Unions ask Obama to improve political disclosure

The Teamsters and 12 other union groups sent a letter to President Obama yesterday urging him to sign an executive order that would require businesses receiving federal funding to disclose all of their political contributions.

It's part of a continuing effort by the IBT and our allies to crack down on secret corporate political spending, which has become a scourge of U.S. democracy. In the wake of the devastating 2010 Citizens United ruling, the Supreme Court expected the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to issue rules that would give investors transparency on company donations. However, the SEC has refused to act on the matter.

So the unions in the letter said they are now looking for help from the president who has the ability to seek further disclosures from government contractors:

An Executive Order requiring government contractors to disclose their political spending would reach at least 70 percent of the Fortune 100 companies – an important step in shedding light on the millions of dollars influencing our campaigns and elections.

As it stands, at least $600 million in political contributions have been made by nameless donors since 2010. Without proper transparency, voters are left in the dark about the sources and funders of campaign advertising meant to influence voters' choices at the ballot box.

Companies are increasingly playing an outsized role in U.S. elections. In many cases, they donate money to advocate controversial policies that could antagonize their customers and undermine their businesses. But the public has no idea.

That's not how it should be. Unions are required to disclose their contributions. And millions of people making retirement investments have a right to know about how the companies they’ve purchased shares in are spending their cash.

Fair is fair.

Today's Teamster News 06.25.14

Teamster News
D.C. Taxi Drivers To Stage Caravan For Fairness On Wednesday, June 25  teamster.org   ... Hundreds of D.C. cab drivers affiliated with the Teamsters Union will take part in a “Fairness NOW!” caravan throughout the city on Wednesday, June 25 to demand an immediate stop to illegal private sedan services until a fair resolution is reached...
Delegates to BMWED/Teamsters Take Historic Action At Convention  teamster.org   ...Delegates of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division convention have elected the first female member of the union's Executive Board, Stacey Moody Gilbert...
Trade
#SOSJobs: The Story of The Rally On The Iron Range  manufacture this   ...Less than a month remains until the US Department of Commerce makes its final decision on a trade case that will affect thousands of steelworkers across the United States...
State Battles
Mayoral veto overturned  Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette   ...City Council members voted along party lines Tuesday to override Mayor Tom Henry’s veto of the new prohibition on collective bargaining for city employees who are not police or firefighters...
Mayors Want Federal Minimum Wage Hike  Dallas News   ...Mike Rawlings oversaw many minimum-wage workers as top executive at Pizza Hut. Now, as the mayor of Dallas, he’s trying to determine what a living wage is for city residents and city contract workers...
Changes To Wage Theft Prevention Law Approved By New York State Legislature  Daily Labor Report   ...The new measure would go even further by increasing penalties for violations to $50 to $200 per day from $50 to $200 per week and raising maximum penalties to $5,000 from $2,000. The bill also would establish penalties of $1,000 to $20,000 for repeat violators. Maximum liquidated damages would be increased under the bill to $20,000 from $10,000...
2nd Bridge Inquiry Said To Be Linked To Christie  New York Times   ...The inquiries into securities law violations focus on a period of 2010 and 2011 when Gov. Chris Christie’s administration pressed the Port Authority to pay for extensive repairs to the Skyway and related road projects, diverting money that was to be used on a new Hudson River rail tunnel that Mr. Christie canceled in October 2010...
Water is a Human Right: Detroit Residents Seek U.N. Intervention as City Shuts Off Taps to Thousands  Democracy Now   ... Since March, up to 3,000 account holders have had their water cut off every week. The Detroit water authority carries an estimated $5 billion in debt and has been the subject of privatization talks...
War On Workers
After Gap Raised Its Minimum Wage, Job Applications Surged  Think Progress   ...As of June, the lowest-paid Gap employees are making $9 an hour, and that will increase to $10 in June of next year. The raise will affect 65,000 employees in the United States. One of the reasons originally cited was to be able to “attract and retain great talent,” and Chairman and CEO Glenn Murphy had said, “Our decision to invest in frontline employees will directly support our business, and is one that we expect to deliver a return many times over.”...
Contract Workers Strike: Government Is The Top Low-Wage Employer Of Women  Moyers & Company   ...Hundreds of women struggling to make ends meet on the low wages paid by federal contractors went on strike in Washington, DC, today....They’re demanding that President Obama sign an executive order allowing them to bargain collectively for better pay, decent health care and paid sick leave...
Fact-Checking Walmart's Fact-Check Of The New York Times  Huffington Post   ...Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Apple and Wells Fargo paid more in taxes than Walmart...
Miscellaneous
Federal Judge Rules US Citizens Placed on No-Fly List Had Their Due Process Rights Violated  firedoglake   ...A federal district court in Oregon has ruled that United States citizens who were placed on the No-Fly List had their rights to “procedural due process” violated. The current process is unconstitutional and the government must “provide a new process” that satisfies the “constitutional requirements for due process.”...
Veterangate: VA whistleblower says records of deceased vets were altered  RT   ...A Veteran Affairs employee has come forward claiming that government officials doctored the medial records of deceased veterans in order to hide the fact that they died waiting for medical care...
Want To Suppress The Vote? Stress People Out  Mother Jones   ...individuals who have higher baseline levels of the bodily stress hormone cortisol are, as a group, less likely to vote. In other words, individuals who are more sensitive to stress don't appear to vote as often...

Today's Teamster News 12.07.13

A-B InBev makes progress in negotiations with Teamsters  St. Louis Post-Dispatch   ...In a joint statement on Friday, the two parties said they have finalized all local non-economic issues for the company's 12 U.S. breweries. They will reconvene on Dec. 16 to begin discussions about national non-economic issues...
McDonald's to Employees: Don't Forget to Tip Your Nannies  Gawker   ... On its employees-only "McResource Line" website, the fast-food behemoth posted a tipping etiquette guide that suggests holiday bonuses for such common hired helpers as au pairs (one week's pay or a gift from the family), housekeepers (one day's pay), and pool cleaners (the cost of one cleaning)...
Xerox calls police before layoffs at Cary call center  ABC11   ...Xerox called police to its Cary facility Friday morning just before laying off 168 employees. The company called 911 around 6 a.m. to request a police presence at their Crescent Green Drive facility. Cary Dispatch confirmed to ABC11 that Xerox said they "were expecting trouble."...
ALEC Opposed Divestment From South Africa’s Apartheid Regime  ...many American conservative organizations opposed his struggle by fighting against sanctions and divestment from the apartheid regime that oppressed him. For ALEC, that meant partnering with corporations that faced calls for South African divestment and creating template legislation to block the pro-Mandela movement...
What Dave Ramsey gets wrong about poverty  Belief Blog   ...When medical bills are the biggest cause of bankruptcy in the United States, there are systemic injustices at work...
U.S. deadline looms over negotiations on Trans-Pacific Partnership  AFP   ...analysts said an agreement on the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was unlikely to be reached during the four-day meeting, owing to differences on key issues such as intellectual property protection...
USTR Reveals Few Details In Response To FOIA Request For TPP Info  Inside US Trade   ...The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has largely deflected an attempt by public interest group Intellectual Property Watch to shed new light on the substance of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations and the influence of Washington lobbyists over the contents of the trade deal...
LA city attorney sues Bank of America over lending  Associated Press   ...The Los Angeles city attorney is suing Bank of America for mortgage discrimination it claims led to a wave of foreclosures that cost the city a fortune in extra expenses and lost taxes...
Republic Windows ex-CEO gets 4 years in prison  Portside   ...Five years to the day after a sit-in by workers at an abruptly shuttered Chicago factory drew national attention, its former CEO pleaded guilty today to one count of theft for looting Republic Windows & Doors and was promptly sentenced to 4 years in prison...
Contractors Receive Huge Raise on Same Day Income Inequality Discussed  POGO   ...On the same day that the President spoke eloquently and fervently about the rising income inequality in the United States, the ever-contractor-friendly Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) increased the maximum amount of contractor compensation that can be charged to government contracts from a mere $763,029 per employee per year to what OFPP apparently considers a much more reasonable $952,308 per employee per year...
The Metro-North crash was preventable  Scientific American   ...Rail experts say an automated safety system already in place in Europe, but stalled in the U.S. despite a Congressional mandate, probably could have prevented a speeding commuter train from flying off the tracks while rounding a bend last weekend in New York City, killing four passengers and injuring 63 others...