Today's Teamster News 07.30.15

Teamsters
Teamsters Remember James R. Hoffa on 40th Anniversary of Disappearance  Teamster.org  ...July 30, 2015 marks the 40th anniversary of the disappearance of one of the greatest labor leaders in American history – James R. Hoffa. As Teamsters General President, Hoffa honed his well-earned reputation as a tough and effective bargainer and gained the respect of labor and business leaders alike across the country. He worked hard to expand the number of working men and women who were protected by union contracts...
Hoffa: Senate Transportation Bill is Positive Step, but Safety Issues Remain  Teamster.org  ...Since 2008, Congress has transferred more than $62 billion from the general fund to keep the Highway Trust Fund afloat, and it has been more than a decade since Congress has passed a highway bill more than two years in duration. Meanwhile, infrastructure continues to crumble and the safety of those who work and travel along the vast network of U.S. roads and rails is being jeopardized. Despite a serious effort by the Senate to pass a long-term bill in advance of the July 31 funding deadline, here we are once again – recess and a three-month, short-term fix...
Plumbers and Pipefitters avert strike, Teamsters end strike  Belleville News-Democrat  ...Workers from two metro-east-area unions have reached tentative agreements with their respective bargaining units after one had been on strike and the other had threatened a work stoppage. About 80 members of the Teamsters Union Local 50 in Swansea are back to work after walking the picket line for just more than a week. The union confirmed a tentative agreement was reached July 24 after the union had gone on strike July 16. The union’s brief strike halted the delivery of ready-mix concrete throughout the metro-east for seven working days...
New bill would stand up for workers against misclassification  Teamster Nation  ...For years, the Teamsters have stood with port truck drivers in Southern California, Georgia and elsewhere who have been repeatedly shortchanged on wages, fair labor standards, health and safety protections and unemployment and workers' compensation benefits. This afternoon, several members of Congress rolled out legislation that would prohibit the practice as a way for companies to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. The measure, "The Payroll Fraud Prevention Act," requires all workers to be accurately classified as employees or non-employees...
Truck Drivers In Georgia Are Fight Back Against Wage Theft And Misclassification  NH Labor News  ...Throughout the country hard working men and women are being screwed out their hard earned money by companies who are “mis-classifying” their employees. These workers are getting shafted by these unscrupulous employers who are stealing from their own employers to line their pockets.  This is wrong and it has to stop! The good news is that in Georgia, workers are coming together to fight back. Watch this great video from the Port Drivers Union...

Global Labor & Trade
Environmentalists, union members protest Pacific trade pact being negotiated at Maui resort  Associated Press  ...About 400 protesters blew conch shells on a Hawaii beach on Wednesday to demonstrate against a trade agreement being negotiated by ministers from 12 Pacific Rim nations. The demonstrators blew into their shells in unison on the sand in front of the Westin Maui resort on Kaanapali Beach, where ministers were meeting this week to discuss the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact. Protest organizers say the trade agreement would benefit a few major corporations while sacrificing protections for public health, the environment, local jobs and indigenous rights...
Harper Says Canada ‘Cannot Be Left Out’ of Pacific Trade Deal  Bloomberg  ...Canada is determined to reach a final deal on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, though the government will safeguard the country’s highly restricted dairy and poultry markets “as best we can,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper said. While Canada has defended its protectionist system of quotas and tariffs, known as supply management, in previous trade talks, it’s become a sticking point in TPP negotiations...
Eyeing the 2016 election calendar, trade ministers meet in Hawaii  Washington Post  ...Trade ministers from a dozen nations have gathered at a beachside hotel in Maui on Tuesday for talks aimed at knocking down tariff barriers, clearing political hurdles and sealing a new Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement that would bind countries on both sides of the vast ocean. For the U.S. delegation, these late-stage negotiations may be the last chance to close the deal before it gets swamped by 2016 election politics...
Pro-trade Dems want green goals in TPP  The Hill  ...A group of pro-trade House Democrats penned letter on Wednesday, calling on the Obama administration to lock in strong environmental provisions as part of a massive Asia-Pacific trade deal. Reps. Earl Blumenauer (Ore.), Suzan DelBene (Wash.), Scott Peters (Calif.) and 16 other Democrats who supported President Obama’s trade agenda argue that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) presents a unique chance to raise global environmental standards...
EU steps up PR campaign to overcome U.S. trade deal hostility  Reuters  ...Using some of the tools employed by anti-trade campaigners, the European Commission, which is negotiating with the United States for a deal which may still be a year off, has taken the unusual step of launching video clips on YouTube. It has also published leaflets, fact sheets and "myth-busting" brochures to counter what it says are misconceptions about TTIP...
Secret Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) Treaty: State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) Issues for Ministerial Guidance  Wikileaks  ...Today, 29 July 2015, WikiLeaks releases a secret letter from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP or TPPA) Ministerial Meeting in December 2013, along with a comprehensive expert analysis of the document. The letter indicates a wide-ranging privatisation and globalisation strategy within the Agreement which aims to severely restrict "state-owned enterprises" (SOEs). SOEs continue to fulfil vital public functions in even the most privatised countries, such as Canada and Australia...
Pacific partners may discuss currency rules along with trade deal  Reuters  ...Pacific Rim trading partners might convene a top-level forum to discuss how to stop countries manipulating currencies for competitive advantage, Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb said on Tuesday. Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting in Hawaii where ministers are negotiating a 12-nation trade deal, Robb said member countries of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TTP) were considering a U.S. proposal for a separate forum...
Trans-Pacific Partnership: 'Magnificent' progress sets up tough ministerial talks  CBC  ...International Trade Minister Ed Fast meets his U.S. trade counterpart Michael Froman today in Maui, with key political decisions ahead on this second day of talks towards a Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal for 12 Pacific Rim countries. Ministerial talks began Tuesday afternoon in Hawaii, following a weekend of very long days for each country's negotiators in an attempt to clear the deck of minor or technical issues...
Osun NLC Suspends Strike Again, Recalls Workers  Channels Television  ...The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Osun State has again suspended its ongoing eight weeks industrial action, with a call on workers to resume work immediately. The workers union ended the strike after it singed another Memorandum Of Understanding (MoU) with the State government at the Governors Office in Abere, Osun State..

State & Living Wage Battles
Supreme Court upholds right-to-work for state workers  Detroit Free Press  ...The Michigan Supreme Court, in an opinion that has the effect of making state employees subject to Michigan’s 2012 right-to-work law, ruled Wednesday that Michigan's Civil Service Commission never had the authority to impose union fees on state workers, even before the controversial law was passed. The 4-3 ruling is a blow to the United Auto Workers and other unions representing about 36,000 state employees...
Jeb Bush's and Bill Clinton's Boasts of Economic Growth Based on Market Bubbles That Burst  Alternet  ...Paul Krugman rightly mocks Jeb Bush for taking credit for the strong growth in Florida during his tenure as governor. As Krugman points out, the reason for the strong growth was that Florida had one of the worst housing bubbles in the country. Its collapse gave Florida one of the worst downturns in the country...
Deadbeat corporations: How schools suffer when big companies don’t pay their fair share of state taxes  Salon  ...Corporations have reaped trillion-dollar benefits from 60 years of public education in the U.S., but they’re skipping out on the taxes meant to sustain the educational system. Children suffer from repeated school cutbacks. And parents subsidize the deadbeat corporations through increases in property taxes and sales taxes...
With new bump, Minnesota ushers in region's top minimum wage  Post Bulletin  ...Minnesota will vault past Illinois, Michigan and South Dakota this week to gain the highest minimum wage in the Midwestern region at $9 an hour, which also will rank among the most-generous state-wage floors in the country. The dollar-per-hour bump taking effect Saturday for about 288,000 of Minnesota's lowest-paid workers is the second of a three-stage increase adopted in 2014, when the state had one of the lowest minimum wages in the region...
University of California raises minimum wage to $15  USA Today  ...While fast food workers successfully organized and pushed legislation calling for action on a $15 minimum wage in New York on July 22, 2015, the University of California has become the first public school in the nation to commit to a wage increase. On July 22, the 238,000-student university system joined pioneering municipalities mandating that the wages of all employees of the university’s 10 campuses, five medical centers and three national labs — both direct and service contract employees — be raised to $15 per hour over the next three years...
Voter ID Laws Focus of Kansas Civil Rights Committee  CBS  ...The Kansas division of a federal civil rights commission will investigate whether voter identification laws have affected turnout around the state. The Kansas Committee of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission voted Tuesday to hold hearings to determine if turnout in some communities has been suppressed...
Hedge Funds Want Puerto Rico To Fire Teachers To Pay Them Back  Huffington Post  ...As Puerto Rico teeters on the edge of default, a new report commissioned by a group of hedge funds insists the U.S. territory can avoid bankruptcy if it lays off teachers, sells off many of its public assets and collects more taxes. If the government tries to restructure or avoid paying its debts, it will be sued and the crisis in confidence that follows will make things much worse for the island, an author of the report argues...

Another Fight for Fair Pay in New York  (opinion) New York Times  ...Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently earned well-deserved praise for his efforts to secure a $15-an-hour minimum wage for fast-food workers in New York. Now another fight for fairness in pay is brewing in New York that also needs his support. The issue is payroll cards — prepaid debit cards issued to employees and refilled each payday with the employees’ wages in lieu of paper checks or direct deposits into a worker’s bank account...

U.S. Labor
Guardian US votes to unionize  Washington Post  ...The Guardian US, the stateside operation of the British newspaper, has voted to unionize under the News Media Guild, according to an announcement first reported by the Huffington Post. The vote on the matter was a unanimous 45 to 0, according to guild President Bernie Lunzer. The news marks something of a trend for unionization at American digital media properties...
Clinton-Sanders contest fosters discord within labor  Aljazeera  ...The 2016 presidential primary contest has fostered discord within some of America’s biggest labor unions, weakening frontrunner Hillary Clinton’s lock on the support of a key Democratic constituency. Although a majority of union leadership and rank-and-file members appear to still support Clinton, a growing activist bloc within the labor movement has thrown its support behind Sen. Bernie Sanders...
Hundreds Take to the Streets Over Chicago Board of Education’s Decision to Further Slash CPS Funding  In These Times  ...the crowd of about 200 people—most of them members of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU)—had grown to over 500. Among them were teachers, parents and members of community organizations like Communities United, Brighton Park Neighborhood Council (BPNC), the parent group Bad Ass Moms (BAMs) and Fight for $15, all of whom rejected the cuts and accused the Board of Ed of being "broke on purpose"...
Illinois, public labor union extend no-strike agreement  Reuters  ...The state of Illinois and its biggest labor union on Wednesday extended for two-months an agreement preventing strikes or lockouts while contract negotiations continue. Republican Governor Bruce Rauner also vetoed a bill sought by public employee labor unions that would send collective bargaining disputes to binding arbitration...
Victory for Farmworkers as Major Grocer Meets Demands for Fair Food   Common Dreams  ...The Immokalee, Florida farmworkers who have captured international attention for their decades of successful organizing against starvation wages, debt bondage, and slavery, racked up another human rights victory on Wednesday when Ahold USA agreed to become the first major grocer in the United States to join the organization's Fair Food Program...
USW workers to march on ATI headquarters  TribLive  ...Negotiators for ATI Flat-rolled Products have submitted another contract proposal to the United Steelworkers Union that shows some movement on health care issues. The USW, which represents ATI's 11 flat-rolled products plants and its 2,200 workers, said the proposal, which apparently was made last weekend, “falls far short” on the issues including health care, retirement security and scheduling...
Transit System and Amalgamated Transit Union to start negotiations Thursday  CBS  ...The Milwaukee County Transit System issued a press release today stating the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 and MCTS will go back to the bargaining table on Thursday, July 30.
It has been nearly a month since the ATU's strike. Milwaukee County Transit System claims the  ATU President James Macon is demanding $9 million more than what MCTS can afford...
After Threatening To Strike, NYC Airport Workers Win Union Agreement, Say They’ll Push for $15  In These Times  ...Twelve hundred workers at New York’s John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports may soon be negotiating a union contract after pressuring management with the threat of a strike. On July 22, Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) announced that the workers’ employer, Aviation Safeguards, has agreed to remain neutral as they seek to join the SEIU through a “card check” recognition process...
United Farm Workers Turns Up Heat On California Growers  Growing Produce  ...his week, as high temperatures in parts of California’s Central Valley are expected to hover around 110 degrees, United Farm Workers (UFW) has been filing notices of intent to take access with the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB). According to a report from Western Growers, more than 30 access filings have actually been submitted over the past month. In addition to the Central Valley, UFW organizers have visited a number of farms along the state’s southern and northern coasts...
Democrats Want To Extend Civil Rights Protections To Unpaid Interns  Huffington Post  ...Unpaid interns in most states aren't covered by the same workplace discrimination and harassment laws as employees, but some House Democrats are trying to change that. Three lawmakers introduced a trio of bills Tuesday aimed at closing loopholes that exclude unpaid interns from protection. The Civil Rights Act doesn't currently cover such workers because they aren't compensated and therefore aren't technically employees...
Applications for US unemployment benefits rose last week to still-low level of 267,000  Associated Press  ...More people sought U.S. unemployment benefits last week, though the increase was from a very low level and the figures still point to a healthy job market. Applications for jobless aid rose 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 267,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. The four-week average, a less volatile figure that is a better measure of underlying trends, dropped 3,750 to 274,750...

Social Justice & Other News
Say Her Name: Protesters in Chicago Demand Justice for Sandra Bland  Truthout  ...This week, from Dallas to San Diego to the Midwest, activists and community members around the United States are answering a national call to demand justice for Sandra Bland, a Black woman and activist who died in police custody on July 13. In Chicago, protesters lifted up Sandra Bland's name on Michigan Avenue on July 28, as hundreds of protesters lined a bridge over the Chicago River, urging those who believe Black lives matter to "say her name"...
House passes three-month highway bill  The Hill  ...The House voted Wednesday to approve an $8 billion bill that would extend federal transportation funding until the end of October, sending it to the Senate with just two days to go before the nation's road and transit spending expires. The bill passed in a 385-34 vote, with Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) voting present. Senators are expected to accept the patch to prevent an interruption in the nation's infrastructure spending...
House Republicans Invite Architect Of The Financial Crisis Over For Advice  Think Progress  ...Five years after the passage of a sweeping Wall Street reform package in the wake of the worst financial crisis in generations, lawmakers opposed to strict government policing of the financial industry are inviting two prominent deregulators back to the scene of the crime. When the House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) hears from former Sen. Phil Gramm (R-TX) and longtime conservative analyst Peter Wallison on Tuesday, the pair will have their laissez-faire perspectives on the money business elevated once again...
Wishing Happy Birthday to Medicare, Communities Demand Healthcare for All  Common Dreams  ...From Hawaii to Florida to Maine, communities in 25 cities across the United States are staging rallies, picnics, and flash mobs this week to celebrate Thursday's 50th anniversary of Medicare—and call for its expansion into a system that provides publicly-funded healthcare for all...
Cincinnati Cop Charged With Murder in Fatal Shooting of Unarmed Black Man  Mother Jones  ...Officials in Hamilton County, Ohio, released body-camera footage on Wednesday that shows the shooting death of Samuel DuBose, an unarmed black man pulled over by University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing on July 19 for driving without a front license plate. The video was released as Hamilton County prosecutor Joe Deters announced that Tensing would be indicted on a charge of murder...

Today's Teamster News 07.14.15

Teamsters
McKesson Executive Compensation Under Fire, Again  Teamster.org  ...The country’s leading proxy voting advisor, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), recommends that McKesson shareholders vote for Item #7 on the company’s ballot -- a  Teamster-sponsored shareholder proposal to address the automatic accelerated vesting of equity awards for top executives in the event of a change of control...
Teamsters Union Files Lawsuit Against Republic Airways Calling On Fair Contracts  AvStop.com  ...Teamsters Local 357 in Plainfield, Ind., filed a lawsuit against Republic Airways for unilaterally changing pilots’ working conditions regarding “open time” flying without first agreeing with the union about those changes. More than 2,200 Republic pilots are members of Local 357 and have been seeking a fair contract from the company since 2007...

Global Labor & Trade
Obama Urged To Toss Canada Out Of TPP Trade Talks Over Dairy Supply Management  Huffington Post  ...U.S. politicians are pressuring the Obama administration to leave Canada out of a major and controversial trade deal, if Canada doesn't agree to deregulate its dairy and poultry industries and open them up to foreign competition. Reuters news service cites “two sources” close to the issue as saying the U.S. may go forward with the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) without Canada...
New trade fight brews for Obama, Dems  The Hill  ...A new trade fight is brewing between the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress. Sen. Bob Menendez (N.J.) and other Democrats opposed to President Obama’s trade agenda are worried the State Department will upgrade Malaysia’s ranking in a human trafficking report to be released this week to ensure the country can be included in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal...
Canada Trade Minister Says Supply Management Won’t Kill TPP Deal  Bloomberg  ...“I am confident that at the end of the day Canada will be part of the TPP,” Fast said. “We have some market access issues left to resolve. They’re always the toughest ones that remain to the end. This is no different than any other negotiation.” Fast will join other negotiators and ministers in Hawaii later this month as TPP talks reach the final stage. The 12 countries involved are entering “the end-game in these negotiations”...
US lawmakers, activists alarmed at upgrade in Malaysia’s human trafficking rating  Malaysia Insider  ...The New York Times (NYT) newspaper and Huffington Post website reported that US Senator Robert Menendez will call for an investigation if the US government upgrades Malaysia’s rating. A Reuters report on July 8 quoted sources as saying that the US government was upgrading Malaysia’s status, thus paving the way for it to sign on to the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA)...
Has US desire for Asia trade deal trumped slavery with Malaysia's ranking?  Christian Science Monitor  ...President Obama says he wants the United States at the forefront of efforts to end the global scourge of slavery and human trafficking. But at the same time, Mr. Obama is keen to advance international trade and America’s leadership role in the global trading system – particularly by concluding as early as this year a vast free-trade agreement with Asian-Pacific countries known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
Premier of Greece, Alexis Tsipras, Accepts Creditors’ Austerity Deal  New York Times  ...Forced by his nation’s creditors into broad new concessions to avert financial collapse, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of Greece returned home on Monday with just days to sell the deal to fractured lawmakers and a dazed electorate. The agreement he struck with other European leaders early Monday after a contentious all-night bargaining session would give Greece the chance to receive its third international bailout...
Greek Debt Crisis: European Ministers Want Greece To Limit Ability Of Workers To Strike  International Business Times   ...For Greek workers, it’s a painful cornerstone of the first two bailouts: Labor market reform. Now it’s part of a third rescue package, according to the most recent last-ditch agreement to keep Greece in the eurozone. The text released by European leaders on Monday is vague, but it suggests the following: Greece will keep in place existing restrictions on workers’ bargaining rights that creditors have successfully demanded in the past...
#ThisIsACoup: Greeks Denounce Bailout Deal That Calls for New Round of Austerity  Democracy Now  ...Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is facing protests from members of his own Syriza party after accepting harsh austerity measures in exchange for a new international bailout. In order for the deal to move forward, the Greek Parliament must accept pension cuts and other reforms by Wednesday, 10 days after voters rejected similar reforms in a referendum...
Osun Workers End Strike as Govt Commences Payment of Salaries  This Day Live  ...Osun State workers monday ended their six weeks strike after a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed with the state government to put an end to the industrial crisis in the state. Also, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC),  Joint Public Service Negotiating Councils (JPSNC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) in the state have dissociated the unions from the protests embarked upon by a ‘group of people’ in the state which the group claimed was over unpaid salaries...

State & Living Wage Battles
The Austerity Candidate? Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker Launches Presidential Bid on Anti-Union Record  Democracy Now  ...Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has become the 15th Republican candidate to formally announce he’s running for president. On Monday, Walker launched his campaign by touting his successful efforts to eviscerate public employee unions in his home state and later defeat a recall effort against him. He also extolled his record reducing taxes, cutting the size of the federal government and passing voter restrictions...
Wisconsin’s Construction Industry Is In For A Rough Ride — And So Are Its Taxpayers  Think Progress  ...About 24 hours before announcing his official White House candidacy, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) made life a lot harder for people who sweat for a living. “We may end up having to lay some people off,” Chris Martinez, owner of Dairyland Energy Solutions in Butler, WI, told ThinkProgress. Martinez was referring to Walker’s repeal of the state’s 80-year-old prevailing wage law...
Scott Walker Campaigns Against Unions, Wages, and Weekends  The Nation  ...Scott Walker has gone Bush one better. The governor of Wisconsin and Bush rival for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination just codified the concept. The state budget that Walker signed on Sunday as Wisconsin’s governor includes a provision that eliminates a historic guarantee that factory and retail employees “must get at least 24 consecutive hours of rest for every seven-day stretch” of work...
Missouri 'Right to Work' legislation hopes to gain supporters  Heartland Connection  ...Missouri lawmakers may be on summer break, but that hasn't stopped one grassroots organization from traveling around the state and educating citizens on 'Right to Work' legislation. That legislation would have allowed workers who choose not to join a labor union to avoid paying the equivalent of dues...
Paid sick days would be mandatory under ballot initiative  MLive  ...Michiganders soon may be asked to sign for sick days as a new group pushes for all workers to have access to that benefit. The Time to Care Coalition will lead a legislative ballot initiative and plans to collect more than 300,000 signatures. The group's proposal would allow workers to earn one hour of paid sick time for every 40 hours worked...
Oklahoma GOP Makes Case Against Food Stamps: ‘Don’t Feed The Animals’  Think Progress  ...The Oklahoma Republican Party is making the case against food stamps by comparing poor people to animals, reviving a stereotype that’s often deployed against Americans who rely on government benefits to feed their families. In a Facebook post published Monday night, the Oklahoma GOP suggested that the millions of Americans receiving food stamps this year should not be enrolled in the program because “the animals will grow dependent"...
States Battle Cities Over Minimum Wage  Huffington Post  ...Kansas City is caught in the middle of a national fight that pits labor against business and increasingly, cities against states. As city after city has voted to give low-wage workers a raise in recent years, state after state has passed laws limiting local governments’ power to do so...
Scott Walker calls minimum wage one of many ‘lame idea’ from Democrats  Washington Post  ...Scott Walker appeared to take aim at the national minimum wage on Monday evening, referring to it as one of many "lame ideas" pushed by Democrats. Walker's comment came in a lengthy interview with Fox News's Sean Hannity immediately following a speech formally announcing his entrance into the 2016 presidential race...
Protests greet start of voter ID trial in Winston-Salem  WNCN  ...The outcome of a trial that began Monday could have a major impact on voting rights in North Carolina, and the start of the trial drew a large protest in Winston-Salem. The issue is whether voting law changes approved by the Republican-led General Assembly weakens the ability of minor voters to influence elections. That question is now being debated before a federal judge...
If This Amendment Passes, Several States Would Lose Millions in Federal Education Funding  Think Progress  ...Today the U.S. Senate will convene to debate amendments to the bipartisan No Child Left Behind rewrite. The House passed its rewrite to No Child Left Behind, or the Student Success Act, last week in a 218 to 213 vote. Democrats and civil rights groups opposed it, arguing that the bill would hurt low-income students, disabled students and students of color. The president has threatened to veto it...

U.S. Labor
Congress Is Debating Whether or Not To Make It Easier for Bosses to Cheat Guestworkers  In These Times  ...In June, In These Times reported that industry groups have filed a lawsuit against new government-issued worker protections for H-2B guestworkers. That’s not their only strategy, however: new proposed riders on a Senate appropriations bill could block some of the new protections—and some old ones—no matter the outcome of the lawsuit. Many employers were outraged when the Obama administration passed new rules regulating the H-2B visa program...
Facing 'Retirement Crisis,' Sanders Leads Charge for Social Security Expansion  Common Dreams  ...On the eve of a once-in-a-decade White House Conference on Aging (WHCOA)—and in the face of what they describe as the "impending retirement savings crisis facing this nation"—a group of 70 Democratic lawmakers led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) on Sunday called on President Barack Obama to expand Social Security benefits...
Richard Trumka on Gov. Scott Walker’s Presidential Run: “Walker is a national disgrace”  In These Times  ...“Scott Walker is a national disgrace,” says Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, the United States’ largest union alliance, in response to Governor Scott Walker’s announcement of his presidential ambitions. His statement, composed of only six words, was released shortly before Walker’s announcement. Trumka’s expression of disgust should come as no surprise to those familiar with Walker’s union-busting policies...
UAW president: Contract talks with GM will not be easy  USA Today  ...Top officials from the UAW and General Motors were all smiles Monday as they kicked off contract talks and promised to work together even as sharp differences percolate just beneath the surface. This year, the union wants to win wage increases for autoworkers after years of rising sales and profits among U.S. automakers while the manufacturers will want to hold down labor costs...
KapStone millworkers to vote on 'unfair labor practice strike'  TDN.com  ...KapStone’s millworkers will be back to the polls this week to decide whether to go on an unfair labor practice strike, even as company and union officials continue federal mediation. Union members overwhelming approved of a measure in December that lends their bargaining board the power to call a strike if necessary. It’s been a month since Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers Local 153 provided the company with a 10-day strike notice...
Council approves 3-year pact with AFSCME   Coshocton Tribune  ...City Council has unanimously approved a new three-year contract with non-uniformed workers that matches the 2.5 percent annual raises granted firefighters last month. Mayor Steve Mercer said the new pact with Local 2551 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees will take effect Aug. 1. The current contract expires July 31...
Food Cart Vendors Are Getting Kicked to the Curb  The Nation  ...One of the strongest pillars of Los Angeles’s retail landscape isn’t a mom-and-pop storefront or a strip mall; in fact, it doesn’t even have a fixed address. The city is peppered with about 50,000 mobile food vendors, Old World startups on wheels, catering to high- and low-brow tastes ranging from grandma’s tamales to fresh tropical fruits to rolling shaved ice pops. But this vital layer of the urban foodie firmament has long operated essentially outside the law. And now controversy is swirling over a proposal to provide a formal permitting scheme to legalize their “microbusinesses”...

Miscellaneous
Wall Street’s sinister disappearing act: How it still endangers America — while Washington looks the other way  Salon  ...A common denominator bridges this gaping partisan chasm: Both sides ignore the role of Wall Street as a driver of inequality. In one sense, this is curious. If there is one group that is consistently among the least trusted and most disliked, it is the banks. Linking the core economic issue, inequality, to Wall Street makes for obvious populist appeal...
Hillary Clinton Lays Out Unexpectedly Tough Agenda On Wall Street  Think Progress  ...In the first major economic policy speech of her campaign, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton outlined her plan to crack down on major financial institutions and other players on Wall Street that have benefited from rising corporate profits while the middle class lags behind. “Over the course of this campaign, I will offer plans to reign in excessive risks on Wall Street and ensure that stock markets work for everyday investors, not just high-frequency traders or those with the best or fastest connections"...
Migrant Mothers and Children Being Freed From Detention  Truthout  ...Federal officials have begun releasing hundreds of detained mothers and children from the nation's family detention centers as part of plans to end long-term detention of migrant families. Nearly two hundred detained parents and children were released over the weekend, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials...
Opening Historic 'Possibility of Peace,' World Powers Clinch Iran Deal  Common Dreams  ...Following years of arduous negotiations, and decades of hostile relations, Iran and world powers on Tuesday announced a nuclear agreement that proponents say provides a historic opening for military deescalation, relief from devastating sanctions, and ultimately, peace. "This deal is a huge victory for diplomacy over war," Phyllis Bennis, senior fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies...

Today's Teamster News 07.09.15

Teamsters
Eco Flow Port Drivers Vote To Join Teamsters  Teamsters.org   ...Late on July 8, 2015, port truck drivers from Eco Flow Transportation, LLC, voted unanimously and selected Teamsters Local 848 as their exclusive bargaining agent in an election conducted by Region 21 of the National Labor Relations Board.  Pursuant to an agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Eco Flow agreed to remain neutral with respect to the drivers’ efforts to form a union...
Teamsters Local 340 Members Protest At City Council  Teamster.org  ...Local 340 members were out in force last night at the Biddeford, Maine, city council meeting to demand action on new contracts.  The city leaders have stalled negotiating on new contracts which cover 60 police officers and 50 public works employees which the local union has tried to negotiate for the past six months.
“The city is not negotiating in good faith…we have tried to meet them half way,”  said Ray Cote, business agent with Local 340...
Danafilms workers vote to join Teamsters  Telegram  ...Production employees of RKW Danafilms Inc. have voted to organize under Teamsters Local 170, the union reported this week. Workers at the plastic film manufacturer voted in April, but their ballots were impounded while the Teamsters pursued unfair labor practice charges against the company. The Teamsters reported that when ballots were finally counted June 29, the final vote was 23-13 to unionize...
Marker honoring fallen Minneapolis Teamsters to be dedicated July 18  Union Advocate  ...After a lengthy fundraising campaign, the Remember 1934 Committee will unveil a permanent plaque July 18 in the Warehouse District of downtown Minneapolis commemorating the historic Teamsters strikes that echoed across the U.S. – and made Minneapolis a union town...
Teamsters go on strike at Cranesville Block Company  Daily Gazette  ...Cement truck drivers at the Cranesville Block Co. plant in Glenville and Albany went on strike Wednesday. Among their demands are a reduction in what they pay toward company-provided health care and changes to the company’s pension program...

Global Labor & Trade
European Parliament backs key TTIP compromise  Politico  ...After months of fighting, the European Parliament voted to back a compromise on the most controversial piece in Europe’s evolving free trade pact with the U.S., while also giving its blessing to the future of the talks. The Parliament on Wednesday voted, 447-229, to green-light a proposal to revamp a disputed investor court...

Trans-Pacific Partnership’s Potential Impact Weighed in Asia and U.S.  New York Times  ...Banks from rich countries like the United States and Japan would have the right to be treated more like local banks in less affluent countries, including Peru, Malaysia and Vietnam. Japan would be required to let in more American farm goods. Makers of pharmaceuticals would have an extra tool to protect their patents abroad, limiting competition from less expensive generic drugs. Auto parts would move more smoothly around the Pacific, with fewer taxes...
Japan, U.S. resume talks ahead of TPP ministerial session in late July The Mainici  ...Japan and the United States resumed bilateral talks for a Pacific free trade agreement Thursday ahead of a crucial ministerial meeting of all 12 negotiating countries in late July at which they will seek to reach a broad agreement. The working-level talks "will be the last negotiations before the ministerial meeting"...
Menendez worried Obama will upgrade Malaysia in trafficking report  The Hill  ...Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) expressed concern Wednesday night that Malaysia may get an upgrade from the Obama administration in its human-trafficking status in order to remove a potential hurdle to completing negotiations on a vast Pacific Rim trade agreement. The State Department is expected to bump up Malaysia to tier 2 from the lowest level in its Trafficking in Persons report that is expected to be released next week...
U.S. upgrades Malaysia in annual human trafficking report  Daily Mail  ...The United States is upgrading Malaysia from the lowest tier on its list of worst human trafficking centers, U.S. sources said on Wednesday, a move that could smooth the way for an ambitious U.S.-led free-trade deal with the Southeast Asian nation and 11 other countries. The upgrade to so-called "Tier 2 Watch List" status removes a potential barrier to President Barack Obama's signature global trade deal...
Greece PM Tsipras tells EU parliament: Greece has been failed austerity lab experiment  Reuters  ...Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras pleaded in the European Parliament on Wednesday for a fair deal to keep his country in the euro zone, acknowledging Greece's own responsibility for its plight, after EU leaders gave him five days to come up with reforms. With its banks closed, cash withdrawals rationed and the economy in freefall, Greece has never been closer to a total state bankruptcy...
London commuters battle to get home as tube strike begins  The Guardian  ...London commuters were starting to battle major transport problems as the most widespread tube strike in decades started on Wednesday evening. The strike action by four unions representing almost 20,000 staff, including train drivers, is the result of a continuing dispute over pay and rosters for the all-night tube services planned to start at weekends in September...
Labour Ministry intervenes to stop maritime workers strike   News24 Nigeria  ...The Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, has formally intervened in the strike threat by Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) against the Nigeria Ports Authority over the demand for non-payment of wage arrears to tally clerks and on-board security gangway men. Samuel Olowookere, Deputy Director of Press in the ministry, the intervention is in line with section 4 and 5 of Trade Dispute Act...

State & Living Wage Battles
Labor Battles Heat Up In State Legislatures  Huffington Post  ...The battles this year over the legislation — perceived as free-market initiatives by proponents and anti-union by foes — reflect the tremendous power that Republicans have gained in state capitols following November’s elections and the declining political clout of organized labor in many states...
What Is Scott Walker Trying to Hide?  The Nation  ...The governor—who former White House counsel John Dean refers to as “more Nixonian than Nixon”—has never been much for transparency. But a botched attempt by his legislative allies to gut the state’s open-records law has blown up on Walker in a big way...
Prevailing Wage Law fight heats up  WLNS  ...It is a law that has been around for 50 years and the fight to change it is picking up steam. Opponents have raised $1 million to their petition drive; the Prevailing Wage Law. Currently the law reads state funded construction projects must pay workers wage scales that are similar to local union groups...
Wisconsin lawmakers pass state budget, partial repeal of prevailing wage law  Business Insider  ...Wisconsin lawmakers approved early on Thursday a $73 billion state budget that partly repeals the state's prevailing wage law, one of several contentious measures that delayed the two-year spending plan for five weeks. The state Assembly voted 52-46 on the measure, a day after the state Senate approved the spending package...
MO Sec. of State approves voter ID amendment  KHQA  ...The Missouri Secretary of State approved for circulation the photo voter ID constitutional amendment on Tuesday. The amendment was filed by Jay Ashcroft on May 21, 2015. Ashcroft issued the following statement following the announcement: "Requiring a photo ID to vote is a common sense way to protect our elections from fraud"...
About 2,000 expected for voter ID protest on Monday  Winston-Salem Journal  ...Winston-Salem police officers have been assigned to protect the nearly 2,000 participants expected for the N.C. NAACP’s downtown march and rally Monday, authorities said Wednesday. Monday is scheduled to be the first day of a trial in U.S. District Court in Winston-Salem on the constitutionality of the state’s voter ID law...

The Roots of Puerto Rico’s Debt Crisis—and Why Austerity Will Not Solve It  The Nation  ...What Puerto Rico has in common with Greece is that it is a peripheral economy that has been invaded by hedge funds and pushed, by speculation and ballooning debt-service payments, to its limits. But since Puerto Rico’s banks are tied to the US Federal Reserve and not its own government, there is no bank panic. What it has in common with Detroit is a history of inefficient administrations...

U.S. Labor
Applications for U.S. unemployment benefits climb to 297,000  Dallas Morning News  ...he number of people seeking unemployment benefits rose last week to the highest level since late February. But the increase likely reflected temporary auto plant shutdowns rather than any underlying labor market weakness. The number of people filing applications for unemployment benefits rose by 15,000 to 297,000...
Verizon preps for a strike as labor talks continue  RCR Wireless News  ...Amid labor negotiations with some 45,000 union employees, Verizon is prepping for a potential work stoppage by training more than 15,000 non-union employees to take over in the event of a strike. Verizon is working on a three-year contract with representatives from the Communication Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers...
​The UAW gears up for a labor talks showdown CBS  ...The day before hundreds of United Auto Workers delegates gathered to set strategy for contract talks with the Detroit Three, General Motors (GM) sent them a not-so-subtle message. GM announced a $350 million investment in a Mexican factory to build the Chevrolet Cruze compact car, currently built for all of North America at a sprawling plant in Lordstown, Ohio, east of Cleveland...
State reaches tentative deal with AFSCME  East Oregonian  ...The state has reached a tentative two-year agreement with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the union that represents the second-largest group of state workers. The agreement was reached late Tuesday after a 14-hour bargaining session...
“It’s not a good record”: When it comes to worker safety, Obama is a lot like Bush  Salon  ...Not only are many of the laws already on the books to protect workers desperately in need of updating, but the government resources devoted to protecting workers are woefully insufficient. The result? Some tens of thousands of human beings, every year, suffer due to health hazards that could be addressed with relative ease...
If You Could Decrease a Workplace’s Injury Rate by 65 Percent, Would You?  The Nation   ...Registered nurses face more than 50 percent the rate of musculoskeletal injury of the general workforce; nursing assistants more than six times the rate. Registered nurses face more than 50 percent the rate of musculoskeletal injury of the general workforce; nursing assistants more than six times the rate...

Miscellaneous
Report: Immigrants commit fewer crimes than native born  Monterey Herald  ...t a time when the century-long American debate on whether immigrants commit more crimes than native-born residents is raging again, a new report concludes exactly the opposite. The debate, which has always been present when immigration increases, is being renewed by the killing of a young woman in San Francisco by a Mexican national who entered the country illegally several times...
The NYSE Shutdown Isn’t Just A Glitch, It’s A Glimpse Into Our Chaotic Future  Think Progress  ...The digital sky is officially falling as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) suddenly shut down all trading activity Wednesday, raising speculation of a major technical glitch or a malicious cyberattack. The exchange is experiencing an unexplained “critical issue,” according to alerts on the NYSE website, and stocks are tumbling fast. The NYSE hasn’t provided any additional information regarding the cause of the unexpected trading suspension...
The Confederate Flag Will Be Removed  The Atlantic  ...After more than six decades flying at the statehouse—first atop it, then nearby—the Confederate battle flag will soon come down for the final time in Columbia. The state House of Representatives voted 94-20 on Thursday to remove the flag, following a 36-3 vote in the Senate on Tuesday. Many people deserve credit for the flag coming down, from the thousands who marched in Charleston to Bree Newsome, who took matters into her own hands...
Obama Administration Takes On Segregation And Racist Housing Schemes  Think Progress  ...Cities and counties that want federal grants for development projects will have to start taking segregation much more seriously under a set of rules to be announced Wednesday by Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julian Castro. The new system will require cities to report regularly and in far greater detail on segregation in their communities, making it harder for towns to quietly maintain existing racial inequities in development...

Today's Teamster News 05.29.15

Teamsters
Red Cross workers vote to join Teamsters local in Wichita  Wichita Eagle  ...The Teamsters union said a group of American Red Cross workers who collect blood for the organization in Kansas have voted to join Teamsters Local 795 in Wichita. According to a Teamsters news release, the Wichita bargaining unit will represent 91 workers. The workers voted 64-13 to join the Teamsters, the release said...
Port Truckers Revive Drive for Employee Status  Wall Street Journal  ...Backed by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, port truckers have been filing formal complaints against their employers for years, arguing that they’ve been classified illegally as independent contractors. Alex Paz, a drayage driver in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area who participated in protests earlier this year, said vehicle payments and maintenance often are deducted from drivers’ paychecks, which he believes is unfair...

Global Labor & Trade
New Polls Spotlight Damage of Past Trade Deals, Reveal Opposition to TPP Content  Public Citizen  ...You may have seen the headlines about today’s Reuters/Ipsos poll and yesterday’s Pew poll, touted as showing public support for trade deals. A close look at the polls  reveals that they did not even ask about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Fast Track, the Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA), or any other element of the controversial current trade policy agenda. The U.S. public likes the general notion of trade but opposes the documented results of past trade deals...
Top Dem: Trade deal could restrict access to cheaper medicines  The Hill  ...Rep. Sandy Levin (Mich.), the top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, says a new trade deal could be a “major step backwards” on access to affordable medicines. In an op-ed Thursday, Levin raised concerns that the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, which the U.S. is negotiating, will curtail access to generic drugs...
Just in time for House trade debate, opponents find new ammunition  McClatchy  ...The global trade body (World Trade Organization) in Geneva set off a scramble on Capitol Hill last week when it sided with Canada and Mexico in a dispute over the U.S. country-of-origin meat-labeling law, saying it put foreign competitors at a disadvantage.
Obama Trade Bill Seen Gaining Enough Support for Final Passage  Bloomberg  ...Passage of the measure in the Senate last week -- after a brief rebellion by Democrats -- has proven to uncommitted House members that the legislation will come up for a vote. Lawmakers will have to choose between the business lobby, which backs the bill, and labor, environmental and other groups that bitterly oppose it...
AFL-CIO leader warns labor could sit out 2016 fight over trade  The Hill  ...AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka warned Hillary Clinton that his powerful labor union coalition might not endorse her presidential campaign if she comes out in support of the controversial trade deal making its way through Congress. Trumka first said in an interview with USA Today that it would cost Clinton the enthusiasm of organized labor if she backed the Trans-Pacific Partnership...
Is US Trade Rep a Wall Street Crony? Groups Demand Transparency.  Common Dreams  ...Noting deep ties between the country's top trade negotiator and Wall Street banks, ten groups representing millions of Americans are calling on the White House to make public all communications between U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and the massive financial institutions that stand to benefit from proposed trade deals...
Nigeria Petrol Strike Hits Country  BBC  ...Nigeria, Africa's largest economy, is hit with a strike by petroleum companies. Shops are forced to close their doors as delivering goods becomes impossible, and factories across the country shut down production...

State & Living Wage Battles
Michigan May Add Another Hurdle To Getting Welfare  Think Progress  ...Experts say tying welfare benefits to school attendance isn’t the best way to encourage kids to stay in school. Researchers agree that the problem is more of an economic one than a matter of insufficient financial rewards or punishments for parents whose children are frequently absent...
Right-to-work loses in Illinois house, heads for Missouri veto  People's World  ...In a huge rebuke to right-wing GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner's anti-worker agenda, the Democratic-run Illinois House voted his so-called right-to-work bill down, 72-0. While 37 state House Republicans, following Rauner's orders, voted present, another four didn't vote at all. One, Raymond Poe, joined the Democrats in opposing RTW...
Walker says he would be 'pleased' if prevailing wage repeal part of state budget  Star Tribune  ...Gov. Scott Walker says he would be "pleased" if a repeal of Wisconsin's prevailing wage law were a part of the state budget, but he'd also be satisfied with significant changes to the requirement setting construction wages for public works jobs. Walker reiterated his support Thursday for a full repeal, saying he believes that makes sense and is what he prefers...
Irvine bucks the trend as council votes to repeal living wage law  LA Times  ...As cities across the country are warming to the idea of increasing the minimum wage, Irvine is headed in the opposite direction. City Council members voted Tuesday to repeal the 2007 ordinance. A second council vote is needed to finalize repeal of the living wage law. The council meets again next month...
House Leaders: Bill Expanding Worker's Compensation Needs Further Study  Hartford Courant   ...A bill that would significantly expand the workers compensation system for police and firefighters is unlikely to come up for a vote in the House of Representatives this year. House Speaker Brendan Sharkey and Minority leader Themis Klarides both said Wednesday that further study is needed before the legislation is ready for a vote...

U.S. Labor
AFSCME pushing bill to prevent state workers from going on strike, being locked out  State Journal-Register  ...The state's largest public employee union is pushing a bill that would prevent state workers from striking or being locked out in the event talks on a new labor contract stall. Instead, the labor dispute would be handed over to an arbitrator to resolve through binding arbitration...
How We're Voting on the Union, and Why  Gawker  ...Yesterday, Gawker Media announced that we will be holding an election next week to vote on whether our editorial staffers want to form a union. The vote next week is to decide whether we want to agree to collectively bargain as a group, and join the Writers Guild of America, East...
No agreement reached between BP and USW at Oregon refinery  NBC  ...According to a spokesman for BP, the United Steelworkers Union and BP have not reached an agreement. Scott Dean, BP spokesman, says a new collective bargaining agreement has not been reached for employees working at the BP-Husky Toledo Refinery. Even though local issues are not resolved, the union wants to call off the strike and return its members to work...
Union Demands That The Streetcar Open And Fired Workers Be Rehired  DCist  ...The ATU has filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, but it could be weeks or months before it gets resolved. In the meantime, a handful of union members and supporters took to the corner of H and 14th streets NE last Friday to show support for the fired workers and pressure the city to finally open the project. "[The streetcar] needs to become the job creator they said it would be"...

Miscellaneous
Detroit Shuts Off Water For 1,000 Poor Residents Despite City Council’s Call To Stop  Think Progress  ...The Detroit Water and Sewage Department began shutting off water to about 1,000 delinquent accounts on Tuesday, against the wishes of the city council. The department would not make the exact number of households affected available. It distributed about 3,000 door hangers earlier in the month warning residents...
US economy shrinks 0.7% in first quarter as strong dollar eats into growth  The Guardian  ...A harsh winter, a strong dollar and falling oil prices took their toll on the US economy in the first quarter, the Commerce Department revealed on Friday. The quarterly economic decline is the first since the economy shrank by an even sharper 2.1% annual rate in the first quarter of 2014. A bleak winter also contributed to that decline as consumers stayed home and some businesses closed...
Extreme Wealth And Absolute Squalor: Homelessness In Silicon Valley  Think Progress  ...In Silicon Valley, abundant wealth commonly lives alongside absolute squalor. The same county that houses Yahoo!, Google, and scores of other digital money mines is mired in a costly ongoing failure to address rampant homelessness. “The dichotomy here is just astonishing,” Destination: Home executive director Jennifer Loving told ThinkProgress...

Today's Teamster News 05.13.15

Teamsters
Hoffa: What America needs from its trade pacts   Detroit News  ...The U.S. Senate has decided, for now, not to put the Trans-Pacific Partnership on the fast track. That's a good thing. This issue deserves a full debate. Fast track trade authority is would allow bad trade pacts like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to sail through Capitol Hill with little debate and no chance to be amended...
Teamsters Applaud Senate Defeat of Cloture for Fast Track Bill  Teamster.org   ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa on today’s defeat of a vote for cloture on the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill: “With today’s defeat in the Senate of a vote for cloture on fast track, members of Congress have signaled they will not relinquish their constitutional authority over trade agreements"...
Teamsters protest in Mo. Capitol against right to work  Teamster Nation   ...Another battle is raging in the state of Missouri against a right-to-work-for-less legislative attack on unions. And Teamsters are on the front line with other union members fighting for American workers. On Monday, workers and union leaders stormed the Missouri Capitol as state lawmakers heard testimony on the proposed bill to make the "Show-Me-State" the 26th "right to work" state in the country...

Global Labor & Trade
Senate Democrats Foil Obama on Asia Trade Deal  New York Times  ...Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked consideration of giving President Obama power to accelerate a broad trade accord with Asia, a rebuke that the president helped bring on himself. After more than six years battling Republicans on everything from his signature health care legislation to simply keeping the government open, Mr. Obama is at odds with his own party...
The March Trade Deficit and the Trans-Pacific Partnership  Huff Post  ...The jump in the March trade deficit, coupled with the weak job numbers for the last two months, should highlight the importance of including rules on currency in trade agreements. Such rules could ensure that the dollar does not remain over-valued and prevent the economy from reaching full employment...
Obama fails first test on trade  Politico  ...Tuesday was the first test vote on trade, and President Barack Obama failed. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) declared the 52-45 vote “shocking,” labor and progressive groups declared victory, and the White House was left insisting that things really aren’t over yet for fast-track authority and the broader Trans-Pacific Partnership trade treaty that the administration is hoping would follow...
Why Doctors Without Borders Is Lobbying Against Obama’s Trade Deal  National Journal  ...The physicians group has quietly been opposing the emerging Trans-Pacific Partnership for a few years now, but its efforts are growing more public. It sent multiple letters to Obama in the past few months, as the congressional debate about giving the president fast-track authority has ramped up, warning about the implications for drug costs in other countries...
Jesse Jackson: Don't believe Obama on trade deal  Chicago Sun Times  ...The president argues the case for a level playing field, but his allies — the Republican majorities in Congress, the business lobby — keep the field slanted against working people. Our global policies aren’t the only reason for this, but they are one contributor to it. The cycle of drugs-in-jobs-out must end. We need to go another way. Fast track sends us the wrong way...
Labour begins indefinite strike in Bauchi  Daily Post  ...For the failure of the Bauchi State government to pay outstanding March and April salaries, the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Trade Union Congress, TUC and the Joint Public Service Negotiation Council, JPSNC, in the state, have called their members out for an indefinite strike with effect from today, May 13...
Obama’s trade deal: Why he’s in danger of losing  (opinion) Washinton Post   ...The secrecy makes it appear Obama is hiding something. “If the president is so confident it’s a good deal, he should declassify the text and let people see it before asking Congress to tie its hands on fixing it,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told my colleague Greg Sargent. Instead of coming clean, Obama prefers to inform fellow Democrats that he’s the smartest guy in the room...

State & Living Wage Battles
Senate Passes ALEC 'Right to Work' Attacks - What's Next?  Progress Missouri  ...It’s been an ugly 24 hours in the Capitol. Tonight, despite strong bipartisan opposition in both the House and Senate, extremists in the Senate rammed through the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC) so-called ‘right-to-work’ legislation. Despite all the arm-twisting, ALEC and the Koch Brothers still don’t have the votes to override a veto from Governor Jay Nixon...
Mo. Senate shuts down debate to pass "right-to-work"  St. Louis Post-Dispatch   ...Missouri Senate Republicans shut down debate Tuesday to pass a “right-to-work” measure after Democrats filibustered the bill for more than eight hours. In return, Senate Democrats plan to shut down everything else until the session ends at 6 p.m. Friday. The rare measure to shut down debate, known as the previous question, has been used in the Senate only 14 times since 1970...
Anti-union bill gains momentum in right-to-work Louisiana  Associated Press  ...An anti-union bill is stirring up what may be Louisiana's first real battle between business and labor unions in a generation. The measure is scheduled for a Tuesday debate before the full House. If approved, it would bar police, firefighters and teachers from having union dues automatically deducted from their pay...
Ohio Republicans push new voter ID bill  MSNBC  ...With 2016 approaching, Ohio Republicans are making a new push for a voter ID bill—setting the stage for another battle over voting in the nation’s most pivotal swing state. Legislation introduced last week by conservatives in the statehouse would require that voters show a driver’s license, passport or military ID...
Mich. Senate panel to debate repeal of prevailing wage laws  Lansing State Journal  ...The contentious issue of repealing Michigan’s prevailing wage laws will get a hearing Wednesday morning at the state Capitol. Gov. Rick Snyder said last week that he doesn’t support a repeal, but that isn’t stopping the Senate’s Michigan Competitiveness committee from taking up a package of three bills beginning at 8 a.m. Wednesday...
N.J. unions protest cuts to pensions in big Statehouse rally  NJ.com  ...Workers clad in red, blue or green t-shirts carried signs imploring the governor to "fund the pension" and "obey the law." The pension law at the center of the fight requires the state to increase payments into the public employees pension fund, while also freezing cost-of-living adjustments, raising the retirement age and forcing workers to contribute more for their retirement...
A Game-Changing Moment for Fast-Food Workers  Huff Post  ...Two and half years ago, 200 fast-food workers went on strike in New York City demanding $15 an hour and union rights. Most people, including many in the labor movement, thought the cooks and cashiers from restaurants like McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's had no chance to win. But nine strikes later, and having sparked a global movement for higher pay, $15 doesn't seem so crazy anymore...
Chris Christie Wants To Expand Corporate Tax Breaks Without Any Proof That They Work  Think Progress  ...New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) has approved $5.4 billion in corporate tax breaks since he took office in 2010. And on Monday, just before he called for cutting corporate tax rates across the country as part of a national economic policy plan, he vetoed a measure that would allow taxpayers to evaluate if the subsidies are actually working...

U.S. Labor
Union and Nonprofit Leaders: Labor Should Shift Its Focus to Organizing Black Workers  In These Times  ...Despite years of decline, the labor movement continues to provide economic stability in many black communities. Of all demographic groups, black workers have the highest union membership rates. These historic ties have led some to see black workers as a cornerstone to any effort to rebuild a movement in deep decline. And drawing from the national momentum of organizing around police reform, many black labor leaders today are leading the charge...
USW Accuses AP Green of Unfair Labor Practices, Unlawful Lockout at Ohio Refractory Plant  PR Newswire  ...The United Steelworkers (USW) today said that the union has filed unfair labor practices against AP Green Refractories, Inc. on behalf of more than 40 Local 2324-5 members who have been locked out of their jobs at the company's Oak Hill, Ohio production facility since April 15, 2015...
When Will We Stop Exploiting Home-Care Workers?  Dame Magazine  ...The work of the nation's 2 million home health-care aides and attendants has been in the public spotlight for a while now, first as those workers rose up and demanded that their labor be valued the same way as other work is, through access to the protections of labor law, and then as the victories they won have been dismantled in court bit by bit...

Miscellaneous
Amtrak Philadelphia train crash: mayor describes 'disastrous mess'  The Guardian  ...A crash investigation has begun into what caused an Amtrak train to derail in north Philadelphia, killing at least five people and leaving six others critically injured. A sixth person was declared dead by Herb Cushing, medical director of Temple University hospital in Philadelphia...
Amtrak Train Derails in Philadelphia, Killing at Least 6 and Injuring Dozens  New York Times   ... Emergency crews picked through the wreckage of a derailed Amtrak train Wednesday, looking for survivors and victims. The Northeast Corridor, which runs between Boston and Washington, is one of the railroad’s busiest and most profitable lines. But officials have long complained that the agency needs more subsidies from Congress to improve the railroad’s deteriorating infrastructure and replace aging equipment...
Wall Street greed refuses to die: How lobbyists & dark-money groups are exposing us to another disaster  Salon   ...After five years, the big banks are already hard at work trying to dismantle regulations that were put in place to prevent irresponsible banking and financial destruction. And “studies” like the one released by the  American Action Forum, who for all we know is being funded by the big banks themselves, will help them achieve this goal. Who knows, maybe it will take another, even more disastrous economic collapse to really change the system...