Congress must tackle driver fatigue head on

The Teamsters and highway safety advocates for years have talked about the real problem of fatigued truck drivers on the nation's roadways. But in many ways that message did not register among the public until an accident on the New Jersey Turnpike last year that left actor Tracy Morgan seriously injured and killed fellow comic James McMillan.

The Teamsters stand at the forefront of truck driver safety.

Earlier this week, the National Transportation Safety Board confirmed what many already believed to be true -- that a Walmart truck driver was suffering from severe fatigue when he plowed into a limo van carrying the two men and others. That said, despite the efforts of some lawmakers, no action has been taken to try and address the issue that jeopardizes tens of millions who travel along the nation's highways each year.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who has stood as a leader on Capitol Hill, said Congress continues to err on the matter in favor of the trucking industry:

Despite my efforts to make our roads safer and ensure that truckers get adequate rest, the Senate last month permanently exempted many truck drivers from fatigue rules. Then, in one of its last acts before leaving Washington, the Senate passed a transportation bill full of special interest gifts to the trucking industry – most troubling of which would allow 18 year olds to drive these monster trucks on little rest. We can and must do better. Lives depend on it.

It is imperative that lawmakers don't make the same grave error going forward. Congress will again be dealing with the issue this fall, as it needs to come up with a long-term transportation funding bill. An increase in the hours-of-service provision would endanger not only truck drivers, but all of us who use U.S. roadways.

As Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa wrote in a letter sent to Congress earlier this year:

Not all motor carries run their drivers to the limit of their hours-of-service, but it does happen, Drivers feel pressure from their employers to drive more than 60-70 hours a week with insufficient rest. Without a strong voice in the workplace like the Teamsters Union, these drivers are left with no recourse and the resulting fatigue leads to accidents.

Elected officials, however, could make a difference here. It is an opportunity they cannot miss again.

The fight goes on to keep tired truckers off the road

At least one U.S. senator vows to follow the public's wishes to keep tired truckers off the road.

Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal said he will try to restore the 70-hour limit that truck drivers can work in a week. Congress extended those house to 82 in the hideous CRomnibus bill. The CRomnibus also lets already earned benefits be cut for retirees, allows Wall Street banks to gamble with taxpayer-insured dollars and permits rich people to spend much, much more on political campaigns.

President Obama signed the bill into law last night.

What's especially galling about the dangerous increase in the number of hours truckers may drive is how it passed. First, Maine Sen. Susan Collins sneaked it onto a spending bill -- one larded, by the way, with gifts for the wealthy (like the trucking industry) at the expense of the many.

Second, Collins did it two days before a Walmart driver who hadn't slept in 24 hours slammed into a limousine, killing James McNair and critically injuring Tracy Morgan.

Third, the measure was passed without hearings or debate. (Tracy Morgan is suing Walmart for its lax safety practices.) If members of Congress had openly deliberated about the dangerous increase in the number of hours truckers may drive, they would have found 80 percent of the public wants truck drivers' hours limited to 70 hours a week.

As the Commercial Carrier Journal reported:

The survey by Lake Research Partners shows 80 percent of the public oppose Congress “raising the number of hours a semi-truck driver is allowed to work in a week from 70 to 82 hours,” which is “more than twice the normal work week for most people,” as the poll question reads. 

“This survey reveals a clear disconnect between what the public wants and what special trucking interests want from Congress at the expense of public safety for everyone,” Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety President Jackie Gillan said in conference call. “We urge Congress to reject this anti-safety change and heed the public’s correct assessment of the dangers.” 

Pollster Joshua Ulenberry called the results “remarkable” and “impressive.” 

“You do not get to 80 percent opposed in any question unless you have really wide and deep support,” he said, noting the bipartisan breakdown of the survey responses.

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and Blumenthal pushed an amendment to keep the existing hours of service limits. Blumenthal said he'll fight on:

I certainly will make an effort legislatively to reverse the rollback. All of the folks who have an interest in transportation safety are dismayed and disheartened by this rollback of common-sense safety rules, everyone from the Teamsters and the truck drivers to the safety advocates.

Today's Teamster News 12.13.14

Teamster News
While Cromnibus Waits, Teamsters Object to Pension Plan  Roll Call   ...the Senate might not be able to hold its final vote on the measure until Monday...Teamsters Object. With the fiscal 2015 spending bill on track for action, the Teamsters union is weighing in with a last-ditch effort to get lawmakers to reject the measure. A statement from Teamsters President Jim Hoffa pointed to pension changes in the measure, which the union said would result “in an untold number of retirees losing a substantial percentage of their fixed income should reductions be required.” The Teamsters are also objecting to the controversial hours of service rules in the bill...
34-Hour Restart Changes: House Passes Spending Bill; Eyes On Senate  Commercial Carrier Journal   ...First, it removes the requirement that drivers’ 34-hour restarts include two 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. periods. Second, it removes the one-per-week limit of the restart’s use. It also requires FMCSA to produce a study to show how the restart provisions improve safety. The stay of enforcement of the rules will end after Sept. 30, 2015, and after FMCSA provides its report justifying the rules...
Reid Announces Weekend Votes After Blockade (Updated)  Roll Call   ...Reid also said that absent an agreement, the Senate would vote at 1 a.m. Sunday to limit debate on the cromnibus spending package...
CRomnibus Disaster Signals a Sad New Normal in D.C.  The Fiscal Times   ...Under the bill, trustees would be enabled to cut pension benefits to current retirees, reversing a 40-year bond with workers who earned their retirement packages...
Sysco Poised To Complete $8.2B Merger With US Foods  New York Post   ...Sysco is poised to complete the $8.2 billion merger with its closest rival, US Foods, but at a much stiffer price than expected, The Post has learned. America’s biggest food-service provider, Sysco is selling assets worth $5 billion to Performance Food Group (owned by Steve Schwarzman-led Blackstone Group) to win regulatory approval, two sources said. That is equal to roughly one-quarter of US Foods’ revenue...
Congressman Urges Cooperation Between Teamsters And Giant Eagle Distributor  WFMJ   ...Representative Ryan as sent letters pleading with the Tamarkin Company and Teamsters Local 377  to “quickly and efficiently negotiate a fair resolution to the ongoing labor dispute. The result of an impasse is simply not in the best interests of the workers, the company or this community,” writes Ryan...
State AFL-CIO opposes Bill de Blasio's horse carriage ban  New York Daily News   ... A resolution passed Friday by the state AFL-CIO says New York City's carriage industry provides 300 good middle-class jobs. The major statewide labor coalition is the latest of several union groups to vow to fight the mayor's proposal...
Trade
Growing U.S. trade deficit with China cost 3.2 million jobs between 2001 and 2013, with job losses in every state  Economic Policy Institute   ...a growing U.S. goods trade deficit with China has the United States piling up foreign debt, losing export capacity, and losing jobs, especially in the vital but under-siege manufacturing sector...
Obama 'more optimistic' about Pacific trade deal  The Hill   ...President Obama said Thursday he believes the odds for striking a Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement are "significantly higher than 50-50" in a meeting Thursday with his export council...
State Battles
Warren County Votes To Become Right To Work County  WBKO   ...Fiscal Court approved a right to work ordinance on the first reading Thursday morning with a vote of 5-1, democrat Tommy Hunt was the lone magistrate against it...
Jury still out on Michigan's growth, lack of since becoming right-to-work state  WNEM.com   …Woods said right-to-work isn't creating jobs in Michigan. "Michigan still ranks in the top 10 states in unemployment rate at 7.1 percent," she said...
Rex Sinquefield’s million-dollar donation heralds new craziness in Missouri  Kansas City Star   ...many Missouri Republicans are very nervous about Sinquefield’s ostentatious bankrolling of his personal slate of candidates for the 2016 statewide ticket...
NJ AFL-CIO supports ‘Buy America’ bills  PolitickerNJ   ...Urgently needed legislation that will give American-made products and U.S. workers a fair shake in the domestic marketplace cleared another legislative hurdle on Thursday, December 11, when it was released by the Assembly Budget Committee...
GOP may seek last push for Pa. action  TribLive   ...[Pennsylvania] Lawmakers could make a final push to privatize state liquor stores, reform the public pension system and end government collection of union dues from paychecks — proposals Wolf opposes...
The Koch Wall Street Crusade To Rob Pensions Is Underway  PoliticusUSA   ...despite sending his state into an economic tailspin after squandering a budget surplus and cutting services to provide unimaginable tax cuts for the rich, Kansas governor Sam Brownback is robbing employee pensions to cover the state’s devastating budget shortfalls...
Koch brothers group files suit against Calif. AG, refuses to disclose donors  Legal Newsline   ...nonprofit group founded by the Koch brothers is challenging California Attorney General Kamala Harris’ threat to take its state tax-exempt status unless it discloses the identities of its donors...
War on Workers
Ruling Lets Work Email Be Used To Organize Unions  New York Times   ...Calling that ruling “clearly incorrect,” the current majority noted how technology had transformed daily habits. “The workplace is ‘uniquely appropriate’ and ‘the natural gathering place’ for such communications,” the board wrote, “and the use of email as a common form of workplace communication has expanded dramatically in recent years.”...
The Vanishing Male Worker: How America Fell Behind  New York Times   ...Working, in America, is in decline. The share of prime-age men — those 25 to 54 years old — who are not working has more than tripled since the late 1960s, to 16 percent. More recently, since the turn of the century, the share of women without paying jobs has been rising, too. The United States, which had one of the highest employment rates among developed nations as recently as 2000, has fallen toward the bottom of the list...
Wage Theft Costing Workers Millions of Dollars  RH Reality Check   ...The lost wages in those two states represent $20 million in lost income per week in New York and $29 million in lost income per week in California...
Construction Worker Killed After Roof Collapsed  WGTU   ...A 51-year-old West Branch man was killed after falling through the roof of a building...
Miscellaneous
Verizon's New, Encrypted Calling App Comes Pre-Hacked For The NSA  Bloomberg Businessweek   ...Verizon is the latest big company to enter the post-Snowden market for secure communication, and it's doing so with an encryption standard that comes with a way for law enforcement to access ostensibly secure phone conversations...

Senate considering lowering truck safety standards for special interests

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine wants the government to allow bigger, heavier trucks and to eliminate the mandatory two days rest for drivers. The Teamsters and allies are doing all they can to prevent that from happening.

Two days after Tracy Morgan was injured by a tired truck driver, Collins slipped an amendment on to a so-called Omnibus bill that got rid of the two-day rest requirement. The Senate may soon pass that bill, and Collins' amendment may still be in it.

Politico Pro today reported,

One of the other issues not nailed down is language in the Senate bill suspending two key parts of a controversial trucker hours-of-service rule. [U.S. Rep. Ed] Pastor said the language, from Sen. Susan Collins, “is kicked up to a higher level.”

The measure would allow companies to push drivers to work 82 hours a week instead of the current 70.

Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa attacked the proposal in a statement,

The Omnibus should not be a testing ground for policies that denigrate highway safety and further deteriorate our crumbling infrastructure.

Hoffa, along with highway safety advocates, also blasted Collins' proposal in a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. In the letter, they called out the trucking and shipping industry for its unprecedented assault on public health and safety.

The letter also said,

Industry’s long wish list includes exempting several states from federal truck size and weight limits; forcing 39 states, including your own home state of North Carolina, to accept longer trucks which will degrade safety and require expensive infrastructure modifications; and, overturning the Administration’s truck driver hours of service rule by eliminating the two-day weekend off-duty for truck drivers to rest thereby dramatically increasing the working and driving hours of truck drivers.

Daphne Izer, Founder of Parents Against Tired Truckers (PATT), lost her teenage son in a crash caused by a tired Walmart driver. She said the number of people killed annually in truck crashes is equal to a major airplane crash every week of the year. Said Izer,

Congress should not be listening to well-heeled and well-connected trucking executives who want to push truck drivers to work 82 hours in a week.

Today's Teamster News 11.15.14

Teamster News
Teamsters: Port Truck Drivers Continue Strike in LA/Long Beach  teamster.org   ...Port truck drivers in Los Angeles/Long Beach, Calif., continued their strike today against drayage companies Pac 9 and TTSI. At issue is the continued misclassification of drivers as "independent contractors"...
Crash Truck Controversy  WJAR   ...Torigian and Simone are with the Teamsters, the union that represents attenuator drivers. They said they believe the state is breaking its own law by allowing crash trucks to sit empty...
Trade
U.S. Confirms Duties On Chinese Steel Wire Rod Imports  Reuters   ...The U.S. Department of Commerce confirmed steep duties on imports of carbon and alloy steel wire rod from China after ruling the products were being sold below cost in the U.S. market and received unfair levels of government subsidies...
Why Are Republicans Talking Like Elizabeth Warren?  Huffington Post   ... Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will have to expand the scope of President Barack Obama's executive powers if he wants Congress to approve a major free trade agreement currently being negotiated by the administration. And that's making elements of the tea party angry...
State Battles
ALEC Support Drops 19 Percent in 2013  Center for Media and Democracy   ...The embattled American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) lost nearly 20 percent in grant revenue between 2012 and 2013 according to new tax filings, reflecting the financial hit that the "corporate bill mill" has suffered as it has been dragged into the sunlight and its corporate members have fled...
Nevada Eyes Voter-ID Bill Following Republican Takeover  MSNBC   ...State Republicans will have to hurry – Nevada will be a key 2016 battleground, both at the presidential level and with Sen. Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) re-election bid looming. If GOP policymakers are going to impose new restrictions, they’ll no doubt want to have those voting barriers in place before the next Election Day...
War on Workers
Atlantic City Casino Revenue Down 4.4 Pct In Oct.  My Central Jersey   ...Atlantic City’s casino revenue fell by 4.4 percent in October compared with a year ago. The casinos took in $207 million, compared to $216 million in October 2013...
ATA To Petition FMCSA For Hours Flexibility For Port Truckers  Overdrive   ...Truckers serving certain ports may soon have some flexibility in compliance with federal hours-of-service rules, if a push by the American Trucking Associations and some ports is successful...
Walmart Workers Promise Biggest Black Friday Strike Ever  Think Progress   ...Walmart employees who are organizing as part of OUR Walmart are promising the biggest strikes ever on Black Friday, saying more employees will participate than the previous two years. Barbara Gertz, an employee from Denver, Colorado, said organizers are expecting to see protests in 1,600 stores...
Rule Sought On Shipping Oil By Train  New York Times   ...North Dakota’s top energy industry regulator unveiled new rules on Thursday that would require oil companies to reduce the volatility of crude before it is shipped by rail...
Americans’ Cellphones Targeted In Secret U.S. Spy Program  Wall Street Journal   ...The Justice Department is scooping up data from thousands of mobile phones through devices deployed on airplanes that mimic cellphone towers, a high-tech hunt for criminal suspects that is snagging a large number of innocent Americans, according to people familiar with the operations...
Worker killed in explosion at Noble County oil and gas facility  Columbus Dispatch   ...A Virginia man working on an oil and gas pump at a fracking site in Noble County in eastern Ohio died in an explosion on Wednesday. It was the second major incident involving a fracking operation in Ohio in two weeks...
SEPTA worker fights ruling on accident that killed rail inspector  philly.com   ...A SEPTA worker involved in a fatal 2009 Regional Rail accident is fighting a federal effort to disqualify him from safety-sensitive rail work until 2019...
Miscellaneous
House passes Keystone bill — all eyes shift to Senate  Politico   ...As expected, the House easily passed a bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline on Friday — setting the stage for drama next week in the Senate, where supporters are inching close to the filibuster-proof majority needed to send the measure to President Barack Obama’s desk...

Today's Teamster News 10.23.14

Teamster News
The Teamsters Of The 21st Century: How Uber, Lyft, And Facebook Drivers Are Organizing  Fast Company   ...Teamsters are taking a bold step into the new sharing economy by organizing Uber and Lyft drivers in Los Angeles and San Diego and attempting to represent drivers for Facebook and Cisco employee shuttles...
Hoffa Tells Chicago Teamsters They Play Pivotal Role In Election  teamster.org   ...The Teamsters’ get-out-the-vote effort in advance of the Nov. 4 election moved onto Illinois today, with General President Jim Hoffa encouraging early voting among union members and working families at workplaces throughout the Chicagoland area...
We Stand With Italy's Workers!  teamster.org   ...Workers at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Union in Washington D.C. sent a message of solidarity to their Italian brothers and sisters today as they prepare to protest labor law deregulation that will destroy workers' rights on the job...
Ikea and union strike a deal after 17-month dispute  Vancouver Sun   ...Ikea Canada announced Wednesday afternoon a 17-month labour dispute between the furniture giant and its Teamsters employees is over...
Grundy sergeants and dispatchers Teamsters endorse Briley  Morris Daily Herald   ... Teamsters Local 700, which represents the sergeants and dispatchers of Grundy County, announced Wednesday they are endorsing Ken Briley for Grundy County Sheriff...
Union chief maintains that Local 25 is a kinder, gentler Teamsters group  Boston Business Journal   ...He called the "Top Chef" story "fiction at best" and bristles as he discusses the negative media that resulted. Most frustrating, O'Brien said, is that the rough-and-tumble image of the Teamsters is the very thing he has been working to change as he works to increase the local's representation in new industries...
Polling place finds new home in Spring Garden Twp.  York Dispatch   ...The polling place that serves District 2 in the township is being moved from the Teamsters Local 430 building, 1780 Sixth Ave., to St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, 1502 Fourth Ave. The emergency move comes after mold was discovered in the Teamsters building...
Mayoral race heats up with new endorsements, donations  Brown Daily Herald   ...Teamsters Local 251, a union  that has more than 3,000 members working in Providence, endorsed Cianci because “we thought he was the best candidate,” said Matt Taibi, the union’s principal officer...
Canfield Township, Teamsters continue negotiating for months  Youngstown Vindicator   ...Canfield Township officials continue to negotiate a contract with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 377 after it expired nearly a year-and-a-half ago...the township is being asked to pay between $229 and $238 per week per employee versus what they are negotiating, $220...
Phillips Pet Food workers will vote to form union  Morning Call   ...Some 200 warehouse workers at a Northampton County pet supply company will vote Thursday to join the Teamsters, a union and government official said today...
Trade
Profits Before Health: The Next Chapter Of The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)  Center For Research On Globalization   ...The Transpacific-Partnership (TPP) continues its ride through the negotiating rooms in top secrecy, punctured occasionally by a WikiLeaks release and the utterings of concerned bystanders.  The latest variant of the TPP’s intellectual property chapter (the “second release”) suggests a predictably corporate driven agenda on the issue of health care...
State Battles
Paul LePage's New Idea: Indentured Servants  DailyKos   ...Recently he has been talking about selling student loans to workers' employers in part because "I think we can make it sort of a very profitable operation."...
Why Voter ID Laws Aren’t Really About Fraud  PBS   ...Six of the 16 states that have passed voter ID laws since 2010 have a documented history of discriminating against minority voters. All but one of those states’ laws were put in place after the Supreme Court overturned a key provision of the Voting Rights Act that required them to seek approval from the Justice Department for any voting-law changes...
Kansans Are Moderate As Hell And They're Not Going To Take It Anymore  Huffington Post   ...Members of Republicans for Kansas Values, a stodgy group of lawmakers past and present, assailed the state's increasing deficits, depleted trust funds and lowered credit rating. All these grievances were laid at the doorstep of the state's Republican governor, Sam Brownback, whose re-election the group opposed. ...
Gov. Snyder’s Karma: Elections Have Consequences (opinion)  Detroit News   ...Four years ago, Rick Snyder was elected governor and the Republicans won complete control of the Legislature. One-party control has created clear-cut winners and losers. The winners, large corporations and CEOs, have been given huge tax cuts, while the consequences for the losers — senior citizens, middle-class families, public school students and low income workers — have been devastating...
Scott Walker Campaign Staffer OK'd Statement Denying Political Activity By County Staff  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...When Scott Walker's county staff members needed to release a statement in 2010 saying they did not engage in campaign activity, who exactly did they ask to approve the language? Walker's top campaign aides, naturally...
City May Refuse Licenses To Companies Convicted Of Wage Theft  KVIA   ...The City of El Paso is preparing an ordinance meant to deter companies from stealing wages from workers...
War on Workers
How Quantitative Easing Contributed to the Nation’s Inequality Problem  New York Times   ...Quantitative easing adds to the problem of income inequality by making the rich richer and the poor poorer. By intentionally driving down interest rates to low levels, it allows people who can get access to cheap money on a regular basis to benefit in extraordinary ways...
New Study Confirms EPA’s Proposed Carbon Regulations To Hurt W.Va.  West Virginia Record   ...A new analysis by a global economic consulting firm is projecting “significant negative economic impacts” to West Virginia under a proposed plan by the federal Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from existing fossil-fuel power plants...
Most People Oppose Changes To Trucker Hours-Of-Service Requirements  Safety and Health Magazine   ...Four out of five Americans oppose legislative efforts to increase the number of hours truck drivers can be behind the wheel per week, according to the results of a poll released by Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety and the Truck Safety Coalition...

Today's Teamster News 10.07.14

Teamster News
Saputo Dairy Workers Overwhelmingly Choose Teamsters  teamster.org   ...Workers at the Saputo Inc. (TSE: SAP) cheese production facility in Lena, Wisc., have voted overwhelmingly, 367 to 79, in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 662 in Green Bay, Wisc. There are 459 production, maintenance and warehouse workers...
Teamsters, St. Louis Community Hold Teach-In On Republic Services’ Nuclear Waste Landfill on Fire  Teamsters   ...On Saturday, Teamsters gathered with St. Louis-area residents, union members, elected officials, faith leaders, environmental experts and attorneys about Republic Service’s [NYSE: RSG] West Lake Landfill. West Lake is a Superfund site in Bridgeton, Mo. that contains 8,700 tons of buried uncontained radioactive nuclear wastes adjacent to an underground landfill fire...
Teamsters Local 922, D.C. Taxi Drivers to Hold A Second Caravan for Fairness  teamster.org   ...Taxi Companies, UberX, Lyft, and others should follow the same regulations, rather than the proposed two-tiered system that gives a competitive advantage to private vehicles for-hire and keeps the public vehicles for-hire strictly controlled...
Teamsters Urge Zuckerberg, Loop Trans. To Recognize Facebook Bus Drivers' Union  teamster.org   ...Rome Aloise, International Vice President and President of Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif., wrote a letter to Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg last week on behalf of bus drivers who transport Facebook employees from San Francisco, Palo Alto and other areas to the Facebook campus. The drivers, employees of Loop Transportation, are seeking union representation and a contract...
BLET delegates back two-person train crews on final day of Third National Convention  teamster.org   ...“The single employee train crew issue is one of the most important questions facing rail labor, and specifically the BLET,” the resolution reads...
PCC tries to impress a formerly unhappy customer  philly.com   ...When her organization last came to Philadelphia, in 2009, six unions worked in the building. In May, two of the six did not sign a customer satisfaction agreement by a deadline set by management. Those two unions - the carpenters and the Teamsters - no longer work in the building, although they are contesting that move with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board...
Trade
Food fight  The Economist   ...This week Koji Tsuruoka, Japan’s chief negotiator on the TPP, blasted the media in general, which, he said, pays far too much attention to American spin doctors when reporting on the trade agreement, negotiations for which are conducted in secret...
Find out what TTIP is and how it will affect you  On the Wight   ...Growing numbers of Islanders have become aware of the threat to public services, food safety and wages posed by an international trade treaty being cobbled together behind closed doors by EU governments – including Britain...
Make No Mistake, the TTIP is a Move in the Wrong Direction  Global Economic Intersection   ...This week has witnessed the seventh round of talks between EU and US negotiators seeking to hammer out a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). These have been mired in controversy over the supposed impact that the agreement will have on the ability of countries to regulate in the public interest...
State Battles
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s Tax Cuts Cause Another Revenue Hit (opinion)  Kansas City Star   ...  the lower income tax rates that took effect in January 2013 haven’t brought a dramatic surge in revenue from the bonanza of new jobs Kansas was supposed to enjoy....
Secretly kissing up to Kochs pays off for Doug Ducey  Arizona Republic   ...Fresh off a primary in which dark-money attacks were launched against any Republican who stood in Ducey's way, we now learn that Ducey has been cozying up to America's premier princes of dark money...
Scott Walker Could Win Thanks to Wisconsin's Voter ID Law  New Republic   ...It’s hard to say how many people might be disenfranchised by the law, but in such a tight election, where Republican incumbent Scott Walker is neck-and-neck with Democrat Mary Burke, it doesn’t take many votes to swing the results...
Perdue ‘proud’ of outsourcing past, blames Washington for jobs lost  Atlanta Journal-Constitution   ...U.S. Senate candidate David Perdue, … a former CEO for Dollar General and Republican nominee to replace retiring Sen. Saxby Chambliss, was stung by his own words last week in an article (that) ... quoted Perdue from a 2005 deposition where he said he “spent most of my career” outsourcing...
War on Workers
The Good News and Bad News About 5.9 Percent Unemployment  truth-out   ...there is a real danger that the political power of the financial sector will force (Federal Reserve chair Janet) Yellen to start slowing the economy and stopping job growth long before workers gain any bargaining power...
FedEx Drivers Win Kansas Top Court Ruling On Employment  Bloomberg   ...FedEx Corp. (FDX) drivers in Kansas, in the lead case among 21 consolidated lawsuits over unpaid expenses and overtime, won a ruling by the Kansas Supreme Court that they’re employees and not independent contractors...
Hours Of Service Rules Back As Top Concern In Annual Trucking Industry Survey  The Trucker   ...Operational impacts being experienced across the supply chain from the changes to the Hours-of-Service (HOS) rules that went into effect in 2013 once again propelled the HOS rules to the top of the list in ATRI’s annual survey of more than 4,000 trucking industry stakeholders...
Exclusive: Hundreds Of Devices Hidden Inside New York City Phone Booths  Buzzfeed   ...Beacons can push you ads — and help track your every move. Update: Hours after BuzzFeed News exposed the devices, the city ordered the removal of the devices...
Mexico federal agents disarm city's entire police force after student attacks  DW   ...Mexican federal agents have disarmed all police in the city of Iguala and taken over security. Local officers are alleged to have conspired with a criminal gang to kill 43 missing students, with a mass grave discovered...
Housing Rights Group Says HUD Program Helps Wall Street, Hurts Homeowners  truth-out   ...They contest that the program has deepened the pain of homeowners and tenants by handing their fates over to hedge funds and investment groups that often have no interest in pursuing loan modifications or other options that would allow residents to remain in their homes...
Michigan judge rules Kalamazoo county has right to take woman's house over one missed tax payment  Daily Kos   ... Deborah Calley maintains that she was unaware she owed any back taxes and of the ten certified letters sent by the county, only one was sent to her home, the other nine were sent to banks. She steadfastly maintains she never received a single notice. She's also been willing from the get-go to pay the $2,000 debt, but the county has rejected her offers, preferring to sell her mortgage-free home...
Miscellaneous
Keystone Pipeline Opponents Causing Environmental Disaster (opinion)  New York Post   ...Despite dangers and lawsuits, governments continue to drag their feet on building pipelines or on cracking down on rail practices. By so doing, they merely increase the likelihood of another tragedy. Every day thousands of old tanker cars carry oil along America’s 140,000 miles of track, and another disaster looms...
More Oil Trains Heading To N.J.  NorthJersey   ... The new rail facility at Bayway is cementing New Jersey’s reputation as a major transportation corridor for crude oil even as the burgeoning “crude by rail” industry faces increasing concerns about safety following a series of explosive derailments in the past year...

Today's Teamster News 10.02.14

Teamster News
City Sanitation Workers Get In The Pink For Breast Cancer Awareness Month  New York Daily News   ...The 6,300 members of the Sanitation Department will be wearing pink ribbons on their green uniforms for the next 31 days in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. “This has touched a lot of us throughout the department,” said sanitation worker Brian Tullo, whose mother battled breast cancer. ..
BLET Members Convene 3rd National Convention  teamster.org   ...BLET National President Dennis R. Pierce delivered his state of the union speech during the opening session of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen's Third National Convention...
New Legislation Aimed At Curbing Ridesharing Controversy In DC  WUSA   ...The Teamsters Local 922, which has formed an association with more than one thousand independent Washington taxi drivers, also issued a statement criticizing Cheh's bill. The legislation "does not do enough to provide for public safety, industry stability, or equity for taxi drivers," the Teamsters statement said...
Trade
The vulnerability of being ill informed: the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement and Global Public Health  Journal of Public Health   ...the TPPA poses serious risks to global public health, particularly chronic, non-communicable diseases. At greatest risk are national tobacco regulations, regulations governing the emergence of generic drugs and controls over food imports by transnational corporations...
State Battles
Kansas: Continued Budget Hemorrhaging  Econbrowser   ...Tax collections by Kansas state government in September fell a sobering $21 million below projections to mark the fourth time in the past six months revenue failed to match targets, officials said Tuesday...
Wisconsin Has 3rd-Lowest Business Start-Up Rate In Country, According To Census Data  Wisconsin Public Radio   ...According to the data, about 5,700 businesses with employees were created in Wisconsin in 2012, which constitutes less than 6 percent of all Wisconsin firms. Only Iowa and West Virginia had lower rates for the year...
In Wisconsin, A Push For Voter ID Law, But Not Voter IDs  Center for Media and Democracy   ...The Advancement Project and ACLU have noted that the state would need to issue 6,000 IDs per day to protect the right to vote. Yet two-thirds of the state's Department of Motor Vehicles offices are only open part-time, and just one is open on Saturday, making it exceptionally difficult for working people to get an ID or to drive a friend or family member who doesn't have one...
Report: Fla. voters had country’s longest waits to cast ballots  Miami Herald   ...Voters in Florida waited far longer than those in other states to cast their votes in the 2012 election, hampered by long ballots and cutbacks in early voting options, according to a new report by congressional auditors...
National union leader visits Maine to back Michaud, condemn LePage ‘right to work’ push  Bangor Daily News   ...The president of the nation’s largest unionized labor organization came to Maine on Wednesday to boost Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud’s campaign for governor, calling the congressman “a friend of the working people, whether they’re union or not.”...
NJ’s minimum wage rising in January by 13 cents  Asbury Park Press   ...The 1.59 percent increase, from $8.25 an hour to $8.38, is required under a constitutional amendment approved by 61 percent of voters last November that raised the mimimum wage by $1 and provided for automatic yearly increases to keep pace with inflation...
Minimum wage to rise to $8.10 for Ohio workers in 2015, up 15 cents  cleveland.com   ...The increase, announced Tuesday by the Ohio Department of Commerce, will benefit workers employed by companies with annual gross receipts greater than $297,000 a year...
Court Blocks Part of New North Carolina Voting Law  Associated Press   ...Parts of North Carolina's new voting law, considered one of the toughest in the nation, were set aside for next month's elections because they were likely to disenfranchise black voters, a federal appeals court panel ruled Wednesday...
War On Workers
Two years after college, too many grads are still 'adrift'  The Hill   ... Two years after graduation, 24 percent of graduates have been forced to move back home with their parents. No less shocking, 74 percent of college graduates "are receiving financial support from their families." Moreover, 23 percent of graduates who are "in the labor market are unemployed or underemployed," that is, they find themselves in jobs in which they work fewer than "20 hours per week" or where the majority of peer employees "have not completed even a year of college." Finally, a mere 47 percent of working graduates enjoy full-time jobs that "pay $30,000 or more annually," and this at a time when the average debt load for students who borrowed to attend college stands at $29,400...
Wal-Mart’s New Scheme To Prey On America’s Poor  Salon.com   ...to open an account, you have to buy a $2.95 “starter kit” from Walmart. There’s also a minimum deposit of $20 required. A visit to an out-of-network ATM will get you a $2.50 charge, and customers who do not keep a balance of $500 a month will get hit with a fee of $8.95. This last bit is especially worrying: if you suddenly lose your job, you can quickly rack up burdensome fees...
Worker Killed in Valley Forklift Accident  WOWT   ...Valley police say George Young was using a standing forklift Monday night while working at Midwest Manufacturing. At some point, the machine backed into a shelving unit and pinned him...
Miscellaneous
September U.S. Consumer Confidence Unexpectedly Drops  Wall Street Journal   ...U.S. consumers unexpectedly pulled back on their economic optimism in September, according to a report released Tuesday. The Conference Board, a private research group, said its index of consumer confidence fell to 86.0 in September from a revised 93.4 in August, first reported as 92.4...

Today's Teamster News 08.16.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Battle Senator’s Scheme To Lengthen Truckers’ Hours Behind The Wheel  People's World   ...Saying that lengthening the consecutive hours truckers could stay behind the wheel endangers both truckers and other drivers, the Teamsters are battling a Republican senator's scheme to do just that...
Teamsters Reach Deal Ending Quixote Studios Boycott  Deadline Hollywood   ...The deal, which covers about 30 drivers, also calls for an election to see if the company’s 80 warehouse workers want to be represented by the union as well...
Tom O’Donnell Replaces Leo Reed As Director Of Teamsters  Deadline Hollywood   ...Tom O’Donnell, the current president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 817 in New York, has been named director of the Teamsters Motion Picture and Theatrical Trades Division, replacing the venerable Leo Reed, who left the post in January after 25 years at the helm...
Battle Lines Drawn As J.R. Simplot And Teamsters Local 120 Continue To Square Off  Valley News Live   ...The Union members today overwhelmingly voted down some new changes to their contracts this afternoon and say they will continue to walk the picket line 24/7. The Union’s contract expired June 1st. They were hoping for a new deal, but they say it never came...
Teamsters Hispanic Caucus Brings Fight Against Republic Services To Denver  MarketWatch   ...Tonight, Teamsters in Denver attending the Teamsters Hispanic Caucus Convention went to the Colorado Rockies game to educate Denver residents about the illegal actions of Republic Services...
Trade
Certification Allows US Trade Negotiators to Rewrite TPP Copyright Rules  EFF   ...The United States, exclusively amongst the dozen negotiating partners, is reserving the right to vet other countries' implementation of the agreement before its own obligations come into effect. This has worrying implications for other countries planning to take advantage of whatever flexibilities remain in the TPP text after the negotiations are finished...
State Battles
U.S. Chamber Of Commerce Joins Lawsuit Against 'Discriminatory' Seattle Minimum Wage Hike  Huffington Post   ...The U.S. Chamber of Commerce signed onto an amicus brief Tuesday in support of the International Franchise Association's (IFA) lawsuit against a “discriminatory” provision in Seattle’s recently passed minimum wage increase...
Federal Judge Denies Stay Of Wisconsin Voter ID Ruling  Jurist   ...A federal judge on Wednesday denied a request by Wisconsin's Attorney General JB Van Hollen to stay the his April ruling against the state's voter identification law. The April ruling found that the Act 23 requirement that all residents present photo ID when voting violated the Voting Rights Act and the US Constitution...
War On Workers
In the sharing economy, a rift over worker classification  Boston Globe   ...A class-action lawsuit filed this summer in Massachusetts and California courts is challenging that. The suit asserts that Uber improperly classifies its drivers, who own their cars and use Uber’s smartphone app to get work, as independent contractors. No sick time, no health insurance, no 401k contributions...
NC Forest Service Employee Dies In Tree Accident  WSOC   ...Tuttle State Educational Forest in Lenoir was closed Thursday after a North Carolina Forest Service employee died in an accident there Wednesday afternoon...
Bank Of America Could Get Tax Break On Part Of $16 Billion Mortgage Settlement  Charlotte Observer   ...As Bank of America prepares for a possible multibillion-dollar settlement with the government, the deal is expected to share a feature common to similar settlements with other banks – a big portion that’s tax-deductible as a business expense...
Miscellaneous
NSA Cyberwarfare Could Pick The Wrong Targets, Snowden Says  Fox News   ...Snowden described MonsterMind as problematic, noting that cyberattacks are often routed through computers in “innocent” third countries. This raises the possibility of U.S. counter attacks against the wrong targets.  “You could have someone sitting in China, for example, making it appear that one of these attacks is originating in Russia,” he said. “And then we end up shooting back at a Russian hospital. What happens next?”...

Today's Teamster News 07.13.14

Teamsters
Teamsters: Port Truck Drivers In Los Angeles Agree to "Cooling Off" Period  teamster.org   ...The port drivers agreed to the “cooling off” period after the trucking companies agreed to accept all drivers back to work without retaliation and without being forced to sign away all future rights in new truck leases...
Trade
Enormous, Humongous May Trade Deficit Follows Continuing Pattern  Trade Reform   ...The trade deficit fell 5.6 percent in May, to $44.4 billion. That’s $44.4 billion of orders that could have gone to businesses that make and do things inside the U.S. Those companies would have had to hire hundreds of thousands of people to get that done...
TPP talks make progress, barring thorny issues  Japan News   ...the 12 countries including Japan and the United States are expected to hold a session of chief negotiators again as early as in September to pave the way for an envisioned broad agreement in November...
Why the Chinese Are Snapping Up Real Estate in the U.S.  Five Thirty Eight   ...the Chinese spent $22 billion on U.S. housing in the 12 months through March — 72 percent more than they spent the year before...
State Battles
Scott Walker's job creation program is ineffective (opinion)  Wisconsin State Journal   ...Walker distributed $975 million in grants, loans and tax credits, resulting in limited job creation. Thirty percent of businesses receiving WEDC assistance contributed to Walker's campaign and received 60 percent of funds distributed...
In Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker's security detail costs balloon 239 percent  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...taxpayers spent more than $2.23 million in 2013 for the 10 state troopers who protect Walker and his family, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and dignitaries from other states and countries who visit Wisconsin. That was up from $657,457 paid out by Gov. Jim Doyle on security during his last year in office in 2010...
War on Workers
Tracy Morgan Sues Walmart Over Deadly Crash in New Jersey  New York Times   ...the plaintiffs contend that the company should have known how little sleep its driver was operating on, and that it allowed him to commute an unreasonable distance before starting the shift that brought him to New Jersey...
The Economy Is Binging on Fast Food and Low Wages—and It Needs to Change  Ann Arbor Independent   ... lower-wage industries employ 2 million more workers than at the start of the recession, while mid- and higher-wage industries each employ about 900,000 fewer workers...
U.S. Chamber Lobbies To Kill Measure That Would Punish Wage Theft  Huffington Post   ...Despite the lobbying from business groups, the wage theft amendment passed the House with bipartisan support Thursday afternoon … Some of the nation's leading business lobbies (pressured) ... House lawmakers to spike bipartisan legislation that would take government contracts away from firms that have committed wage theft...
Citigroup's $7 Billion Fraud Deal: The Clique's Still Clicking in DC  Huffington Post   ...Citigroup is back in the headlines as the result of a new settlement with the Justice Department over its mortgage fraud, reportedly for the sum of $7 billion. This deal is being trumpeted as a major win for the American people. It's not. The money's not enough (and some of it probably won't be paid out), the wrong people are paying, and there will be no prosecutions for criminal behavior...
Flunking Out, at a Price  New York Times   ...For years, federal and state regulators have done little as dubious operators of for-profit colleges and trade schools have pocketed tuitions funded by taxpayer-backed loans. Many students left these colleges with questionable educations and onerous debt loads that cannot be erased in bankruptcy. Regulators have finally woken up to this ugly reality. And, once again, taxpayers and borrowers will pay the price of regulatory failures...

Today's Teamster News 06.10.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Demand Crackdown On Cheap Korean Steel Imports  Digital Journal   ...Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa and top leaders with the union's railway conference are calling on the Department of Commerce to fully weigh the concerns of the U.S. steel industry as it continues its anti-dumping probe looking at cheap imports being brought into this country by South Korea and eight other nations...
Fourth Cumberland County Union On Way? Court Related Employees Seek Membership  The Sentinel   ...Non-professional, court-related Cumberland County employees could receive union representation for the first time thanks to a National Labor Relations Board petition filed by Teamsters Local 776 on May 14, Chief Clerk Larry Thomas confirmed...
Hoffa Calls On House Of Representatives To Protect Highway Safety  teamster.org   ...“The tragic accident that claimed the life of comedian James McNair and injured many others including actor Tracy Morgan, could have been prevented had Walmart’s driver been properly rested rather than reportedly going 24 hours without a break,” Hoffa said. “...We must ensure that hours of service rules provide enough rest for drivers so cumulative fatigue doesn’t put the driving public at risk.”...
Trade
Japan Holding Up Free Trade Talks  13WHOtv.com   ...a major hold up in the talks are Japan’s proposal to maintain tariffs on sensitive products like beef, dairy, wheat, rice, and pork...
State Battles
Grocery workers in California see wages shrink  SFGate.com   ...A new look at California's $98 billion grocery industry shows it is a microcosm of the state's wealth inequality gap. While a private-equity firm is buying Safeway for $9 billion, 1 in 3 grocery workers is on some form of public assistance. While grocery chains are cash machines for investors, nearly 1 in 5 workers has cut back on meals because he or she couldn't afford to buy food...
War On Workers
Prosecutor: Trucker in Morgan crash lacked sleep  Associated Press   ...The Wal-Mart truck driver from Georgia accused of triggering a crash in New Jersey that critically injured Tracy Morgan and killed another comedian had not slept for more than 24 hours, a criminal complaint said...
Regular shoppers cite Walmart's low pay and poor treatment of workers as reasons to stay away  Daily Kos   ...Walmart's reputation is suffering among consumers, with 28 percent saying they have an unfavorable view of Walmart, compared to just 13 percent unfavorable for Target and just six percent unfavorable for Costco. Walmart's low wages and bad treatment of its workers are registering on shoppers...
Wal-Mart's Image Problem Under Scrutiny At Annual Shareholder Meeting  Al Jazeera America   ...Walmart workers speaking at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in Bentonville, Arkansas, on Friday said the megastore’s staffing problems and poor pay were hurting the company’s image and contributing to lagging sales. Their statement comes after a week of rallies across the country by labor activists, union representatives and workers in cities such as Chicago; Dayton, Ohio; and Baton Rouge, Louisiana...
What’s the Source of Soaring Corporate Profits? Stagnant Wages  Washington's Blog   ...once capital can no longer make profits selling goods and services and wage-earners can no longer afford to buy goods and services, the system disintegrates...
Court probes Wells’ foreclosure steps again  New York Post   ...How exactly do the note endorsement processes described in Wells Fargo’s controversial Home Mortgage Foreclosure Attorney Procedure Manual work? On March 12, The Post broke the news of this manual and allegations in court papers by attorney Linda Tirelli that the document provides detailed procedures to fabricate foreclosure papers on demand. Wells Fargo denied the allegations...
Tipped Into Poverty  New York Times   ...When Senate Republicans recently blocked a vote to raise the federal minimum wage, they snubbed the estimated 27.8 million people who would earn more if the measure became law. The hardest hit are the roughly 3.3 million Americans who work for tips...
The US Chamber Of Secrets  Moyers & Company   ...The US Chamber of Commerce’s stated mission is “representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors and regions,” but watchdog groups say the US Chamber represents the interests of a select few big industry groups that want to crush worker organizing...
The Job Market's Five-Year Recovery In 10 Charts  FiveThirtyEight   ...Six-and-a-half years after the Great Recession began — and five years after it officially ended the U.S. has finally surpassed its precrisis employment peak. But the job market is far from fully healed...
Miscellaneous
Student Debt Relief To Expand  Wall Street Journal   ...An expansion of a federal program designed to reduce payments for student-loan recipients is expected to be announced Monday by President Barack Obama, the latest push by Democrats to address concerns about rising student debt...
How Much Did Snowden Take? Not Even The NSA Really Knows  Newsweek   ...It was just over a year ago this week that former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden leaked a trove of secret National Security Agency documents detailing the agency’s massive online spy program. What and how much Snowden took remains a mystery...

Today's Teamster News 08.02.13

Teamsters Strike at  Pennsylvania Convention Center  Philadelphia Inquirer   ...Trade union members went on strike Thursday at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in a dispute over proposed changes in work rules...
Additional Meetings for MTD Emergency Transit Service Reduction Plan  Santa Barbara Independent   ...MTD drivers, mechanics, and utility workers are represented by Teamsters Local 186, which has concerns about the impact of California’s Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA) on bargaining rights...
Teamster Funeral home workers near one month on strike at Montclair-Lucania Funeral Home  Pioneer Local   ...Since July 2, funeral home workers have been on the picket line outside the Montclair-Lucania Funeral Home, one of 16 in the Chicago area owned by SCI and managed under the name Dignity Memorial. That’s when he and other members of Teamsters Local 727, made up of funeral directors, embalmers and hearse drivers, voted to go on strike...
Pay Freezes on Tap for Some CUSD Employees, Not Teachers  San Juan Capistrano Patch   ...Nonteaching employees won't get their automatic pay raises at all next year, while management and Teamsters will have to wait six months...
McKesson Directors Re-Elected Amid CEO Pay Controversy  Reuters   ...Shareholders re-elected all of McKesson Corp's board members on Wednesday, defying the recommendations of influential proxy advisers and investors who object to the inflated compensation and dual roles of Chairman and CEO John Hammergren...
Maine’s DOT plans for possibility of rail shutdown  Hilton Head Island Packet   ...Contingency planning is underway in case Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway stops service following a runaway train explosion and fire that claimed 47 lives just north of the Maine border, state transportation officials said...
THUD Amendment Targets New Driver Hours of Service Rules  Journal of Commerce   ...The latest changes to the truck driver hours of service rules are being challenged by Rep. Richard Hanna (NY-R), who is expected to introduce an amendment to the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development bill that would block changes to the HOS rules that took effect July 1 from being “implemented, administered or enforced...”
Backyard Shock Doctrine: Wall Street's Destruction Comes Home  Common Dreams   ...Since 2007, the foreclosure crisis has displaced at least 10 million people from more than four million homes across the country...The displaced are young and old, rich and poor, and of every race, ethnicity, and religion.  They add up to approximately the entire population of Michigan...
Former Trader Is Found Liable In Fraud Case  New York Times   ...Five years after Wall Street risk-taking nearly toppled the economy, the S.E.C. has taken only a handful of employees to court in connection with the crisis; most cases have been settled. The agency has not leveled fraud charges against one top executive at a big bank...
Congress Votes to End Fixed Interest for Student Loans  Bloomberg   ...The U.S. Congress gave final approval yesterday to a bill that pegs interest on government-sponsored student borrowing to a market-based rate, ensuring that almost 9 million undergraduates will pay 3.86 percent on their next loan...
Judge to serve 28 years after making $2 million for sending black children to jail  Rolling Out   ...Ciavarella worked alongside owners of private juvenile facilities to ensure that the prison remained occupied. The more prisoners equated to more profits for the owners of the prison. As a result, Ciavarella would sentence offenders with small offenses to months and, at times, years behind bars. He once sentenced a teen to three months in jail for creating a MySpace page that mocked her school’s assistant principal...
A Day’s Strike Seeks to Raise Fast-Food Pay   New York Times   ...From New York to several Midwestern cities, thousands of fast-food workers have been holding one-day strikes during peak mealtimes, quickly drawing national attention to their demands for much higher wages...
Despite fast food protests, Congress in no rush on minimum wage  CNN   ...Fast food workers striking for higher wages in seven cities Monday are bound to be disappointed. On their last week before vacation, Congress isn't likely to raise the minimum wage. They're not even close to critical mass on that issue...
Tax reform would fuel U.S. economy (opinion)  Politico …The current tax rules were fine when U.S. exports dominated a global economy, but they are ill-suited for a digital age of intense competition. While other countries have modernized their international tax systems, the U.S. remains mired in the past. The U.S. tax system isn’t working for American businesses, workers or the economy as a whole...
D.C. Baptist Convention Weighs into Battle Against Large Retailers  AFRO   ...Religious leaders have gotten into the fight against large retailers in the District of Columbia in support of ensuring residents of the city are making living wages...
Phoenix Bus Drivers Reject Contract  Associated Press   ...Hundreds of bus drivers overwhelming rejected a proposed labor contract offer from First Transit on Wednesday, setting the stage for a midnight strike that would shut down service in the Phoenix-area...
Kansas Democrats want to re-examine voting laws  Associated Press  ...Some Wichita Democrats want Kansas legislators to use the special session in September to fix a problem they say exists in the state's new voting laws...

 

Today's Teamster News 07.20.13

Teamster Waste Workers Near San Diego Ratify Solid First Contract  IBT   ...On July 13, workers at Waste Management in El Cajon, California, overwhelmingly ratified their first contract, which provides solid pay increases and excellent benefits. The contract will cover 190 workers who joined Local 683 in San Diego in March...
Court Denies SCI’s Attempt to Stop Teamsters Strike  IBT   ...Dignity Memorial’s attempt to silence the free speech of local picketers has been denied by the Circuit Court of Cook County...
Fremont City Council OKs pact with the Teamsters Union  San Jose Mercury News   ...Fremont City Council unanimously voted to approve an amended memorandum of understanding with Local 856 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters...
BLET Denounces One-Person Train Operations; Rail Companies Put Cost-Cutting Ahead of Public Safety   IBT   ...The following is the official statement from Dennis R. Pierce, National President of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen regarding the danger to public safety that one-train operations represent...
$12 Minimum Wage For Walmart Workers Would Cost The Average Shopper Just 46 Cents Per Trip  Huffington Post   ...Walmart last week decided not to build three stores in Washington D.C. after the passage of a D.C. Council bill, which demands big-box retailers pay their workers a "living wage" of $12.50. Such a wage, Walmart claimed, would drive up its famously-low prices...
DC councilmember to introduce minimum wage hike  Associated Press ...D.C. councilmember Tommy Wells says he'll introduce a bill that would raise the minimum wage for all District of Columbia workers — not just those who work at Wal-Mart and other big-box retailers...
Middle class still left behind in U.S. economic recovery, data show  Washington Post   ...The economic recovery of summer 2013 is playing out in an all-too-familiar way for poor and middle-class Americans: Gas prices are up, growth is slowing, and there still aren’t nearly enough new jobs to employ the almost 12 million people seeking work...
Elizabeth Warren’s new fight: Why even the Tea Party backs it!  Salon   ...Banks that try to take private losses and pin them on taxpayers may have a new problem...
With Filibuster Deal, NLRB Could Soon Return To Full Force  NPR News   ...If the deal holds together and the new nominees are confirmed in the coming days, the NLRB will be fully staffed with five Senate-approved members for the first time in a decade...
Greece approves austerity measures to fire 25,000 public workers and secure bailout   The Independent ...Greece plans to lay off 25,000 public sector workers, in a move which has sparked a new surge of anti-austerity protests outside parliament...
Michigan AG challenges judge's ruling that Detroit bankruptcy is unconstitutional  Detroit Free Press   ...An Ingham County judge says Thursday's historic Detroit bankruptcy filing violates the Michigan Constitution and state law and must be withdrawn...
WEDC offers taxpayer support for Walker campaign contributors (opinion)  The Paper   ...Fast-forward to Gov. Scott Walker's Wisconsin, where the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), staffed by the governor's cronies, has misplaced millions in tax dollars, blew off auditing compliance rules, and went on a spending spree for iTunes gift cards, football tickets and booze. And the consequences are nil...
Low-Wage Workers in D.C. Turn Pledge of Allegiance Into Protest Chant  In These Times   ...Courtney Shackleford, a 20-year-old college student working at a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream shop in the District of Columbia’s Union Station, walked off the job Thursday morning, along with roughly 70 other concession workers at the grand old railroad station...
World Trade Center owners’ bid to sue airlines for 9/11 attacks blocked   New York Daily News   ...The owners of the World Trade Center were blocked Thursday from filing a multibillion-dollar lawsuit against the two airlines whose hijacked planes brought down the twin towers...
Detroit union leaders call bankruptcy filing premature, say they were trying to negotiate   Detroit Free Press   ...Leaders of Detroit’s unions blasted emergency manager Kevyn Orr for the city’s bankruptcy filing, saying it was a premature move when they’d been trying to negotiate in good faith to help pull Detroit out of its staggering financial hole...
Bill would let Californians vote on Saturday  Sacramento Bee   ...For California voters, finding time to cast ballots on a Tuesday could become a thing of the past. A bill by state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, would give them a chance to vote on a Saturday in the month before an election...
New Jersey Supreme Court Restricts Police Searches of Phone Data  New York Times   ...Staking out new ground in the noisy debate about technology and privacy in law enforcement, the New Jersey Supreme Court on Thursday ordered that the police will now have to get a search warrant before obtaining tracking information from cellphone providers...

Today's Teamster News 07.04.13

Privacy issue hinders U.S-E.U. trade talks  Washington Post   ...European leaders tell citizens not to patronize U.S. companies due to concerns over privacy...
New Study: The Wealthy are more Unethical  Economic Populist   ...Seven studies using experimental and naturalistic methods, reveal that upper-class individuals behave more unethically than lower-class individuals...
U.S. Postal Service Logging All Mail for Law Enforcement  New York Times   ...postal mail is subject to the same kind of scrutiny that the National Security Agency has given to telephone calls and e-mail...
Arizona firefighters lacked a proper escape route  Los Angeles Times   ...The 19 wildland firefighters killed in Arizona appeared not to have established an escape route to a safe site large enough for the entire group, a forestry official said. Safety protocols require crews to have a place to go in case fire overtakes them. That did not happen in the Yarnell Hill fire...
Truckers Are Losing Sleep Over 70-Hour Work Limit  Wall Street Journal   ...The changes—the most significant overhaul of rules governing truck-driver hours in a decade—shorten the workweek, restrict how many nights truckers can be on the road and require rest breaks during the day...
Critics sue to block American-US Airways merger  Associated Press   ...Opponents of the proposed merger of American Airlines and US Airways filed a lawsuit Tuesday to block the deal, claiming it would hurt consumers by driving up airfares...
Supreme Court Rejects Cablevision Request To Block NLRB Trial In Union Dispute  Deadline New York   ...The National Labor Relations Board can go ahead with its administrative trial this month on charges that Cablevision resorted to intimidation, bribery and harassment to stop some of its workers in the Bronx from joining the Communications Workers of America (CWA)...
Eurozone crisis: Portugal sends stock markets tumbling  The Guardian   ...Stock markets were spooked by Portugal's descent into political chaos on Wednesday as the threat of a government collapse sent the country's borrowing costs into critical territory and threatened a new phase in the eurozone crisis...
West Virginia’s food sales tax eliminated this week  Morgan Messenger   ...The West Virginia sales tax on food was completely eliminated Monday, July 1, in the final step of a food tax reduction plan that went into effect in 2005...
Rhode Island to Become Third State With Paid Family Leave  Opposing Views   ...The Rhode Island House voted on Tuesday to provide paid time off to care for a new child or sick family member, a bill activists believe will be signed by Gov. Lincoln Chafee and make Rhode Island the third state to provide paid family leave...
Progress made in SF Bay Area transit talks  Associated Press   ...Negotiators for Bay Area Rapid Transit and its striking train workers made progress during overnight contract talks, officials said Wednesday, raising hope that a deal might be struck when talks resume later in the day...
Teamsters File Challenge Against State of Florida  IBT   ...Teamsters Local 2011, which represents 17,000 officers of the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC), filed a formal complaint against the state with the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC), alleging that the state committed an unfair labor practice by trying to force illegal working conditions on corrections officers – taking away officers’ earned, paid time off...
Corrections workers ratify collective bargaining contract with New Hampshire  Associated Press   ...Teamsters Local 633, which represents more than 300 Department of Corrections' employees, has ratified a new two-year contract that provides workers with their first pay increase in five years...
Strike ends at Austintown beverage distributor  WFMJ News   ...Union members vote to end their strike of beverage distributor R.L. Lipton. The members of Teamsters Local 377 accepted a modified wage agreement during voting yesterday afternoon. They'll return to work on Monday...

Today's Teamster News 04.21.13

Conservative Koch Brothers Turning Focus to Newspapers  New York Times   ...Koch Industries, the sprawling private company of which Charles G. Koch serves as chairman and chief executive, is exploring a bid to buy the Tribune Company’s eight regional newspapers, including The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, The Orlando Sentinel and The Hartford Courant...
Obama's Pacific Trade Deal Is No Deal At All (opinion)  U.S. News   ...Question: When is a Trade Pact not a Trade Pact? Answer: When it protects legacy industries from competition and strips from governments the means to manage their own economies...
Maine trucking companies in quandary over new hours-of-service rules  Bangor Daily News   ...Legal challenges over federal regulations governing hours-of-service for long-haul truck drivers have put Maine trucking companies in a bind: Do they wait for a favorable court ruling on their national trade group’s challenge of those rules before the July 1 compliance date? Or, do they take on training and implementation costs that could be negated if the regulations are overturned?...
Arizona set to OK gold, silver currency  The Arizona Republic   ...Arizona is on track to become the second state in the nation to recognize gold and silver coins as legal tender. It would join Utah as part of a conservative movement arising out of a lack of confidence in the Federal Reserve and a fear that paper money could become virtually worthless as U.S. debt deflates the value of the dollar...
Jack McElroy: Bill sneers at the First Amendment (opinion)  KnoxNews.com   ...Ag Gag bills are being promoted all across the country by the American Legislative Exchange Council, which pushes corporation-friendly legislation at the state level...
Plain Talk: How to help real farmers, not JP Morgan  The Cap Times   ...other provisions that worry Farmers Union members. The lifting of the cap on land ownership by foreigners, for instance. Current law limits ownership by foreigners to 640 acres. Von Ruden fears that if outside interests can gobble up land, it will drive land prices so high that family farmers won’t be able to buy a neighbor’s farm should it come up for sale...
Court turns down lawsuits against Mexican trucks  Associated Press   ...The three-judge panel Friday denied challenges by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association...
Teamsters approves new contract  Hernando Today   ...Teamsters Local 79 members Thursday night ratified a new contract which now goes to county commissioners for approval...