No action on safety in the year since the West Texas fertilizer explosion

One year ago today, a fertilizer plant in West Texas blew up and killed 15 people, injured 160 and flattened dozens of homes.

Chemical plants are still ticking time bombs as virtually nothing has been done to make them safer. (Here's why.)

The Teamsters are working with the Coalition for Sensible Standards to fight for stronger protections for workers and the public. The Coalition blog RegsTalk reminds us of our responsibility to make sure our system of safeguards and standards isn't dismantled:

Thursday, April 17, 2014 is the one year anniversary of the West, Texas fertilizer storage facility explosion, a disaster that devastated a community, claimed 15 lives, and injured over 160 others. The West Fertilizer Company supplied chemicals to farmers since it was founded in 1962, and was last inspected by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 1985. 

In the aftermath of the explosion, the operator of the fertilizer plant was cited for 24 safety violations and charged $118,300 in penalties. Safety violations included exposing workers to explosion hazards and chemical burns, unsafe handling and storage of chemicals, failing to have an emergency response plan and not having an appropriate number of fire extinguishers. 

The US Chemical Safety Board reported that regulation of the dangerous chemicals used in the industry fall under shoddy standards that are dated and far weaker than standards in other countries. However, Texas, which has the country’s highest number of workplace fatalities, is still wary of regulations. 

During the government shutdown 90% of CSB employees were furloughed, causing a delay in the investigation of the West, Texas disaster.

Please sign this petition here to tell the EPA to increase standards for chemical safety, work harder to ensure responsible chemical storage and transportation, and mandate that companies replace dangerous chemicals with safer alternatives.

Today's Teamster News 05.20.13

Bangladesh Factory Safety Accord: At Least 14 Major North American Retailers Decline To Sign Huffington Post   ...The deadline to sign onto the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh passed on Tuesday, and at least 14 major North American retailers declined to participate...
The great tax charade: Amazon plays the system while businesses like ours suffer  The Independent   ...We own a pair of independent book shops in Warwickshire. All around us the high street is, essentially, collapsing.... It’s simply not fair that Amazon starts at a an advantage on every sale because it’s not paying its fair share of tax...
Robert Reich: The Hollowing-Out of Government  Moyers & Company   ...The deadly explosion at a West, Texas, fertilizer plant was absolutely preventable. The plant was had not been inspected since 1985, and heavily violated safety standards. Why did this happen? The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is the government agency set to ensure workplace safety, but it’s been steadily hollowed out by Republicans…
Koch Brothers Dump Three-Story Pile of Toxic Byproduct on Detroit  The Gawker   ...There's a new addition to the scenic view along the Detroit River: a three-story pile of petroleum coke, a byproduct of the tar sands drilling in northern Canada over 2,000 miles away...
Class-Action Lawsuit Aimed at Walmart  Hispanic Business   ...Walmart can be sued for being negligent in hiring contractors that employ workers at their distribution centers, according to a federal ruling this week...
Michael Kinsley Feels Your Austerity Pain, Middle Class, But Pain Makes You Beautiful  Huffington Post   ...The austerity policies that gripped the world in the face of the global economic downturn have not worked. Unless the intent was to make a bad situation almost intractably worse...
Say no to Chained CPI scheme (opinion)  Times-Standard   ...Recipients of Social Security benefits and those about to retire should be aware that President Obama's proposed switch to the so-called Chained Consumer Price Index is, if adopted, will result in reduced benefits to all recipients...
Corporations Are Stealing From Hard Working Americans  New Hampshire Labor News   ...If you do not agree that corporations are stealing from Americans then you do not understand our current tax structure...
How Trade Pacts Threaten Public Health and Freedom  U.S. News & World Report   ...Let's face it: trade agreements bore most people. But modern trade pacts reach deep into our lives in ways that have nothing to do with trade. Deals now under discussion undermine the freedom of people everywhere to decide how to live, and they restrict the ability of democratically-elected governments to promote public health. It's time for the rest of us to pay attention…
Winners and losers from the 2013 session of the Missouri General Assembly  Kansas City Star   ...More importantly for the labor movement, the GOP largely abandoned the bill that unions most despised — a ban on unions requiring workers to pay dues, better known as “right to work.”...
Wisconsin Gov. Walker signs work-share bill  Green Bay Press Gazette   ...Gov. Scott Walker has signed into law a bill creating a program that gives employers an alternative to laying off employees when work slows...
Minimum Wage Hike Would Give Women A Needed Boost  Hartford Courant   ...Recently, the Appropriations Committee of the Connecticut General Assembly took a strong step toward growing and strengthening the wages of Connecticut's lowest-wage earners by voting to increase the state's minimum wage. In doing so, the committee also took a stand for women, as women are disproportionately impacted by a low minimum wage...
Texas sues BP, Halliburton, others over oil spill  CNN News   ...Texas on Friday became the latest state to sue BP, Halliburton and others tied to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, alleging the parties "engaged in willful and wanton misconduct" and seeking penalties and damages "to the fullest extent allowed by law."...
Indiana Halts Support of Fertilizer Plant on U.S. Bomb Concerns  Bloomberg News   ...Indiana Governor Mike Pence pulled his support of a plan by a Pakistani company to build a fertilizer plant after the Pentagon raised concerns that its products were being used to make bombs...
Georgia depends heavily on federal money  Atlanta Journal-Constitution   ...With Congress promising more federal spending cuts, some Georgia officials are facing up to a politically unpopular fact: the state has become more reliant on billions of dollars from Washington since the start of the Great Recession...

Today's Teamster News 05.13.13

Garment Workers Gather To Demand More Wages, Better Conditions Voice of America   ...Thousands of garment workers gathered in a demonstration to demand better salaries and improved working conditions for the hundreds of thousands of workers in Cambodia’s factories. Workers say a government increase of the minimum wage, to $80 per month, is not enough to keep up with the rising cost of living in the country...
Mark Weisbrot: Proposed international trade pacts no aid to workers  Appeal-Democrat   ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a very special trade agreement. It is so special that our government officials who are negotiating it want to keep it completely secret from us...
Furlough Watch: Agency-by-Agency Impacts of Sequestration  Government Executive   ...Across-the-board budget cuts known as sequestration are having have serious implications for federal workers, as mandatory unpaid furloughs planned for hundreds of thousands of employees begin to take effect. Check out the list of possible agency-by-agency plans and effects...
Large Corporations Seek U.S.–European 'Free Trade Agreement' to Further Global Dominance  AlterNet   ...The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is the latest plan of conglomerates to strengthen their grip over the planet...
Obama, in Texas, presses middle-class jobs agenda  Associated Press   ...Offering a more upbeat view of the economy, President Barack Obama resurrected his jobs proposals Thursday, advancing modest initiatives as he pushed for action on more ambitious efforts that face resistance from congressional Republicans...
Detroit Fast Food Workers Join Strike Wave  Labor Notes   ...“Want to know what all the fuss is? “We are standing up for justice!” At a busy intersection dotted with fast food brands, that is what 80 fast food workers and supporters chanted outside a Detroit Popeye’s Friday morning...
Demand more from Walmart (opinion)  Boulder Weekly   ...Walmarts have been popping up all over the country in the last five years. For several years, Walmart has placed or tied for last among department and discount stores in the American Customer Satisfaction Index. The situation for the workers is even less satisfying...
In Ga. and NC, Republican legislators reach into local governments controlled by Democrats  Associated Press   ...Even with Republicans holding unprecedented political power across the South, Democrats remain mostly in charge of urban centers in otherwise conservative states. Yet increasingly that control is threatened, not at the ballot box, but by Republican-led legislatures...
Missouri lawmakers OK state income tax cut  Associated Press   ...Battling back against tax cuts in neighboring Kansas, Missouri lawmakers gave final approval Thursday to an income tax cut for businesses and individuals that could reduce state revenues by about $700 million annually when fully phased in...
Florida prepares for massive insurance signup  Sun Sentinel   ...Facing the next big health-care challenge in Florida, Uncle Sam plans to enlist hundreds of consumer "navigators" over the next several months to help enroll up to 3.5 million uninsured state residents by January, when everyone is required to have health insurance...
After Plant Explosion, Texas Remains Wary of Regulation   New York Times   ...Five days after an explosion at a fertilizer plant leveled a wide swath of West, Texas, Gov. Rick Perry tried to woo Illinois business officials by trumpeting his state’s low taxes and limited regulations. Asked about the disaster, Mr. Perry responded that more government intervention and increased spending on safety inspections would not have prevented one of the nation’s worst industrial accidents in decades...
Michigan health centers get $3.8M to boost staff  Associated Press   ...Michigan’s community health centers can receive about $3.8 million from the federal government to help uninsured Americans enroll in health insurance coverage under the Federal Affordable Health Care Act...
Workers complete spire on New York's One World Trade Center   Reuters   ...Workers cheered and whistled as they completed the spire on New York's One World Trade Center on Friday, raising the building to its full height of 1,776 feet and helping fill a void in the skyline left by the September 11, 2001 attacks...
Illinois Senate passes pension bill, sets up showdown with House  Chicago Tribune   ...Senate President John Cullerton sent his version of pension reform to the House, setting up a high-profile clash with the rival plan Speaker Michael Madigan already pushed through the House...
Liquor store union ad campaign raises questions in Harrisburg  The Sentinel   ...There’s a good chance you’ve heard a commercial running on Harrisburg radio stations, but it’s mostly intended for the ears of lawmakers who are mulling liquor privatization...
Tax breaks, lawsuit liability left for Missouri Legislature in final week  Kansas City Star   ...With next year's budget plan finalized and an income tax cut passed, Missouri lawmakers now will turn their attention to resolving differences over tax credits and liability lawsuits before their mandatory adjournment on Friday...
NC Senate plan expands sales tax base far and wide  Associated Press   ...Senate Republicans argue that exponentially expanding the number of transactions subject to the sales tax would promote fairness in a North Carolina tax system now packed with exemptions and loopholes...
Washington state courts hacked; potentially up to 160,000 Social Security numbers accessed  Associated Press   ...The Washington state Administrative Office of the Courts was hacked sometime between last fall and February, and up to 160,000 Social Security numbers and 1 million driver’s license numbers may have been accessed during the data breach of its public website, officials said...
Teamsters Energized at 2013 Unity Conference  IBT   …The 2013 Teamsters Unity Conference convened Sunday, May 12, welcoming thousands of Teamsters from the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico to share their accomplishments, their challenges and the work they are doing to advance the lives of workers…
Hoffa Statement On YRCW Efforts To Acquire Frieght Division Of ABF  IBT   ...Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa issued a statement regarding recent reports that YRC Worldwide Inc. attempted to acquire ABF Freight Systems...
Slippery slope? NYC threatens to fire school cafeteria workers for buying butter  Washington Times   ...The butter police are on the job. New York City school kitchen managers said they’re being targeted and “bullied” by bureaucrats who have threatened “disciplinary action” for buying butter, in violation of a five-year-old policy against using or offering the spread in cafeterias...
Advanced Business Agents’ Seminar Scheduled July 29-31  IBT ...The IBT Training and Development Department will conduct an Advanced Business Agents seminar July 29-31, 2013 at Teamsters Joint Council 25 in Chicago...

Today's Teamster News 05.08.13

Ex-South Carolina governor Sanford beats Colbert Busch in special House election  Washington Post   ...The conservative electorate of South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District voted Tuesday to resurrect the political career of disgraced former governor Mark Sanford (R) by returning him to his former House seat...

Texas tragedy may cost fertilizer plant only $1 million  RT Network   ...Fifteen people died and more than 200 others were injured following an explosion at a West, Texas fertilizer plant last month, and lawyers for the facility now admit that the plant’s owners aren’t prepared to pay for the damages totaling more than $100 million in destruction. But the attorneys say the factory had only $1 million in liability coverage...
Death toll of Bangladesh building collapse tops 700   Associated Press   ...Hundreds of survivors of last month’s collapse of a building housing garment factories in Bangladesh protested for compensation Tuesday, as the death toll from the country’s worst-ever industrial disaster passed 700...
Churn, baby, churn: The labor market won’t be healthy until people feel like they can quit their jobs Washington Post   ...America needs more quitters. Or the job market does, anyway. That’s the lesson to draw from the latest Labor Department report, which shows the soft underbelly of the U.S. jobs picture. The unemployment rate may be falling and the number of jobs rising. But there isn’t enough “churn” going on, a hallmark of a healthy job market, in which people freely move between positions...
Overtime pay vs. time off: GOP wants a choice, but Democrats say plan would hurt workers  Associated Press   ...It seems like a simple proposition: give employees who work more than 40 hours a week the option of taking paid time off instead of overtime pay...
Online Sales Tax Bill Passes Senate  Huffington Post   ...The Senate sided with traditional retailers and financially strapped state and local governments Monday by passing a bill that would widely subject online shopping – for many a largely tax-free frontier – to state sales taxes...
FAA reviewing lost pay for furloughed employees  The Washington Post   ...The Federal Aviation Administration says it is reviewing how and whether to make whole thousands of employees who were forced to take unpaid days off in April before Congress intervened, suspending the furloughs...
Exposing ALEC's Agenda to Defund and Dismantle Public Education (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...Iron Man 3 just opened this past weekend, followed soon by more would-be blockbusters. I'm sure a lot of these movies will be entertaining, but none will be more important or relevant than a half-hour documentary I recently watched: The United States of ALEC...
Hertz relocating corporate headquarters to Florida following Dollar Thrifty acquisition  Associated Press   ...Hertz will move its headquarters from New Jersey to Florida, putting the company in the heart of a key travel market and trimming corporate expenses after its $2.3 billion buyout of one-time rival, Dollar Thrifty...
South Jersey firms facing OSHA fines from Sandy repair jobs  Press of Atlantic City   ...Federal inspectors have assessed at least 26 companies with a total of $110,000 in fines for unsafe workplaces in New Jersey shore towns while cleaning up and repairing damage from Hurricane Sandy, an analysis of U.S. Department of Labor records shows...
Missouri lawmakers must finalize budget this week  News-Press   ...Missouri lawmakers have until Friday to finalize the state's roughly $25 billion operating budget...
Illinois Senate to vote on union-endorsed pension reform bill  Reuters ...A union-backed plan to reform the worst-funded state pension system in the United States will be introduced in the Illinois Senate this week, competing with a plan passed by the House last week...
More arrested as NC legislature protests continue  Associated Press   ...More than two dozen members of the NAACP and other activists were arrested Monday as part of continuing protests of Republican policies in the state capital, bringing to nearly 50 the number of nonviolent demonstrators facing charges...
Michigan launches $5 million veterans' homeowners assistance program  Michigan Live   ...Michigan veterans who have lost their homes or are struggling to keep them could benefit from a new $5 million housing assistance program...
Teamsters Urge Congress To Stop Dangerous Increases In Truck Weight And Size  IBT   ...Yesterday, the Teamsters, the Truck Safety Coalition, U.S. Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) and representatives of several families who have suffered death and injury as a result of truck crashes, held a news conference marking the re-introduction of legislation that would prevent an increase in size and weight allowances for trucks...
UPS Local Leaders Unanimously Endorse UPS Tentative Agreement  IBT   ...Leaders of Teamster Local Unions that represent UPS workers across the United States voted unanimously today to endorse the tentative UPS national agreement, paving the way for ballots to be prepared and sent to members...
UPS Freight Local Union Leaders Unanimously Recommend Tentative Agreement For Ratification  IBT   ...Teamster Local Union leaders representing UPS Freight workers across the country unanimously endorsed the tentative national agreement today, clearing the way for ballots to be prepared and sent to members...
US Air Mechanics File for Election to Become Teamsters  IBT   ...US Airways mechanics and related workers filed for an election today with the National Mediation Board (NMB) as part of their campaign to become Teamsters...
Osco Pharmacists Negotiations Enter Federal Mediation   IBT   ...After seven bargaining sessions over several weeks, contract negotiations for 500 Osco pharmacists have entered federal mediation...
Buy Union, Buy American: Support Teamsters Week  Labor 411   ...Consumer awareness and education are key to the success of the labor movement. We have no doubt that most Americans would choose union-made, American-made goods if only they knew which they were – and if they realized that buying those goods helps to support good middle class American jobs...
Bay City mid-management contract approval rescheduled to later this month  Michigan Live   ...The Bay City Commission has rescheduled the review of new deal with Teamsters Local 214, which represents mid-management positions including the chief accountant, information systems administrator and planning manager...

Today's Teamster News 05.03.13

"Fix the Debt" CEOs Enjoy Taxpayer-Subsidized Pay  Institute for Policy Studies   ...A new report by IPS and Campaign for America's Future shows that America’s top CEOs are pocketing massive taxpayer subsidies at the same time they’re pushing austerity cutbacks in government programs that benefit ordinary citizens...
Foreclosure Settlement Checks Significantly Smaller Than Regulators Forecasted: Homeowners  Huffington Post   ...Adam Crain reckoned he was due $125,000. That amount would come as compensation for losing his Oak Harbor, Wash., home to foreclosure while he was serving aboard a naval vessel in the Middle East. He calculated that sum using a table distributed by federal regulators. Eight hundred dollars was all he received...
US Manufacturing Growth Slows; Construction Spending Falls  Reuters   ...The pace of U.S. manufacturing growth slowed in April as the sector expanded only modestly, an industry report showed on Wednesday. A separate report showed that construction spending fell in March...
Clinton waiting in the wings, Democratic group paves way for a woman president  NBC News   ...With former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton waiting in the wings, a prominent Democratic group launched an effort Thursday to pave the way for electing America's first woman president...
Koch brothers making Cassidy Senate campaign a 2014 priority  Times-Picayune   ...The conservative billionaire Koch brothers, who poured millions of dollars into the 2012 elections, have given their largest single political action committee donation for the 2014 mid-term races to Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, who is challenging Sen. Mary Landrieu, the three-term Democratic incumbent, in next year's Louisiana Senate race...
GOP Senator: I Voted Against Equal Pay For Women Because We Have Enough Laws  Think Progress   ...Women in full-time year-round jobs earned 77 cents for every dollar earned by a man. Yet, at a town hall earlier this week, Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) claimed that Congress has done enough to ensure that women receive equal pay for equal work. Indeed, she justified her vote against legislation intended to prevent employers from dodging federal equal pay law…
US flag-covered spire hoisted to NY's WTC roof  Associated Press   ...Adorned with an American flag that flapped in the breeze, the last pieces of a silver spire were hoisted to the top of the World Trade Center on Thursday as construction workers cheered its ascent...
A Single Garment Of Destiny’ For American And Bangladeshi Workers  Shanker Blog   ...“Injustice anywhere,” Martin Luther King famously wrote in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, “is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.” Two recent events which might seem worlds apart provide evidence that working people around the globe are indeed tied together in King’s “single garment of destiny.”...
US trade deficit drops to $38.8 billion in March as flow of crude oil falls to 17-year low  Associated Press   ...The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in March for a second month as the daily flow of imported crude oil dropped to the lowest level in 17 years. The deficit with China hit a three-year low...
Rep. Chris Taylor: Judge astonished at Scott Walker's attack on rights  The Cap Times   ...Gov. Scott Walker boasts about having the courage to stand up to public workers. He’ll tell right-wing audiences that crowds of 100,000 protesters outside of his office didn’t rattle him. Yet Walker has spent the last eight months, and thousands of taxpayer dollars, issuing $200 citations to individuals for peacefully singing, holding signs and, in some instances, walking in circles around the rotunda...
Europe's workers cry May Day against austerity  The Guardian   ...May Day is traditionally a time when European workers would pause to celebrate labor rights and the reforms which were won from employers and governments in earlier days. But with more people out of work across Europe than ever before, there has been an outpouring of anger over the region's financial plight...
Texas state officials tell legislators that educating West residents about plant was local responsibility   Dallas Morning News   …Texas Department of Public Safety officials told state lawmakers that educating residents in West – and in other Texas towns – about possible dangers of chemicals stored in nearby facilities falls to local officials…
NC Senators Force ALEC Bill Through Committee Without Even Counting Votes  Nation of Change   ...ALEC and the SPN groups have made killing clean energy incentives a national priority this year; after failing in Kansas, facing delays in Ohio and having a rough start in North Carolina...
Tom Morello Liberates Four 'Union Town' Songs for May Day  SPIN   ...Get 'em while they're free. To commemorate International Workers' Day, a.k.a. May Day (May 1), political firebrand/'90s rock icon Tom Morello has partnered with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to share tracks from the Union Town EP, the 2011 release from Morello's Nightwatchman project...
Huge Response To Teamsters’ Tom Morello Labor Music Giveaway Crashed The Servers – But We’re Back!  IBT   ...Wow! The response to our Tom Morello “Union Town” music giveaway at Teamster.org was so overwhelming, it crashed the web servers! Luckily, we’re back up and running...
UPS driver honored for 30 years of safe deliveries  Yakima-Herald   ...Peggy Larson is too polite to tell us how to drive. But if more of us drove like she does, the roads would be a lot safer. Larson, 54, of Port Orchard last month completed her 30th accident-free year as a driver for United Parcel Service...

Today's Teamster News 04.30.13

Texas Blast Recalls Chemical Safety Bill Sunk by Business Lobby  Bloomberg   ...Guess who fought against a 2009 bill aimed at tightening “security standards of chemical factors, fertilizer depots and water-treatment plants.” None other than “Mining companies, refiners, paint makers, explosive fabricators and fertilizer plants...the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and American Farm Bureau...”
How Austerity Is Literally Killing People (opinion)  Think Progress   ...Austerity in the United States and Europe isn’t just placing an unnecessary drag on economic growth that has harmed the global economic recovery from the Great Recession...
Banking group says new regulations could push consumers into risky payday loans  The Hill   ...A leading banking group says tighter guidelines on deposit advance loans could push consumers into higher-risk payday credit...
US electricity giant rejects privatization plan  Financial Times ...Push-back. President Obama recently floated the notion that it might be time to privatize the TVA. TVA’s Chief Executive says “the authority ‘isn’t broke’ and could fund the investment it needed while staying in the public sector.” TVA’s electricity prices are “significantly below the US average...”
Wealth Gap Among Races Has Widened Since Recession  New York Times   ... Millions of Americans suffered a loss of wealth during the recession and the sluggish recovery that followed. But the last half-decade has proved far worse for black and Hispanic families than for white families, starkly widening the already large gulf in wealth between non-Hispanic white Americans and most minority groups, according to a new study...
Bill to end sequester's air travel delays flies through Congress   Los Angeles Times ...Lawmakers, among the nation's most frequent fliers, OK a bill allowing the FAA to transfer $253 million to stop furloughs of air traffic controllers...
But the sequester could hurt federal tax collections, IRS says  Washington Post   ...The head of the Internal Revenue Service is warning that the government-wide spending cuts that took effect last month could hurt federal tax collections...
Push to Require Online Sales Tax Divides the G.O.P.  New York Times   ...Legislation that would force Internet retailers to collect sales taxes from their customers has put antitax and small-government activists like Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform and the Heritage Foundation in an unusual position: they’re losing...
Sanford, Colbert Busch Campaign Day After Debate  Associated Press   ...Republican Mark Sanford and Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch planned to hit the campaign trail a day after a spirited debate in their race for a vacant congressional seat along the South Carolina coast. "I rocked it," Colbert Busch said…
Citations drop for child work violations in Mass.  Boston Globe   ...Child-labor laws in Massachusetts were tightened then following on-the-job deaths of several teenagers, including a 16-year-old who was killed after losing control of a golf cart at a Salem country club. But enforcement citations appear to have dropped ...
Minimum wage hike goes to Minnesota House for vote   Associated Press   ....Many Minnesota workers would get a pay hike, extra time to spend with newborns and recently adopted children and more overtime pay in the minimum wage bill that is headed to the House floor.
Tax Shuffle Could Shake Up Missouri  St. Louis Post-Dispatch   ...Missouri’s Republican-led legislature is poised to send Gov. Jay Nixon a bill that would cut the state income tax, especially for small businesses, while raising the sales tax to benefit three legislative priorities…
Right-to-work will lower wages and weaken the economy (opinion) Southeast Missourian   ...Currently, Missouri Republicans are bent on passing so called "right-to work" legislation. Even though the president pro tem of the Senate said it isn't a priority of the Senate and it faces veto by the governor, they press on while they could be working to modernize our economy...
Feds approve New Jersey's plan to spend $1.8 billion in Sandy aid  New Jersey Star-Ledger   ...The federal government has approved New Jersey's plan to spend more than $1.8 billion in disaster aid, Gov. Chris Christie announced yesterday...
Sandy credited for rise in NY construction jobs  Crain’s New York   ...Thanks, in part, to a boost from post-Sandy work, employment in New York state's construction industry is inching its way back to its pre-recession peak...
Art Pope Groups Push Extreme ALEC Tax Agenda in North Carolina  PR Watch …An array of right-wing organizations in North Carolina are arguing loudly for Gov. Pat McCrory to radically alter how corporations and people pay taxes in the state -- and the not-so-hidden hand behind the effort is North Carolina millionaire Art Pope, a close ally of the Koch brothers, who funds the groups…
Airport Privatization Takes Off in Puerto Rico  Truth-Out   ...About 17 years ago, lawmakers slipped an obscure section of text into the annual federal aviation bill. In February, the intent of that law was enacted for only the second time when the FAA approved the privatization of Puerto Rico's Luis Munoz Marin International Airport. Numerous elected officials, lawyers and economists have denounced it as a bad bargain...
Virginia can block out of state use of FOIA, Supreme Court rules  Associated Press   ...The Supreme Court ruled Monday that it's legal for a state to limit use of its Freedom of Information Act to its own residents...
Marvel filming most of latest 'Captain America' movie in L.A.  Los Angeles Times   ...Disney-owned Marvel Studios is producing most of 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' in L.A., a region that has seen the steady exodus of big-budget features. Teamsters Local 399, represents the film’s casting directors, location managers and drivers...

Today's Teamster News 04.26.13

Everything Is Rigged: The Biggest Price-Fixing Scandal Ever  Rolling Stone   ...The second huge financial scandal of the year reveals the real international conspiracy: There's no price the big banks can't fix...
Executive-Pay Tax Break Saved Fortune 500 Corporations $27 Billion Over the Past Three Years  Citizens for Tax Justice   ...One “single tax break, for executive stock options” allowed Fortune 500 corporations to avoid paying $11.2 billion in income taxes in 2012. The top 25 benefiting during 2010-12: Apple $3.2bn, Facebook $1.6bn, JP Morgan $1.1 bn, etc...
The West, Texas, explosion shows the deadly effect of profit before safety   The Guardian ...Poor regulation of the West Fertilizer plant likely contributed to 15 deaths – just as 13 US workers die at their jobs every single day…
Bangladesh Factory Disasters Will Become ‘More And More’ Common   Talking Points Memo   ...Walmart, H&M, Sears, Gap, etc. outsource to Bangladesh because of its low wages and labor standards. It also lacks safety regulations, resulting in the recent factory collapse which left at least 250 dead and more than 1,000 injured...
Four Reasons to Worry About the Potential Koch Takeover of Tribune Co. Newspapers (opinion)  The Nation   ...If their bid is successful, the Koch brothers won’t just have a strong influence over the laws we all live under and the climate we pass on to the next generation, they’ll be publishing the news we read...
Labor Department: Florida Unemployment Regime Violates Civil Rights Requirements  Huffington Post   ...Florida violated federal civil rights law with its new and unusual requirement that unemployment claimants file online and take math and reading tests before they can receive benefits, the U.S. Labor Department determined this month...
California Lawmakers Consider Soda Tax  KTLA5 ...A bill that would impose a tax on sugary drinks in California is in front of lawmakers in Sacramento this week. The state law would tax sugary drinks such as sodas, energy drinks and sweet teas one cent per fluid ounce.
Anti-Worker "Paycheck Protection" Bills Moving in Missouri   PR Watch   ...Missouri is the latest front in the attack on organized labor with so-called "paycheck protection" bills moving through the legislature, with backing from the usual array of corporate interests. But according to the Economic Policy Institute, the bills primarily disadvantage workers while preserving privileges for corporations...
Cincinnati city council votes no on right-to-work law  Business Courier   ...Cincinnati City Council unanimously passed a resolution opposing right-to-work laws and the “workplace freedom” amendment being pushed by some groups in Columbus...
Maine lawmakers kill right-to-work, dues bills  Associated Press   ...The Maine Senate has killed a pair of bills labeled by opponents as anti-union. Senators voted 21-13 Thursday against a right-to-work bill, which would have made it illegal for a private employer to require employees to join a labor organization or pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment...
Oregon lawmakers pass law to lower pension COLAs  Pensions & Investments   ...The Oregon House of Representatives passed a pension reform bill Wednesday that lowers the maximum cost-of-living adjustment for retirees of the $61.1 billion Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund...
Ind. lawmakers reach deal on tax cuts, road funds  Associated Press   ...Gov. Mike Pence and Indiana's Republican legislative leaders have reached a budget deal that increases spending on roads and schools while giving the governor a piece of the income tax cut he has arduously sought this session...
Teamsters Reach Tentative Agreements Covering 250,000 Workers at UPS, UPS Freight  IBT   ...The Teamsters Union announced last night that it has reached tentative agreements with UPS on new five-year national contracts for package and freight workers that protect their health care benefits, provide substantial wage increases and significantly raise contributions to pension and health and welfare benefits...
Hudson Valley Teamster School Bus Drivers Return To Work At Durham  IBT   ...After engaging in an unfair labor practice strike today, Teamsters Local 445 has given Durham School Services an unconditional offer to return to work at the beginning of the work day on Friday morning, April 26, 2013...
Torres Adds Teamsters To Trove of Union Endorsements  City & State ...Bronx City Council candidate Ritchie Torres continues to pick up support from organized labor in a crowded to replace City Council Majority Leader Joel Rivera, winning the endorsement of the Teamsters Joint Council 16, one of the largest unions in the city with roughly 120,000 members...
Striking Thorn Creek Basin workers to return Friday  NWI Times   ...A two-month picket by Teamsters members of the Thorn Creek Basin Sanitary District will come to an end this week...