America Is Ruled by Billionaires, and They Are Coming After the Last Shreds of Our Democracy Alternet ...Between 2000 and 2012, the real net worth of 90% of Americans has declined by 25%...
The Fries-With-That Economy New York Times ...food services and drinking places ... have been adding jobs for 37 consecutive months. ... As a result of all this cumulative hiring, the industry accounted for almost one in 13 of all American jobs in March. That is the highest share it has held...
Tax Lobby Builds Ties to Chairman of Finance Panel New York Times ...At least 28 aides who have worked for Mr. Baucus, Democrat of Montana, since he became the committee chairman in 2001 have lobbied on tax issues during the Obama administration -- more than any other current member of Congress...
Mexico to back Japan joining TPP AFP ...Visiting Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto will likely announce his support for Japan's plan to join talks on forging a huge Pacific-wide free trade zone on Monday, officials said...
Britain's biggest unions put weight behind plan for general strike The Independent ...Plans for the first general strike in modern British history have been backed by the country’s two biggest unions. The proposed 24-hour walkout would be the first time since 1926 that private and public-sector workers have co-ordinated a nationwide mass action...
No Doomsday but Ontario Takes Out the Knives Real News Network ...In Ontario, Canada, the Ontario government is pursuing, like most other governments around the industrialized world, austerity policies...
Chiquita sues to block release of documents related to terror group payments Charlotte Observer ...Charlotte-based Chiquita sued the Securities and Exchange Commission, seeking to block the release of documents related to payments the company made to terrorist groups in Colombia to protect its banana-growing interests...
Bank Of America To Pay $36.8 Million To Military Members For Improper Foreclosures ThinkProgress ...Bank of America was already paying 142 military members under the original 2011 agreement, but a further review required by the settlement found 155 additional military homeowners who were subject to improper foreclosures...
Taping of Farm Cruelty Is Becoming the Crime New York Times ...Some of the legislation appears inspired by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a business advocacy group with hundreds of state representatives from farm states as members...
Crackdown on Dissent Intensifies as DoJ Usurps Authority of Capitol Police Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative ...After a two-month lull, the Walker Administration’s crackdown on dissent in the Wisconsin State Capitol has kicked back into high gear...
Showing posts with label general strike. Show all posts
Showing posts with label general strike. Show all posts
Monday, April 8, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Today's Teamster News 02.20.13
Speculators driving gas prices up, up, up McClatchy ...gasoline prices are soaring again and eating away at the purchasing power of ordinary Americans. And again, financial speculators appear to be a big part of the story. The national average pump price hit $3.74 for a gallon of unleaded gasoline Tuesday, up a sharp 44 cents per gallon from just a month ago...
It Takes a B.A. to Find a Job as a File Clerk New York Times ...Across industries and geographic areas, many other jobs that didn’t used to require a diploma — positions like dental hygienists, cargo agents, clerks and claims adjusters — are increasingly requiring one, according to Burning Glass, a company that analyzes job ads from more than 20,000 online sources, including major job boards and small- to midsize-employer sites...
Greeks Hold First General Strike as Samaras Implements Austerity Bloomberg ...The strike is the latest challenge from unions to Samaras, who has used emergency decrees twice in the past month to end walkouts prompted by the spending cuts and tax increases required to keep funds flowing to the country...The new pension and wage cuts and tax hikes follow a wave of austerity measures that has led the country to a sixth year of recession and unemployment to a record 27 percent...
Iberia strikers clash with police Irish Times ...Striking union workers clashed with police at Madrid’s Barajas airport yesterday on the first day of a week-long strike over more than 3,800 pending job cuts at Spain’s flagship airline Iberia. More than 80 Iberia flights were cancelled as workers at the carrier began a series of five-day walkouts...
Republican Bill Targets Private Sector Unions The Wheeler Report ...A bill being rushed through the Republican-controlled State Legislature is an attack on private sector
union bargaining rights, three legislators charged today. The proposal, sponsored by State Senator Paul Farrow (R-Pewaukee) and Representative Ed Brooks (RReedsburg), would allow employers to reduce the hours of their union-represented employees without the union’s approval...
Liquor privatization bill to be introduced The Patriot-News ...(Pennsylvania) State House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, a leading advocate for privatization, has begun circulating a memo asking lawmakers to sponsor a bill. The bill, House Bill 790, will be introduced March 4...Democrats have fought efforts to sell the state stores, siding with unions representing state store workers...
Florida House speaker's plan for pension reform hits a snag Bradenton Herald ...A report released Friday was supposed to provide an estimate of how much the change would cost to pay out benefits to the employees currently in the system while switching new state employees into 401(k)-style retirement plans. Instead, the report was deemed incomplete...
Controversy over teachers' union email continues in Lansing Livingston Daily Press & Argus ...State House Bill 4201, introduced this month, would prohibit a public employee from using public email for political campaigning, union activities, union recruitment, or fundraising...
Bills target public-sector unions Arizona Republic ...Republicans at the Arizona Legislature are continuing efforts to restrict public-employee unions. Three bills to restrict unions passed a Senate committee on Monday. Another is scheduled for a House committee vote today. Several other bills are at various stages in the legislative process...
New Boeing contract splits engineers, tech workers Associated Press ...Boeing Co.'s engineers have accepted a new four-year contract while technical workers rejected their offer and voted to authorize a future strike...
School Bus Drivers End Strike, in Win for New York Mayor New York Times ...The main union for New York City’s school bus drivers ended its monthlong strike Friday, handing a victory to the Bloomberg administration, which had refused to give in to the union’s demands for job protections...
Costco Teamsters Ratify Three-year Contract IBT ...Teamster members at Costco have voted overwhelmingly in favor of a new three-year contract that includes a 9 percent wage increase over the term of the agreement, stronger job protections and an improved grievance procedure for the 15,000 workers. Costco Teamsters, who are the highest-paid retail employees in the country with the best benefits, voted 77 percent in favor of the new contract...
It Takes a B.A. to Find a Job as a File Clerk New York Times ...Across industries and geographic areas, many other jobs that didn’t used to require a diploma — positions like dental hygienists, cargo agents, clerks and claims adjusters — are increasingly requiring one, according to Burning Glass, a company that analyzes job ads from more than 20,000 online sources, including major job boards and small- to midsize-employer sites...
Greeks Hold First General Strike as Samaras Implements Austerity Bloomberg ...The strike is the latest challenge from unions to Samaras, who has used emergency decrees twice in the past month to end walkouts prompted by the spending cuts and tax increases required to keep funds flowing to the country...The new pension and wage cuts and tax hikes follow a wave of austerity measures that has led the country to a sixth year of recession and unemployment to a record 27 percent...
Iberia strikers clash with police Irish Times ...Striking union workers clashed with police at Madrid’s Barajas airport yesterday on the first day of a week-long strike over more than 3,800 pending job cuts at Spain’s flagship airline Iberia. More than 80 Iberia flights were cancelled as workers at the carrier began a series of five-day walkouts...
Republican Bill Targets Private Sector Unions The Wheeler Report ...A bill being rushed through the Republican-controlled State Legislature is an attack on private sector
union bargaining rights, three legislators charged today. The proposal, sponsored by State Senator Paul Farrow (R-Pewaukee) and Representative Ed Brooks (RReedsburg), would allow employers to reduce the hours of their union-represented employees without the union’s approval...
Liquor privatization bill to be introduced The Patriot-News ...(Pennsylvania) State House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, a leading advocate for privatization, has begun circulating a memo asking lawmakers to sponsor a bill. The bill, House Bill 790, will be introduced March 4...Democrats have fought efforts to sell the state stores, siding with unions representing state store workers...
Florida House speaker's plan for pension reform hits a snag Bradenton Herald ...A report released Friday was supposed to provide an estimate of how much the change would cost to pay out benefits to the employees currently in the system while switching new state employees into 401(k)-style retirement plans. Instead, the report was deemed incomplete...
Controversy over teachers' union email continues in Lansing Livingston Daily Press & Argus ...State House Bill 4201, introduced this month, would prohibit a public employee from using public email for political campaigning, union activities, union recruitment, or fundraising...
Bills target public-sector unions Arizona Republic ...Republicans at the Arizona Legislature are continuing efforts to restrict public-employee unions. Three bills to restrict unions passed a Senate committee on Monday. Another is scheduled for a House committee vote today. Several other bills are at various stages in the legislative process...
New Boeing contract splits engineers, tech workers Associated Press ...Boeing Co.'s engineers have accepted a new four-year contract while technical workers rejected their offer and voted to authorize a future strike...
School Bus Drivers End Strike, in Win for New York Mayor New York Times ...The main union for New York City’s school bus drivers ended its monthlong strike Friday, handing a victory to the Bloomberg administration, which had refused to give in to the union’s demands for job protections...
Costco Teamsters Ratify Three-year Contract IBT ...Teamster members at Costco have voted overwhelmingly in favor of a new three-year contract that includes a 9 percent wage increase over the term of the agreement, stronger job protections and an improved grievance procedure for the 15,000 workers. Costco Teamsters, who are the highest-paid retail employees in the country with the best benefits, voted 77 percent in favor of the new contract...
Friday, February 8, 2013
Today's Teamster News 02.08.13
US citizens braced for austerity impact Financial Times ...The Pentagon has said that 800,000 civilian employees would see their hours cut by 20 per cent for the rest of the year and 46,000 temporary workers would be laid off. Other agencies would also see deep cuts in staff. There are estimates of a 25 per cent drop in border patrol agents, 600 fewer food safety inspectors at slaughterhouses and meat processing plants, and 1,200 fewer air traffic control operators...
Tax Holiday Ends, Consumers Scrimp Wall Street Journal ...Surveys show the majority of Americans who are aware of the tax increase say they plan to cut spending, and consumer confidence has wavered. Companies like Target Corp. and women's clothier Cato Corp. say the tax increase has crimped sales...
Profound Weight of Layoffs Is Seen in Work Trends Survey New York Times ...While about 8 percent of Americans are unemployed, nearly a quarter of Americans say they were laid off at some point during the recession or afterward...Of those laid off in recent years, nearly a quarter said they still had not found a job...
Postal Service dying from 1,000 cuts and a GOP stab in the back (opinion) Los Angeles Times ...Republicans are always insisting that the USPS be run like a good capitalist enterprise, but few, if any, private businesses could bear the burden of funding three-quarters of a century of retired employees’ medical costs over just one decade...
American Airlines And US Airways Near Merger Deal Forbes ...AA’s parent company, AMR Corp., is in the final stages of talks with US Airways Group on a merger deal, and an agreement could be reached as soon as February 15th...
Tunisia faces general strike after Belaid assassination sparks crisis The Guardian ...The UGTT, Tunisia's trade union federation, called the strike in protest at the murder of Chokri Belaid on Wednesday. It will be the first such strike since 1978...
Senators look to revamp local pension plans Sun-Sentinel ...A panel of Florida lawmakers on Wednesday debated how best to revamp 492 municipal pension plans across the state...
Washtenaw County takes stance against right-to-work legislation with unanswered legal questions AnnArbor.com ...the commission voted 6-1 to approve the resolution that not only served as a formal expression of the majority of the commission's opposition to the right-to-work measures passed by the lame duck Michigan legislature in December, but also to direct staff to expedite union contract negotiations...
Dayton: Tax cuts caused Minn. economic problems Minnesota Public Radio ..."In the decade after Minnesota's income tax reductions, our economy fared worse than the nation and most other states," Dayton said...
Voter poll pulls losing numbers for Corbett's lotto plan Philly.com ...Sixty-four percent of the voters polled said they oppose his plan to turn over control of the lottery to a British company, Camelot Global Services...
Walmart Workers Are Back on Strike Over a New Wave of Alleged Threats The Nation ...half a dozen workers in Laurel, Maryland, walked off the job in protest of alleged retaliation by Walmart management...
Workers at UNFI vote to ratify 5-year contract agreement Auburn Reporter ...Warehouse workers and drivers, represented by Teamsters Local 117, overwhelmingly voted to ratify a fully-recommended 5-year contract agreement with United Natural Foods, Inc. on Thursday...The agreement provides for the reinstatement of all workers, including the 72 who had been permanently replaced, health and welfare protections for workers, and meaningful wage increases...
Moreno Valley warehouse charged with harassing union Press Enterprise ...The National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that enforces workplace laws and supervises union elections, has issued a complaint against a Moreno Valley food distribution center... union officials filed labor board charges alleging that employees were harassed and threatened by company officials...
Arbitrator rules in favor of deputy sheriffs on pay Capital Gazette ...An arbitrator has ruled in favor of the county's deputy sheriffs union in its grievance against the county for failing to pay negotiated wage increases in fiscal 2010...The sheriff's deputies are represented by Teamsters Union Local 355...
Teamsters Release Video Of Sanitation Workers At Martin Luther King, Jr. March IBT ...more than 400 sanitation workers from Atlanta, Ga., Pensacola, Fla., Mobile, Ala. and Memphis, Tenn. joined workers from the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike to demand that Republic Services/Allied Waste treat its workers with respect...
Tax Holiday Ends, Consumers Scrimp Wall Street Journal ...Surveys show the majority of Americans who are aware of the tax increase say they plan to cut spending, and consumer confidence has wavered. Companies like Target Corp. and women's clothier Cato Corp. say the tax increase has crimped sales...
Profound Weight of Layoffs Is Seen in Work Trends Survey New York Times ...While about 8 percent of Americans are unemployed, nearly a quarter of Americans say they were laid off at some point during the recession or afterward...Of those laid off in recent years, nearly a quarter said they still had not found a job...
Postal Service dying from 1,000 cuts and a GOP stab in the back (opinion) Los Angeles Times ...Republicans are always insisting that the USPS be run like a good capitalist enterprise, but few, if any, private businesses could bear the burden of funding three-quarters of a century of retired employees’ medical costs over just one decade...
American Airlines And US Airways Near Merger Deal Forbes ...AA’s parent company, AMR Corp., is in the final stages of talks with US Airways Group on a merger deal, and an agreement could be reached as soon as February 15th...
Tunisia faces general strike after Belaid assassination sparks crisis The Guardian ...The UGTT, Tunisia's trade union federation, called the strike in protest at the murder of Chokri Belaid on Wednesday. It will be the first such strike since 1978...
Senators look to revamp local pension plans Sun-Sentinel ...A panel of Florida lawmakers on Wednesday debated how best to revamp 492 municipal pension plans across the state...
Washtenaw County takes stance against right-to-work legislation with unanswered legal questions AnnArbor.com ...the commission voted 6-1 to approve the resolution that not only served as a formal expression of the majority of the commission's opposition to the right-to-work measures passed by the lame duck Michigan legislature in December, but also to direct staff to expedite union contract negotiations...
Dayton: Tax cuts caused Minn. economic problems Minnesota Public Radio ..."In the decade after Minnesota's income tax reductions, our economy fared worse than the nation and most other states," Dayton said...
Voter poll pulls losing numbers for Corbett's lotto plan Philly.com ...Sixty-four percent of the voters polled said they oppose his plan to turn over control of the lottery to a British company, Camelot Global Services...
Walmart Workers Are Back on Strike Over a New Wave of Alleged Threats The Nation ...half a dozen workers in Laurel, Maryland, walked off the job in protest of alleged retaliation by Walmart management...
Workers at UNFI vote to ratify 5-year contract agreement Auburn Reporter ...Warehouse workers and drivers, represented by Teamsters Local 117, overwhelmingly voted to ratify a fully-recommended 5-year contract agreement with United Natural Foods, Inc. on Thursday...The agreement provides for the reinstatement of all workers, including the 72 who had been permanently replaced, health and welfare protections for workers, and meaningful wage increases...
Moreno Valley warehouse charged with harassing union Press Enterprise ...The National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that enforces workplace laws and supervises union elections, has issued a complaint against a Moreno Valley food distribution center... union officials filed labor board charges alleging that employees were harassed and threatened by company officials...
Arbitrator rules in favor of deputy sheriffs on pay Capital Gazette ...An arbitrator has ruled in favor of the county's deputy sheriffs union in its grievance against the county for failing to pay negotiated wage increases in fiscal 2010...The sheriff's deputies are represented by Teamsters Union Local 355...
Teamsters Release Video Of Sanitation Workers At Martin Luther King, Jr. March IBT ...more than 400 sanitation workers from Atlanta, Ga., Pensacola, Fla., Mobile, Ala. and Memphis, Tenn. joined workers from the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike to demand that Republic Services/Allied Waste treat its workers with respect...
Friday, March 30, 2012
Holy Moley! Spain's general strike
The people of Spain are furious about the austerity their government imposed on them (and that Paul Ryan is trying to impose on us).
Hard to blame them. Their unemployment rate is 23 percent, and somehow the solution to that is to take away workers' rights. The Spanish workers' answer: a rock 'em, sock 'em 24-hour general strike on Thursday.
As Expatica reported,
Recession-hit Spaniards staged a 24-hour general strike and took to the streets Thursday in anger over labour reforms, austerity cuts and soaring unemployment.
Carrying placards declaring "Work Reform, No", unions picketed businesses, wholesale markets, industry, banks and public transport hubs as police deployed in heavy numbers.
Workers walked out a day before ministers adopt a 2012 budget set to axe tens of billions of euros more in spending, adding to cuts that have already squeezed public services...
Spain's major CCOO and UGT unions called the strike over the right-leaning government's February 11 labour reform which makes it cheaper to lay off staff and easier to cut salaries.
They plan protests in 100 towns and cities.
"If they don't go back on the reform there will be a growing social conflict until they fix it," said CCOO general secretary Ignacio Fernandez Toxo, warning of a new show of force on May 1.
Minimum service agreements kept schools and hospitals open, ensured that 20-30 percent of trains and buses ran, and allowed some planes to fly despite Iberia, Air Nostrum and Vueling cancelling two-thirds of flights.The Guardian has amazing photos here.
Today's Teamster News 03.30.12
Spain's general strike shows first signs of rebellion against austerity The Guardian ...With near-empty railway stations, shut factories, mass marches and occasional outbreaks of violence during a general strike on Thursday, Spaniards showed the first signs of rebellion against the reformist, austerity-preaching conservative government they voted in four months ago...
Foxconn Auditor Finds ‘Serious’ Violations of Chinese Law Bloomberg ...An audit of Foxconn Technology Group (2354) found “serious and pressing” violations of Chinese labor laws, prompting the biggest maker of Apple Inc. (AAPL) devices to pledge to cut working hours and give employees more oversight. Inspectors found at least 50 breaches of Chinese regulations as well as the code of conduct Apple signed when it joined the Fair Labor Association in January after deaths of workers at suppliers, the monitoring group said today...
China's Industrial Espionage Knows No Bounds Economic Populist ...Every major company in the United States has already been penetrated by China. So says cyber security expert and former White House counter-terrorism advisor Richard Clarke. In a new Smithsonian Magazine interview, Clarke amplifies what has already been revealed, China is ripping off U.S. and other corporations left and right...
Taking Bosses Hostage: A Labor Negotiating Tactic In France Testoserone Pit ...In France, the labor negotiation tactic of locking up bosses is not unusual after a company threatens with layoffs or plant closings. Law enforcement rarely intervenes...
Garbage Company’s Trashed Promise Sparks Rare Rolling Sympathy Strike Alternet ...Teamsters in Alabama went on strike against a giant garbage company--and in Seattle, New York and Ohio, workers joined them in solidarity, in a move that's usually illegal...
Judge Orders Hearing in Teamsters' Challenge to FDOC Probation Rules Local 2011 ...An administrative judge today ordered a hearing in Teamsters Local 2011's legal challenge to restore the requirement that probation officers visit the homes of dangerous criminals on probation...
Foxconn Auditor Finds ‘Serious’ Violations of Chinese Law Bloomberg ...An audit of Foxconn Technology Group (2354) found “serious and pressing” violations of Chinese labor laws, prompting the biggest maker of Apple Inc. (AAPL) devices to pledge to cut working hours and give employees more oversight. Inspectors found at least 50 breaches of Chinese regulations as well as the code of conduct Apple signed when it joined the Fair Labor Association in January after deaths of workers at suppliers, the monitoring group said today...
China's Industrial Espionage Knows No Bounds Economic Populist ...Every major company in the United States has already been penetrated by China. So says cyber security expert and former White House counter-terrorism advisor Richard Clarke. In a new Smithsonian Magazine interview, Clarke amplifies what has already been revealed, China is ripping off U.S. and other corporations left and right...
Taking Bosses Hostage: A Labor Negotiating Tactic In France Testoserone Pit ...In France, the labor negotiation tactic of locking up bosses is not unusual after a company threatens with layoffs or plant closings. Law enforcement rarely intervenes...
Garbage Company’s Trashed Promise Sparks Rare Rolling Sympathy Strike Alternet ...Teamsters in Alabama went on strike against a giant garbage company--and in Seattle, New York and Ohio, workers joined them in solidarity, in a move that's usually illegal...
Judge Orders Hearing in Teamsters' Challenge to FDOC Probation Rules Local 2011 ...An administrative judge today ordered a hearing in Teamsters Local 2011's legal challenge to restore the requirement that probation officers visit the homes of dangerous criminals on probation...
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Teamsters picket British Embassy in solidarity with UK strikers
They're protesting the government's attempt to make them work harder for less money and a more difficult retirement.
In Washington, Teamsters are there with nurses (NNU), teachers (AFT), service workers, (SEIU), letter carriers (NALC), and members of the British union Unison. There are well over 100 people marching and chanting:
No ifs, No Buts
No public sector cutsAnd:
They say cut backAnd
We say fight back
Tories Tories, Rich and rude
We don't like your attitude.We'll have more on the action in a little while. Meanwhile, you can follow the action in the UK here.
Today's Teamster News 11.30.11
Teamsters Support UK Strike By Public Sector Workers IBT ...Teamsters are joining the National Nurses Union and other union members at the British Embassy today to stand in solidarity with the more than three million public sector workers on strike in the UK to protest government austerity measures and attacks on pensions there...
Right to work veto override vote coming? Manchester Union-Leader ...Supporters and opponents of right to work legislation plan to be at the (New Hampshire) State House in force Wednesday for a possible veto override vote...
GOP Pushes 'Right-To-Work' In TV Ads The Indychannel ...The ads, airing in Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, show House Speaker Brian Bosma calling right-to-work a top priority in the next legislative session...
Occupy L.A.: Cleanup of City Hall campsite begins Los Angeles Times ...A small cadre of police officers remained on the steps on the south side of Los Angeles City Hall early Wednesday, but most had already cleared out after the LAPD's sweep of the Occupy L.A. encampment...
Yes, Virginia. The banks really were bailed out. interfluidity ...the government paid for and ought to have owned several large banks lock, stock, and barrel. Instead, officials carefully engineered deals to avoid ownership and control...
The Real America The Economic Populist ... Like prey in the spider's web of tall tales, we're stunned and hypnotized into no longer seeing the poverty and despair all around us...
Right to work veto override vote coming? Manchester Union-Leader ...Supporters and opponents of right to work legislation plan to be at the (New Hampshire) State House in force Wednesday for a possible veto override vote...
GOP Pushes 'Right-To-Work' In TV Ads The Indychannel ...The ads, airing in Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, show House Speaker Brian Bosma calling right-to-work a top priority in the next legislative session...
Occupy L.A.: Cleanup of City Hall campsite begins Los Angeles Times ...A small cadre of police officers remained on the steps on the south side of Los Angeles City Hall early Wednesday, but most had already cleared out after the LAPD's sweep of the Occupy L.A. encampment...
Yes, Virginia. The banks really were bailed out. interfluidity ...the government paid for and ought to have owned several large banks lock, stock, and barrel. Instead, officials carefully engineered deals to avoid ownership and control...
The Real America The Economic Populist ... Like prey in the spider's web of tall tales, we're stunned and hypnotized into no longer seeing the poverty and despair all around us...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)