Today's Teamster News 09.18.15

Teamsters
Hoffa Statement of Support of Bipartisan Effort to Repeal Excise Tax on High-Quality Health Plans  Teamster.org  ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa in response to the announcement of the introduction of a bipartisan companion bill in the Senate to HR 2050 which would repeal an excise tax set to be charged on those enrolled in high-quality health care plans: “The Teamsters support this bipartisan effort to repeal the destructive excise tax that is set to take effect in 2018"...
No deal after latest talks between Baumann & Sons Buses, Acme Buses and Teamsters Local 1205  Newsday  ...Talks continued early Friday morning between a Long Island school bus contractor and its workers to end a labor dispute and head off a strike that could leave 15,000 students scrambling for other forms of transportation. As of 2:30 a.m. Friday, negotiators for Teamsters Local 1205 and Ronkonkoma-based Baumann & Sons Buses Inc. still remained locked in discussions at the union's Farmingdale headquarters...
Teamsters Protest as Treasury Debates Allowing Pension Cuts for 1.5 Million Retirees  In These Times  ...About 300 angry Teamsters descended on Washington, D.C., September 10, demanding federal action to protect the pensions of union members threatened with benefit cuts. The retired Teamsters are among a group of as many as 1.5 million retirees from a long list of different labor unions nationwide that could see their pensions slashed under a new law quietly approved late last year...
Cleveland Bakers and Teamsters Pension Fund takes on Wall Street bank traders  Cleveland Business  ...The Cleveland Bakers and Teamsters Pension Fund is among plaintiffs in a lawsuit alleging that banks that deal in government securities rigged trading to boost their own profits. “The same analytical technique that uncovered cheating in currency markets and the Libor rates benchmark — resulting in about $20 billion of fines — suggests the dealers who control the U.S. Treasury market rigged bond auctions for years,” Bloomberg reports in describing a lawsuit...
EVSC Board and Teamsters disagree over form, will meet Friday  Courier & Press  ...After about a three-week hiatus, the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. and Teamsters Local 215 negotiation teams will meet again Friday to continue working toward a collective bargaining agreement, as well as a new wage authorization form. Earlier this month, the EVSC ceased deducting union dues and representation fees for Local 215 employees...

Global Labor & Trade
Finland Anti-Austerity Strike Shuts Down Public Transport, Flights As Recession Pits Labor Unions Against Government  International Business Times  ...One of the biggest strikes in Finland's history closed down ports, canceled or delayed flights and disrupted other transportation Friday, amid protests against the government's latest proposed austerity measures. With the Nordic country in a recession for the past three years and on track for a fourth, the leading center-right coalition there has tried to implement cutbacks that include limiting overtime and benefits...
Canada must be part of Pacific pact, automakers might suffer: PM  Reuters  ...Canada must sign up to a proposed 12-nation Pacific trade pact, even though the country's auto makers might not be happy with some of the conditions, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Thursday. Trade ministers failed to clinch the Trans-Pacific Partnership at a meeting in late July amid disagreements over sectors such as autos and dairy...
Harper Says Trans-Pacific Trade Deal Will End ‘Successfully’  Bloomberg  ...Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he’s confident a Pacific trade deal that would stretch from Chile to Japan will be reached. Clinching a deal on the Trans-Pacific Partnership will form the “basis of the global trade network in the Asia Pacific for the generation to come,” Harper said Thursday in a leadership debate for the Oct. 19 Canadian federal election...
Japan has little room left to compromise on TPP deal: Amari   Fiscal Times  ...Trade ministers from the 12 nations negotiating a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) are expected to hold another meeting soon to clinch a deal, after failing to do so in Hawaii last month. The TPP would cover 40 percent of the global economy. "This is our last chance," Amari told a regular news conference. "If we don't have an agreement, a deal may be delayed for years given various uncertainties...
Obama sure of deal as ministers plan end-Sept talks on TPP  Today  ...Twelve Pacific Rim countries will hold a ministerial meeting later this month in Atlanta in the United States as they look to conclude years of negotiations on creating one of the world’s biggest free trade zones, negotiation sources said yesterday. US President Barack Obama on Wednesday raised hopes that the 12 countries could conclude the sweeping free trade agreement “in the next several weeks”...
Will TTIP be an ‘economic NATO’?  Politico  ...Back in 2012, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hailed a proposed transatlantic free trade pact as a job-creating, growth-boosting “economic NATO” that would forge new ties between old allies. Three years later, hopeful presidential candidate Hillary Clinton appears less enthusiastic. “Can you make it go away?” was the only-half-joking response of her campaign chairman, John Podesta, to a recent question on the trade deal now being negotiated between the United States and European Union....
Europe starts putting up walls   The Economist  ...Hungary declared an emergency, sealed its border with Serbia with barbed-wire fences and began arresting those trying to cross. Police fired tear gas at them; 20 officers and many refugees were hurt. Growing numbers of refugees are now trapped on the Serbian side and have started evading the barrier by marching into Romania and Croatia. Hungary responded by saying it will extend the fence to its Romanian border. The cascade of events is likely to continue...
Migrant Domestic Workers Network a First in Jordan  Solidarity Center   ...Domestic workers in Jordan are set to celebrate the official formation of a worker rights network that includes migrant workers from Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. The September 19 launch is a first in Jordan and a rare move in the Arab region, where more than 2.4 million migrant domestic workers often toil 12–20 hour days, six or seven days a week cleaning homes, preparing meals and caring for children and the elderly...

State & Living Wage Battles
Poll: Wide support among N.Y. voters for $15 minimum wage  CBS  ...A new poll finds that New York voters support raising the state's minimum wage to $15 per hour. The poll released Friday by Quinnipiac University found 62 percent of voters supporting a phased-in increase. Thirty-five percent of the respondents opposed the idea. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo is calling on the state Legislature to approve a $15 minimum wage...
9th Circuit rejects state's appeal, says anti-union law passed in 2011 was invalid  Spokesman-Review  ...The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals today upheld a federal district court ruling that an anti-union law passed by the Idaho Legislature in 2011 was invalid, as it was pre-empted by the federal National Labor Relations Act. The law, which was immediately enjoined and never took effect, banned “job targeting” or “market recovery” programs, in which unions use funds they collect from workers to subsidize bids by union contractors on jobs...
Archbishop Takes Aim At ‘Right-To-Work’ Laws  CBS  ...Without mentioning Gov. Bruce Rauner by name, Chicago’s Roman Catholic Archbishop is raising concerns about moves to restrict labor unions. Blase Cupich made his remarks Thursday at the plumbers union hall on the West Side, before a union-heavy audience. He declared a society with a healthy labor movement is a better place than one where powerful economic interests have their way and the voices of workers are diminished...
California Activists Call for Fracking Ban  Truthout  ...The California Legislature approved an amended version of Senate Bill 350, a measure that legislative leaders and Governor Jerry Brown touted as "landmark climate legislation." In response, anti-fracking activists pointed out the contradiction between Brown's strong support of extreme oil extraction methods and his constant grandstanding about "clean energy" - and called on Brown to use his executive power to ban the environmentally destructive practice of fracking in California...
OUR Walmart Relaunches Its Campaign To Beat the World Retail Giant  In These Times  ...After four years as a growing, thriving voice of workers at Walmart, the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart) re-launched itself on Thursday. Originally a legally independent, non-union worker organization that the United Food and Commercial Workers founded and funded, OUR Walmart will now have a different, still to-be-defined tie to the UFCW...
Paid Sick Leave, More Overtime Proposed For Mpls. Workers  CBS  ...Workers in Minneapolis could soon have more flexible schedules and more paid leave. One of the councilmembers behind a proposed ordinance says if it goes through, big changes could start early next year. The proposal would allow workers to know their schedules ahead of time and earn overtime if they work more than eight hours a day...

U.S. Labor
UFCW sees 'difficulty' with Key Food over A&P stores  Supermarket News  ...New York locals of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union were scheduled to meet today with officials of Key Food Stores for “the first time in a while” to talk about the A&P units the retailer intends to buy, a union spokesman told SN. He said the union has had “a bunch of difficulty” with Key Food in the past because of the retailer’s desire to cut back the number of full-time jobs in favor of more part-timers at the 17 stores it said it intends to buy...
UAW-FCA agreement reportedly includes $5.3 billion U.S. production investment  MLive  ...As part of a tentative agreement with the UAW, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is shifting some of its production from Mexico to the U.S. - and vice versa. That's according to multiple reports, such as one in the Detroit Free Press that says FCA plans to commit $5.3 billion to U.S. auto plants over the next four years. That will also reportedly help retain thousands of American jobs...
Target pharmacy workers form union, first in company's history  Reuters  ...A group of pharmacy workers within Target Corp's store in Brooklyn, New York, have won a vote to form a microunion, making it the first unionized store at the retailer since its inception in 1902. Earlier on Wednesday, Reuters was first to report that a group of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians won an initial ballot, 7-2, to form the union, according to a filing on the National Labor Relations Board website and union officials...
Another Shot Fired in the Great Immigration vs. Wages War  Mother Jones  ...Does illegal immigration suppress the wages of native-born workers? The evidence suggests that it doesn't—or not much, anyway. One of the data points supporting this is a study done by David Card of the effect of the 1980 Mariel boatlift on workers in Miami. Even though Miami experienced a huge spike in immigrants during the boatlift, Card found no significant impact on wages...
The Fed Keeps Interest Rates Near Zero  The Atlantic  ...The U.S. Federal Reserve has decided not to raise interest rates at its September Federal Open Market Committee meeting. The committee’s two-day meeting concluded with Fed officials voting to keep interest rates near zero. The U.S. job market has been putting in solid numbers in recent months, data that Fed watchers believed might convince the Fed to hike rates...

Social Justice & Other News
Trump: 'We're Gonna Be Looking Into' How We Can Get Rid of All the Muslims  Common Dreams  ...In a week that has already seen collective outrage in response to the treatment of a Muslim teenager in Texas who was handcuffed and arrested simply for bringing a homemade clock to school, the pervasiveness of Islamaphobic sentiment was on display once again overnight after Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump fielded a question in New Hampshire about what he planned to do "about getting rid of" all the nation's Muslims...
The Beginning of Trump’s End?  Slate  ...This debate might mark the beginning of the end for Trump, who struggled to tackle substantive questions on foreign policy, his advisers, and what he’d actually do as president of the United States. More importantly, he faced a confident Carly Fiorina, who slammed and tweaked Trump on his obvious ignorance of key issues. “I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said,” Fiorina said about his remarks on her appearance...
Bernie Sanders Unveils Ambitious Plan To End Private Prisons  Think Progress  ...Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is officially taking on the country’s private prison industry. By introducing a bill that would ban government contracts with private prisons, the presidential contender is quickly becoming the loudest advocate for criminal justice reform among his competitors. The Justice is Not For Sale Act, co-sponsored by Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ), Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Bobby L. Rush (D-IL), would prohibit the federal government from entering contracts with private prison corporations within two years of the bill’s enactment...
America's Need for a Third Reconstruction  The Atlantic  ...Ta-Nehisi Coates mournfully excavates how the carceral state is deeply entangled in the racial DNA of the United States, and convincingly demonstrates that, for all the talk of a Kumbaya moment in penal reform between the left and the right, the carceral state remains largely intact with barely a nick. Four decades ago, the U.S. had many similar structural problems found today, but it did not have such an expansive penal system...
Climate Expert James Hansen: The Planet May Become Ungovernable  Alternet  ...The repercussions of climate disruption are still not being acknowledged fully, warned climatologist Dr. James Hansen. Hansen — formerly NASA’s head climate scientist, now adjunct professor at Columbia University — is probably best known for bringing definitive evidence of global warming to Congress in testimony in 1988...
The recession hasn’t changed a damn thing: Wall Street is still making off like bandits  Salon.com  ...Just a few years after the financial crisis, a new report tells an important story: Federal prosecution of white-collar crime has hit a 20-year low. The analysis by Syracuse University shows a more than 36 percent decline in such prosecutions since the middle of the Clinton administration, when the decline began...

Oh joy. Now the Kochs are pushing phony science.

The poor widdle Koch brothers. Now people are making fun of them for backing a phony science group, the American Foundation on Science and Health (ACSH). It claims opponents of GMOs are causing blindness around the world (really). It claims e-cigarettes are safe and fracking will lead to energy independence, even as energy companies that frack are pushing to export more liquid natural gas to Russia.

As much as the Koch brothers try to protect their secrecy privacy, people keep insisting on prying into their business. Just the other day the Center for Media and Democracy reported the Kochs' political spending is even more enormous than we thought. It turns out David Koch secretly writes millions of dollars in personal checks to stink tanks that spew propaganda against unions, public education, environmental protection, voting rights and consumer safety.

Now CMD is at it again, making fun of the Kochs for bankrolling the American Foundation on Science and Health. The Kochs profit from petroleum products like ammonia fertilizers and other agribusiness-related operations, so of course they'll pay for a propaganda machine that tells us GMO food is safe. Writes CMD:

ACSH has also published claims about GMOs that make outrageous statements like "opposition to agricultural progress . . . causes blindness and death worldwide." ACSH has also made patently false and easily disprovable claims such as, "[T]here are no alternative technologies available to plant breeders with which new improved varieties can be created to overcome the current limitations of global agriculture to produce sufficient food, feed, fuel, and fiber on available land."

Then there's this on liquid natural gas:

ACSH has published reports calling fracking "a safe and efficient path to energy independence," despite the hazardous chemical cocktail used in hydraulic fracturing, which spoils millions of gallons of fresh drinking water each year. ACSH's spin also ignores the growing amount of "natural gas" fracked in the U.S. that is exported to foreign countries ... Now, the New York Times and other outlets are writing about the strong push by energy companies like Exxon for large quantities of liquid natural gas from fracking to be exported to Russia and elsewhere rather than kept for domestic use.

And surprise! ACSH now says e-cigarettes are safe -- perhaps because it's getting money from e-cigarette makers. The phony science group says "electronic cigarettes should be made as accessible as cigarettes. Electronic cigarettes should be sold widely and lightly regulated..."

No one likes them but their fellow plutocrats. All because they're spending so much money to turn the United States into a feudal serfdom.

Today's Teamster News 08.29.13

Latest ABF Update -- Aug. 28, 2013  teamster.org   ...ABF Teamsters approved five of the seven remaining supplements, while two did not pass...
Wave of Low-Wage Worker Strikes Hits LA Ports  In These Times   ...Port truck drivers went on a 24-hour strike early Monday evening to protest alleged union-busting by Green Fleet, one of the port’s biggest trucking companies. The Green Fleet drivers say that the company harassed and intimidated workers who were trying to organize with the Teamsters...
Here’s where middle-class jobs are vanishing the fastest  Washington Post   ...Since 2010, lower-wage jobs like food preparation and personal care have grown fast. So have high-end jobs in management, finance and health care. But a number of middle-class occupations, particularly teaching and construction, have continued to decline...
Working Poor Have Dimming Faith In Economic Mobility, Policymakers, Survey Finds  Huffington Post   ...America's working poor value the work they do and have high hopes for their children's futures -- even though most believe it's now easier to fall out of the middle class than to rise into it, according to a new survey produced by Oxfam America...
New Census Numbers Show Recession’s Effect on Families  New York Times   ...The analysis also found that the recession profoundly affected American families from 2005 to 2011, resulting in a 15 percent decline in homeownership among households with children and a 33 percent increase in households where at least one parent was unemployed...
Executive Excess 2013: Bailed Out, Booted, and Busted  Institute for Policy Studies   ...Chief executives performing poorly — and blatantly so — have consistently populated the ranks of our nation’s top-paid CEOs over the last two decades...
WI Capitol Police Crackdown on Dissent: What You Wouldn’t Know From Reading Wisconsin’s Newspapers  Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative   ...Since Wednesday, July 24th the Wisconsin Capitol Police have arrested over 150 people, issuing over 300 citations. The arrests have been made for participating in the two-year tradition of singing at the Capitol from noon to 1pm...
Why is Gov. Scott Walker hiding health care prices? (opinion)  Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel   ...I am surprised by Gov. Scott Walker's decision to hide insurance rates for the health plans about to be sold in Wisconsin's online exchange. What is Walker hiding?...
Norman Stockwell: Arrests here show King's fight for worker rights far from over (opinion)  The Cap Times   ...Today there is another struggle to recognize the rights and dignity of labor in the state of Wisconsin. .. Notable labor activists arrested have included David Newby, former president of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO...
Energy from Moral Mondays fuels Franklin Street rally  The Daily Tar Heel    ...The N.C. NAACP-sponsored rally, which occurred simultaneously with a dozen other rallies statewide, was a continuation of a summer of activism and protest at the N.C. General Assembly...
North Carolina Republicans Escalate Attack on Student Voting  The Nation   ...Hours after passing the country’s worst voter suppression law, North Carolina Republicans escalated their attempts to prevent students from participating in the political process...
Fast-Food Strikes Set for Cities Nationwide  Associated Press   ...Organizers say thousands of fast-food workers are set to stage walkouts in dozens of cities around the country Thursday, part of a push to get chains such as McDonald's, Taco Bell and Wendy's to pay workers higher wages...
Frackers slash billions in payments to landowners  Philadelphia Inquirer   ...Report: Thousands are receiving far less money than they were promised by energy companies to use their properties. Some are being paid virtually nothing...
First Nations loses bid to block Canada-China FIPA treaty  CBC News   ...The Federal Court has dismissed an application by an aboriginal band in British Columbia to stay the Canada-China investment treaty until First Nations have been consulted...
How Depraved Money Hungry Media Is Distorting What We See, and Messing with the Country  Alternet   ...Three recent stories that drive home the sorry state of the media...
Survey: Banking industry's reputation is nearly as bad as that of Congress; BofA ranks last  Los Angeles Times   ...Five years after the financial crisis, the Reputation Institute survey said banking has a worse reputation than Big Pharma, news outlets, oil companies and telecommunications firms -- though not so bad as Congress...
How an Insular Beltway Elite Makes Wars of Choice More Likely  The Atlantic   ...Intervention in Syria is extremely, undeniably unpopular...

Walker to fill Koch brothers' sandbox in WI

The Benedict Arnold Koch brothers spent a lot of money propping up Job-killer Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker during his recall election last year. Now the governor is returning the favor.

Walker wants to use the state's limited budget dollars to invest in the state's sand industry. Why? Because Wisconsin's sand is a key component in the natural gas extraction process known as fracking. And guess what two ultra-rich brothers are sinking some of their sizeable wealth in fracking? Yeah, you know.

As detailed in the Capital Times:

Wisconsin, along with neighboring Minnesota, has some of the best frac sand in the continent, and Koch Industries is heavily invested in natural gas extraction using a technique known as hydraulic fracturing.

The type of silica sand found in Wisconsin is mixed with water and chemicals, then injected at high-pressure into bedrock to help bring natural gas deposits to the surface.

This proposed legislative gift is just the latest example of how the Kochs are using their dollars to help bend the state to their own purposes. Besides funding the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), politicians and a number of state stink tanks, they are rumored to be suitors for the Tribune Company, which includes the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Baltimore Sun.

The Kochs claim to be "libertarians," while they are really corporate predators. As Middle Class Political Economist points out recently, they've accepted at least $73.1 million in government handouts over the last six years:

Flagship Koch Industries has taken over $16.5 million in subsidies from 11 different awards, none of which are sales tax breaks (which generally are not subsidies). 

Subsidiary Georgia Pacific has received 72 subsidies worth over $43.9 million (none of these were sales tax breaks). 

Subsidiary Flint Hills Resources LP has received subsidies from Iowa, Kansas, Texas, and Michigan, according to the Good Jobs First Subsidy Tracker; the New York Timessubsidy database, which omits Michigan but includes one more Iowa subsidy, puts the value of the Iowa and Kansas subsidies alone at just over $12.5 million (again, none of which were sales tax breaks). 

Subsidiary INVISTA has received $217,504 in training grants from South Carolina, according to Subsidy Tracker. Several other subsidies appear to be connected to this subsidiary, but none have available subsidy amounts. Again, none were sales tax breaks.

Meanwhile, Gov. Walker has other reasons for crafting a budget that provides help to the sand industry. This includes freight rail line upgrades and new positions at the Department of Natural Resources to oversee development of new sand mines. Gov. Walker has received the most gas and sand money of any state politician, accepting $520,266, according to the Democracy Campaign report.

Wisconsin, it's time to put your foot down and tell Gov. Walker to stop playing in the Koch brothers' sandbox. Contact your state lawmakers and tell them to oppose expansion of the Department of Natural Resources to benefit sand companies.

Today's Teamster News 05.01.13

CEO Pay 1,795-to-1 Multiple of Wages Skirts U.S. Law  Bloomberg News   ...Former fashion jewelry saleswoman Rebecca Gonzales and former Chief Executive Officer Ron Johnson have one thing in common: J.C. Penney Co. (JCP) no longer employs either. The similarity ends there...
Is the TPP a threat to U.S. auto makers?  Michigan Radio   ...On the surface, it sounds like easing trade restrictions with foreign nations could present new opportunities and more business for American companies like the Detroit Three automakers. But, is there a deeper danger to American jobs in these overseas trade agreements?...
Poll: 42 Percent Unaware That ‘Obamacare’ Is Law Of The Land  Talking Points Memo   ...While a majority is cognizant of the law's current status, a startling percentage of Americans is unaware that the Affordable Care Act — the sweeping new federal health care law widely known as "Obamacare" — remains the law of the land, according to findings in a poll released Tuesday...
Why American Airlines Employees Loathe Management  Forbes …The mistrust that labor harbors for American Airlines management is a feud with a history filled with a powerful vitriol that only duplicitous behavior engenders…
Colbert Busch aggressively challenges Sanford in only debate  Washington Post ...It was a tale of two debate strategies Monday night in South Carolina. A lively Elizabeth Colbert Busch struck early and often against Mark Sanford’s record in Congress and as governor while Sanford hit back with consistent attempts to tie his opponent to Democratic congressional leaders in the only debate in South Carolina’s special election campaign.
California may go forward without a financial reserve  Los Angeles Times   ...Arnold Schwarzenegger persuaded voters nine years ago that if they let him borrow money to cover the budget deficit, California's financial woes would end for good. A key part of his plan was a new rainy-day fund to insulate the state from further crisis. Today, the reserve is empty...
Prison food privatization would eliminate 370 state jobs  Detroit Free Press   ...In a reversal, officials said today they will privatize food service for Michigan's 45,000 state prisoners by awarding a nearly $50 million a year contract to catering giant Aramark...
California Fracking Moratorium Clears Key Committee in Assembly  Bloomberg News   ...A California Assembly panel approved a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing by oil and natural-gas producers until the most populous U.S. state assesses health and environmental concerns...
Scarnati frustrated by the fixation on liquor privatization instead of the Pennsylvania state budget   The Patriot-News   ...It’s a couple of months away from the June 30 deadline for getting an on-time state budget as so many lawmakers and Gov. Tom Corbett pledged to do. But all people seem to want to talk about is liquor privatization, said a frustrated Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati at the Pennsylvania Press Club...
Democrats, Republicans join forces to advocate for Florida ports  Sun Sentinel   ...A bipartisan team from the Florida congressional delegation is banding together to form a "ports caucus" to push the interests of the state's seaports in the nation's capital...
US school bus concerns loom for National Express AGM  International Transport Workers' Federation   ...Concerns over labour practices at its US school bus business subsidiary, Durham School Services, threaten to affect National Express’ Annual General Meeting on May 9 in London...
Interview: Tom Morello Talks to Teamsters, May Day 2013  IBT   ...Every year on May 1, workers around the world celebrate the trials and triumphs of working people. This year, May Day comes with a bold soundtrack thanks to Tom Morello, the Nightwatchman...
Teamsters Warn: Swift Transportation Board Lets CEO Pledge nearly 25 Percent of Outstanding Shares as Collateral for Personal Loans  IBT   ...ISS, the country’s largest proxy voting advisory firm, issued a report Monday recommending that shareholders withhold votes from all members of the Swift Transportation Company Board of Directors’ Audit Committee over concerns about the CEO’s extensive pledging of stock...
Casey Jones, Iconic Locomotive Engineer and American Hero  IBT   ...Next week, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen will celebrate its 150th anniversary at a May 8 event in Detroit. We've been counting down great moments in the history of North America’s oldest union, but April 30 marks a different kind of event—the anniversary of the death of John Luther "Casey" Jones...
Teamsters Local 320 sues Wadena County   Wadena (Minnesota) Pioneer Journal   ...Teamsters Union Local 320, which represents a substantial portion of Wadena County’s workforce, filed a civil lawsuit against the county in the Seventh Judicial District Court in Wadena...

Note to Mitt: Coal's coming back as gas prices rise

Coal's return is a big deal for our brothers and sisters in the Teamsters Rail Conference. They've been worried about the drop in coal shipments on eastern and western roads. Thousands of good-paying railroad jobs depend on coal.

The reason coal fell in the first place? It's the fracking, stupid.

Last week, CSX blamed low gas prices for the decline in coal, even as two Wall Street analysts recommended two coal companies as good buys because natural gas prices are now rising.

Mitt Romney, of course, blames President Obama. He's wrong.

Brother Dennis Pierce, national president for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, explains: George W. Bush unleashed a natural gas boom by relieving natural-gas corporations of their obligation to clean up Superfund sites. He also relieved them of the responsibility to tell people what's in the chemical mix they inject into the ground as part of their fracking operations.

Pierce tells us what happened next:

When the increase in fracking flooded the market with natural gas, gas prices fell, and the profit-driven power companies converted operations to the cheaper product where they could. Shortly thereafter the gas industry, having set the hook, started cut down on drilling to drive the prices back up.

Pierce has firsthand knowledge. He has a home that sits on the Barnett Shale in Northern Texas.

For two years, a natural gas "fracking" operation sat less than 1,500 yards from my neighborhood, on land supposedly set aside for a city park.

To put it into railroad speak, the rumbling that our neighborhood endured sounded like an EMD SD-40 sitting in your front yard at throttle 6 night and day for months on end. That drilling site was one of thousands in the Barnett Shale, those in addition to the fracking sites in the Marcellus Shale in Western Pennsylvania and the Meade Peak and Green River Basin Shales in Wyoming.

Now that gas prices are going up, the drilling platform in his neighborhood is gone.

But here's the important point: Mitt Romney is not the savior of coal.  Watch this youtube video of Gov. Mitt Romney standing outside of coal-fired power plant, pointing his finger toward the plant, and saying "That plant kills people!"



Concludes Pierce:

Mitt Romney is a boss ... first, last and always. That's why every few days we see or read or hear about some company owner threatening his workforce with layoffs if President Obama is elected.