wisconsin would have to spend millions of dollars to realize a Republican scheme to restrict how poor people shop for food, state fiscal analysts revealed Wednesday...
For Women In This State, Getting Pregnant Will No Longer Mean Losing A Job Think Progress ...On Tuesday, the New York State legislature passed a bill aimed at shielding pregnant women from workplace discrimination, which the governor has said he will sign...
Racist History Of ‘Right To Work’ Shows Threat To Black, Latino Workers Chicago Reporter ...Rauner may be a true believer in trickle-down ideology, but for major right-to-work supporters like the corporate-sponsored American Legislative Exchange Council (which pioneered the county-level approach Rauner is now taking), it’s all about removing unions as a political check on the power of corporations. But that will have real costs for working families in Illinois. And the costs will be highest for blacks and Latinos...
Why The FEC Won’t Crack Down On Campaign Finance Violations In 2016 Think Progress ...Though the election is more than a year away, several candidates and soon-to-be candidates have already been accused of campaign finance violations. But the head of the government’s main agency for investigating the claims and enforcing the laws on the books has publicly admitted that few violators will be brought to justice this election cycle...
Effort To Repeal Prevailing Wage Law Fails In Committee Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...A bill to repeal the state's (Wisconsin) prevailing wage failed in committee Thursday, when Republican Sen. Howard Marklein joined the panel's two Democrats to block the measure...
Pence Signs Bill Repealing Indiana Construction Wage Law Indianapolis Business Journal ...Local boards will no longer set minimum wages for public construction projects in Indiana under a law signed Wednesday by Gov. Mike Pence. The bill will eliminate the boards that set what is known as the common construction wage that workers must be paid on most state or local government projects...
Senate Votes To Block Union Dues Deduction For Some Public Employees Houston Chronicle ...Senate Bill 1968 would allow the payroll deductions to continue for police, fire and emergency-services employees -- groups that generally vote Republican in most parts of Texas -- but would not allow them for other unions, such as those for teachers, construction trades and other unions...
U.S. Labor
The 40-Hour Work Week Is A Thing Of The Past Wall Street Journal ...The phrase “nine to five” is becoming an anachronism. About half of all managers work more than 40 hours a week, according to a new survey from tax and consulting firm EY, and 39% report that their hours have increased in the past five years. Little wonder, then, that one-third of workers say it’s getting more difficult to balance work and life...
U.S. Productivity Falls 1.9% In First Quarter Wall Street Journal ...U.S. worker productivity fell in the opening months of 2015, extending a poor track record since the recession and underscoring longer-term risks to American workers’ wages...
Making The Economy Work For The Many, Not The Few -- Step 1: Raise The Minimum Wage (opinion) Huffington Post ...If the minimum wage in 1968 had simply kept up with inflation it would be more than $10 today. If it also kept up with the added productivity of American workers since then, it would be more than $21 an hour. Some opponents say minimum wage workers are teenagers seeking some extra pocket money. Wrong. Half are 35 or older, and many are key breadwinners for their families. And don't believe scaremongers who say a $15 minimum will cause employers to cut employment. More money in people's pockets means more demand for goods and services, which means more jobs not fewer jobs...
U.S. Employers Add Solid 223,000 Jobs, Unemployment Rate Falls To 7-Year Low Huffington Post ...U.S. employers added 223,000 jobs in April, a solid gain that suggests that the economy may be recovering after stumbling at the start of the year. The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate dipped to 5.4 percent from 5.5 percent in March. That is the lowest rate since May 2008, six months into the Great Recession...
Miscellaneous
Oil Train Erupts In Flames In North Dakota Wall Street Journal ...A BNSF Railway Co. train carrying crude oil derailed Wednesday morning in rural North Dakota, erupting into flames and sending billows of black smoke into the air...
What Will Happen To American Jobs, Incomes, And Wealth A Decade From Now? (opinion) Huffington Post ...We are now faced not just with labor-replacing technologies but with knowledge-replacing technologies. The combination of advanced sensors, voice recognition, artificial intelligence, big data, text-mining, and pattern-recognition algorithms, is generating smart robots capable of quickly learning human actions, and even learning from one another. A revolution in life sciences is also underway, allowing drugs to be tailored to a patient's particular condition and genome...
Break Up Big Banks (opinion) Huffington Post ...We don't hear it discussed much in the media, but the reality is that the middle class of this country, once the envy of the world, is collapsing, 45 million Americans are living in poverty, and the gap between the rich and everyone else is growing wider and wider...
Wall Street Had Five Years To Prove They Can Control Their Computers. They Failed. Think Progress ...Regulators have struggled to explain the 2010 flash crash, first blaming it on legitimate trades made by a Kansas-based firm and then charging one individual trader with intentionally creating the crash from his parents’ basement. It’s not clear that either explanation is correct, though, and that very inability to convincingly diagnose what happened that day underscores how loose human control over digitized trading strategies has become...
Trucking Company Shows Facebook Road To Future New York Times ...Frustrated by Swift Transportation’s co-founder and chief executive, Jerry Moyes, the company’s shareholders will be voting at Friday’s annual meeting whether to eliminate a dual-share structure that grants him control. Owners of Facebook and other similarly feudalistic frameworks one day may find themselves similarly frustrated...
Teamsters Support Alaska Airlines Contract Workers Fight for $15, Union Teamster.org ...The Teamsters Airline Division has pledged its support of contract workers at Alaska Airlines who are fighting for fair wages and union representation. The contract workers picketed outside airports across country today in an effort to raise public awareness of their fight...
Fired Workers Win Back Their Jobs Times News Weekly ...Allan Henry, an organizer for the Teamsters, said that after speaking out against Five Star Carting and their working conditions, Bush and Darden were told to sign papers deeming them terminated before they could receive their paychecks. “Now they both have their jobs back, but this is the type of working conditions and the type of retaliation these workers are dealing in this industry,” Henry said...
Strike At McMahon Distributeur Pharmaceutique Inc’s Montreal DC Materials Management & Distribution ...Unionized employees, represented by the Teamsters Québec, local 1999, are on strike at McMahon Distributeur pharmaceutique inc’s Montreal DC. The union rejected the company’s offer after several months of bargaining...
De Blasio Administration To Begin Horse-Carriage Outreach Capital New York ...The de Blasio administration began its outreach on Monday to horse-carriage drivers and others who would be affected by legislation to abolish the industry...
Global Labor & Trade
Costa Rica Announces Plan To Eradicate Child Labor By 2020 Tico Times ...During an event Monday morning, Costa Rica announced an initiative to get more than 40,000 children out of the workforce. The multi-pronged approach builds off previous efforts to reduce child labor and aims to eliminate the practice altogether by 2020...
TTIP Talks Dubbed Secretive And Undemocratic Sputnik ...As the EU Foreign Affairs Council re-starts discussions on Thursday on the trade and investment partnership with the United States (TTIP), a senior UN official has dubbed the talks undemocratic and secretive. The controversial TTIP agreement has been pushed through by US President Barack Obama, who has called for the negotiations for the world's biggest trade agreement to be speeded up. As the talks get underway in Brussels on May 7, the Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, Alfred de Zayas, expressed deep concerns over the talks...
TPP, TTIP And TISA: How The Media Misrepresent Obama’s “Fast Track” “Secret” International Trade Deals Centre for Research on Globalization ...Both conservative and liberal ‘news’ media misrepresent U.S. President Barack Obama’s proposed international trade-deals as if they were about only such things as lowering tariffs and reducing national trade-protectionism — which are relatively minor surface-features of these huge proposed treaties: TTIP with Europe, TPP with Asia, and TISA (Trade in Services Agreement)...
Obama's Scheduled Visit To Nike Has Trade Deal Skeptics Scratching Their Heads Huffington Post ...Nike, which is regarded as a pioneer in overseas outsourcing, has a long and checkered labor history in Vietnam. The footwear and apparel giant was pilloried for alleged sweatshop conditions in its contracted factories in Vietnam back in the 1990s, bruising its public image. By most accounts, Nike has helped make significant safety improvements in factories through its own monitoring programs since then, but wages in Vietnam are still extremely low, and the government has a poor track record of enforcing labor laws there...
State & Living Wage Battles
Pennsylvania Senate OKs Public Employee Collective Bargaining Bills Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...Republicans on Wednesday gave Senate approval to two bills that they said would increase transparency in collective bargaining for public employees, but which Democrats equated to union-busting...
Wisconsin GOP’s Latest Attack On Food Stamp Recipients Would Cost The State Millions Think Progress ...Wisconsin would have to spend millions of dollars to realize a Republican scheme to restrict how poor people shop for food, state fiscal analysts revealed Wednesday...
For Women In This State, Getting Pregnant Will No Longer Mean Losing A Job Think Progress ...On Tuesday, the New York State legislature passed a bill aimed at shielding pregnant women from workplace discrimination, which the governor has said he will sign...
Racist History Of ‘Right To Work’ Shows Threat To Black, Latino Workers Chicago Reporter ...Rauner may be a true believer in trickle-down ideology, but for major right-to-work supporters like the corporate-sponsored American Legislative Exchange Council (which pioneered the county-level approach Rauner is now taking), it’s all about removing unions as a political check on the power of corporations. But that will have real costs for working families in Illinois. And the costs will be highest for blacks and Latinos...
Why The FEC Won’t Crack Down On Campaign Finance Violations In 2016 Think Progress ...Though the election is more than a year away, several candidates and soon-to-be candidates have already been accused of campaign finance violations. But the head of the government’s main agency for investigating the claims and enforcing the laws on the books has publicly admitted that few violators will be brought to justice this election cycle...
Effort To Repeal Prevailing Wage Law Fails In Committee Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...A bill to repeal the state's (Wisconsin) prevailing wage failed in committee Thursday, when Republican Sen. Howard Marklein joined the panel's two Democrats to block the measure...
Pence Signs Bill Repealing Indiana Construction Wage Law Indianapolis Business Journal ...Local boards will no longer set minimum wages for public construction projects in Indiana under a law signed Wednesday by Gov. Mike Pence. The bill will eliminate the boards that set what is known as the common construction wage that workers must be paid on most state or local government projects...
Senate Votes To Block Union Dues Deduction For Some Public Employees Houston Chronicle ...Senate Bill 1968 would allow the payroll deductions to continue for police, fire and emergency-services employees -- groups that generally vote Republican in most parts of Texas -- but would not allow them for other unions, such as those for teachers, construction trades and other unions...
U.S. Labor
The 40-Hour Work Week Is A Thing Of The Past Wall Street Journal ...The phrase “nine to five” is becoming an anachronism. About half of all managers work more than 40 hours a week, according to a new survey from tax and consulting firm EY, and 39% report that their hours have increased in the past five years. Little wonder, then, that one-third of workers say it’s getting more difficult to balance work and life...
U.S. Productivity Falls 1.9% In First Quarter Wall Street Journal ...U.S. worker productivity fell in the opening months of 2015, extending a poor track record since the recession and underscoring longer-term risks to American workers’ wages...
Making The Economy Work For The Many, Not The Few -- Step 1: Raise The Minimum Wage (opinion) Huffington Post ...If the minimum wage in 1968 had simply kept up with inflation it would be more than $10 today. If it also kept up with the added productivity of American workers since then, it would be more than $21 an hour. Some opponents say minimum wage workers are teenagers seeking some extra pocket money. Wrong. Half are 35 or older, and many are key breadwinners for their families. And don't believe scaremongers who say a $15 minimum will cause employers to cut employment. More money in people's pockets means more demand for goods and services, which means more jobs not fewer jobs...
U.S. Employers Add Solid 223,000 Jobs, Unemployment Rate Falls To 7-Year Low Huffington Post ...U.S. employers added 223,000 jobs in April, a solid gain that suggests that the economy may be recovering after stumbling at the start of the year. The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate dipped to 5.4 percent from 5.5 percent in March. That is the lowest rate since May 2008, six months into the Great Recession...
Miscellaneous
Oil Train Erupts In Flames In North Dakota Wall Street Journal ...A BNSF Railway Co. train carrying crude oil derailed Wednesday morning in rural North Dakota, erupting into flames and sending billows of black smoke into the air...
What Will Happen To American Jobs, Incomes, And Wealth A Decade From Now? (opinion) Huffington Post ...We are now faced not just with labor-replacing technologies but with knowledge-replacing technologies. The combination of advanced sensors, voice recognition, artificial intelligence, big data, text-mining, and pattern-recognition algorithms, is generating smart robots capable of quickly learning human actions, and even learning from one another. A revolution in life sciences is also underway, allowing drugs to be tailored to a patient's particular condition and genome...
Break Up Big Banks (opinion) Huffington Post ...We don't hear it discussed much in the media, but the reality is that the middle class of this country, once the envy of the world, is collapsing, 45 million Americans are living in poverty, and the gap between the rich and everyone else is growing wider and wider...
Wall Street Had Five Years To Prove They Can Control Their Computers. They Failed. Think Progress ...Regulators have struggled to explain the 2010 flash crash, first blaming it on legitimate trades made by a Kansas-based firm and then charging one individual trader with intentionally creating the crash from his parents’ basement. It’s not clear that either explanation is correct, though, and that very inability to convincingly diagnose what happened that day underscores how loose human control over digitized trading strategies has become...
Trucking Company Shows Facebook Road To Future New York Times ...Frustrated by Swift Transportation’s co-founder and chief executive, Jerry Moyes, the company’s shareholders will be voting at Friday’s annual meeting whether to eliminate a dual-share structure that grants him control. Owners of Facebook and other similarly feudalistic frameworks one day may find themselves similarly frustrated...
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Today's Teamster News 04.09.15
Teamsters
Teamster Correctional Officers in Washington State Earn Community Support Local 117 ...Over the last few weeks, members at Clallam Bay Corrections Center (CBCC) have talked with dozens of local, small business owners, and over 50 businesses have pledged their support for getting our DOC contract funded...
New Bethlehem Township Contracts Give Raises, Increase Benefits Contributions Lehigh Valley Express-Times ...Bethlehem Township on Monday approved new contracts with 35 union employees, giving them 2 percent raises for two years and a 3 percent raise in 2017...
New York City Carriage Horses Are Stress-Free Even After Long Day Of Trotting, Academic Says New York Daily News ...A California academic who specializes in equine medicine conducted an intensive study of stress levels on Big Apple carriage horses and found them completely angst-free – even after a long day trotting in Central Park...
Union Demands Independent Autopsy After Worker Dies Using NYCHA Hoist New York Daily News ...Greg Floyd, president of Teamsters Local 237, questioned the city’s findings. “The position that she was found in, the head wound, the trauma was not addressed,” he said. “I’m calling for an independent autopsy by somebody who does not have a political interest to tell us what killed Toni Jackson.”...
Global Labor & Trade
US Congress continues TPP fast-track negotiations as presidential race heats up ABC Rural ...It's crunch time for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the ambitious and controversial attempt to create a free trade bloc for the Asia-Pacific. But as talks enter the final stages, there's growing concern the deal could stall because of domestic politics in the US...
As Fast Track/TPP Becomes New Third Rail, Where Is Clinton? Huffington Post ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has become a new "third rail" for progressives and the activist Democratic "base." The thing is that more and more people are seeing it. And more and more people are asking Hillary Clinton to lead the fight against it...
Saving Seeds: Farmers Rise Up Against Industry-Backed Laws Common Dreams ...In Ghana, a coalition of students, trade unions, and small scale farmer organizations have mobilized against a pending Plant Breeders' Rights Bill, that would place aggressive legal restrictions against a farmer's use of seeds...
Exploited and Sexually Abused Qatari Migrant Workers Forced to Run Marathon Alternet ...Migrants who work under severe conditions often akin to slavery were forced to participate in a state-sponsored “megamarathon” in Doha, Qatar. Qatar is on schedule to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The International Trade Union Confederation has estimated that 4,000 migrant workers will die during construction...
State & Living Wage Battles
Right To Work In Ohio? Niche Panel Will Consider Cincinnati.com ...A niche legislative panel will consider adding right to work to the Ohio constitution, although the proposal – submitted by an Ohio citizen and obtained by The Enquirer – appears unlikely to pass...
Sweeping Collective Bargaining Reform Gets Legislative Hearing Las Vegas Review Journal ...A bill that would allow local governments to opt out of the state’s collective bargaining law was heard Tuesday in the Assembly Government Affairs Committee, where local government officials said it would give them flexibility to handle tight budgets and union representatives said it would gut recruitment and retention and jeopardize public safety...
Alabama Bill Would Increase Workers' Comp Benefits For Amputees NPR ...Alabama lawmakers have introduced a bill that would nearly triple the maximum compensation for workers who suffer amputations on the job. The bill, filed April 2, comes less than a month after a ProPublica and NPR investigation showed that Alabama had the lowest such benefits in the country...
Kansas Welfare Bill Would Cut Into Benefits With ATM Fees FiveThirtyEight ...Under the new rules, if someone receiving benefits plans to use her money to make a $600 rent payment, she’ll need to start withdrawing money and setting it aside 24 days in advance. So over 24 days, this hypothetical woman would lose $24 in fees; she’d need to start one day earlier to make her rent payment...
U.S. Labor
NLRB hits Postal Service over response to cyber breach Washington Post ...The National Labor Relations Board has filed a complaint calling on the U.S. Postal Service to negotiate with employee groups over how quickly to tell personnel about cyber attacks that affect their personal data...
New Union Election Rules Set Amid Court Challenges CBS News ...The National Labor Relations Board on Monday issued guidance from its general counsel on implementing the rules, adopted by the agency last year and set to take effect April 14, which shorten the time between a union filing a petition to represent workers and an election...
Growers Move to Gut California’s Farm Labor Law Capital & Main ...Gerawan Farming, one of the country’s largest growers, with 5,000 people picking its grapes and peaches, is challenging the California law that makes farm workers’ union rights enforceable. Lining up behind Gerawan are national anti-union think tanks...
Miscellaneous
Follow the Money: Invisible Investors Seek Big Bucks in Mass Incarceration Truthout ...Whether it be health care, food services or telecommunications, private equity firms rake in those big bucks by cutting corners on services, slashing jobs and wages, and taking advantage of pro-incarceration policy measures, from realignment to the war on drugs...
Living The High Life After Congress Huffington Post ...This is what ex-members of Congress and their staffs do nowadays. Rarely do they follow the example of ancient Rome's Cincinnatus and go back to the farm -- or take that teaching job at the local university or join a hometown law practice. They stay in DC to reap the bountiful harvest that comes from Capitol Hill experience and good old fashioned cronyism...
The Big Chill: How Big Money Is Buying Off Criticism Of Big Money (opinion) Huffington Post ...Our democracy is directly threatened when the rich buy off politicians. But no less dangerous is the quieter and more insidious buy-off of institutions democracy depends on to research, investigate, expose, and mobilize action against what is occurring...
Teamster Correctional Officers in Washington State Earn Community Support Local 117 ...Over the last few weeks, members at Clallam Bay Corrections Center (CBCC) have talked with dozens of local, small business owners, and over 50 businesses have pledged their support for getting our DOC contract funded...
New Bethlehem Township Contracts Give Raises, Increase Benefits Contributions Lehigh Valley Express-Times ...Bethlehem Township on Monday approved new contracts with 35 union employees, giving them 2 percent raises for two years and a 3 percent raise in 2017...
New York City Carriage Horses Are Stress-Free Even After Long Day Of Trotting, Academic Says New York Daily News ...A California academic who specializes in equine medicine conducted an intensive study of stress levels on Big Apple carriage horses and found them completely angst-free – even after a long day trotting in Central Park...
Union Demands Independent Autopsy After Worker Dies Using NYCHA Hoist New York Daily News ...Greg Floyd, president of Teamsters Local 237, questioned the city’s findings. “The position that she was found in, the head wound, the trauma was not addressed,” he said. “I’m calling for an independent autopsy by somebody who does not have a political interest to tell us what killed Toni Jackson.”...
Global Labor & Trade
US Congress continues TPP fast-track negotiations as presidential race heats up ABC Rural ...It's crunch time for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the ambitious and controversial attempt to create a free trade bloc for the Asia-Pacific. But as talks enter the final stages, there's growing concern the deal could stall because of domestic politics in the US...
As Fast Track/TPP Becomes New Third Rail, Where Is Clinton? Huffington Post ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has become a new "third rail" for progressives and the activist Democratic "base." The thing is that more and more people are seeing it. And more and more people are asking Hillary Clinton to lead the fight against it...
Saving Seeds: Farmers Rise Up Against Industry-Backed Laws Common Dreams ...In Ghana, a coalition of students, trade unions, and small scale farmer organizations have mobilized against a pending Plant Breeders' Rights Bill, that would place aggressive legal restrictions against a farmer's use of seeds...
Exploited and Sexually Abused Qatari Migrant Workers Forced to Run Marathon Alternet ...Migrants who work under severe conditions often akin to slavery were forced to participate in a state-sponsored “megamarathon” in Doha, Qatar. Qatar is on schedule to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The International Trade Union Confederation has estimated that 4,000 migrant workers will die during construction...
State & Living Wage Battles
Right To Work In Ohio? Niche Panel Will Consider Cincinnati.com ...A niche legislative panel will consider adding right to work to the Ohio constitution, although the proposal – submitted by an Ohio citizen and obtained by The Enquirer – appears unlikely to pass...
Sweeping Collective Bargaining Reform Gets Legislative Hearing Las Vegas Review Journal ...A bill that would allow local governments to opt out of the state’s collective bargaining law was heard Tuesday in the Assembly Government Affairs Committee, where local government officials said it would give them flexibility to handle tight budgets and union representatives said it would gut recruitment and retention and jeopardize public safety...
Alabama Bill Would Increase Workers' Comp Benefits For Amputees NPR ...Alabama lawmakers have introduced a bill that would nearly triple the maximum compensation for workers who suffer amputations on the job. The bill, filed April 2, comes less than a month after a ProPublica and NPR investigation showed that Alabama had the lowest such benefits in the country...
Kansas Welfare Bill Would Cut Into Benefits With ATM Fees FiveThirtyEight ...Under the new rules, if someone receiving benefits plans to use her money to make a $600 rent payment, she’ll need to start withdrawing money and setting it aside 24 days in advance. So over 24 days, this hypothetical woman would lose $24 in fees; she’d need to start one day earlier to make her rent payment...
U.S. Labor
NLRB hits Postal Service over response to cyber breach Washington Post ...The National Labor Relations Board has filed a complaint calling on the U.S. Postal Service to negotiate with employee groups over how quickly to tell personnel about cyber attacks that affect their personal data...
New Union Election Rules Set Amid Court Challenges CBS News ...The National Labor Relations Board on Monday issued guidance from its general counsel on implementing the rules, adopted by the agency last year and set to take effect April 14, which shorten the time between a union filing a petition to represent workers and an election...
Growers Move to Gut California’s Farm Labor Law Capital & Main ...Gerawan Farming, one of the country’s largest growers, with 5,000 people picking its grapes and peaches, is challenging the California law that makes farm workers’ union rights enforceable. Lining up behind Gerawan are national anti-union think tanks...
Miscellaneous
Follow the Money: Invisible Investors Seek Big Bucks in Mass Incarceration Truthout ...Whether it be health care, food services or telecommunications, private equity firms rake in those big bucks by cutting corners on services, slashing jobs and wages, and taking advantage of pro-incarceration policy measures, from realignment to the war on drugs...
Living The High Life After Congress Huffington Post ...This is what ex-members of Congress and their staffs do nowadays. Rarely do they follow the example of ancient Rome's Cincinnatus and go back to the farm -- or take that teaching job at the local university or join a hometown law practice. They stay in DC to reap the bountiful harvest that comes from Capitol Hill experience and good old fashioned cronyism...
The Big Chill: How Big Money Is Buying Off Criticism Of Big Money (opinion) Huffington Post ...Our democracy is directly threatened when the rich buy off politicians. But no less dangerous is the quieter and more insidious buy-off of institutions democracy depends on to research, investigate, expose, and mobilize action against what is occurring...
Friday, December 19, 2014
Today's Teamster News 12.19.14
Teamster News
Teamsters settles grievance with town over surveilance cameras in town hall Watertown Daily Times ...the language added to the contract though helps alleviate concerns that the cameras were being installed to monitor employees...
Hamburg Ratifies Contract Sun News ...After about two and a half years, clerical staff in the Hamburg Central School District have a new contract, with a five-year collective bargaining agreement between the district and Teamsters Local 264 unanimously approved at the school board’s Dec. 9 meeting...
Opposition to Carriage Horse Ban is Growing: Poll New York Observer ...Some 67 percent of residents polled in new Quinnipiac University poll released today said they do not believe Mayor Bill de Blasio should ban horse-drawn carriages, something he promised to do on “day one” of his administration. Just 22 percent of those polled supported the mayor’s plans to nix the industry...
Backing The Wrong Horse City Journal ...In threatening to ban Central Park horse carriages, he is taking on a popular and well-connected industry and making enemies out of natural allies. The 300 or so carriage drivers, represented by Teamsters Local 553, enjoy the support of the Central Labor Council, representing 1.3 million workers in the five boroughs, as well as the left-wing Working Families Party...
Security Workers At Indian Point Have 5-Year Contract Patch ...Entergy and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 456 have a new contract for the union’s approximately 186 members who work in security positions at the Indian Point Energy Center...
Offset Paperback Won’t Eliminate 37 Jobs Citizens Voice ...Unionized employees are represented by the Graphic Communications Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 137C...
Hernando Commission Approves Proposed Contract With Employees Tampa Bay Times ...The county's roughly 430 bargaining unit members with Teamsters Local 79 will vote on the pact at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 5 in the jury assembly room at the Hernando County Government Center. Teamsters business agent John Sholtes is enthusiastically supportive of the proposed contract...
Trade
Elizabeth Warren, other Democrats raise concerns about free-trade pact with Asia Washington Post ...Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday voiced new concerns over President Obama’s trade agenda as congressional Democrats ramp up efforts to slow the administration’s bid to finalize a major free-trade pact in Asia that the president has called a top priority...
"NAFTA on Steroids" Trade Talks to Wrap Up The Free Press ..."This whole thing is an attempt to make sure that capitalism runs completely unabated by any legislator or regulator," said Jackson at the November meeting of Maine's Citizen Trade Policy Commission, a panel of state lawmakers and stakeholders who advise federal policy makers on trade policy. "The few elite will decide what's best for all of us, and it won't get debated. It'll get voted up or down, and that is not transparent government in any shape or form."...
Latest secret TPPA leak reveals mass surveillance plans The Daily Blog ...a seemingly innocuous e-commerce chapter in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) could become a stalking horse for the NSA to get its hands on our personal data, as well as sweeping away privacy protections and controls on internet commerce...
Democrats urge officials to leave out investor-state dispute provisions in major trade deals The Hill ...Several House and Senate Democrats are urging the Obama administration to leave out provisions in a two major trade deals they say could lead to changes in U.S. finanical regulations...
State Battles
Wisconsin Teamsters laying groundwork for right-to-work battle TeamsterNation ...Anti-worker politicians in Wisconsin are spoiling for a fight against working people in 2015, and Wisconsin Teamsters are ready to defend them if necessary...
Foes of Unions Try Their Luck in County Laws New York Times ...Beginning here in the hometown of Senator Rand Paul and the Chevy Corvette, groups including the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Heritage Foundation and a newly formed nonprofit called Protect My Check are working together to influence local governments the same way they have influenced state legislatures, and anti-union ordinances are just the first step in the coordinated effort they envision...
Indiana Supreme Court Dismisses ‘Right To Work’ Challenge Indianapolis Star ...The Indiana Supreme Court has dismissed a second challenge to the state’s “right to work” law. The state’s high court unanimously dismissed the case Tuesday — a move that was expected after justices upheld the law in a similar case last month...
Why Did Wisconsin Club for Growth Send $750K to a Dark-Money Group in Missouri Last Year? Express Express ...I’ve always wondered why a Missouri-based attorney was mixed up in a case involving Wisconsin’s campaign finance laws. Is the Wisconsin Club for Growth’s money the link? And, if so, why?...
EBay parts ways with controversial political group ALEC Reuters ...Ebay Inc said on Thursday that it will end its association with the American Legislative Exchange Council, a political group that other tech companies dropped earlier this year due to its views on climate change...
Uber Strikes Deal With Portland to Suspend Service for Three Months Wall Street Journal ...Uber reached an agreement with Portland to suspend operations in the city for three months while regulators work to revise rules around taxis that currently prohibit ridesharing apps...
After A Spate Of Bad Press For Uber, Some Turn Back To Traditional Taxicabs New York Daily News ...The renegade taxi service has been a worldwide punching bag all year — thanks to prices that become astronomical during peak times, a company official who suggested investigating reporters, drivers who have sexually harassed and allegedly raped customers, and claims of bizarre routes meant to jack up prices — and more and more New Yorkers are hitting delete...
War on Workers
America’s Wealth Gap Is Becoming a Wealth Chasm Slate …"The upper fifth of households by income, their typical wealth levels have indeed started to mend from the devastation of the Great Recession," says Richard Fry, a researcher at Pew and author on the report. "But for the bottom four-fifths of households, particularly the middle income households, they’ve made no gains."...
Meet the Men and Women on the Hill Who Told Citigroup to Go to Hell Wall Street on Parade ...Citigroup received the largest taxpayer bailout in history during the financial crisis as a result of its unchecked derivatives: $45 billion in TARP funds; over $306 billion in asset guarantees; and more than $2 trillion in low-cost loans from the Fed according to the General Accountability Office. The abject repulsion that the very bank that got the biggest handout and played a pivotal role in collapsing the economy should now be gaming Congress to repeal financial protections drew a joint letter of protest from Republican Senator David Vitter of Louisiana and Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio...
Sorry, Kevin Yoder: Your measure really is about helping the big banks (opinion) Kansas City Star ...Ever since he was named last week as the sponsor of a controversial measure rolling back a significant financial reform, U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder has been trying to have it both ways. The Republican from Kansas wants constituents to think his motives were all about helping out community banks and farmers. But the biggest beneficiaries are Wall Street banks, which already have rewarded Yoder handsomely and will continue to do so...
20 States Raise Their Minimum Wages While the Federal Minimum Continues to Erode Economic Policy Institute ...these increases will provide workers with $2.5 billion in additional wages over the course of the year. This added pay represents a modest, but significant, boost to the spending power of the affected workers, many of whom have children and families to support...
Oil Trains Hold Upper Hand As Pipeline Called Off Houston Chronicle ...The big increase in rail transport has raised safety concerns and pushed regulators to examine hazardous materials shipping standards in the face of high-profile accidents - including a July 6, 2013, derailment and explosion that killed 47 people in Lac-Megantic, Quebec...
Miscellaneous
Beach man saved by UPS worker dies in hospital surrounded by family WTKR ... Last week Marvin went into cardiac arrest while inside the Calvary Baptist Church in Virginia Beach. At that moment, UPS workers Sisha Perea and her husband Rob pulled up to deliver a package. Sisha gave Marvin CPR and saved his life...
Teamsters settles grievance with town over surveilance cameras in town hall Watertown Daily Times ...the language added to the contract though helps alleviate concerns that the cameras were being installed to monitor employees...
Hamburg Ratifies Contract Sun News ...After about two and a half years, clerical staff in the Hamburg Central School District have a new contract, with a five-year collective bargaining agreement between the district and Teamsters Local 264 unanimously approved at the school board’s Dec. 9 meeting...
Opposition to Carriage Horse Ban is Growing: Poll New York Observer ...Some 67 percent of residents polled in new Quinnipiac University poll released today said they do not believe Mayor Bill de Blasio should ban horse-drawn carriages, something he promised to do on “day one” of his administration. Just 22 percent of those polled supported the mayor’s plans to nix the industry...
Backing The Wrong Horse City Journal ...In threatening to ban Central Park horse carriages, he is taking on a popular and well-connected industry and making enemies out of natural allies. The 300 or so carriage drivers, represented by Teamsters Local 553, enjoy the support of the Central Labor Council, representing 1.3 million workers in the five boroughs, as well as the left-wing Working Families Party...
Security Workers At Indian Point Have 5-Year Contract Patch ...Entergy and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 456 have a new contract for the union’s approximately 186 members who work in security positions at the Indian Point Energy Center...
Offset Paperback Won’t Eliminate 37 Jobs Citizens Voice ...Unionized employees are represented by the Graphic Communications Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 137C...
Hernando Commission Approves Proposed Contract With Employees Tampa Bay Times ...The county's roughly 430 bargaining unit members with Teamsters Local 79 will vote on the pact at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 5 in the jury assembly room at the Hernando County Government Center. Teamsters business agent John Sholtes is enthusiastically supportive of the proposed contract...
Trade
Elizabeth Warren, other Democrats raise concerns about free-trade pact with Asia Washington Post ...Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday voiced new concerns over President Obama’s trade agenda as congressional Democrats ramp up efforts to slow the administration’s bid to finalize a major free-trade pact in Asia that the president has called a top priority...
"NAFTA on Steroids" Trade Talks to Wrap Up The Free Press ..."This whole thing is an attempt to make sure that capitalism runs completely unabated by any legislator or regulator," said Jackson at the November meeting of Maine's Citizen Trade Policy Commission, a panel of state lawmakers and stakeholders who advise federal policy makers on trade policy. "The few elite will decide what's best for all of us, and it won't get debated. It'll get voted up or down, and that is not transparent government in any shape or form."...
Latest secret TPPA leak reveals mass surveillance plans The Daily Blog ...a seemingly innocuous e-commerce chapter in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) could become a stalking horse for the NSA to get its hands on our personal data, as well as sweeping away privacy protections and controls on internet commerce...
Democrats urge officials to leave out investor-state dispute provisions in major trade deals The Hill ...Several House and Senate Democrats are urging the Obama administration to leave out provisions in a two major trade deals they say could lead to changes in U.S. finanical regulations...
State Battles
Wisconsin Teamsters laying groundwork for right-to-work battle TeamsterNation ...Anti-worker politicians in Wisconsin are spoiling for a fight against working people in 2015, and Wisconsin Teamsters are ready to defend them if necessary...
Foes of Unions Try Their Luck in County Laws New York Times ...Beginning here in the hometown of Senator Rand Paul and the Chevy Corvette, groups including the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Heritage Foundation and a newly formed nonprofit called Protect My Check are working together to influence local governments the same way they have influenced state legislatures, and anti-union ordinances are just the first step in the coordinated effort they envision...
Indiana Supreme Court Dismisses ‘Right To Work’ Challenge Indianapolis Star ...The Indiana Supreme Court has dismissed a second challenge to the state’s “right to work” law. The state’s high court unanimously dismissed the case Tuesday — a move that was expected after justices upheld the law in a similar case last month...
Why Did Wisconsin Club for Growth Send $750K to a Dark-Money Group in Missouri Last Year? Express Express ...I’ve always wondered why a Missouri-based attorney was mixed up in a case involving Wisconsin’s campaign finance laws. Is the Wisconsin Club for Growth’s money the link? And, if so, why?...
EBay parts ways with controversial political group ALEC Reuters ...Ebay Inc said on Thursday that it will end its association with the American Legislative Exchange Council, a political group that other tech companies dropped earlier this year due to its views on climate change...
Uber Strikes Deal With Portland to Suspend Service for Three Months Wall Street Journal ...Uber reached an agreement with Portland to suspend operations in the city for three months while regulators work to revise rules around taxis that currently prohibit ridesharing apps...
After A Spate Of Bad Press For Uber, Some Turn Back To Traditional Taxicabs New York Daily News ...The renegade taxi service has been a worldwide punching bag all year — thanks to prices that become astronomical during peak times, a company official who suggested investigating reporters, drivers who have sexually harassed and allegedly raped customers, and claims of bizarre routes meant to jack up prices — and more and more New Yorkers are hitting delete...
War on Workers
America’s Wealth Gap Is Becoming a Wealth Chasm Slate …"The upper fifth of households by income, their typical wealth levels have indeed started to mend from the devastation of the Great Recession," says Richard Fry, a researcher at Pew and author on the report. "But for the bottom four-fifths of households, particularly the middle income households, they’ve made no gains."...
Meet the Men and Women on the Hill Who Told Citigroup to Go to Hell Wall Street on Parade ...Citigroup received the largest taxpayer bailout in history during the financial crisis as a result of its unchecked derivatives: $45 billion in TARP funds; over $306 billion in asset guarantees; and more than $2 trillion in low-cost loans from the Fed according to the General Accountability Office. The abject repulsion that the very bank that got the biggest handout and played a pivotal role in collapsing the economy should now be gaming Congress to repeal financial protections drew a joint letter of protest from Republican Senator David Vitter of Louisiana and Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio...
Sorry, Kevin Yoder: Your measure really is about helping the big banks (opinion) Kansas City Star ...Ever since he was named last week as the sponsor of a controversial measure rolling back a significant financial reform, U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder has been trying to have it both ways. The Republican from Kansas wants constituents to think his motives were all about helping out community banks and farmers. But the biggest beneficiaries are Wall Street banks, which already have rewarded Yoder handsomely and will continue to do so...
20 States Raise Their Minimum Wages While the Federal Minimum Continues to Erode Economic Policy Institute ...these increases will provide workers with $2.5 billion in additional wages over the course of the year. This added pay represents a modest, but significant, boost to the spending power of the affected workers, many of whom have children and families to support...
Oil Trains Hold Upper Hand As Pipeline Called Off Houston Chronicle ...The big increase in rail transport has raised safety concerns and pushed regulators to examine hazardous materials shipping standards in the face of high-profile accidents - including a July 6, 2013, derailment and explosion that killed 47 people in Lac-Megantic, Quebec...
Miscellaneous
Beach man saved by UPS worker dies in hospital surrounded by family WTKR ... Last week Marvin went into cardiac arrest while inside the Calvary Baptist Church in Virginia Beach. At that moment, UPS workers Sisha Perea and her husband Rob pulled up to deliver a package. Sisha gave Marvin CPR and saved his life...
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