Ruh-roh: Kochs now aiming at winning small-town elections

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Ya gotta watch this Daily Show video about the Benedict Arnold Koch brothers promoting vicious lies in small-town elections. A candidate for city council in Coralville, Iowa, got support from the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity. He said it was like getting endorsed by the Manson family.

The Kochs are raising and spending money at a blistering pace. They're spending more money than the entire Republican National Committee. Since August, they poured $27 million into commercials hammering Democratic members of Congress, hoping to win more pro-Koch Republican lawmakers to their side. They've signaled that they expect to spend heavily to re-elect anti-worker governors like John Kasich in Ohio, Rick Snyder in Michigan, Rick Scott in Florida and job-killer Scott Walker in Wisconsin.

The Washington Post reported on the massive amounts of money Americans for Prosperity is spending already on the 2014 elections:

The National Republican Senatorial Committee has made just one small ad buy, last summer in Louisiana, while Karl Rove’s super PAC, American Crossroads, buffeted by weak fundraising, is participating in only one Florida special election right now. 

As of this week, Americans for Prosperity has spent more than $27 million on ads since August, putting it on pace to far outstrip its overall $38.5 million budget for the 2010 midterms.

It's part of their campaign to control government at all levels for their own enrichment. They've been successful so far. The Koch brothers' wealth increased $33 billion in three years.

Today's Teamster News 11.03.13

Canada's CN Rail reaches tentative deal with Teamsters union  Reuters   ...Canadian National Railway Co , the country's largest rail operator, agreed to a new labor contract for some 3,300 conductors, trainmen, yardmen and traffic coordinators represented by the Teamsters union, the railway said Thursday...
Arkansas Best, teamsters ok five-year contract  Log Cabin Democrat   ... The contract will take effect on Nov. 3, 2013 and run through March 31, 2018...
Portrait of the NSA: no detail too small in quest for total surveillance  The Guardian   ... It is indiscriminate in the information it is collecting. Nothing appears to be too small for the NSA. Nothing too trivial. Rivals, enemies, allies and friends – US citizens and 'non-Americans' – are all scooped up...
10 Corporations Control Almost Everything You Buy — This Chart Shows How  PolicyMic   ...It's not just the products you buy and consume, either. In recent decades, the very news and information that you get has bundled together: 90% of the media is now controlled by just six companies...
One Thing Major Media Hid From You During the Debate on Syria  PolicyMic   ...at least 22 of the commentators and seven of the think tanks that advocated for military action in Syria had ties to companies that would profit from such a strike...
More on secrets in trade…TPP  Angry Bear   ...“This really is a deal that’s being negotiated by corporations for corporations and any benefit it provides to the bulk of the population of this country will be purely incidental.” ... “There would be no reason to keep it so secret if it was in the interest of the public...
The Global Corporatocracy Is Almost Fully Operational  naked capitalism   ..."...we are witnessing the advancement of a new and unprecedented global project of transatlantic corporate colonization.“... as a recent leak of part of the TPP document has shown, the new rules would limit how governments regulate such public services as utilities, transportation, healthcare and education, including restricting policies meant to ensure broad or universal access to those essential needs...
Now Is Time To End Trade Deal Job Growth Lie  teamster.org   ...The recently implemented U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement was supposed to create 70,000 new jobs, yet in the 18 months it’s been in place it has cost this country 40,000...
You Can Go To Jail For An Overdue Library Book  Consumerist   ...A Texas man was arrested this week for failing to return a GED study guide he simply spent too long studying — three years — and was sent to jail to mull over his actions, or lack thereof...
Daily Meme: Congress Hits America's Poorest While They're Down  American Prospect   ...Nearly 1 million military vets use food stamps and will see cuts...
GOP 'extremist movement' prompts NC candidate to switch to Democrat  Charlotte Observer   ..."The government shutdown was simply the straw that broke the camels back. I guess being an American just isn’t good enough anymore and I refuse to be part of an extremist movement in the GOP that only appears to thrive on fear and hate mongering of anyone and everyone who doesn’t walk their line.”

6 things you should know about the IRS scandal

This ad was paid for by a "social welfare nonprofit."

Social welfare nonprofits at the center of the controversy over the IRS's targeting of Tea Party groups have another name. They're also called dark money groups because they don’t have to disclose the donors who spent more than $256 million into the 2012 federal elections.

ProPublica, the nonprofit public-interest news outlet, reminds us of six important facts lost in the controversy. We thought we'd share them with you:

1. Social welfare nonprofits are supposed to have social welfare, and not politics, as their “primary” purpose.
2. The Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision meant that corporations could pay for political ads, anonymously, using social welfare nonprofits.
3. Social welfare nonprofits do not actually have to apply to the IRS for recognition as tax-exempt organizations. (See Stephen Colbert on that point.)
4. Most -- about 80 percent -- of the money spent on elections by social welfare nonprofits supports Republicans.
5. Some social welfare groups promised in their applications, under penalty of perjury, that they wouldn’t get involved in elections. Then they did just that.
6. Donors to social welfare nonprofits are anonymous for a reason. It's because Alabama tried to force the NAACP to disclose its donors during the Civil Rights struggles in the 1950s. The U.S. Supreme Court in 1958 ruled the NAACP's donors could remain secret because disclosure would risk reprisal and threats. 

Today's Teamster News 04.19.13

One Boston Bombing Suspect Reportedly in Custody, One Remains at Large  The Atlantic   ...a series of violent events culminated in Watertown, Massachusetts late Thursday night after two unidentified suspects engaged with police from a Mercedes SUV. ..
Proposed Bill Would End 40-Hour Work Week  iMail   ...House Republicans have introduced a bill that would end the 40-hour work week, dismantling an important component of the Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 and hurting middle-class families across the country...
Behold the power of the neutered regulatory state  firedoglake   ...The Occupational Safety and Health Administration most recently inspected the Texas fertilizer plant that exploded Wednesday night in 1985...
In win for Shell, U.S. top court curbs human rights claims  Reuters   ...In a major victory for multinational companies, the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday limited the ability of human rights plaintiffs to invoke a 224-year-old federal law when suing companies over alleged collusion with violent foreign governments...
Group says major companies involved in tax scheme  Associated Press   ...A Chicago-area transportation agency on Wednesday alleged that some of the nation's largest and best known companies including AT&T, Sears Holdings Corp., Verizon and Target are running "sham" offices as part of a scheme with two small northern Illinois communities to avoid paying millions of dollars in taxes in Chicago and Cook County...
Majority in U.S. Want Wealth More Evenly Distributed  Gallup   ...And 52% support heavy taxes on the rich to redistribute wealth...
Walmart Pays Workers Poorly And Sinks While Costco Pays Workers Well And Sails-Proof That You Get What You Pay For   Forbes   ...Costco’s most recent quarterly earnings report reveals a fairly healthy eight percent rate of growth in year-on-year sales, while, Costco’s primary competitor, Walmart, saw an anemic 1.2 percent rise in sales...
France Threatens to Block Start of EU/U.S. Free Trade Talks  Reuters   ...France said on Thursday it would block proposed negotiations on a free trade agreement between the European Union and the United States unless cultural sectors, such as television and radio, were excluded from the talks...
Congress Returns to Public Pension Battle With New Bill  Reuters   ...Congress is again joining the fight over public pensions, as a Republican Representative on Thursday pushed a bill to require state and local funds to give more accurate information on their assets and to bar the federal government from bailing them out during a financial crisis...
Wage-theft bill heads to floor  Orlando Sentinel   ...A bill pre-empting to the state the regulation of "wage theft," an effort to block some local efforts in Orlando and South Florida, is headed to the House floor...
Missouri House endorses 'right-to-work' for police  ConnectMidMissouri.com   ...The Missouri House has voted to bar the payment of union dues as a condition of employment for law enforcement officers...
Mont. House approves GOP election referendums  Associated Press   ...The Montana House on Wednesday approved a pair of election referendums that sparked uproar in the Senate two weeks ago when Democrats failed in an attempt to block the bills...
Series of ballot initiatives would impact public employee union dues  Statesman Journal   ...The 2014 election could be rough on (Oregon's) public employee unions. Three ballot initiatives have been filed that would undercut the unions’ ability to collect dues from members, and they all have more than a year to collect signatures...
Unions Will Rally in Chambersburg Against Right to Work Proposal   The Record Herald   ...A rally against House Bill 50, which would make Pennsylvania a right to work state, will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 20, in Chambersburg...
Illinois Teamsters Benefit From Robust Film Industry   IBT ...The record spending on movies, TV shows and commercials resulted in more than 2,200 jobs, including steady work for hundreds of Local 727 members...
National Express Faces AGM Revolt Over Staff Rights  The Independent   ...The umbrella group representing local authority pension funds has urged its members to vote down National Express' annual report over US labour practices at the transport company's lucrative school bus business...
Striking Teamsters At Republc Services Extend Picket Lines To California  IBT   ...Striking sanitation workers from Republic Service’s hauling yards in Memphis and Millington, Tennessee extended picket lines to California early this morning...
Durham School Bus Drivers Speak Out About Safety, Human Rights Concerns  IBT   ...School bus drivers from Milton, Pace and Navarre, Fla., shared serious concerns today over safety, service and working conditions at Durham School Services with a panel of international union representatives, trade unionists from the U.S. and prominent community leaders...
Garbage Strike Interrupts Service In Toledo  WTVG-TV   ...Teamsters Union members that collect the trash in Toledo honored extended picket lines from striking Teamsters at Local 377 in Youngstown yesterday...
Ohio Labor Dispute Leads To Disruptions In Puget Sound Trash Pick-Ups  KIRO-TV   ...A garbage strike 2,500 miles away is keeping thousands of Puget Sound residents from getting their trash picked up...
Waste Workers On Strike For 2nd Time In 4 Months  WMC-TV   ...For the second time in four months, Teamsters Local Union 984 workers are on strike...
Teamsters, King's Material Agree on New Contract  Quad-City Business Journal   ...Members of Teamsters Local 371 and management at King's Material Inc., Eldridge, have reached an agreement on a new contract...

Today's Teamster News 4.02.13

Mexican Drug Cartels Dispatch Agents Deep Inside U.S.  Associated Press   ...Mexican drug cartels whose operatives once rarely ventured beyond the U.S. border are dispatching some of their most trusted agents to live and work deep inside the United States — an emboldened presence that experts believe is meant to tighten their grip on the world’s most lucrative narcotics market and maximize profits...
Trans-Pacific Partnership Targets Internet And Labor Rights  firedoglake   ...TPP is the next step in expanding Corporate Power at the expense of democracy and free expression...
Wells Fargo’s “Reprehensible” Foreclosure Abuses Prove Incompetence and Collusion of OCC  naked capitalism   ...Two bankruptcy cases in Louisiana that have revealed systematic, persistent foreclosure abuses by Wells Fargo have gotten enough media attention that it is inconceivable that banking regulators don’t know about them...
Congressional Inaction Could Cost College Students  Associated Press   ...The rate for subsidized Stafford loans is set to increase from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent on July 1, just as millions of new college students start signing up for fall courses...
How Big Corporations are Unpatriotic  Counterpunch   ...I wrote to the CEOs of the 20 largest U.S. corporations, asking if they would stand up at their annual shareholders’ meetings and on behalf of their U.S. chartered corporation... and pledge allegiance to the flag ending with those glorious words “with liberty and justice for all.” Nineteen of the CEOs have not yet replied. One, Chevron, declined the pledge request...
Milliman to assess impact of another Florida pension reform bill  Pensions & Investments   ...The Florida Senate commissioned Milliman to conduct an actuarial study of the financial impact of closing the Florida Retirement System's defined benefit plan to some state employees ...The study is expected to be completed April 12...
Teamsters at Republic Services Extend Picket Lines to Elyria, Ohio  IBT   ...Sanitation workers employed at Republic Services/Allied Waste’s [NYSE: RSG] Carbon Limestone landfill traveled from Youngstown, Ohio to raise a picket line extension at Republic’s Elyria, Ohio facility early this morning. Republic’s workers in Elyria – almost 200 sanitation drivers and mechanics – are refusing to cross the picket line...
Teamsters locked out at King’s Material Inc., union says  Quad City Business Journal   ...Members of Teamsters Local 371 at King’s Material Inc., Eldridge, were locked out this morning by the company after reaching an impasse in contract negotiations...
Teamsters Bring National Express Protest to UK  IBT   ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters brought its protest against National Express Group to the UK on 27 March to demand that the multinational honors the human rights of its North American workers...
Bankruptcy Judge Approves US Air-AA Merger  The Hill Blog   ...A bankruptcy judge has moved US Airways and AA one step closer to combining as he approved the merger proposal between the two airlines...
UPS, UPS Freight Negotiations Updates For March 28  IBT   ...View the latest updates for UPS and UPS Freight national negotiations...
Important YRC Change of Operations Information  IBT  ...Read this important information regarding the proposed change of operations at YRC...
Community, Environmental and Labor Coalition Applaud Missouri Attorney General for Legal Action Against Republic Services  IBT   ...Teamsters Joint Council 13 in St. Louis, Missouri Jobs with Justice, and Missouri Coalition for the Environment, applauded Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster for taking legal action against Republic Services for the ongoing environmental health and safety crisis at the Bridgeton/Westlake landfill...

Is it time to dust off the law books and break up some monopolies?

That was then.

Matt Stoller thinks so. In a recent naked capitalism post, he argues that Americans can't have nice things because of lazy corporate monopolies.

Stoller, a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, points out that cell service in the US is worse than in many other countries. So are banking services. In Kenya -- Kenya!! -- banking services are way more modern than they are in the US. People can actually transfer money using text messages. Stoller explains:

...the world’s most innovative mobile payments system (is) called M-Pesa ... a cell phone based cash remittance system based on text messages.  Unlike Chase’s Quickpay system, M-Pesa just works, and works well. You load your SIM card with money at any number of street stalls, telecom stores, beauty shops, or anywhere else someone has decided to set up a Safaricom outlet. Transfers happen via text message, and they cost 0.5 – 4% of the cost of the transaction, which is cost effective for a country where so few people have access to banks. Withdrawals can happen at any Safaricom outlet. If your phone is stolen, that’s ok, the cash is loaded onto your SIM card and you have a unique password.

Why can't we have that here? Stollers says it's because:

American corporate executives are now more focused on financial engineering, which is essentially the extraction of capital from their enterprises and from the public, than they are at selling improved goods and services... Investing in manipulative pricing schemes, lobbying for tax breaks and not investing in good infrastructure is a rational choice for American corporate executives...

That's why your monthly cable bill is projected to rise by $114, to $200, by 2020, Stoller says. He argues that it's time to start busting up giant corporations, the way Teddy Roosevelt did back in the day.

Read the whole thing here.

Today's Teamster News 12.09.12

'All options are on the table' to defeat right-to-work law and its backers  Detroit Free Press   ...The options range from a legal challenge of several aspects of the law to recall campaigns against Republican legislators who voted for the bills, to working vigorously to defeat pro-right-to-work legislators in the next statewide election in 2014...
Michigan right to work: Judge rules on lockdown of Capitol building, union representatives file more lawsuits  Michigan Live   ...At least two lawsuits have been filed contending the state violated the Open Meetings Act and citizens’ right of free speech...
Michigan unions to protest "right-to-work" measures this week  Reuters   ...Right-to-work opponents will begin to converge on Lansing on Monday, organizers said, and they expect thousands at the rally on Tuesday when the state legislature reconvenes...
Michigan "right-to-work" law exempts existing union contracts  Reuters   ...The proposed Michigan "right-to-work" law will not apply to existing union contracts, a leading sponsor of the proposal said on Friday, which may blunt its immediate impact on the state's huge auto industry...
Michigan 'Right To Work:' GOP Lawmakers Against Controversial Bill Speak Out  Huffington Post   ...state Rep. Ed McBroom (R-Vulcan), a Tea Party member and one of the "no" votes... " (said) I had employers even calling me saying they're satisfied with the relationships they have with unions in our area, and they said they didn't want this either...
Medicare Eligibility Age on the Table?  Washington Monthly   ...Raise the eligibility age and PEOPLE WILL DIE...
China Labor Watchdogs Expose Dark Side of Global Toy Empire  firedoglake   ...CLW’s investigation revealed at least 15 sets of violations in four factories together employing about 10,000 workers: illegal overtime pay, excessive overtime, forced labor, myriad safety concerns, a lack of safety training, a lack of physical exams, inability to resign from work, blank labor contracts, unpaid work, a lack of social insurance, use of dispatch workers, a lack of a living wage, poor living conditions, unreasonable rules, and a lack of effective grievance channels...
For Fighting Foreclosures, a $100,000 Award  New York Times   ...GMAC, the mortgage company he was suing in court to save Nicolle Bradbury’s $75,000 house, was mass-producing flawed paperwork to seize people’s homes illegally...
Corporation Nation  Economic Populist   ...We need to structurally redefine and realign the U.S. Corporation...
Former Walker appointee given 2 years in prison for stealing $51K from Wis. veterans' groups  The Republic   ...A former associate of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was sentenced Friday to two years in prison after he was convicted of embezzling more than $51,000 from donations intended to help veterans and their families...
Pasco County, Teamsters still at impasse  Tampa Bay Online   ...When Pasco County commissioners sided with management over employees in the Teamsters' first contract negotiation, assistant librarian Donna Ainsley predicted "nobody" would vote for ratification. She wasn't too far off. The Teamsters Local 79 rejected the contract, which included no pay raise, by a vote of 361-18...

Today's Teamster News 10.31.12

Northeast residents try to rebound after Sandy's punch, but challenge of rebuilding remains  Associated Press   ...People in the coastal corridor battered by superstorm Sandy took the first cautious steps to reclaim routines upended by the disaster, even as rescuers combed neighborhoods strewn with debris and scarred by floods and fire...
Home Prices in 20 U.S. Cities Rise by Most in Two Years: Economy  Bloomberg   ...The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values in 20 cities rose 2 percent from August 2011, the biggest year-to-year gain since July 2010, after climbing 1.2 percent the prior month, the group said today in New York...
UPS, FedEx Search for an Edge  24/7 Wall Street   ...Package delivery giant United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) said yesterday that it plans to hire 55,000 seasonal workers to sort, load, and help deliver packages during the coming holiday season. The total matches the number that UPS hired last year and that the company had been expected to hire again this year...
Here’s a Memo From the Boss: Vote This Way  New York Times   ...the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision has freed companies from those restrictions, and now several major companies, including Georgia-Pacific and Cintas, have sent letters or information packets to their employees suggesting — and sometimes explicitly recommending — how they should vote this fall...
Judge strikes down law giving Walker new powers in setting DPI rules  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...A portion of a law giving Gov. Scott Walker veto powers over rules written by the state schools superintendent was struck down Tuesday by a Dane County judge, the latest in a series of legal skirmishes between the GOP governor and public employee unions...
EXCLUSIVE: Romney Campaign Training Poll Watchers To Mislead Voters In Wisconsin  ThinkProgress   ...Documents from a recent Romney poll watcher training obtained by ThinkProgress contain several misleading or untrue claims about the rights of Wisconsin voters...
Flailing in Ohio, Romney rolls out Jeep ploy: editorial  Cleveland Plain Dealer   ...Ohio voters know who stepped up when the auto industry was at the abyss -- and it wasn't Romney...

Today's Teamster News 10.27.12

Can the Future of the U.S. Be Seen in Europe Today?  Iacono Research   ...Two reports ...  lay out just how bad conditions are for the poor in some countries as putting food on the family table has become more and more challenging while losing your job and your health care benefits has turned into a death sentence for some...
Michigan Vote a Test Case on Enshrining the Rights of Unions  New York Times   ...Tired of battling legislative efforts to roll back union rights in state after state, organized labor is trying a new strategy: going on the offense. The first target is Michigan, the cradle of the United Automobile Workers and a bastion of union power...
Pending trade pact could cost Maine shoe worker jobs, forum told  Kennebec Journal   ...Trans-Pacific Partnership, now in negotiations, would hurt state's New Balance factories, state representatives claim...
Ohio lawmakers want to slow Gov. John Kasich's plan to lease Ohio Turnpike  The Plain Dealer   ...Two Democratic state lawmakers hope to slow Republican Gov. John Kasich's plans to lease control of the Ohio Turnpike to the highest private bidder...
Milwaukee County DA responds to Rite-Hite letter to employees  Badger Democracy   ...Milwaukee County DA John Chisolm’s office has responded to an inquiry regarding the controversial letter sent to Rite-Hite employees, informing them of the consequences of an Obama re-election...
Teamsters:  'We feel like the family's grown' with addition of Genesys Convalescent Center  MLive.com   ...Employees are Genesys Convalescent Center in Grand Blanc Township have voted to become members of Teamsters Local 332 in Flint...

CEOs threaten workers over Obama votes

CEOs are pushing the U.S. toward totalitarianism as they instruct their employees to vote for Mitt Romney. One CEO even forced his employees to stand behind Romney for a photo op in front of an Ohio coal mine -- without pay.

Until recently, such tactics were unthinkable in America. When Ukrainian business managers told employees how to vote, President George W. Bush rejected the election as illegitimate. When the Armenians made factory workers stand at incumbent's rallies, Bush criticized the elections as undemocratic.

Such intimidation used to be illegal in the United States. Then the Supreme Court, with its Citizens United ruling, decided it's okay. Now we're hearing a number of reports about CEOs threatening their employees into voting for Mitt Romney.

• Cintas CEO Scott Farmer emailed an anti-Obama screed to the company's 30,000 employees.
• Jack DeWitt, CEO of a company that's thriving under Obama (and even received government money), sent a newsletter to his employees telling them to vote for Romney.
• The Koch brothers (no surprise there) sent propaganda packets to 45,000 Georgia-Pacific employees, telling them their livelihoods could depend on the election and the company supports Romney.
• David Siegel, the billionaire founder and CEO of Florida-based Westgate Resorts, sent an email to his employees that included veiled threats to fire them if Romney lost. But he admits his company is doing better than ever ... under the Obama administration.
• Arthur Allen, ASG Software Solutions CEO, emailed workers hinting their jobs could be at stake if Obama wins.

University of Oregon professor Gordon Lafer, writing in The Hill, explains just how undemocratic this is:

An employee whose boss tells them hot to vote may still ignore this advice in the privacy of a voting booth. What they won’t do, however, is display a button or bumper sticker, write a letter to the editor, or be seen attending a rally of the opposing party. This strikes at the very heart of democracy. Elections are only “free and fair” if voters are free to speak out, write in, and publicly support the candidate of their choice, without fear for their livelihoods.

This principle is not only enshrined in international standards; it is a fundamental norm of American democracy. When the Founders set about designing the world’s first democracy, they were particularly concerned that employees might be subject to the undue influence of those who controlled their economic fate.

Be very, very disturbed.

What's good for corporations isn't (necessarily) good for small businesses

A corporate front group masquerading as an advocate for small business is being exposed as a phony. That's good news for union members, whose interests are aligned with small businesses more often than you might think.

The front group is called the "National Federation of Independent Businesses." The Center for Media and Democracy, which has been so effective in exposing the real agenda of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), just put up the NFIBExposed.org website. The website includes a report  showing the NFIB most often advocates for large corporations and against working people. NFIB is against increasing the minimum wage, against paid sick leave and against collective bargaining rights.

Those aren't always the values of small business owners. Collective bargaining rights and a higher minimum wage bring prosperity to a community -- prosperity that lifts small neighborhood businesses.

According to Dan Froomkin in the Huffington Post, the NFIB Exposed study

...reveals how consistently the NFIB lobbies on issues that favor large corporate interests rather than small-business interests; its thoroughly partisan agenda; and the millions it receives in secret contributions from groups associated with Karl Rove and the Koch Brothers.

Here's one way NFIB doesn't represent small business owners: 98 percent of its political donations go to Republicans. But polls show small business owners are divided in their preferences. A recent poll showed 47 percent of small business owners plan to vote for President Obama, while 39 percent say they'll vote for Mitt Romney.

The NFIB doesn't represent Rick Poore, owner of a custom screen-printing business in Lincoln, Nebraska with 33 employees. Said Poore:

Small business owners deserve to have a voice, but NFIB doesn't speak for me or other small business owners I know. NFIB uses the name of small business to advance an agenda that helps big corporate interests, but actually hurts the interests of real small businesses like mine.

WBA members.

In Wisconsin, small and rural businesses started their own association in direct response to job-killer Gov. Scott Walker's attack on collective bargaining rights.  According to Dane 101, they launched the Wisconsin Business Alliance. At the helm is Lori Compas, who ran against Walker ally and former Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald. Said Compas,

If people don’t have money in their pocket, they can’t spend money–I’m a photographer, photography is the first thing to go. I want people to have disposable income so they use my services. Retailers want people to have disposable income.

Brad Werntz, owner of Boulders Climbing Gym, is one of the founders of the Wisconsin Business Alliance. Reports Dane 101,

...he and the other members of the group had seen too many politicians claiming to do things–including but not limited to the budget repair bill’s union-stripping measures–on behalf of small business. Meanwhile, as businessmen, he said, “We were saying this is not good for business.” 

“If you look at Governor Walker, Scott Fitzgerald, their resumes, they know literally nothing about business,” he went on. “Meanwhile, we’ve got award-winning businessmen standing in this room today.”

John Besmer, owner of Planet Propaganda, is another founder of the group. He told Dane 101:

“Small businesses are basically being left to fend for themselves,” Planet Propaganda owner Besmer said. “Larger companies, their interests are being represented in a variety of ways, and that’s okay.” 

He said small business owners needed a voice to speak up for quality of life and conditions that will attract and foster a high-quality workforce. “The quality of people we can hire dictates the quality of our business,” he said.

None of this should surprise Ohioans or anyone who followed the successful fight to defeat SB5, the bill that took collective bargaining rights away from government workers. Though the NFIB supported SB5, many small businesses in Ohio joined the battle against it. The Columbus Dispatch reported last year:

Small businesses joined these
Teamsters in the successful
fight against SB5 last year.

Mike Patrick, owner of Patrick Solutions Inc., an information technology services provider in Grandview Heights, said he doesn’t have union ties but supports repeal of S.B. 5. He thinks many small-business owners feel that way. 

“The little guys are more connected to the community,” he said. “If services are cut back or people don’t have money to go to the grocery store, it really affects us...” 

Patrick said the outcome of the vote could determine whether he keeps his seven-employee business in Ohio. His concern is that S.B. 5 and school funding cuts Kasich supported will make Ohio a place his teenage children won’t want to live.

Today's Teamster News 08.21.12

Judge throws out Palmer suit against Infosys  Computerworld   ...In his lawsuit, Palmer claimed he was harassed at work, sidelined and even received death threats for refusing to participate in an alleged Infosys scheme to use workers on business visitor, or B-1 visas, for tasks that required an H-1B work visa...
U.S. troops' kids early victims of Congress budget inaction  Reuters   ...The stressed school systems are one more instance of a country struggling to keep up with the needs of military families, worn down by a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan...
Romney Gains Huge Cash Advantage Over Obama  New York Times   ...Mr. Obama and the Democrats raised a combined $75 million during July, according to Federal Election Commission reports filed Monday, compared with $101 million for Mr. Romney and the Republicans. The Democrats had about $124 million in cash on hand, most of it in Mr. Obama’s campaign account, while the Republicans had $186 million...
Megadonors taint Florida politics, appointments  Orlando Sentinel   ...just Friday, we heard from a longtime GOP donor who said he was denied a seat on Orlando's airport board — simply because he wouldn't cough up $10,000. Florida is so flush with special-interest cash that our state is drowning in it...
Why Are Our Public Schools Up For Sale?  Alternet   ...While charter proponents claim that their schools are less bureaucratic, more efficient, and more effective, the evidence fails to back those claims...
Hammond begins contract negotiations  NWI Times   ...Contracts with the Hammond Police and Fire departments' unions and the Teamsters, who represent most of the city's public works employees, expire at the end of the year...

Corporate bullying at the Olympics

Corporate sponsors are cracking down on what people wear to the games. If you try to wear a Pepsi T-shirt or Nike sneakers to the Olympics, you might be kicked out.

We're not kidding.

The Daily Record reports,

HEAVY-HANDED security chiefs will ban Olympic spectators for wearing the wrong brand of clothes, it emerged yesterday. 

Games boss Sebation Coe warned anyone wearing a Pepsi T-shirt is likely to be booted out because it would upset sponsors Coca-Cola. 

And he only said spectators in Nike trainers “could probably” be allowed in although Adidas are also backing the event. 

Coe defended the draconian move and said it was to protect corporate sponsors who have paid a fortune to be involved. 

It’s the latest example of a ruthless brand crackdown in the run-up to the London games. 

A cafe manager in London who displayed five bagels in the style of the Olympic rings was ordered to take them down. A butcher in Weymouth, Dorset, also had to take down five rings made from sausages. 

And police have been told to put sandwiches, crisps and chocolate in clear plastic bags to avoid breaking rules on advertising.

wikinut adds:

"Brand Police," some 300 or more, all decked out in purple caps and tops, have been given the right to enter shops and offices in London and bring court actions and levy fines up to $31,000 for the 'misuse' of such words as "gold," "silver," "bronze," "summer," "sponsors," and "London."

According to an article in commondrerams.org...."Bars and pubs have been warned that blackboards advertising live TV coverage must not refer to beer brands or brewers without an Olympic deal, while caterers and restaurants have been told not to advertise dishes that could be construed as having an association with the event. 

At the 40 Olympic venues, 800 retailers have been banned from serving french fries to avoid infringing fast-food rights secured by McDonald's." 

Crap like this is why people think corporations have too much power. A poll taken in October by the Pew Research Center showed most people think corporations have too much power. According to the poll, 77 percent of Americans agree with the statement, "A few rich people and corporations have too much power in the U.S."

And at the Olympic Games.

Fight corporate tyranny. Join a union.

Crooked Timber takes a look at workplace freedom and finds there isn't much:

On pain of being fired, workers in most parts of the United States can be commanded to pee or forbidden to pee. They can be watched on camera by their boss while they pee. They can be forbidden to wear what they want, say what they want (and at what decibel), and associate with whom they want. They can be punished for doing or not doing any of these things—punished legally or illegally (as many as 1 in 17 workers who try to join a union is illegally fired or suspended). But what’s remarkable is just how many of these punishments are legal, and even when they’re illegal, how toothless the law can be. Outside the usual protections (against race and gender discrimination, for example), employees can be fired for good reasons, bad reasons, or no reason at all. They can be fired for donating a kidney to their boss (fired by the same boss, that is), refusing to have their person and effects searched, calling the boss a “cheapskate” in a personal letter, and more. They have few rights on the job—certainly none of the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Amendment liberties that constitute the bare minimum of a free society; thus, no free speech or assembly, no due process, no right to a fair hearing before a panel of their peers—and what rights they do have employers will fight tooth and nail to make sure aren’t made known to them or will simply require them to waive as a condition of employment. Outside the prison or the military—which actually provide, at least on paper, some guarantee of due process—it’s difficult to conceive of a less free institution for adults than the average workplace.

Or as Charles Hugh Smith recently ranted over at zero hedge:

Let's state the heretical obvious: Corporate America, you suck. We could count the ways--subverting democracy via your lobbying and campaign contributions, your sabotage of competition via regulatory capture, and so on--but what really matters is how you treat your employees.

The antidote: Unions (but you knew that). Even "libertarian" Jacob Levy acknowledges unions' role in countering corporate tyranny:

Unions have been and continue to be absolutely indispensable for the mitigation of workplace power imbalances between managers and employees; they provide due process protections, protection against favoritism and nepotism and retaliation and harassment sexual and otherwise, protection against unjust dismissal and against the countless ways that managers can use the threat of dismissal to gain personal advantage.

Just a few more reasons to thank a union. 

Today's Teamster News 04.03.12

As Secretive Trade Negotiations Resume in LA, Public Interest Groups Demand Transparency  Public Citizen   ...The U.S. has reportedly introduced text for most, if not all, of an estimated 26 separate TPP chapters covering everything from our environment to financial regulations, drug patents to public procurement. While approximately 600 corporate lobbyists and a handful of others have been given “cleared advisor” status enabling them to review and comment on these proposals, the general public has not been allowed to do so...
Pensions Find Riskier Funds Fail to Pay Off  New York Times   ...public workers’ pension funds across the country are increasingly turning to riskier investments in private equity, real estate and hedge funds. But while their fees have soared, their returns have not...
Senior citizens continue to bear burden of student loans  Washington Post   ...New research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows that Americans 60 and older still owe about $36 billion in student loans, providing a rare window into the dynamics of student debt. More than 10 percent of those loans are delinquent...
How American Corporations Transformed from Producers to Predators  (long, but worth it)  Alternet   ...A fundamental transformation in the investment strategies of major U.S. corporations is a big part of the story...
52% in Wisconsin Support Recall of Governor Walker  Rasmussen Reports   ...Forty-seven percent (47%) would vote against the recall and let him continue to serve as governor...
Teamsters strike against Red Cross prompts blood drive cancellations  Talmadge Express   ...Nearly 1,000 blood drives in Northeast Ohio have been canceled since union employees of the American Red Cross walked off their jobs in February, a Red Cross official said...

Today's Teamster News 12.16.11

Census shows 1 in 2 people are poor or low-income  USA Today   ...The latest census data depict a middle class that is shrinking as unemployment stays high and the government's safety net frays. The new numbers follow years of stagnating wages for the middle class that have hurt millions of workers and families...
The scandal of the Alabama poor cut off from water  BBC   A father of four....says he finds it cheaper to buy drums of water from a petrol station and pay a sanitation company about $14 a month to remove waste from his "porta-potty" than pay the combined sewer and water rate bill, which some months can reach $300....Investment bank JP Morgan Securities and two of its former directors have been fined for offering bribes to Jefferson County workers and politicians to win business financing the sewer upgrade...
How To Indefinitely Detain Jamie Dimon  emptywheel   ...making that case with Jamie Dimon is very easy to do, because his company, JP Morgan Chase, has materially helped Iran...
Report: States Spend Billions on Economic Development Subsidies that Don’t Require Job Creation or Decent Wages  Good Jobs First   ...“If subsidies do not result in real public benefits, they are no better than corporate giveaways,” said Good Jobs First Research Director Philip Mattera, principal author of the report. “States should be using these programs to reduce unemployment and raise living standards, not simply to increase corporate profits...”
Ball State poll: Half of Hoosiers undecided on right-to-work  IBJ   ...“The availability of cheap labor overseas limits the effectiveness of [right-to-work] policies to attract companies looking for lower labor costs,” wrote four legislators...
Chinese Spring coming up?  The Trader   ...With protests getting louder by the day, we might just get the Chinese Spring coming up soon...

Sign here to end corporate personhood

Sen. Bernie Sanders last week filed a constitutional amendment to take away corporate personhood and prevent corporations from making campaign contributions. You can support the measure by signing this petition here.

Economic Populist offers this observation:

...Assigning human rights to a corporation is an oxymoron. Corporations are simply business entities from which to maximize profits, or in real human terms, sociopaths. They have no loyalty, no sense of nationality, and especially no morality and ethics. Clearly corporations are not human beings and therefore should not be afforded the rights of human beings. Corporations also have way more money and power than single individuals for the most part. 

...Constitutional amendments are tough to pass, but once they are, except for prohibition, have not been undone, which is why we're seeing constitutional amendments instead of regular legislative bills appear in Congress. They know, corporate lobbyists will undo anything but a constitutional amendment. It does take a Populist ground swell to get a constitutional amendment passed and ratified by the States.

EP makes another important point:

Notice when it comes to anyone or anything which challenges corporate power, you....never hear about it? That's how powerful corporations have become, they literally can black out candidates and news from most media.

Today's Teamster News 12.11.11

Mayor Bloomberg's girlfriend has a 'Let them eat sh*t' moment  Daily Kos   ... Is it really so hard to go back to the bargaining table and break off a few more pennies for the working class?...
How Goldman Sachs and Other Companies Exploit Port Truck Drivers — Occupy Protesters Plan to Shut Down West Coast Ports in Protest  Alternet   ...Once a middle-class profession, the port trucking (or drayage) industry has now been dubbed "sweatshops on wheels..."
30 Major U.S. Corporations Paid More to Lobby Congress Than Income Taxes, 2008-2010  International Business Times   ...By employing a plethora of tax-dodging techniques, 30 multi-million dollar American corporations expended more money lobbying Congress than they paid in federal income taxes between 2008 and 2010, ultimately spending approximately $400,000 every day -- including weekends -- during that three-year period to lobby lawmakers and influence political elections...
Negative Equity: How Many Loans are Underwater in Your State?  creditsesame   ...Home equity has become a thing of the past for millions of homeowners...
Court Cases Revealing Massive Fraud in Mortgage Business  firedoglake   ...The grand jury transcripts ... show an undeniable pattern of criminality among the document processing companies that feed foreclosures into the system....
Irony alert: U.S. calls on Russia to respect peaceful protests  Raw Story   ... The United States called Friday on both Russian authorities and protesters to remain peaceful as opponents of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin prepared major weekend demonstrations against his rule...

VIDEO: Dr. Mitten Luther Romney, Inc., bravely defending corporations

The Colbert Report
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Stephen Colbert mocks Mitt Romney for his brave defense of corporations. Romney, at the Iowa State Fair, says "Corporations are people, my friend." (My what?) He then gets an earful from the crowd.

Actually, Mitt is right. The U.S. Supreme Court has declared that corporations are people and, as such, can donate as much money as they want to political campaigns. Unfortunately, the courts have not been so sympathetic to the rights of real people. Students, the elderly and the poor often can't get photo IDs from their state DMV and therefore can't cast a vote in an increasing number of states.
But here's what we want to know: If corporations are people, then how come they don't go to prison when they kill someone?

Oh wait, it's because they're big and powerful. Some say they're too big and powerful. Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa says the central political battle of our time is not between right and left, but between the individual and the corporation. Wrote Hoffa,

The fight is about whether the government should protect corporate power to enrich a few billionaires, or restrict corporate power to protect the liberty and property of the average American.

I'll tell you who is winning: It isn't the little guy.

Corporate power explains why the U.S. hasn't made the transformation to renewable energy. It's why we can't trust our food, drugs or toys to be safe. It's why we're struggling to develop new industries. It's why workers' wages have stagnated or fallen over the past decade and why so many families are losing their homes.

It's why so many jobs moved offshore so quickly. U.S. multinationals now employ one-third of their work force overseas.

An alliance called Move to Amend wants to amend the Constitution to take away corporate personhood. Its goals are to:

* Firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.

* Guarantee the right to vote and to participate, and to have our vote and participation count.

* Protect local communities, their economies, and democracies against illegitimate "preemption" actions by global, national, and state governments.

Check out their website. There's a lot you can do to get involved.

Stop the corporate crime wave, says this world-renowned economist

Mea culpa

Jeffrey Sachs has a lot to make up for. He's the economist who introduced shock therapy to Communist countries after they threw over Communism. Shock therapy is the sudden introduction of the "you're on your own" economic doctrine so beloved of Tea Partiers. It includes lifting of price and currency controls, elimination of state subsidies, free trade and large-scale privatization.

Critics say Sachs' shock therapy in the Soviet Union led to

...drastic decreases in industrial output over the ensuing years, a nearly halving of the country's GDP and of personal incomes, a doubling of the suicide rate, and a skyrocketing unemployment rate. The Lancet has recently reported that rapid privatization of the Soviet Union caused a 12.8% death rate increase among males in just two years...

Sachs has quit with the shock doctrine and appears to be making amends for impoverishing so many people. Recently, he railed against the global economy's corporate crime wave in a post for Project Syndicate. He pointed out that not a single financial leader is in jail two years after the global financial crisis caused by their criminal behavior. And he takes apart Pink Slip Rick Scott:

The current governor of Florida, Rick Scott, was CEO of a major health-care company known as Columbia/HCA. The company was charged with defrauding the United States government by overbilling for reimbursement, and eventually pled guilty to 14 felonies, paying a fine of $1.7 billion.

The FBI’s investigation forced Scott out of his job. But, a decade after the company’s guilty pleas, Scott is back, this time as a “free-market” Republican politician.

Sachs attacks Dick Cheney, who ran Halliburton when it illegally bribed Nigerian officials to gain access to their oil fields. The only consequences he paid was to get elected vice president of the United States.

But here's what's important (because Sachs agrees with what we've been saying all along): 

Corporate corruption is out of control for two main reasons. First, big companies are now multinational, while governments remain national. Big companies are so financially powerful that governments are afraid to take them on.

Second, companies are the major funders of political campaigns in places like the US, while politicians themselves are often part owners, or at least the silent beneficiaries of corporate profits. Roughly one-half of US Congressmen are millionaires, and many have close ties to companies even before they arrive in Congress.

He concludes that we live in a culture of impunity, "based on the well-proven expectation that corporate crime pays." And he presents a hell of a good reason NOT to enter into a trade deal with Panama, one of the worst tax havens in the world.

The wealth, power, and illegality enabled by this hidden system are now so vast as to threaten the global economy’s legitimacy, especially at a time of unprecedented income inequality and large budget deficits, owing to governments’ inability politically – and sometimes even operationally – to impose taxes on the wealthy.

Yup.