Thousands turn out to say no to RTW in Mountaineer State

GST Ken Hall joins RTW protesters at rally last night.

The following is the latest installment of what will be occasional dispatches from a Teamster on the ground about the battle to defeat so-called right-to-work (RTW) in West Virginia this year.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- It was a day full of surprises following yesterday morning’s press conference. Shortly after the last dispatch from West Virginia, we returned to Local 175 only to find out from Local 175 business agent Luke Farley that RTW had been introduced — the first bill of the legislative session, SB 1:

They’re trying to fast-track it. It’s going to judiciary tomorrow. Ken is set to testify. 

Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall had been busy throughout the day, speaking with the press, lobbying state legislators and preparing for the action at the Statehouse before Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s State of the State address that evening. Workers had spent the week planning to crowd the rotunda, forming a gauntlet of protesters for legislators to have to walk through on their way to hear the governor’s address.

But first there was work to be done. It was time to rally the troops nationwide. Hall appeared on labor radio to explain to union members throughout the country the latest attack on workers in the Mountaineer State — and the show of solidarity on display in Charleston:

A lot of these legislators don’t even understand what RTW is — they don’t know how it works … They call it workplace freedom — of course everyone wants workplace freedom. But that’s not what RTW really is.

Meanwhile, surrounding the upstairs rotunda, the hundreds of workers became thousands of workers, meaning the press needed to be updated with new figures for their press coverage. We had erred on the side of caution, assuming the new Capitol security and Wednesday afternoon timing of the event would mean lower turnout. As always, West Virginia workers defied expectations, creating a sea of union logos and anti-RTW signs throughout the Statehouse. One Teamster even dressed up like a lemon holding a sign that read: “The Bill Cole Agenda: A long history of selling lemons to West Virginia.”

RTW is leaving a sour taste in the mouths of many workers.

Cole, the Republican senator and majority leader, would later walk through with his GOP colleagues, greeted by the the booming echoes of booing from the workers as they made their way through thousands of workers. Hall spoke from the top stairs leading into the chamber, rousing the crowd with chants of: “Right to Work is wrong!” and “Not in my state!”

The latest battleground in the War on Workers was symbolic. If Mountaineer workers can defeat RTW again, it would be historic — and in a state with labor history as rich as West Virginia, where so many workers lost their lives on the job, and all too many still struggle to get by — it could mark a turning point for the entire labor movement.

Today will be busy too. The Senate Judiciary Committee met this morning, where Hall testified in opposition of SB 1. The legislators have asked him to return at 3:00 p.m. for more questions. The press has been covering him throughout the day as he leads the fight for workers in West Virginia.

Stay tuned.

Today's Teamster News 08.17.14

Trade
Why Germany Is Backing Away From a Trade Deal That Lets Corporations Sue the Government  truthout   ...Germany might reject a new trade agreement between Canada and the European Union. The deal is called the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA. It's part of a new wave of large, aggressive trade deals that also includes the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the United States and the European Union, and the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) between 12 countries of the Pacific Rim...
State Battles
Get pumped for a Moral Week of Action!  NC State AFL-CIO   ...Join us for seven consecutive days of action at the North Carolina State Capitol to expose and challenge the destructive laws coming out of Raleigh...
How Zephyr Teachout Became a Contender  The Nation   ...Andrew Cuomo’s unlikely challenger for Governor of New York is gaining endorsements and giving him a headache...they have managed to tap into some of the profound frustration that people feel with a governor who has come to symbolize the corporate-friendly wing of the Democratic party...
On Wall Street, ‘Right-to-Work’ Means a Wider Gap Between Rich & Poor (opinion)  CT News Junkie   ...As part of “Employee Freedom Week,” a nationally coordinated effort to convince workers to drop out of their unions, ads are running in Connecticut urging home healthcare workers to opt out. This is a thinly veiled attempt to convince these workers to act against their own self-interest, and could have lethal repercussions in an industry where collective bargaining rights have not only alleviated home health aides’ difficult working conditions, but also have helped prolong their patients’ lives...
War on Workers
Sandwich Artists Unionize  In These Times   ...On July 18, after a three-month campaign, employees of a Subway franchise in Bloomsbury, N.J. voted 8-5 to join the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU) Local 108...
More Jobs Are Open, but They’re Filling Slowly  New York Times   ...In a report this week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said that employers reported in June that they had 4.5 million available jobs that they were unable to fill. That is the highest number since 2007, and more than twice as high as the figure in October 2009, when the economy was officially beginning to recover but there were no signs of that in the labor market...
Cry for Argentina: Fiscal Mismanagement or Pillage?  truthout   ...Paul Singer’s Elliott Management has spent over a decade aggressively trying to force Argentina to pay down nearly $1.3 billion in sovereign debt. Elliott would get about $300 million for bonds that Argentina claims it picked up for $48 million. Where most creditors have accepted payment at a 70% loss, Elliott Management would thus get a 600% return...
Miscellaneous
How High Up Did the Madoff Fraud Go at JPMorgan?  Wall Street on Parade   ...It is universally agreed among these authors, the prosecutors and the trustee for the Madoff victims’ fund that JPMorgan Chase (or its predecessor banks) stood at the center of the fraud as Madoff’s commercial bank for more than 20 years. It’s the lack of criminal prosecutions against the JPMorgan wrongdoers that has incensed these attorneys to launch the book and web site...
You Can Get Hacked Just By Watching This Cat Video on YouTube  The Intercept   ...The only thing you need to do to render your computer’s secrets—your private conversations, banking information, photographs—transparent to prying eyes is watch a cute cat video on YouTube, and catch the interest of a nation-state or law enforcement agency that has $1 million or so to spare...

Today's Teamster News 07.27.14

Trade
GOP congressman rips Chamber of Commerce and gives back award  Washington Post   ...The Chamber of Commerce is beholden to special interests and has long since forgotten the main street businesses that struggle everyday to make payroll and keep their company afloat,” said Bentivolio. “It is with great pride that I reject their award, and call on them to stand on the side of America, instead of on the side of China and corporate interests seeking to exploit people for profit....”
State Battles
ALEC Picked Up Tab for Texas Lawmakers' Junkets Common Cause ...Five Texas lawmakers have accepted more than $7,600 in corporate-funded “scholarships” to cover the cost of air fares, hotel rooms and other travel expenses to attend meetings of the American Legislative Exchange Council, (ALEC), a corporate lobbying group, according to new research by Common Cause...
Right-to-work may get new life next year WMUR ...Right-to-work, a measure that allows workers to get union benefits without joining or paying dues, could come up again in the Legislature next session, depending on what happens in the November elections...
Ohio tries to diffuse controversy over charter-school whistle-blowers Akron Beacon Journal ...he four former teachers, who worked at Horizon Science Academy Dayton from 2004 to 2013, alleged at the July 15 state school board meeting that sexual games were played by students and condoned by other educators, and surveillance footage captured students having oral sex at a school function...
Koch brothers’ new racial gambit: What’s really behind a quiet battle with AFSCME Salon ...“The Koch brothers want a government-free society,” Saunders says. “Public service has enabled African-Americans to move into the middle class, but the Kochs are trying to dismantle that...”
State to pay nearly $1.7 million to identify buildings to sell Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...The idea has been controversial, with critics saying they fear the state could make a short-term gain but a long-term loss. They fear getting rid of the heating and cooling plants could be costly because state prisons and University of Wisconsin campuses would have buy heating and cooling on the private market...
War on Workers
Federal regulators let utilities gouge customers David Cay Johnston ...Now the first in a raft of cases asserting that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is letting utilities gouge customers by setting egregiously high rates of return may finally get a hearing...
Private Equity's Free Pass New York Times ...But while private equity firms often operate like Goldman and Morgan Stanley, they are not uniformly subject to the same broker-dealer regulatory regime...
The Typical Household, Now Worth a Third Less New York Times ...The inflation-adjusted net worth for the typical household was $87,992 in 2003. Ten years later, it was only $56,335, or a 36 percent decline, according to a study financed by the Russell Sage Foundation...
NLRB ruling further expands 'micro unions' Washington Examiner ...In a case involving a Macy's department store cosmetics counter, the National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday further expanded its recent precedents allowing for so-called "micro-unions." The ruling will make it easier for unions to organize individual parts of an employer's workforce...
WHY THE ECONOMY SUCKS: Because American Companies And Their Owners Are Greedier Now Than At Any Time In History Business Insider ...Five years after the recovery began, unemployment remains high. And the Americans who are lucky enough to be working are getting paid less as a percent of the economy than they ever have in history. Meanwhile, America's corporations and their owners have never had it better...

Today's Teamster News 04. 28.14

Trade
Najib cites ‘sensitivities’ as Obama struggles to push trade pact  The Malaysian Insider   ...Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today that he and US President Barack Obama had agreed to upgrade bilateral relations but suggested that his country remains far from ready to sign a US-led trade pact due to domestic "sensitivities"...
U.S. did not "bully" Malaysia into TPP, Obama says  Global Post   ...There have been a series of protests in Malaysia against the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade initiative in the days leading up to Obama's arrival on Saturday for a three-day visit...
State Battles
House Republicans Still Seeking Needed Votes For 'Right-To-Work' Ballot Proposal  St. Louis Public Radio   ...After two weeks of vigorous lobbying, Republican leaders in the Missouri House acknowledge that they have yet to obtain the extra four votes needed to send to the state Senate a measure to put a right-to-work proposal on the August ballot...
Wall Street’s Pension Gamble  In These Times   ...In a new report for the union representing ...(North Carolina) public employees, former Securities and Exchange Commission investigator Ted Siedle documents how secrecy is allowing financial firms to bilk the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System, which is the seventh largest public pension fund in America...
War on Workers
Recovery Has Created Far More Low-Wage Jobs Than Better-Paid Ones  New York Times   ...But job losses and gains have been skewed. Higher-wage industries — like accounting and legal work — shed 3.6 million positions during the recession and have added only 2.6 million positions during the recovery. But lower-wage industries lost two million jobs, then added 3.8 million...
One Year After Rana Plaza, Safety Issues in Walmart Supply Chain Persist  ...a compensation fund for victims was set up to enable retailers to donate to the impacted workers, but only $15 million—one-third of the $40 million goal—has been raised by the International Labor Organization (ILO), which chairs the fund. The corporate community’s inaction has left survivors scrambling to make a living without adequate healthcare or wages, according to a report by Human Rights Watch…
My protesting isn’t terrorism: How Big Ag teamed with lawmakers to criminalize speech  Salon   ...Activists are being prosecuted for challenging the interests of business. I should know — I spent 40 months in jail...
Supreme Court Taking Up Police Searches of Data Troves Known as Cellphones  New York Times   ...In a major test of how to interpret the Fourth Amendment in the digital age, the Supreme Court on Tuesday will consider two cases about whether the police need warrants to search the cellphones of the people they arrest...
'Happy Days’ no more: Middle-class families squeezed as expenses soar, wages stall  New York Times   ...A recent poll conducted by the Washington Post and the Miller Center at the University of Virginia found that 40 percent of those calling themselves middle class felt less financially secure than they were just a few years ago. Forty-five percent said they worry “a lot” about having enough money stashed away for retirement, and 57 percent said they worry about meeting their bills. Less than half said they expect their kids to do any better...
Miscellaneous
The Koch Attack on Solar Energy  New York Times   ...At long last, the Koch brothers and their conservative allies in state government have found a new tax they can support. Naturally it’s a tax on something the country needs: solar energy panels...

Today's Teamster News 04.26.14

Teamster News
Republic Nuclear Dump Fire Threatens Investors, Workers  Huffington Post   ...Since 2010, a landfill fire has been moving toward 8,700 tons of unlined illegally dumped radioactive waste in Bridgeton, Missouri. The site is in the middle of working-class neighborhoods, right next to the Saint Louis airport, and near a hospital, schools and a great number of businesses. The Teamsters believe Bill Gates and other investors in Republic Services, Inc. should take a closer look...
Chicago Art Handlers Vote To Become Teamsters, Today  Art World   ...Art handlers with Mana-Terry Dowd LLC may set an industry precedent this month by being the first employees of a major art transportation company in Chicago to unionize...
Mayor de Blasio Laughs Off Idea Central Park Horse-Carriage Drivers Will Be Offered Taxi Cab Medallions  New York Daily News   ...Mayor de Blasio laughed off a report the city is offering tax cab medallions in exchange for their handsome cab licenses. Asked Thursday if a proposal was on the table, de Blasio gave a one word answer: "No."
Trade
Even Without Deal, U.S., Japan Play Up TPP Talks  Wall Street Journal   ...The U.S. and Japan tried to put their best face on their failure to reach a trade deal during President Barack Obama's Tokyo visit, saying major progress was made during nearly round-the-clock talks...
State Battles
Missouri House Republican leaders continue to push for 'right to work' bill  St. Louis Post-Dispatch   ...The prospects of a second vote on “right to work” remain uncertain, but state House Republican leaders said they continue to work on trying to gather enough votes to advance the measure...
Hicks receives warm understanding and support from colleagues and constituents after RTW vote  Missouri Times   ...Hicks initially felt alienated when he took the vote against RTW, but now feels more validated. “When I stood up and voted no, I went against my party for the first time...
The Kochs' Alternative GOP Comes Out Against Columbus Zoo Animals  The Wire   ...Ohio's chapter of American's for Prosperity, the Koch-brothers funded activist zoo group, sent out a mailer opposing a tax increase for the Columbus, Ohio zoo...
Koch Brothers Group Wipes Cliven Bundy Support From Social Media Accounts  Huffington Post   ...Americans for Prosperity Nevada, the state affiliate of the Koch Brothers-backed group, appears to have hastily deleted social media posts expressing support for Cliven Bundy, the renegade rancher who exposed himself as a racist in recent press conferences...
Republican Senator proposes Michigan minimum wage increase to undermine ballot proposal  Michigan Live   ...State Sen. Rick Jones (R-Grand Ledge) on Thursday said he introduced a bill to increase the minimum wage from $7.40 an hour to $8.15 per hour starting Dec. 1, 2014. It also would raise the minimum rate for tipped employees from $2.65 per hour to $2.75 per hour...
Lawmakers advance minimum wage bill  KHON2   ...Lawmakers advanced a bill today to raise Hawaii’s minimum wage for the first time since 2007...
Murray says minimum-wage agreement will take more time  Seattle Times   ...Seattle Mayor Ed Murray said there’s still a few more weeks before a drop-dead deadline for an accord on a $15 minimum-wage proposal...
War on Workers
Northwestern University Football Players To Vote On Union Amid Debate Over Labor Rights  Washington Post   ...Northwestern University football players are scheduled to vote Friday whether to join a union, part of a labor battle that is drawing intense scrutiny from colleges with major athletic programs, national labor leaders and higher education lobbyists in Washington...
Miscellaneous
Americans Have Fewer Credit Cards And Less Debt  FiveThirtyEight   ...A new poll from Gallup suggests that Americans are less reliant on credit cards than any time since 2001. The survey, which was based on a random sample 1,026 adults, found that 29 percent of Americans do not own any credit cards...
Occupy Amazon: Elizabeth Warren, Thomas Piketty, Michael Lewis Books Surging Online  Huffington Post ...If Amazon's top-sellers list is any indication, Americans are fed up with rising income inequality. As of Thursday evening, Sen. Elizabeth Warren's new memoir, A Fighting Chance is the number two best-selling book on Amazon...

Today's Teamster News 04.25.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Union Calls On Bill Gates For Westlake Landfill Cleanup  CBS News   ...The Teamsters union is lobbying billionaire Bill Gates to support the total cleanup of radioactive waste from the West Lake Landfill. Chuck Stiles, the Assistant Director of the Teamsters Solid Waste Division...
Teamsters, Taylor Farm Workers Help Push Bill To Protect Temp Workers TeamsterNation   ...The Teamster organizing struggle at Taylor Farms in California moved to the state capitol yesterday where workers helped push forward a bill to make companies responsible for workers hired through temp agencies...
UPS Contract Facts Memo To Locals  teamster.org   ...The documents ... include a UPS contract facts memo from the National Negotiating Committee to Local Unions and supporting documents...
Trade
Japan, U.S. fail to reach agreement on TPP  The Asahi Shimbun   ...Last-minute negotiations between Japan and the United States failed to produce substantive agreement on a Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal...
Why Corporations Are Freaking Out About Obama's Big Trade Deal  Huffington Post   ...as the current head of Ford Motor Co.'s international lobbying operations, Biegun now finds himself allied with environmental activists, labor unions, and some of the most progressive Democrats in Congress -- all raising strong objections to President Barack Obama's proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, or TPP...
State Battles
Right-To-Work Bill Divides Missourians As It Moves Through Legislature  The Missourian   ...Dave Anderson, a shop steward for United Food and Commercial Workers in Columbia, is convinced that organized labor helps far more people than simply its members...
War On Workers
Exclusive: Apple, Google agree to pay over $300 million to settle conspiracy lawsuit  Reuters   ...Four major tech companies including Apple and Google have agreed to pay a total of $324 million to settle a lawsuit accusing them of conspiring to hold down salaries in Silicon Valley, sources familiar with the deal said, just weeks before a high profile trial had been scheduled to begin...
Danger on the rails: outdated tankers carrying crude oil  Axis Philly   ...Virtually all of the petroleum crude being transported around the United States by rail is being shipped in DOT-111s.
And many of those tank cars have been deemed unsafe for the transportation of flammable liquids, like petroleum crude oil, by government agencies...
Port Authority Board Approves Raises For All 12K Airport Workers  New York Daily News   ...All 12,000 of the New York area's poorly paid airport workers are now officially set for financial takeoff. Three months after the Daily News launched a campaign to improve conditions for the struggling airport workers, Port Authority board members...
Many Low-Wage Workers Not Protected By Minimum Wage  CNN Money   ...President Obama's push to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, coupled with recent state-level increases, is welcome news for many people getting by on small paychecks...
Pressure Builds As Northwestern Football Team Union Vote Nears  CNN   ...No matter what the ballots say, Friday will be historic for college sports. By noon, members of Northwestern University's will have cast their ballots that will decide whether they will form a workers union and start demanding more rights...
Breaking the Law? Northwestern Football Coach Pressures Players Not to Unionize  The Nation   ...it takes an enormous amount of chutzpah for Fitzgerald to so strenuously oppose the efforts of his players to have a seat at the table when he is making $2.2 million per year and received a $2.5 million loan from the school upon signing his most recent contract. Yet Fitzgerald’s stance is not only distasteful. It may be illegal...
Meet The Real Amazon Drones  Huffington Post   ...At least five days a week, Myron Ballard races around Washington, DC with a cargo van full of Amazon Prime packages. A career delivery driver with 20 years behind the wheel, Ballard typically gets paid $1.50 for each address he visits...
Miscellaneous
Families Of Aurora Shooting Victims Call Out Koch Backed Group For Insensitive Ad  Huffington Post   ...A group backed by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch has agreed to adjust an ad featuring President Obama and Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) after facing complaints about an insensitive photo. Families of the Aurora movie theater shooting victims called on the conservative nonprofit Americans for Prosperity...
Everything You Need To Know About The End Of Net Neutrality  Huffington Post   ...It may be the end of the internet as we know it. That was the reaction from consumer advocates and some websites after the Federal Communications Commission announced new rules governing internet service on Thursday...

Wisconsin, Kansas worse than rest of US in creating jobs

Kansas and Wisconsin show that an anti-union, low-tax, low-minimum wage business climate discourages new jobs.

That's according to the Econbrowser blog.

Econbrowser notes:

It’s interesting how “pro-business” policies do not appear to be conducive to rapid employment growth. 

Employment in Governor Walker’s Wisconsin, as in Governor Brownback’s Kansas, has lagged behind that of the United States (and behind that of Governor Dayton’s Minnesota and Governor Brown’s California).

ALEC will tell you that Kansas and Wisconsin are great for business because of the anti-union, low-tax climate. ALEC is wrong.

ALEC will also tell you Minnesota is bad for business because it's pro-union and has a high minimum wage. Wrong again. Minnesota is going better than the rest of the United States.

Just sayin'.

Maine lawmakers reject proposal for right-to-work zones

It got stopped in Maine

Maine lawmakers got the message and today voted down a proposal to create right-to-work zones in the states.

By a vote of 91-55, the Maine House of Representatives decided right-to-work doesn't create jobs.

The Associated Press reports:

Maine lawmakers have rejected Gov. Paul LePage's proposal to offer business tax breaks and workers the ability not to pay labor union fees in certain parts of the state. 

The Republican governor's proposal aims attract companies that invest more than $50 million and create at least 1,500 jobs to the former Loring Air Force Base and Brunswick Naval Air Station. Businesses would get tax and energy cost relief and assistance to help train and recruit workers. It would also create "right-to-work zones," meaning non-union employees wouldn't have to pay fees to negotiate or administer contracts. 

Don Berry, president of the Maine AFL-CIO, called LePage's proposal a re-election stunt because it wouldn't support workers and businesses already in the state:

We should be building our economy from the bottom up and the middle out.  That means supporting Maine businesses and workers who are here.  This bill gives away the store to big business from away but does nothing for the small businesses and workers who are here. 

Today's Teamster News 04.14.14

Teamsters
Teamsters’ opposition to growler sales could stall Sunday booze bill  Minnesota Public Radio   ...Teamsters Union political director Ed Reynoso said the union started lobbying against Sunday growler sales after he learned a company that distributes alcohol and employs members of the union suggested the law would allow them to reopen their labor contracts because of it...
Keep the Carriage Horses (opinion)  New York Times   ...Let the carriages and the horses alone. Let this small business survive. Side with the drivers and do not add fleets of new cars, electric or not, into the streets and parks...
Darden gets sued over bylaw changes  Orlando Sentinel   ...A Teamsters fund that invests in Darden Restaurants stock has sued the company over recent changes to its bylaws. Darden last month added language allowing it to delay its annual shareholder meeting and making it tougher for unhappy investors to push for changes…
Trade
Vietnam Releases Dissidents Amid U.S. Trade Talks  Time   ...Vietnam has granted early release to two more high profile dissidents. The unusual moves come as the country is negotiating a free trade deal with the United States. Washington has said that it would be hard to get the deal past Congress unless Vietnam made some meaningful steps toward improving its human rights record...
US-Japan deadlock points to no April TPP deal for Obama  Financial Times   ...An impasse between the US and Japan over import tariffs means Barack Obama’s visit to Tokyo this month looks unlikely to yield the prize that some had hoped for: the key to uniting a dozen Pacific Rim economies in one trade zone...
State Battles
11 Missouri lawmakers in right-to-work spotlight  Associated Press   ...That's the number of Republicans who didn't vote last week when the chamber gave initial approval to a proposed ballot measure that would ask voters to prohibit union fees from being a condition of employment...
The War on Workers
You Know What Doesn’t Work So Well? Private Prisons  Working America   ...The myth put forth by private prison corporations like Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and the GEO Group that private prisons are cheaper than public prisons is shattered by a new report from In the Public Interest, thus undercutting the primary rationale for prison privatization efforts across the country...
Pay for Performance? It Depends on the Measuring Stick  New York Times   ...The median compensation for C.E.O.s at the 100 largest companies that have filed so far was $13.9 million, according to the Equilar 100 C.E.O. Pay Study, conducted by Equilar, an executive compensation data firm. That’s up 9 percent from 2012...
Jamie Dimon to JPMorgan Shareholders: Don’t Believe Your Lying Eyes  Wall Street on Parade   ...Out of total deposits of $1.3 trillion, Dimon says that a mere $19 billion of credit was extended to U.S. small businesses last year. And yet, that’s a key U.S. engine of job growth. In contrast, the bank “provided $274 billion of credit to consumers,” raising the concern that the weak job market and stagnating wages are forcing more households into deeper debt...
Charles Koch’s public message represents rhetorical spin at its flimsiest (opinion)  Kansas City Star   ...Koch’s analysis is that he and his brother ought to be free to run their vast pipeline, fossil-fuels and other businesses without restraint. What he declines to recognize is the idea that government can serve to protect citizens from the wanton, unregulated forces of corporate actions that spew toxic materials into our air and water, limit the economic power of American people and otherwise endanger our daily lives...
Miscellaneous
Google, once disdainful of lobbying, now a master of Washington influence  Washington Post   ...Google — once a lobbying weakling — has come to master a new method of operating in modern-day Washington, where spending on traditional lobbying is rivaled by other, less visible forms of influence. That system includes financing sympathetic research at universities and think tanks, investing in nonprofit advocacy groups across the political spectrum and funding pro-business coalitions cast as public-interest projects...

Today's Teamster News 04.12.14

Teamster News
Teamsters, Greece Central Agree To New Contract  Democrat & Chronicle   ...The union representing Greece Central School District central office, food service, transportation and facility employees has inked a new contract with the district...
Teamsters endorse Pasco contract  Tampa Bay Tribune   ...The Teamsters Local 79 overwhelmingly voted to ratify their first contract with Pasco County. Union members voted 248-63 to endorse the contract, which took 3½ years to negotiate...
North Las Vegas Strikes Deals With 2 Unions  San Francisco Chronicle   ...North Las Vegas officials reached agreements with two of their public employee labor unions on Wednesday after talks involving Gov. Brian Sandoval and Assembly Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick, putting the city closer to staving off a potential state takeover...
Trade
Mexico now exports more cars to the U.S. than Japan does  The Raw Story   ...Mexico’s booming auto industry has reached a major milestone, claiming to have overtaken Japan as the second biggest car exporter to the United States in the past three months...
TPP Foreign Policy Arguments Mimic False Claims Made for Past Pacts  Public Citizen   ...foreign policy arguments have consistently proven baseless when used to sell trade deals over the past two decades...
Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Pact Risks Splitting Asean, Manila Warns  South China Morning Post   ...A US-backed pacific free-trade pact could cause resentment in Southeast Asia, leaving some nations in the region better positioned to access the American market than others, a top Philippean official said...
State Battles
Missouri becomes latest Right to Work battleground  Washington Post   ...The national battle between conservative groups and big labor unions is moving to Missouri as outside groups on both sides gear up for a vote that could come as early as Monday on controversial legislation that would strip unions of the power to compel workers in union shops to join...
Editorial: Dark money vultures pick away at Missouri's legislative carcass  St. Louis Post-Dispatch   ...They direct big donors in the age of dark money. They are nothing but vultures, and they are winning...

War on Workers
Temp Workers Claim Unfair Treatment, File Lawsuits  5 NBC Chicago   ...Thousands of Chicagoans are being treated unfairly by local temporary staffing agencies that require them to work long hours without always getting full pay, according to several class-action lawsuits currently being litigated in U.S. District Court...
Newly started foreclosures head higher in 19 states  MarketWatch   ...While national trends for troubled properties are improving, there are 19 states where newly started foreclosures are heading higher...
Start saving now: Day care costs more than college in 31 states  Washington Post   ...the annual cost of day care for an infant exceeds the average cost of in-state tuition and fees at public colleges in 31 states...
Jamie Dimon got a raise that conveniently looks like a paycut  Salon   ...The bumbling JPMorgan chief is rewarded, a bit sneakily, for his disastrous 2013 performance...
Gentrification’s quiet tragedy: How sweetheart deals are brutalizing the public  The Salon   ...Private companies are tricking public officials into bonanzas that line the companies' pockets -- at a big expense...
Thousands losing tax refunds to parents’ decades-old debts  Washington Post   ...Some taxpayers are finding that because of a debt they never knew about — often due to a decades-old Social Security overpayment — the government has confiscated their refunds...
Miscellaneous
Crude oil is displacing other commodities on trains, critics charge  McClatchy   ...Grain producers, manufacturers and coal shippers told federal regulators Thursday that rail service has deteriorated drastically in the nation’s midsection in recent months, leaving crops in piles on the ground and fuel stocks low at electric power plants as resources go undelivered. Railroad representatives told the federal Surface Transportation Board that a brutal winter, combined with a record grain harvest, was to blame for the delays, but the industry’s critics charge that their shipments are taking a side track to crude oil...
Can You Buy A License to Speed?  Priceonomics   ...With a (license plate) frame announcing that the driver has contributed a substantial amount of money to a fund that benefits highway patrol officers, donors believe that cops won’t give them speeding tickets...
Bus Crash Investigator: Tracker On Fedex Truck Likely Destroyed  NBC News   ...Ten people, five of them teenage students en route to a college recruitment event, died when the truck swerved across the median of Interstate 5 and slammed head-on into the motor coach full of students from the Los Angeles area on Thursday...

Today's Teamster News 04.10.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Reach Settlement With UPS Over Fired Local 804 Members  teamster.org   ...The parties have come to a settlement regarding the termination of 250 Local 804 members that occurred after a job action that took place in February...
After protests, Teamsters take over an art fair  Crain's New York Business   ...After facing protests last year, the Randall's Island art fair has agreed to employ Teamsters and theater union members to set up tents and temporary galleries for the show that begins May 9...
Frieze New York, Unions Reach Agreement in Art Fair Labor Dispute  New York Observer   ... Frieze has agreed to incorporate partial union labor in the upcoming fair, running May 9 through 12 on Randall’s Island, and to only use union labor for the 2015 edition of the fair. “It was a great win,” said George Miranda, president of Teamsters Joint Council 16, who chaired the talks...
Milford Police Trade In Fraternal Order Of Police For Teamsters  The Milford Beacon   ...Officers in the Milford Police Department recently switched unions with just a few months before their three year labor contract with the city is set to expire...
Michigan Lawmakers Should Put Public First  Detroit News   ...Serving in the government is not always easy. There are myriad issues that the public wants solved and limited dollars to do so. There is partisan gridlock...
Trade
Japan, U.S. Fail To Move Closer Over TPP Before Obama Visit  The Japan Times   ...Japan and the United States failed Wednesday to move closer over outstanding issues in their bilateral talks related to a Pacific regional trade pact...
State Battles
Right-To-Work Fails To Get 82 Votes In House  The Missouri Times   ...Today the House failed to get the 82 required for the final passage of the controversial "right-to-work" legislation. The bill was perfected today by a vote of 78-68...
Outside Special Interests Lean on MO Legislators to Push ALEC’s Anti-Worker Agenda  Center for Media and Democracy   ...Last week, the Missouri House of Representatives passed a measure to put an anti-union "paycheck protection" measure...
War on Workers
Meet The 31 Corporations and Banks Who Dodged $128 Billion in US Taxes  PoliticusUSA   ...the 31 corporations and banks have dodged $128 billion in taxes by setting up offshore tax havens. They have received $6.5 billion in tax refunds, and $2.5 trillion in taxpayer bailout money...
University students will be repaying loans into their 50s, say researchers  Guardian   ...The majority of undergraduates now at university will be paying off their student loans well into their 40s and 50s, with three-quarters of them unable to clear the debt before it is written off after 30 years...
As Parents Struggle To Repay College Loans for Their Children, Taxpayers Also Stand To Lose  Truthout ...default rates, while still modest, have nearly tripled over the last four years. About five percent of loans originated in fiscal year 2010 were in default three years later. The default rate at for-profit colleges is much higher, at 13 percent....
Those Who Serve Tech Billionaires Lunch are Facing Eviction  Gawker   ...At Google, the people who spoon out gourmet lunches to the Mountain View struggle to feed themselves. At Tesla Motors, chariot-builders of the geek elite, working at the corporate cafeteria means you might not be able to afford your own home...
$772 Million Penalty for Bank of America Credit Card Practices  New York Times   ...Bank of America has been ordered to pay roughly $772 million in refunds to customers and fines to federal regulators to settle allegations that the bank used deceptive marketing and billing practices involving credit card products...
Bank of America to cut 3,000 overseas jobs  Associated Press   ...Bank of America says it's cutting about 3,000 jobs overseas as part of ongoing reviews of its global operations...
Miscellaneous
Report Finds a Los Angeles in Decline  New York Times   ...The Los Angeles 2020 Commission presented a catalog of failings that it said were a unique burden to the city: widespread poverty and job stagnation, huge municipal pension obligations, a struggling port and tourism industry and paralyzing traffic that would not be eased even with a continuing multibillion-dollar mass transit initiative...

Woot! Right to work fails in Missouri vote!

Hah!!! A slew of billionaire-backed groups couldn't get enough votes today to put right-to-work on the ballot in Missouri.

Right-to-work supporters needed 82 votes in the Missouri House of Representatives for right-to-work to appear on the ballot in August. They didn't get it because of strong bipartisan opposition to the anti-worker measure. The Missouri Times reported:

Today the house failed to get the 82 votes required for final passage of the controversial “Right-to-Work” legislation. The bill was perfected today in the House by a vote of 78-68, lacking a majority of the full house and marking a blow for Right-to-Work proponents. 

Speaker Tim Jones has made the issue a top priority during his tenure as speaker.  While early approval of bills only requires a majority of members present, the bill will need 82 votes — a majority of the entire chamber — to advance to the Senate where Senate leaders have been remarkably unenthusiastic about its passage.

Groups linked to the Koch brothers converged on Missouri recently to pressure lawmakers to vote for right-to-work-for-less.

Progress Missouri put out a statement:

Extremists failed to achieve the 82 votes required to advance the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC) so-called ‘right to work’ legislation out of the Missouri House today, falling short with only 78 votes in support. Speaker Tim Jones and Majority Floor Leader John Diehl, both local ALEC leaders, were defeated by an impressive bipartisan alliance of Representatives who stood up to Washington, DC corporate front groups driving the attacks. 

“Today’s defeat of ALEC’s so-called ‘right to work’ legislation demonstrates that Missourians on both sides of the aisle realize that attacking workers on behalf of Wall Street extremists is wrong for Missouri. This is a good day,” said Sean Soendker Nicholson, Executive Director of Progress Missouri. “We urge members of the General Assembly to reject anti-worker legislation and instead focus on building an economy that works for all Missourians.” 

This vote is a victory for Missouri workers in the face of aggressive advocacy by national extremists groups like ALEC and the Koch Brothers’ Americans for Prosperity, who made certain local ALEC leaders cued up the so-called ‘right to work’ laws their corporate backers covet for Missouri.

Right-to-work supporters still have until the Legislature adjourns on May 16 to push the legislation, but the bipartisan opposition will make it tough.

Today's Teamster News 04.09.13

Teamster News
Teamsters seek "pay parity" raises for prison staff  The Florida Current   ...Dozens of correctional officers converged on Florida's capitol Tuesday to lobby legislators for a pay raise, saying their jobs guarding convicted felons are just as dangerous as those of the cops who put them there...
Hoffa: So-Called Right to Work Is Still Wrong for Workers  Huffington Post   ...ALEC and the Koch Brothers falsely preach that right to work (for less) gives workers more freedom. But all it guarantees is that hard-working Americans will work more for less if states continue to approve such bad laws...
Trade
The Trans-Pacific Partnership Is Terrible For Public Health  Huffington Post   ...Fifteen years ago, basic AIDS drugs cost more than $10,000 per person, per year. Many of the people who needed them the most, especially those living in poor countries, couldn't pay...
Japan, Australia Trade Agreement Could Make TPP Completion Harder  Farm Futures   ...Australia and Japan have completed negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement that at least one U.S. Ag group says will have implications on agricultural trade and the ongoing discussions surrounding the Trans-Pacific Partnership...
State Battles
Missouri doesn’t need divisive ‘right-to-work’ law (opinion)  Kansas City Star   ...Apart from the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, there is no hue and cry for right-to-work in Missouri. Nor is there valid evidence that union-busting tactics bring more jobs to states...
Outside Special Interests Lean on MO Legislators to Push ALEC’s Anti-Worker Agenda  PR Watch   ... Grover Norquist tweeted that the Missouri House would vote on and pass Right to Work, as if he had a crystal ball -- or more likely -- a hotline to the Speaker….Just a few months ago, Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform (acting under the absurd name "Center for Worker Freedom") was the leading group trying to stop workers at Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga...
Deal voted down in Rhode Island pension overhaul  Associated Press   ...A proposed settlement that would end the legal fight over Rhode Island’s 2011 landmark pension overhaul, which has been a model for other states looking to rein in runaway pension costs, was rejected by one of the groups voting on it, officials announced Monday. The parties were ordered back into mediation...
VW considering tossing election results and accepting UAW union, group says  Chattanooga Times Free Press   ...An anti-union group said today that Volkswagen is considering disregarding the February election results over United Auto Workers representation at the Chattanooga plant and accepting authorization cards the union claims to have collected last year...
UConn Basketball Player Speaks Of 'Hungry Nights,' Going To Bed 'Starving'  Huffington Post   ...His on-court skills have generated a lot of money, but University of Connecticut basketball player Shabazz Napier says there are nights he can't afford food...
War on Workers
SEC Goldman Lawyer Says Agency Too Timid on Wall Street Misdeeds  Bloomberg   ...A trial attorney from the Securities and Exchange Commission said his bosses were too “tentative and fearful” to bring many Wall Street leaders to heel after the 2008 credit crisis, echoing the regulator’s outside critics...
Rich people rule!  Washington Post   ...“economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence...”
If 97% Percent of Americans Sold Everything They Owned and Spent It on Congressional Elections, They Still Couldn't Max Out  AlterNet   ...Learn the scary new math of political fundraising...
Mike Lofgren: Can't We Just Say the Roberts Court Is Corrupt?  Truthout   ...Even in the absence of what Justice Roberts narrowly defines as "quid pro quo corruption," a court that consistently decides all relevant cases on behalf of corporate interests - most recently McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission - undermines its own legitimacy as well as the Constitution...
Miscellaneous
Citigroup To Pay $1.13 Billion Over Sketchy Mortgage Practices  Associated Press   ...Citigroup has agreed to pay $1.13 billion to settle claims by investors seeking that the lender buy back billions in residential mortgage-backed securities...
USDA estimates that 31% of the food supply is lost and uneaten  US Food Policy   ...In the United States, 31 percent—or 133 billion pounds—of the 430 billion pounds of the available food supply at the retail and consumer levels in 2010 went uneaten...

Koch brothers pushing RTW4Less in Missouri

The Benedict Arnold Koch brothers have Missouri workers in their crosshairs this week as a right-to-work-for-less bill will come to a vote Wednesday.

Teamsters at a recent Missouri Statehouse rally against
RTW4Less

There is strong bipartisan opposition to this bill, though supporters are hoping it's confusing enough that they can argue it's something workers want. It isn't.

It's something the Koch brothers want so they can eliminate unions and rig the game even more in their favor. That's why a slew of Koch-linked groups are in Missouri today, pressuring House Speaker Tim Jones to put right-to-work-for-less to a vote. 

Here's a list of the Koch-supported, Koch-linked groups and what they're doing (though you know money is also involved):

• ALEC (no surprise there, right?), which provided model Paycheck Deception and right-to-work-for-less bills; also brought Missouri lawmakers together with corporations behind closed doors to pressure them into voting for the bills. 
• Americans for Prosperity-Missouri held a meeting in the Statehouse urging support of right-to-work-for-less and launched a RTW4Less petition.
• FreedomWorks, which is targeting Republicans who are “wary” of RTW4Less, asking members to call them and urge them to support the bill.
• National Right to Work Committee sent a newsletter citing unions as a deterrent to job growth in Missouri and testified at RTW4Less hearings. 
• Mackinac Institute (Michigan-based stink tank) provided testimony at RTW hearings. Mackinac was the major force behind RTW in Michigan, and is often used as “right to work experts” within the State Policy Network.

Also involved are a couple of other groups grifting off of billionaires and corporations that would like to wipe out unions: 

• Americans for Tax Reform/Grover Norquist sent letters to all Missouri legislators urging them to vote for RTW4Less during the week of April 4th. Norquist tweeted that the MO House would vote on RTW before it was publically announced by the legislative leadership on April 2nd 
• American Conservative Union announced it would be sending letters to Missouri legislators urging them to vote in favor of Right to Work on April 3rd.
• Americans for Limited Government (love the name, since they're advocating government interference in the employer-employee relationship) urged the passing of Right to Work in press release on April 1st.

We've got a battle on our hands, brothers and sisters, and the enemy is well-funded. 

Today's Teamster News 04.07.14

Trade
USTR Froman’s Attack on Japan Set TransPacific Partnership Negotiations Back Further  naked capitalism   ... heaping criticism – in public! – of Japan in a heavy handed way like Froman did at the Congressional hearing is an unforgivable affront. Such antics will without a shadow of doubt not produce the desired outcome for the US government...
State Battles
Nixon calls for opposition to Right to Work  Springfield News-Leader   ...Ahead of a possible vote this coming week, Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon sought to strike a blow against Right to Work legislation on Saturday night...
Jones promotes right-to-work bill in his own self-interest (LTE)  St. Louis Post-Dispatch   ...Jones’ obvious goal is to line his pockets with Koch brothers' and other out-of-state money at the expense of real working people...
The War on Workers
Can We Safeguard Our Democracy After McCutcheon?  Moyers & Company   ...The Supreme Court’s evisceration of our campaign finance rules is a powerful argument for the cleansing properties of sunlight...
Inflation Watch: Global Food Disruptions, Commodity Prices Soar  Testosterone Pit   ...food prices here in the U.S. are expected to increase by between 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent this year.  If they do break the 3 percent mark, it will likely be the largest increase since 2011 and more than double last year’s 1.4 percent rise...
Fed Up with the Fed Blaming Boomers  Instapopulist   ...Why does the Fed keep claiming Baby Boomers are the main reason for the decline in the labor force? The real reason is because there aren't enough jobs for prime-age workers, and not mostly because older workers are leaving the work force...
Lessons We Must Learn from Charles Keating  The Big Picture   ...A fraudulent CEO doesn’t have to send an email directing a subordinate or “independent professional” to commit or aid and abet accounting fraud – he simply uses compensation and the power to hire and fire to create the perverse financial incentives to commit and aid and abet such frauds...
How Much Is NSA Spying Costing In Lost Productivity?  Washington Blog   ... top computer and internet experts say that NSA spying breaks the functionality of our computers and of the Internet. It reduces functionality and reduces security by – for example – creating backdoors that malicious hackers can get through...

Today's Teamster News 04.06.14

Trade
Data Debunk for USTR Froman’s Thursday Committee Hearing  Public Citizen   ...In recent weeks, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman has begun making outlandish claims about past U.S. trade agreements. These claims are not supported by the official  U.S. government trade data...
State Battles
Capitol Notes: Is action near on Right to Work?  Springfield News-Leader   ...The question gripping the (Missouri) capital is if the House will take up Right to Work legislation. ... The evidence suggests they will...
Documents released in open records lawsuit show lobbying group pulling legislators' strings  Wisconsin State Journal   ...“This demonstrates that ALEC is really a lobbyist-driven organization,” Fischer said. “The lobbyists are the ones calling the shots. The legislators are just following along.”...
Emails Show Sen. Corker’s Chief of Staff Coordinated with Network of Anti-UAW Union Busters  In These Times   ...Leaked documents obtained by Nashville TV station NewsChannel 5 WVTF reveal communications between the employees of two Tennessee Republicans—Sen. Bob Corker and Gov. Bill Haslam—and a network of prominent anti-union professionals during the United Auto Workers' union drive at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga earlier this year...
The War on Workers
Half A Million People With College Degrees Are Working For Minimum Wage  ThinkProgress  ...it is more than double the number of four-year degree holders who worked for minimum wage in 2005, underscoring how gradual progress has been since the recession ended. Labor experts attributed the high number of overqualified minimum wage workers to the fact that those are the job categories that have seen the most growth in the sluggish recovery...
Greediest family on earth: Proof Koch brothers have just one political principle  Salon   ...The Koch brothers like to pretend they're high-minded free marketers. Here's proof it's a scam...
Graduate Students on Strike  Jacobin   ...grievances ... concern the university’s unwillingness to bargain over key aspects of our employment, including class size and the number of terms (quarters, semesters) students are able to work. Also at issue is the university’s history of illegal intimidation of student workers...
Internet companies' growing ambitions spook 51 percent of Americans: Reuters/Ipsos poll  Reuters   ...Google and Facebook generally topped lists of Americans' concerns about the ability to track physical locations and monitor spending habits and personal communications

Today's Teamster News For April 4, 2014

Teamster News
CCTA strike ends; Service resumes Friday  WPTZ.com   ...The Chittenden County Transit Authority Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a three-year contract for its bus drivers Thursday afternoon, effectively restoring service...
Trade
Vietnamese Fish are Unsafe for American Consumption, but the WTO Won’t Let Us Protect Ourselves  Economy in Crisis   ...U.S. production is half of what once was. 60 percent of all catfish in U.S. markets is imported from Vietnam, which has driven half of all American catfish farms out of production. These imported fish are often raised in polluted water and have been found to contain illegal antibiotics and harmful substances such as pesticides and fungicides...
Japan, And The Trans-Pacific Partnership: All In, Or Out?  Roll Call   ...U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman will give Congressional lawmakers an update on the Obama administration's trade agenda Thursday, including its efforts to close out Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations...
U.S. Trade Deficit Hits $42.3 Billion In February  ABC News   ...The U.S. trade deficit climbed to the highest level in five months in February as demand for American exports fell while imports increased slightly...
State Battles
House Gives Initial Approval To Paycheck Legislation  OzarksFirst   ...The Missouri House of Representatives has given initial passage to legislation that is alternately called "paycheck protection" by its supporters and "paycheck deception" by its opponents...
Public Sector Unions Protest Changes To Dues Collection  Missourian   ...Public employee union members tried to knock out two birds with one stone Wednesday afternoon. The Communication Workers of America and the Service Employees International Union fanned out across the Capitol for their annual public workers' lobby day...
Interfaith Partnership Opposes "Right-To-Work" Legislation  St. Louis Review   ...The Cabinet of the Interfaith Partnership of Greater St. Louis has issued a statement opposing all proposed right-to-work/freedom-to-work legislation or calls for referendum being considered by the Missouri Legislature...
War on Workers
Ruling’s Breadth Hints That More Campaign Finance Dominoes May Fall  New York Times   ... there is no reason to think that the march toward deregulating election spending will stop with the ruling in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission...
Do-Nothing Congress Does Something: Gives GE A Big Tax Break  Testosterone Pit   ...Congress is infamous for doing nothing, as people who have lost their unemployment benefits viscerally know. However, today the Senate Financial Services Committee started the process of enacting the “Expiring Provisions Improvement Reform and Efficiency (EXPIRE) Act.”...
Congressional Progressive Caucus Calls For Stronger Action Against Wage Theft  Washington Post   ...The leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus this week sent a letter to Labor Secretary Thomas Perez urging the Labor Department to step up its enforcement actions against wage theft...
Hamburgled: Nine Out Of Ten Fast Food Workers Have Experienced Wage Theft  Think Progress   ...A new poll finds that 89 percent of fast food workers nationwide say they experience wage theft. That means 9 out of 10 fast food workers don't get the pay they earned...
Miscellaneous
Northwestern Football Players To Vote On Union April 25  Chicago Tribune   ...Northwestern football players are set to vote April 25 on whether they want to be represented by a union...
Rogue alcoholic court reporter kept writing ‘I hate my job’  New York Post   ...An alcoholic Manhattan court stenographer went rogue, channeling his inner “Shining” during a high-profile criminal trial and repeatedly typing, “I hate my job, I hate my job” instead of the trial dialogue...

Today's Teamster News 04.02.14

Teamster News
New York's Tom O'Donnell Named Teamsters Motion Picture Director  Reuters   ...International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa today announced the appointment of Tom O'Donnell, President of Teamsters Local 817 in Lake Success, New York as Director of the Teamsters Motion Picture and Theatrical Trades Division...
CCTA Strike Heads Into Third Week, Board To Explore Options  WPTZ   ...The Board of Commissioners at the Chittenden County Transportation Authority will meet Monday morning to address the agency's bus drivers' strike as the impasse marks the start of its third week...
Teamsters allege union-busting tactics  Charleston Gazette   ...local Teamsters leaders believe the company’s new owners, Proud Eagle Inc., are taking a very different approach, including using “union-busting tactics...”
Trade
Tobacco Lobby Targets Trans-Pacific, Trans-Atlantic Pacts  Legal Times   ...As the United States continues negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Trans Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, tobacco giant Phillip Morris International Management SA has turned to former Rep. Bill Paxon (R-New York) and other Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld lobbyists for help...
State Battles
Tight Vote On "Pay Check Protection" Leaves Future For "Right-To-Work" Uncertain  PoliticMO   ...With just one vote to spare, the Missouri House of Representatives gave first-round approval to legislation aiming to restrict a labor union's ability to automatically raise political funds from members...
Federal Judge Allows Part Of Right-To-Work Lawsuit Against State Of Michigan To Proceed  Detroit Free Press   ...A lawsuit challenging Michigan's controversial right-to-work law is still alive in U.S. District Court following a judge's ruling today...
Radio host files federal civil rights lawsuit for Capitol Police arrest  LaCrosse Tribune   ...A local radio host Monday filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against three (Wisconsin) Capitol Police officers who handcuffed and ticketed him during last summer’s mass arrests of singing protesters...
Revised and Updated Data Indicate Minnesota-Wisconsin Economic Activity Gap Increases  Econbrowser   ...the cumulative gap between Minnesota and Wisconsin for January is now over 2.2%...
Letter Shows Tennessee Governor Linked VW Incentives To Rejecting UAW  Detroit News   ...Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslem told Volkswagon AG the state would offer the automaker $300 million in economic incentives, but only if voters at Volkswagon's Chattanooga, Tennessee factory voted against joining the United Auto Workers in February...
Appeals Court Finds Florida's 2012 Voter Purge Broke The Law  Talking Points Memo   ...The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that the state's efforts to remove non-citizens from the rolls violated the act's so-called "90 Days Provision," which requires states to “complete, not later than 90 days prior to the date of a primary or general election for Federal office, any program the purpose of which is to systematically remove the names of ineligible voters from the official lists of eligible voters...”
The War on Workers
The Next Level Of The Anti-Koch Campaign: Treat David Koch Like A Candidate For Office  Buzzfeed   ... In 1980, David Koch ran in and funded a presidential campaign that called Social Security “The Ultimate Pyramid Scheme” and promised to abolish and replace it...
Wage War Brews at Johns Hopkins Hospital  Insurancenews.net   ...About 2,000 workers at Johns Hopkins Hospital have threatened to strike if the hospital does not agree to a wage increase of as much as forty percent for some employees...
Former McDonald’s Store Managers Say They Withheld Wages  Bloomberg   ...Two former McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) store managers, assisting with a campaign to raise pay for fast-food workers, said they helped withhold employees’ wages at the restaurant chain after facing pressure to keep labor costs down...
Nearly 90% Of Fast-Food Workers Allege Wage Theft, Survey Finds  Los Angeles Times   ...The vast majority of fast-food workers in the U.S. say they've been the victims of wage theft according to a survey released Tuesday...
At McDonald's, Wage Theft Is Just Another Managerial Task  TakePart   ...It's closing time at McDonald's and in addition to mopping the floors and closing out the registers, apparently one other important task helps keep this multi-billion dollar company running cheaply and efficiently...
Ormond Beach fighting a plague of zombie homes  Bay News 9   ...There's a group of Ormond Beach homeowners battling a zombie home problem -- homes that are standing dead and sucking the life out of entire neighborhoods...
Euro-Zone Jobless Rate Stays High  Wall Street Journal   ...The euro zone's economic recovery has been too weak to significantly reduce the number of people without jobs, as figures released Tuesday showed the unemployment rate has been unchanged since October 2013...
Miscellaneous
Clarity Sought As Northwestern Football's Labor Effort Evolves  USA Today   ...Ever since the National Labor Relations Board announcement last Wednesday that Northwestern's football players had been deemed employees by the regional director of the board's Chicago office...
How Labor Unions Can Save The NCAA  Slate   ...Last week after the National Labor Relations Board announced its decision to allow Northwestern football players to unionize, some said it would mark the death knell for the current amateurism model of intercollegiate athletics...
PG&E indicted on 12 criminal charges in San Bruno blast case  San Francisco Chronicle   ...Pacific Gas and Electric Co. was indicted Tuesday on 12 federal criminal counts related to the 2010 gas pipeline explosion that leveled a San Bruno neighborhood and killed eight people, including allegations that it did not conduct required inspections that could have prevented the disaster...
Goldman And SocGen Accused Of Defrauding Libya Out Of Billions With Derivatives During Gaddafi's Reign  Forbes   ...major U.S. and European financial firms, including Goldman Sachs and Societe Generale, actively courted executives of the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), which, flush with $60 billion of the nation’s oil profits, paid rich fees to invest with Western banks and funds, in some cases losing their whole investment.  Now, the LIA is suing Goldman Sachs and Societe Generale in London, while the SEC and the U.S. Justice Department are also scrutinizing the practices of hedge fund Och-Ziff and private equity firm Blackstone...

Today's Teamster News 04.01.14

Teamster News
CCTA Management and Drivers Still Make No Deal  Burlington Free Press   ...After another marathon negotiation session, no deal was reached between Chittenden County Transportation Authority management and the Teamsters Local 597 bus drivers' union, the two sides said Saturday...
City of Chicago Member wins Primary Election for Cook County Board  Local 700   ...Teamsters Local 700 member Luis Arroyo, Jr. will soon transition from a motor truck driver for the City of Chicago to a democratic nominee for the Cook County Board of Commissioners...
Tom O’Donnell Replaces Leo Reed As Director Of Teamsters  Deadline Hollywood   ...Tom O’Donnell, the current president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 817 in New York, has been named director of the Teamsters Motion Picture and Theatrical Trades Division, replacing the venerable Leo Reed, who left the post in January after 25 years at the helm...
Teamsters: Lack of county pay raises hurts services  Topeka Capital Journal   ...Shawnee County’s ability to provide quality services is suffering because the county commission isn’t giving employees pay raises, Teamsters Union members said at Monday’s commission meeting...
Trade
Trans-Pacific Partnership: Geopolitics, Not Growth  The National Interest   ...If you have to pick a winner, it’s Vietnam by a significant margin. By 2025, Vietnam would stand to gain nearly $96 billion or 28 percent of its GDP. This is largely due to exports increasing an estimated 37 percent...
Why do a majority of Americans oppose fast-tracking the TPP?  The New American   ...A recent poll reveals a majority of Americans oppose giving President Obama an end run around the constitution by fast tracking the Trans Pacific Partnership...
State Battles
Right to Work Vote in Missouri House Could Have Narrow Margin  St. Louis Post-Dispatch   ...One business priority touted by Republican Leadership has been slow to move out of the Missouri House this session. Right-to-work legislation has stalled partly because of divisions within the Republican Party and concerns the issue could endanger Republicans in swing districts...
Employee misclassification affects Illinois workers' compensation benefits  Digital Journal   ...The independent contractor versus employee classification may affect whether you will qualify for workers' compensation benefits following an on-the-job injury...
New York state joins NYC in suing FedEx for shipping untaxed cigarettes  Reuters   ...New York State joined New York City in suing package delivery company FedEx Corp for allegedly violating state and federal laws by illegally delivering contraband cigarettes to people's homes...
New York Times suggests Wisconsin voting changes are part of larger GOP swing-state effort  Cap Times ...A story this weekend notes that laws like the new one to reduce voting hours in Wisconsin are also being passed in other states where the electorate swings between Republicans and Democrats...
'Paycheck protection' lets some workers get free benefits (Opinion)  Patriot News   ...The Paycheck Protection Act would destroy the current system of union dues and fair share payments for public employees and put in its place an unfair one...
Detroit: bankrupt city readies for divisive $450m Red Wings arena  The Guardian   ...Billionaire Mike Illitch to build new hockey stadium but critics question use of $284.5m of public money...
Arizona GOP gives private prison company $1 million to house inmates who don’t exist  Raw Story   ...Lobbyists for the private prison company GEO Group convinced lawmakers to include almost $1 million extra in funding despite the fact that the Arizona Department of Corrections claimed the money wasn’t needed...
War on Workers
U.S. Regulators Say Oil Industry Withholding Data on Rail Crashes  Oil Price   ...Federal regulators said on March 28 that the oil industry was withholding key information related to the series of train derailments and explosions involving transporting crude oil...
Chemical industry-funded senators want to hide chemical industry funding of studies  Raw Story   ...OSHA chief David Michaels wants to update guidelines for working with silica dust, a significant hazard for construction workers and others exposed to the industrial byproduct that can cause lung cancer and other deadly diseases...
Walmart Realizes It’s Losing Billions Of Dollars By Denying Workers More Hours  ThinkProgress   ...Walmart will begin adding worker hours this year as part of an effort to address complaints about empty shelves at the company’s understaffed stores. Fixing the chain’s stocking problems could be worth $3 billion per year, a tacit acknowledgment that Walmart’s notorious efforts to wring productivity out of skeleton crews have hurt its bottom line...
Walmart Has A Lower Hiring Rate Than Harvard Admissions Rates  Crooks and Liars   ...It’s hard to find oneself among the freshman class at America’s top universities–and it should be! However, you may find it surprising to know that it is actually tougher to find a job at Walmart than it is to attend one of these schools...
Payday loans, overdraft fees can drain finances  Post and Courier   ...A new federal report has detailed reasons why payday lending is a financial horror that traps people in a cycle of high-interest debt...
Miscellaneous
New Alabama food truck regulations prevent local churches from feeding the homeless  The Raw Story   ...Food truck regulations that went into effect on January 1, 2014 are preventing churches in Birmingham, Alabama from feeding the homeless...