Congress needs to solve stagnant wages

The U.S. economic recovery is not what it seems. Yes, it is clear that the unemployment rate has fallen dramatically since the Great Recession ended. But the benefits that usually follow such a change, like wage hikes for everyday Americans, have been much harder to find.

In fact, low- and middle-income earners are struggling just to reach their salary levels before the recession. Nearly 15 percent of Americans lived in poverty last year, and the household median income hasn't budged in recent years. Why is that? There are a multitude of reasons.

As former labor reporter Steven Greenhouse wrote in The New York Times:

In fact, the labor market is a lot softer than a 5.1 percent jobless rate would indicate. For one thing, the percentage of Americans who are working has fallen considerably since the recession began. This disappearance of several million workers — as labor force dropouts they are not factored into the jobless rate — has meant continued labor market weakness, which goes far to explain why wage increases remain so elusive. End of story, many economists say. 

But work force experts assert that economists ignore many other factors that help explain America’s stubborn wage stagnation. Outsourcing, offshoring and imports exert a steady downward tug on wages. Labor unions have lost considerable muscle. Many employers have embraced pay-for-performance policies that often mean nice bonuses for the few instead of across-the-board raises for the many.

The Teamsters have been sticking up for workers on this issue for years, and renewed that push as part of our "Let's Get America Working" platform rolled out in September. Finally, it seems others are beginning to take notice as well. Income inequality is becoming rampant in this country. But how do we overcome it?

It begins by having Congress reject lousy trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would ship thousands of jobs overseas and reduces the wages for many that are left behind. Elected officials also need to invest in infrastructure, which in turn will create good-paying jobs. And they must allow workers to organize for more power and fairness on the job.

Lawmakers can no longer turn a blind eye to the nation's workers. They need to be recognized and represented. That means approving policies that help them, not just big business.

Hoffa: China's currency manipulation should serve as a warning about TPP

Editor's Note: The following column by Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa is also appearing on the Huffington Post website.

Currency manipulation has long been a drag on the U.S. economy and our jobs. But China’s decision last week to devalue the Yuan shows the kind of damage such tinkering can bring to America. And it’s why Congress cannot approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) until something is done about it.

The Teamsters for years have talked about how the issue is a cancer for trade deals like the 12-nation Pacific Rim pact. It makes imports cheaper to buy in the U.S. but drives up the cost of goods workers make here and export to the world. That, in turn, increases our trade deficits and forces U.S. manufacturers to either move overseas or close up shop.

The practice creates an unfair trade advantage that has already cost millions of jobs in this country and shuttered thousands of U.S. factories. And it will only get worse if America proceeds with the TPP. Japan, Singapore and Malaysia, for example, are part of the trade agreement and have a long history of engaging in currency manipulation. China’s decision to lower the value of the Yuan after four years of relative stability will likely cause others nations to do so as well.

The failure to address currency manipulation and undervaluation has been a major cause of the U.S. trade deficit and manufacturing decline. Yet there is no provision in the TPP to do so, even though policymakers understand how devastating it can be to America’s economic health.

It is even more startling when the U.S. already has proof that the lack of currency manipulation language is a major failing in modern trade deals. The three-year-old U.S.-Korea trade agreement, known as KORUS, is the model that the TPP is built upon.  While supporters said it would create upwards of 70,000 jobs, it instead has led to tens of thousands of lost American jobs and an 84-percent increase in this country's trade deficit with Korea. In fact, the U.S. rung up its highest monthly trade deficit ever with Korea in January, reaching $3 billion.

Those job losses are not low-wage jobs, either. As the Economic Policy Institute surmised earlier this year, increased trade deficits push jobs out of better-paying industries. And at a time when income inequality is running rampant in the U.S., workers don't need even more "free" trade agreements that will further strip this nation's economy of middle-income jobs.

Currency manipulation is serious enough that a bipartisan collection of lawmakers have aired their concerns about the issue. That’s a rarity in today’s bogged down Capitol Hill environment. But they know what the Teamsters are other advocates are saying is true – our existing currency policy has failed.

China’s latest actions highlight the importance of addressing this issue. Currency provisions must be placed in the TPP that could be enforced through trade sanctions. But just as importantly, any additional nations that wish to sign onto the pact in the future must also be approved by Congress.  That way, China won’t be able to continue its current practices that leave American workers behind with no way to compete going forward.

Today's Teamster News 02.24.15

Teamsters
Teamsters Protest Labatt Beer At Buffalo Pond Hockey Tournament  teamster.org   ...At the Labatt Blue Pond Hockey tournament this weekend, Teamster members distributed information to fans about Heidelberg Distributing’s abusive behavior towards its drivers and warehouse workers. Heidelberg distributes Labatt Beer products in Ohio...
Unionized UC Berkeley Workers Rally Against New Pay Calculations  Daily Californian   ...Teamsters Local 2010 said in a press release that the goals of this rally were not only to educate the public on the employees’ grievances with the UC system but also to highlight the pay that UC employees receive. According to a recent Economic Policy Institute study cited in the press release, 80 percent of the union’s members are not paid enough to live in the cities in which their campuses reside...
Sysco Not In Talks To Settle U.S. Lawsuit To Stop Merger  Reuters   ...Sysco Corp is not holding settlement talks with the U.S. government to resolve a lawsuit aimed at stopping a $3.5 billion merger of the food distributor and its largest rival, a lawyer for Sysco said on Friday...
Trade
Medicines forecast to cost taxpayers millions more in secret TPP trade deal  Guardian   ...Medicines will cost Australian taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars more each year if measures in a leaked draft of the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement are implemented, a new report says...
Japan's Amari: Japan-U.S. TPP talks are behind schedule  Reuters   …Chief negotiators for the TPP deal will meet in Hawaii for talks in the second week of March, the U.S. trade office said on Friday, a move which could delay a final agreement on the pact…
Froman asks county officials to back Obama trade policies  AgriPulse   ...U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman today called on county government officials from across the country to support President Obama's request for trade promotion authority and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal...
State Battles
Scott Walker Pushes ALEC 'Right to Work' Bill, Divide and Conquer Comes Full Circle  Huffington Post   ...Wisconsin GOP leaders announced they would have an "extraordinary session" to ram through union-busting "right to work" legislation. CMD/PRwatch quickly noted that the bill is taken almost word-for-word from the Koch corporate bill mill known as the American Legislative Exchange Council known as "ALEC."...
Bell Right-To-Work Amendment Passes Senate  Augusta Free Press   ...Current law provides that a citizen cannot be denied the employment or continuation of employment for failing to join a union or other labor organization. This amendment, sponsored by Delegate Dickie Bell, R-Staunton, would make Virginia’s Right to Work law more permanent by adding it to the constitution...
Walker’s Anti-Union Law Has Labor Reeling In Wisconsin  Washington Post   ...Walker had vowed that union power would shrink, workers would be judged on their merits, and local governments would save money. Unions had warned that workers would lose benefits and be forced to take on second jobs or find new careers. Many of those changes came to pass, but the once-thriving ­public-sector unions were not just shrunken — they were crippled...
House set to vote on liquor privatization bill despite concerns that members may not know what's in it  PennLive   ...In its first significant piece of business in the 2015-16 legislative session, the state House of Representatives is poised to vote this week on a bill that would get the state out of the liquor business. But some wonder how many legislators casting votes really know what the bill would do...
Indiana State AFL-CIO President Reacts to House Approval of Common Construction Wage Repeal  Indiana State AFL-CIO   ..."With today’s vote in the House of Representatives, the Republican supermajority has attacked the wages of working Hoosiers, a successful private sector business model and the autonomy of local governments...."
War on Workers
Oil, Ethanol Trains Will Derail 10 Times A Year For 2 Decades, Federal Government Estimates  The Oregonian   ...The federal government predicts trains hauling crude oil or ethanol will derail an average of 10 times a year during the next two decades, causing more than $4 billion in damage and possibly killing hundreds of people if an accident happens in a densely populated part of the U.S...
In service sector, no rest for the working  New York Times   ...Employees are literally losing sleep as restaurants, retailers and many other businesses shrink the intervals between shifts and rely on smaller, leaner staffs to shave costs. These scheduling practices can take a toll on employees who have to squeeze commuting, family duties and sleep into fewer hours between shifts. The growing practice of the same workers closing the doors at night and returning to open them in the morning even has its own name: "clopening."...
Seattle, Tacoma, other ports busy again after tentative labor deal  Associated Press   ...Nearly all West Coast seaports began the work week with crews hustling to load and unload cargo ships that were held up amid a months-long dispute over a new contract for dockworkers...
Look who's living on the financial edge  CNBC   …24 percent of Americans have more credit card debt than emergency savings, and 13 percent are not much better off—they don't have credit card debt but they don't have emergency savings either. Put another way, more than a third of Americans are living at risk of a financial crisis…
Worker killed in accident at Alcoa plant  Associated Press   … An Alcoa plant employee was killed about 6:30 p.m. Monday in what's being termed an "accident" at the Tennessee Operations North Plant, according to an Alcoa spokeswoman...
Why We're All Becoming Independent Contractors (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...The rise of "independent contractors" is the most significant legal trend in the American workforce -- contributing directly to low pay, irregular hours, and job insecurity...
Knowledge Isn’t Power (opinion)  New York Times   ...We could levy higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy, and invest the proceeds in programs that help working families. We could raise the minimum wage and make it easier for workers to organize. It’s not hard to imagine a truly serious effort to make America less unequal...
Drones Are The New Buzz In Ag Business  Yakima Herald Republic   ...Farmers already are using drones in the area and throughout the nation, albeit by stretching the limits of rapidly changing regulations. They purchase the planes online. Some allow users to control them with a smartphone application, turning their screen into a virtual cockpit...
Miscellaneous
Crackdown On Drones Goes Local  USA Today   ...Since 2012, 15 states have enacted laws restricting drones in some way, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), which tracks state laws. And if New York City Council Member Dan Garodnick gets his way, drones will be banned in the Big Apple, except for police with a warrant, as soon as this year...

Today's Teamster News 01.15.15

Teamsters
Hoffa To Members: A New Day For Our Great Union  teamster.org   ...Today, the United States of America represented by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York entered into an agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters whereby in consideration of its terms and conditions the United States of America upon order from the court will dismiss its action against the International Brotherhood of Teamsters sounding in provisions of the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, 18 U.S.C. Section 1964 and will thereby extinguish the consent order of March 14, 1989...
Hoffa: Obama Should Bend On Keystone Pipeline  Detroit News   ...It is time for Obama to change his positions on trade and the pipeline. To do otherwise risks hobbling thousands of middle-class workers just trying to support their families and potentially taking the shine off his admirable job-growth legacy. No one wants that to happen...
Teamsters Seek To Organize More Tech-Shuttle Drivers  Wall Street Journal   ...The union hopes to make Facebook and Loop a model for the other companies. It is pressuring the brand-name companies, even though they don’t employ the bus drivers, in the hope that they will support unionization and agree to pay more to the bus operators, so that they in turn can raise wages. The union says the drivers now make $18 to $20 per hour, but typically are forced to work separate morning and evening shifts that extend their workday to 12 hours or more...
Trade
Japan and US Resume TPP Talks Today  MarketPulse   ...The fresh round of bilateral negotiations come after the Trans-Pacific Partnership countries failed to see major progress at their leaders’ summit held in November in Beijing, with Japan and the United States, the largest economies in the framework, struggling to fill gaps over the contentious issues...
Espey: US deserves better transparency from TPP (opinion)  The Des Moines Register   …The American people and those we elect to represent us deserve more than the thin promise of job creation and increased economic activity. If the TPP is so good for America and our economy, then its backers would have no need to hide behind a curtain like the Wizard of Oz, pulling whatever lever is within reach...
Idea For Tackling Inequality #27,653: Stop Subsidizing It (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...It isn't hard to identify these policies. A trade policy that is intended to put U.S. manufacturing workers in direct competition with low-paid workers in countries like Mexico and China has the predicted and actual effect of lowering their wages. It also lowers the wages of non-college educated workers more generally, as displaced manufacturing workers crowd into other sectors of the economy...
State Battles
Michigan Supreme Court Presses Both Sides On Right-To-Work  Detroit Free Press   ...Considering if the state's right-to-work law applies to state workers, Michigan Supreme Court justices this morning pressed attorneys for both sides to establish whether collective bargaining is a working condition or merely a process to establish those conditions...
Hardin Fiscal Court approves right-to-work ordinance  The News-Enterprise   …Hardin County became the fifth Kentucky county to join the right-to-work movement with adoption of a local ordinance Tuesday afternoon...
Legislative Preview  Santa Fe Reporter   …While we’re already bracing for important debates on spending for education, increasing the state’s minimum wage, economic development, hemp farming, right-to-work and other issues, New Mexicans can also expect some lightweight fare and doomed-to-failure ideas to surface...
Right-to-work booster Diane Hendricks gave $1 million to Wisconsin Republicans in 2014  The Cap Times   …Now with some GOP legislators pushing a right-to-work bill in the upcoming session, a watchdog group is reporting that Hendricks donated $1 million to the Republican Party of Wisconsin in advance of the 2014 election...
Evenly Divided 7th Circuit Rejects En Banc Review of Indiana's Right to Work Act  The National Law Review   …The even split means the three-judge panel’s decision from September, 2014 upholding the statute under the United States Constitution stands...
War on Workers
Want To Be Happy? Join A Union (opinion)  New York Times   ...The study authors, Patrick Flavin, an assistant professor at Baylor University, and Gregory Shufeldt, an assistant professor at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock, used data from five different years between the early 1980s and mid-2000s, conducted in the United States, of the World Values Survey, a research project focusing on people’s beliefs. As they write in the report, they found that “union members are more satisfied with their lives than those who are not members and that the substantive effect of union membership on life satisfaction is large and rivals other common predictors of quality of life.”...
First Step in Republican Campaign Against Bank Reform: HR 37 Passed in House  naked capitalism   …Dodd-Frank supporters fear Republicans will try to tack Wednesday’s bill and others on to larger pieces of legislation that it will be harder for the president to reject...
How Expanding the 1964 Civil Rights Act Can Save America's Dying Labor Movement  Alternet   …In July 2014, U.S. Representatives Keith Ellison and John Lewis, stalwarts for civil rights and labor, introduced the Employee Empowerment Act to extend civil rights remedies to labor organizers, and reinforce the connection between civil rights and worker rights...
Rep. Chris Van Hollen's Bold Attack on Inequality  Huffington Post   …Another potential revenue raiser would disallow corporations from deducting bonuses above $1 million if they're cutting the jobs and pay of their workforce. Note that the plan doesn't restrict "performance pay" above $1 million. It just says you can't deduct it from your taxes unless you're also providing raises to employees (or more directly sharing profits)...
More Evidence That Public Beats Private in Education  truthout   …except for the debilitating effects of poverty, our public school system may be the best in the world. The most recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reveal that the U.S. ranked high, relative to other OECD countries, in reading, math, and science (especially in reading, and in all areas better in 4th grade than in 8th grade)…
Why Wages Won't Rise (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...The growing use of outsourcing abroad and of labor-replacing technologies, the large reserve of hidden unemployed, the mounting economic insecurities, and the demise of labor unions have been actively pursued by corporations and encouraged by Wall Street. Payrolls are the single biggest cost of business. Lower payrolls mean higher profits...
Worker Dies After Fall At Citgo Corpus Christi Refinery  Yahoo News   ...A worker has died from injuries sustained in a fall on Monday night at Citgo Petroleum Corp's Corpus Christi, Texas, refinery, said sources familiar with the plant's operations...
Miscellaneous
Yep, Gasoline Lead Explains the Crime Decline in Canada Too  Mother Jones   …Canada saw a substantial decrease in violent crime that started about 20 years after lead emissions began to drop, which is exactly what you'd expect...
U.S. Racks Up Smallest Deficit Since 2007  Wall Street Journal   ...The U.S. last year racked up its smallest budget deficit since 2007, marking an economic shift of fortunes as President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans prepare to face off over legislative priorities this year...

Today's Teamster News 01.10.15

Teamsters
Teamsters Denounce DOT Decision To Open Border To Mexican Trucks  teamster.org   ...“I am outraged that the Department of Transportation has chosen to ignore the findings of the DOT Inspector General and is moving forward with a plan to open the border to Mexican trucks in the coming months....
Teamsters' Update About YRCW Executives' Employment Restructuring  teamster.org   ...On Friday, January 2, YRCW announced it was restructuring its employment relationships with its CEO James Welch and its CFO Jamie Pierson. The Teamsters National Freight Industry Negotiating Committee had no prior knowledge of the January 2 announcement although we were aware that both Welch and Pierson’s existing four-year contracts were expiring in 2015...
Port Truck Drivers With Shippers Transport Express Join Teamsters Local 848  teamster.org   ... Port truck drivers from Shippers Transport Express, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SSA Marine, have designated Teamsters Local 848 as their exclusive bargaining representative and will now begin the process of negotiating a collective bargaining agreement with their employer...
POLB, POLA Truckers Agree To Neutral Unionization Process, Employee-Based Business Model  Long Beach Post   ...months of productive dialogue between Shippers Transport Express and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the union seeking to represent the employees, has produced a "historic agreement to modernize drayage operations that the parties predict will improve efficiency and stabilize the workforce while respecting drivers' rights to decide whether to form a union."...
Trade
Will Fast-Track/TPP Warnings Reach The Public? It’s Up To You.  Campaign for America's Future   ...There is a virtual media blackout of news that might inform the public about TPP and the “fast track” process that will be pushed through Congress. Fast track essentially pre-approves TPP before its contents are even revealed...
Sanders blasts leaders over trade negotiations  Burlington Free Press   ...Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is blasting the Obama administration for a lack of transparency in negotiating a major trade deal that he says will be "disastrous" for workers...
Now Or Never: Fight Back Against Fast Track (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...Except for corporate management and their large shareholders, the rest of us will lose big if Fast Track is adopted, making TPP a certainty. Passing Fast Track means a guaranteed vote in the House and Senate on TPP within a short period of time and with no amendments allowed on a 2000 page Trade treaty that has been negotiated in almost total secrecy...
State Battles
Nebraska Court Clears Obstacle For Keystone Pipeline  Politico   ...Rejecting arguments from three anti-Keystone landowners, the Nebraska justices upheld a 2012 state law that allowed Republican Gov. Dave Heineman — rather than an independent commission — to approve Keystone’s route inside the state...
Senate Passes Heroin, Right-To-Work Bills  Richmond Register   ...The [Kentucky] Senate also passed a “right-to-work bill,” sponsored by Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, easily – but no Democrat voted for it...
War on Workers
US to Allow Mexican Trucks in With Screening  Associated Press   ...The U.S. Department of Transportation says it will soon allow Mexican trucking firms to apply for authorization to make long-haul cross-border runs, potentially ending a longstanding dispute...
December Caps A Strong Year For Jobs, But Wages Dip  New York Times   ...the good news on job creation was tempered by a poor showing in average hourly earnings, which fell 0.2 percent in December after rising 0.4 percent in November...
The AFL-CIO Is On Sound Political Ground To Push For Wage Increases (opinion)  Washington Post   ...the AFL-CIO would launch projects this year in the four states that hold the first four presidential primaries and caucuses of 2016 — Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina — as a way to make presidential candidates spell out exactly what they would do to boost Americans’ increasingly anemic wages...
Keystone XL Moves Closer To Congressional Approval  Wall Street Journal   ...Congress moved closer to a likely approval of the Keystone XL pipeline Thursday, as a Senate panel advanced the legislation and the House prepared for a vote on Friday...
Local Worker Killed In Accident  Harlingen Morning Valley Star   ...A 30-year employee of the Harlingen Irrigation District was killed when he was pinned by a backhoe, officials said Thursday...
Miscellaneous
Uber, On A Collision Course With City Officials Around The World, Doubles Down On Politico Hires  Fast Company   ...Uber, with its operations facing suspension in cities around the world, is marshaling a small army of policy staffers to do battle with local authorities. India and Spain banned the on-demand taxi service last year, France followed suit, and today China announced that it would be cracking down on unauthorized private cars, less than a month after Uber inked a $600 million deal with Chinese search engine Baidu...
Minnesota Bill Would Ban NSA Activity Called The “Biggest Threat Since the Civil War”  Tenth Amendment Center   ...Introduced by Sen. Branden Petersen (R Dist. 35), SF33 stipulates that “a government entity may not obtain personal identifying information concerning an individual without a search warrant. A court order granting access to this information must be issued only if the government entity shows  that there is probable cause for belief that the individual who is the subject of the personal  identifying information is committing, has committed, or is about to commit a criminal offense.”...

Today's Teamster News 01.08.15

Teamsters
New contracts approved for police, crossing guards  TribLive   ...McKeesport city council on Wednesday unanimously approved three-year contracts with Teamsters Local 205 on behalf of city police officers and crossing guards...
Bogeyman Of Credit Crisis Needs Reform To Align Risks And Responsibilities In CDS Market  The Conversation   ...In 2009, US trucking company YRC Worldwide faced ruin as it struggled to restructure its debt. With tens of thousands of jobs at stake, the Teamsters union, led by James Hoffa, accused some YRC bondholders of sabotaging restructuring negotiations by purchasing credit default swaps (CDS) on their debt...
Everett Lee Jones  roanoke.com   ...Everett Lee "Pete" Jones, 81, of Blue Ridge, went to be with the Lord on Monday, January 5, 2015. Staff Sergeant Jones was Honorable Discharged from the United States Air Force after serving four years as Crew Chief on B-47 Bombers where he was recognized by both his Wing and Squadron Commanders for Outstanding Performance. He was also a member of the American Legion. Pete was a member of Teamsters Local 592 in Richmond and drove for Mason Dixon where he was awarded the 1,000,000 mile Safety Record for driving without an accident...
Trade
Obama touts auto bailout success, Michigan worries about trade  Reuters   ...President Barack Obama, on a trip to unveil elements of his State of the Union address, took a victory lap in Michigan on Wednesday to tout his support of the auto industry, but concerns about trade policies hung in the background of his tour...
Our View: Huge trade deal needs congressional and public scrutiny  Bennington Banner   ...Vt. Sen. Bernie Sanders is sounding an alarm about the Trans Pacific Partnership, a huge proposed trade deal that has been in process for about 10 years...
State Battles
Kentucky Senate puts right-to-work bill on fast track; House expected to balk  kentucky.com   ...A state Senate committee on Wednesday put on the fast track a bill that would allow people to work for unionized employers without joining the union, but the measure is expected to die in the House...
Indiana Lawmakers Push For Increasing Minimum Wage To $10.10 An Hour  WXIN   ...“We still have a minority out there and although we may be few in number, somebody has to speak for them,” said State Senator Karen Tallian. Tallian authored Senate Bill 41 (SB41). If passed, it would boost Indiana’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour....
Kansas Is Totally Screwed  Mother Jones   ...As further tax cuts phase in over time—the state's income tax rate, which has already fallen from 6.45 percent to 4.9 percent, is set to fall another point by 2018—the gap between spending commitments and revenue will only grow more dire. For fiscal year 2016, which starts in July, state legislators will need to slash an additional $650 million, according to the legislature's research office. Standard & Poor's and Moody's, two of the top three credit-ratings agencies, downgraded the state's credit rating last year due to the budget woes...
War on Workers
Time To Get Real On Jobs, Wages, And Growth (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...Most Americans -- 99 percent of them or so -- are still struggling. Economic inequality is soaring, social mobility is declining, earnings at most income levels are stagnant or falling, and the percentage of working-age Americans who are actually working is at a record low...
The Massive Retirement Gap For CEOs Versus Workers  CBS News   ...On average, Americans have saved only about $58,000 for their retirements, BlackRock found... CEO pensions at the 10 biggest U.S. companies are on average 239 times larger than the average employee's 401(k) balances for those same businesses...
On Day One, The New Congress Launches An Attack On Social Security  Los Angeles Times   ...As one of its first orders of business upon convening Tuesday, the Republican House of Representatives approved a rule that will seriously undermine efforts to keep all of Social Security solvent...
Keystone XL Pipeline's Gift: 42,000 Jobs (opinion)  Chicago Tribune   ...Let the construction begin, and see the benefits to local communities as they absorb the more than $2 billion in worker payments from Keystone XL jobs. Let the construction begin and offer men and women new job opportunities. Let these new employees put their skills to work and use their earnings to buy cars and clothes, to pay for college tuition or a family vacation. Communities along the pipeline route will also see property tax revenues increase substantially; revenues that will pay for better schools, parks, libraries and infrastructure...
Third worker dies of injuries from Oklahoma rig fire  Petro Global News   ...A rig fire at an Oklahoma drilling site claimed a third life last weekend after a worker burned in the explosion succumbed to his injuries...
Miscellaneous
How $50 Oil Changes Almost Everything  Bloomberg   ...The biggest collapse in energy prices since the 2008 global recession is shifting wealth and power from autocratic petro-states to industrialized consumers, which could make the world safer, according to a Berenberg Bank AG report...
Uber Bases Suspended After Refusing To Hand Over Trip Records  New York Post   ...The agency needs the data to make decisions that will affect the taxi industry, as well as investigate passenger complaints. “This data has very real significance to policy, and also to the safety of the riding public,” said TLC spokesman Allan Fromberg...
ADP Says Companies In U.S. Added 241,000 Workers In December  Bloomberg News   ...Companies added more workers than forecast in December, indicating the U.S. job market was sustaining strength as 2014 drew to a close, according to a private report based on payrolls. The 241,000 increase in employment was the biggest since June and followed a 227,000 November gain that was more than initially reported...

Today's Teamster News 12.20.14

Teamster News
Anne Arundel County Fire Department Battalion Chiefs Choose Teamsters  teamster.org   ...–Anne Arundel County Fire Department battalion chiefs have voted unanimously to join Teamsters Local 355 in Baltimore...
Negotiations At VIA Rail: The Teamsters Union And The Employer Have Requested A Conciliator  CNW News   ...The bargaining process between the 350 Locomotive Engineers at VIA Rail represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) and the rail carrier, are at a point that both parties agree that third party assistance would be beneficial...
CN reaches tentative labour agreement with Teamsters union representing locomotive engineers and conductors on Northern Quebec Internal Short Line  Yahoo Finance   ...The four-year agreement would provide wage increases and benefit improvements to 93 employees. Details of the agreement are being withheld pending ratification by the affected TCRC members. The union is expected to announce the results of the ratification vote by the end of February 2015...
Council Asks EPA For Bridgeton Landfill Contaminant Studies  KMOX   ...The St. Louis County Council has unanimously passed a resolution that pushes the Environmental Protection Agency to release studies on groundwater contamination at the Bridgeton Landfill...
Trade
Elizabeth Warren: Obama Trade Deal Could Undermine Wall Street Reform  Huffington Post   ..."With millions of families still struggling to recover from the last financial crisis and the Great Recession that followed, we cannot afford a trade deal that undermines the government's ability to protect the American economy."...
The consequences of a crumbling TTIP (opinion)  Euractiv   …A growing number of Europeans see TTIP as selling out Europe's social and environmental standards. Perhaps the EU and the US should have never undertaken this mammoth project...
State Battles
Warren County Passes Local Right-To-Work Law   ...The General Motors plant in Warren County is a closed shop, meaning its 888 employees must pay union dues in order to work there. But the Warren County Fiscal Court passed a local law Friday banning that practice in the future, defying the state's Democratic attorney general and taking the first step toward trying to overturn a 49-year-old state decision...
Minimum Wage On Agenda At Legislature  Albuquerque Journal   ...Two bills have been pre-filed this week by Democratic lawmakers, both seeking a hike in the state’s current $7.50-per-hour minimum wage – one of them to $8.30 an hour and the other to $10.10....
Minimum Wage In Louisville Upped To $9  Louisville Courier Journal   ...The Metro Council and Mayor Greg Fischer, who were at odds over increasing the minimum wage, reached an agreement Thursday night with the council voting to increase the minimum wage in Jefferson County to $9 an hour gradually over three years...
Ohio's Minimum Wage Increase Expected To Boost Economy By $40 Million  Cleveland Plain Dealer   ...As the calendar flips to 2015, Ohio's minimum wage will increase by 15 cents to $8.10 per hour, benefiting an estimated 313,000 low-wage workers in the state, according to a release from the National Employment Law Project, a non-partisan, nonprofit organization that advocates on issues affecting low-wage and unemployed workers. In addition, the minimum wage for tipped workers in Ohio will rise by 7 cents to $4.05 per hour...
War on Workers
Obama labor board comes down hard on McDonald’s  Politico   …In a significant victory for fast-food demonstrators, the Obama administration filed 13 legal complaints on Friday against McDonald’s USA, LLC, alleging 78 instances in which it violated federal labor law by punishing workers for taking part in fast food protests...
When the Well Educated Middle Class Joins the Working Poor  BillMoyers.com   ...Today, around three-quarters of all US college professors are classified as “contingent faculty” — those who aren’t on a tenure track — and about half are technically “part-time,” even though many of them teach a full-time load of classes. They may be highly educated professionals, but most adjuncts struggle to make ends meet with low pay, limited benefits and zero job security...
Yard Worker Killed  Trade Winds   ...The worker was on a ladder about 30 feet above the deck at the time. He lost his balance and fell, striking his head on a beam...
Employee Dies While Working At Dayton Sand And Gravel  Portland Press Herald   ...Goodwin Mills Fire Chief Roger Hooper said Libby was climbing down a ladder attached to a bucket truck when he went into cardiac arrest and fell....The death is the second at the business in two yearsl...
Construction Worker Dies In Emerson  NorthJersey.com   ...A construction worker was killed Thursday afternoon when he was working near a backhoe and was hit in the head by the machine’s rear bucket, authorities said...
Miscellaneous

Today's Teamster News 12.17.14

Teamster News
More Than 400 Sysco Workers in Atlanta Win Teamster Representation  teamster.org   ...Sysco workers have voted to join Teamsters Local 528 in Atlanta. With 423 workers in the bargaining unit, the vote for Teamster representation is the biggest at Sysco in years...
Workers At Selland Auto Transport Vote To Join Teamsters Union  teamster.org   ...A group of about 240 drivers, owner-operators and shop employees at Selland Auto Transport have voted to join the Teamsters Union in California, Washington, Oregon, Montana and Utah. Ballots were counted today at the National Labor Relations Board in Seattle...
National Labor Relations Board Rules In Favor Of Teamster School Bus Workers  teamster.org   ...School bus drivers and monitors in Santa Rosa County, Fla., who are members of Teamsters Local 991 in Mobile, Ala., have won another victory in a decision handed down by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) [which] orders the workers’ employer, Durham School Services, to “cease and desist” failing and refusing to recognize and bargain....
Minnesota Attorney General Questions Sysco, US Foods Merger  St. Louis Post Dispatch   ...Minnesota's attorney general has expressed concern about the merger of food distribution giants Sysco Corp. and US Foods, saying it was questionable whether any divestiture could restore competition lost to the transaction...
Teamsters, Consumers, Community To Protest UNFI Shareholders Meeting  Morningstar Advisor   ...On Wednesday, December 17, Teamsters, organic food consumers, supply chain workers and community members will protest the unsustainable practices of United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI) and its retail partner Whole Foods Market, at UNFI's annual shareholders meeting in Sacramento... 
Unionized Niles Police To Stay Teamsters  Journal And Topics   ...Rank and file Niles police officers will remain members of the Teamsters union after a vote of unionized police officers Thursday (Dec. 11)...
Akron's Jobs For Sewers Program Packs The House  WSKU   ...Some 250 people showed up at a program on Akron’s east side that had expected to draw about half that many. “OK, guys. I’m from the Teamsters. Who’s got questions?’ And for the better part of the next two hours, the questions -- and answers – flew...
Pension Fund Run By Wall Street Cited In Push To Cut Retiree Benefits  International Business Times   ...lawmakers have inserted language that would give private pension plans the power to cut benefits to thousands of current retirees whose pension savings were decimated by investment losses from the financial collapse of 2008...
Trade
How “Citibank Budget” Push Foreshadows “Fast Track” For Trade Deals  Campaign for America's Future   ...After the budget, Congress’ will push to pass “fast track” legislation, to grease the skids for the TPP. Fast track trade promotion authority rigs the legislative process, essentially pre-approving “trade” deals like TPP before they are even finalized — before members of Congress even know what is in the treaties...
'Fast Track' To Nowhere: Congress Shouldn't Give Obama Power To Ram Through TPP (opinion)  Forbes   ...The kumbaya trade agreement cheerleader crowd has convinced itself that 40 years of trade deficits don’t matter, even as the shrinkage of GDP growth has rendered the U.S. a dwindling superpower teetering on the brink of second class economy status...
Bad Trade  Huffington Post   ...Under billions of tons of imports, the American dream is suffocating. The American people have lost faith. They know that bad trade has bled factories, middle class jobs and wage increases from the country...
State Battles
Simpson County Approves Right to Work Ordinance  WBKO   ...5-0, a unanimous decision for Simpson County (Ky.) to become a right to work county, with four democratic magistrates voting for it...Simpson County falls in line with Warren and Fulton Counties having approved a right to work measure on the first reading...
Audit: 1.7 million unemployment hotline calls blocked last year because lines were full  Wisconsin State Journal   …Nearly 1.7 million calls, or three out of five, to the state’s automated unemployment hotline were blocked last year because the system was too busy handling other calls, according to an audit released Tuesday....
Secretive groups ran $25M in ads for state races  Associated Press   ...Shadowy outside groups broadcast an estimated $25 million worth of political ads on local TV stations with a goal of shaping state-level elections this year, and their full roster of donors is unlikely to ever be known, according to an analysis released Wednesday...
Mayor Vows Veto Of Minimum Wage Hike To $10.10  Louisville Courier Journal   ...Just hours after a Metro Council committee backed a plan to raise the local minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, Mayor Greg Fischer promised to veto it...
War on Workers
Wal-Mart must pay $188 million in workers' class action  Reuters   … The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered Wal-Mart Stores Inc to pay $188 million to employees who had sued the retailer for failing to compensate them for rest breaks and all hours worked...
Southwest Airlines employees protest work conditions, delays  Indianapolis Star   ...As Southwest Airlines on Wednesday prepares to announce new departures from Indianapolis, its baggage handlers are contending that increased flights are causing unprecedented delays and overworked employees...
Patriot coal worker dies in Kentucky mine after hit by vehicle  Mineweb   ...A worker was killed today in a Kentucky mine owned by Patriot Coal Co., the company’s third such fatality this year...
Miscellaneous
David Koch: I'm not an evil billionaire, I'm socially liberal!  Ring of Fire   …… Their critics say David Koch and his brother are responsible for secretly financing the tea party, polluting the environment, funding candidates who deny climate change, and buying elections with buckets of dough.”...
Foreign lobbying oversight found lax  Politico   …Lobbyists working on behalf of foreign interests regularly evade laws that require registration and disclosure of their activities, a new report charges, and the Justice Department lets many violations slide...

Today's Teamster News 12.10.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Denounce Inclusion of Pension Reform Bill to Omnibus Spending Bill  teamster.org   ...“Today we have seen the ugly side of political backroom dealings as thousands of retirees may have their pensions threatened by proposed legislation that reportedly includes massive benefit cuts...
Friday deadline looms in behind-the-scenes battle over truck safety  TeamsterNation   ...More people will die if Congress weakens truck safety to make the trucking industry happy. And Congress may just do that as it races to meet the Dec. 12 deadline to pass a budget bill. Teamsters are joined with safety advocates to fight an effort to let truck drivers work 82 hours a week...
More Drowsy, Overworked Truck Drivers  New York Times   ...the rider that Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, is pushing on behalf of trucking interests. This atrocious giveaway would suspend existing Department of Transportation truck safety regulations put in place in 2012 following a lengthy, transparent and data-driven process to make sure truck drivers get sufficient rest when operating on the nation’s highways...
Booker fights to keep sleep rules for truckers  Newark Star Ledger   ...A giant spending bill needed to fund the U.S. government past Thursday also could suspend rules governing when truckers can be behind the wheel, an effort drawing from opposition from U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and others...
Teamsters Urge Facebook To Boost Pay For Shuttle Drivers  USA Today   ...In a letter obtained by USA TODAY, Teamsters official Rome Aloise called on Zuckerberg to amend Facebook's contract with Loop Transportation, the contractor who employs the drivers, to allow for improved wages...
Hoffa To Congress: Stop Bailout For UPS, Protect Retiree Benefits  teamster.org   ...International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa today wrote a letter that was sent to the Congressional leadership and circulated to all members of Congress, expressing strong opposition to proposed legislation that would result in a $2 billion bailout of United Parcel Service (UPS)...
Teamsters At Las Vegas Hotel Ratify First Contract  teamster.org   ...The workers ratified their five-year contract by a vote of 23 to 3 on December 8, 2014. The group includes warehouse workers, groundskeepers and valets. The Cromwell, the only boutique hotel on the Strip, was built as the Barbary Coast Hotel & Casino and was later know as Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall and Saloon...
Leslie Marshall Show Features Teamsters Fight At NetJets  teamster.org   ...More than 600 Teamster members are currently in a fight for fair wages and benefits from NetJets, an airline for the global super-rich. Paul Alves, a Teamsters Airline Division representative, talks with Leslie Marshall about that fight and what it means for Teamsters who work hard, transporting multi-millionaires and billionaires and their pampered pets...
Ed O’Neill: An Interview With a Modern Family Man and Union Guy  Capital and Main   ...So, I’ve always been, in my heart of hearts,  a teamster, a union guy...
Trade
Americans Protest Against TPP, Too  Free Malaysia Today   ...An hour of noisy protests ensured that chief negotiators involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks today were aware of growing US public opposition to the trade agreement and the dim prospects that US President Barack Obama will obtain Fast Track trade authority, Public Citizen said...
Got a T-Shirt? Chances Are Child Labor Was Involved  AFL-CIO Blog   ...Cotton production involves the most child labor and forced labor in the world, according to the 2014 “List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor” by the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs...
State Battles
WMC agenda includes right-to-work, tax breaks for the rich, unfettered frac sand mining  The Capital Times   …The state's biggest business lobby has laid out its legislative agenda for tax breaks, union busting and frac sand mining, and Republican lawmakers are lining up to carry it out...
Kentucky’s right to work movement changing battlefields (opinion)  The Courier-Journal   ...Republicans failed to capture control of Kentucky’s state House of Representatives in November’s election, putting the conservative goal of passing a statewide right-to-work law out of reach for at least another two years...
UAW certified to represent VW workers in Tennessee  Detroit Free Press   …An accounting firm has certified that the UAW represents more than 45% of Volkswagen workers, giving the union the ability to meet with the automaker's management on a regular basis….
Senate Panel Approves Atlantic City Financial Rescue Plan  Press of Atlantic City   ...A New Jersey Senate committee Monday approved a rescue plan designed to fix Atlantic City’s fiscal crisis by providing a stable source of casino payments to support the declining tax base...
$15 Minimum Wage Could Be On Tacoma Ballot In 2015  News Tribune   ...Tacoma could be the state’s latest battleground for a $15 minimum wage...
Florida Minimum Wage To Top $8 As Debate Grows  Florida Today   ...The automatic increase of 12 cents an hour, recalculated by law each year based on the federal Consumer Price Index, will increase the state minimum wage to $8.05 in January, up from $7.93. Voters in 2004 approved a constitutional amendment aimed at annual minimum-wage hikes...
War on Workers
Supreme Court: Amazon need not pay workers for security check time  cnet   …The justices say theft prevention screening isn't integral to warehouse employees' jobs, so Amazon doesn't have to provide compensation...
The Battle Over Working Time: A Countermovement Against Neoliberalism  American Prospect   ...Fast Food workers, taxi drivers, port truckers, Wal-Mart employees, car washers, Fed Ex freight truck drivers and many health-care workers are all organizing unions...
Big Job Gains and Rising Pay in Labor Data  New York Times   …employers added 321,000 jobs in November, a much stronger number than economists had predicted and the 10th consecutive month of net job gains above 200,000. Even more significant was that the improving job market finally delivered a sharp jump in average hourly earnings for ordinary workers that was double the anticipated 0.2 percent increase…
Wages Are Finally Rising, But America Still Needs A Big Raise  Washington Post   ...Increased productivity, in other words, has gone to increased profits instead of increased wages. The result, as you can see, is a big gap between how much workers are making now and how much they would have been making if wages had grown the 4 percent-a-year that they should have...
Miscellaneous
US Court Extends NSA Surveillance Rules In Current Form  Computer World   ...A U.S. secret court has extended the authorization of the National Security Agency to continue surveillance of phone records in its current form after a reform bill ran into difficulties in the Senate...

Today's Teamster News 11.25.14

Teamster News
Roger Newell Remembered On WPFW Today  AFL-CIO   ...Gloria Minott will host a special hour-long show on longtime labor and community activist Roger Newell today starting at 11a on WPFW 89.3 FM, featuring remembrances by Roger’s friends and colleagues...
Engineer And Conductor Contract Talks Stall Between CP, Teamsters  Progressive Railroading   ...Negotiations have stalled between the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) and Canadian Pacific concerning a new agreement covering 3,800 locomotive engineers and conductors, TCRC officials announced late last week. The existing contract expires Dec. 31...
Mothers Outraged At EPA’s Response On West Lake Landfill  St. Louis American   ...EPA Region 7 Administrator Karl Brooks stated that either temporary or permanent relocation are “inconsistent with agency authority,” in a Nov. 14 letter to Lois Gibbs, who leads the Center for Health, Environment and Justice – a Washington-based environmental group...
JCPS, Teamsters rep address Valley 'bus fight' video  WHAS-11   ...Jackey says that these incidents are not common but John Stovall the President of Teamsters (Local 783), the bus driver's union disagrees. He says that they have picked up over the past two years. According to Stovall, incidents of violence on buses got so bad at the end of last school year that off duty police officers were having to ride along.
Trade
Teamsters support new Trade Adjustment Assistance legislation  TeamsterNation   ...The Teamsters are supporting a bill to expand the safety net for workers who lose their jobs to foreign trade...
State Battles
More Corporations Distance Themselves from ALEC  Common Cause   ...Over the last few months major companies including Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Yelp, Yahoo, International Paper, Occidental Petroleum, News Corp, Overstock.com, SAP America, and AOL have all announced they have left or were leaving the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the secretive group that brings state politicians and corporate lobbyists behind closed doors to rewrite our laws. Common Cause is now able to confirm four other companies that have cut ties with ALEC...
Inslee Says State Will Act On Oil Trains  The Olympian   ...The number of oil trains running across Washington is unacceptable, and the Legislature will consider bills in the upcoming session that mandate advance notification of oil shipments by rail as well as more funding for railroad crossings and emergency response training, Gov. Jay Inslee said Friday...
ND Lawmakers Propose Changes In Voter ID Law  Inforum   ...The proposed legislation comes after reports of people being turned away from the polls on Election Day due to identification problems. This year marked the first major election since North Dakota passed a law in 2013 that removed the option to sign an affidavit, allowing voters who didn’t have proper ID to swear under penalty of law that they are eligible to vote...
War on Workers
Food Donation Bin Chained To Walmart Billionaire's Park Avenue Condo  Gothamist   ...Walmart employs 1.4 million Americans, and pays roughly 800,000 of them less than $25,000/year... To call attention to this cruel reality, a labor group chained a giant food bin to the awning of Alice Walton's $25 million Park Avenue condo...
Wage Theft Too Often Going Unpunished (opinion)  New York Daily News   ...“(Wage theft) has become a crime wave here in New York State,” said Joann Lum, executive director of the National Mobilization Against SweatShops....
Low Wages Keep Restaurant Workers In Cycle Of Poverty  Asheville Citizen-Times   ...nearly 17 percent of the country’s 10 million restaurant workers live below the poverty line, with 40 percent living below twice the poverty line...
Farmworkers Call On Wendy's To Pay More For Tomatoes And Boost Their Wages  Huffington Post   ...about 200 people marched in front of two Wendy's restaurants in Manhattan this past Saturday, demanding the company pay 1 cent more per pound of tomatoes in order to boost farmworkers’ wages...
Coal-Waste Power Plants Could Close If New EPA Rules Adopted  Allentown Morning Call   ...Oelbracht and 35 workers at the plant are threatened by extreme carbon-emission regulations proposed by EPA. The new regulations could force the closure of Westwood and 13 other plants like it in Pennsylvania, as well as five more in other states...
Miscellaneous
Budweiser Gives Clydesdales the Heave-Ho for the Holidays  NBC News   ...Budweiser is putting its Clydesdales out to pasture for the holidays. The country's No. 3 beer brand said the horses will not play a role in its traditional advertising for the season, although the company added later Monday that they will be featured in spots promoting responsible drinking...

Today's Teamster News 08.29.14

Teamster News
MV Transportation Drivers Unanimously Choose Teamsters Union  IBT   ...MV Transportation drivers have voted unanimously, 67-0, to join Teamsters Local 890 in Salinas, Calif., to improve their working conditions. The 91 drivers provide adult paratransit services, shuttle and tourist trolley routes in Salinas and Monterey...
Calif. Senate Approves Bill To Protect Temporary Workers   IBT   ...The California Senate approved AB 1897 Wednesday evening. The bill will hold companies accountable for serious violations of the rights of workers on their premises that are committed by their own labor suppliers...
Uber Drivers In Southern California Form Association With Teamsters Local 986  IBT   ...The California App-Based Drivers’ Association (CADA) met in El Monte, California on Tuesday, to formalize its affiliation with Teamsters Local 986...
How One Union Is Playing For Both Sides In The Battle Between Uber And Taxis  BuzzFeed   ...As the bitter divide between ride-sharing and taxi companies continues to grow, one union is trying to unite all the drivers, no matter who they work for...
Trade
TTIP Will Sacrifice Food Safety For Faster Trade, Warn NGOs  EurActiv   ...The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will irreversibly put EU consumers and animals at risk, the European Commission will be warned today...
Kristen Marshall: Reject the TPP  (opinion)   DailyCamera   ...“Why are we relying on WikiLeaks for information about TPP?”; and “What about Congress?”...
State Battles
Ballot Initiatives Become Pricey Playgrounds Of Parties And Corporations  Washington Post   ...For the first time in history, spending on the approximately 125 ballot questions facing voters in 41 states is likely to top $1 billion in campaign spending this year — and perhaps much more: Oil and gas companies in Alaska spent more than $170 for every vote they won in a successful campaign to reject higher taxes earlier this month...
The End Of The Scott Walker Experiment?  Slate   ...the biggest national test taking place in Wisconsin is a test of the Walker Hypothesis, which held that a politician who enacted conservative policies and didn’t shrink from the resulting controversy would be rewarded by a wide range of voters—conservatives, but also swing voters. ... With each new poll showing a close race, that hypothesis grows weaker...
DOR: Fiscal year revenue comes in $281.2 million below projections  WisPolitics Budget Blog   ...The largest shortfall came in income taxes, where the state collected $178.7 million less than expected. Corporate tax collections were also significantly lower, coming in $97.7 million behind projections...
War On Workers
You're Losing $18,000 A Year Because Of Income Inequality  Huffington Post   ..."Stagnant growth at the middle is just the flip side of fast growth at the top," Elise Gould, the author of the paper and EPI’s director of health policy research, told The Huffington Post...
When Do We Start Calling This “The Greater Depression”?  Washington Center for Equitable Growth   ...Between the start of 2005 and the end of 2007 U.S. real GDP grew at 3.1%/year. The recession trough in 2009 saw the U.S. real GDP level 11% lower than the 2005-2007 trend. Today it stands 16% below...
Most Americans Think The Economy Is Permanently Damaged  Huffington Post   ..."Looking at the aftermath of the recession, it is clear that the American landscape has been significantly rearranged," Rutgers professor Cliff Zukin said in a press release. "With the passage of time, the public has become convinced that they are at a new normal of a lower, poorer quality of life."...
For Every Education Level, Real Wages Have Gone Down So Far This Year  Bloomberg Businessweek   ...From the first half of 2007 to the first half of this year, real wages declined 4.9 percent for workers with a high school degree and 2.5 percent for workers with a college degree. Workers with advanced degrees registered an increase of only 0.2 percent over those seven years...
In Corporations, It’s Owner-Take-All (opinion)  Washington Post   ...Lazonick looked at the 449 companies listed every year on the S&P 500 from 2003 to 2012. ... That’s a total of 91 percent of their profits that America’s leading corporations targeted to their shareholders, leaving a scant 9 percent for investments, research and development, expansions, cash reserves or, God forbid, raises...
Sheriff releases name of Kalispell Walmart worker killed in fall  Missoulian   ...Larry Wurtz has been identified as the Kalispell Walmart employee who died after falling from a movable staircase in a back room of the store last week...
Worker hit and killed by SF city truck in the Bayview  SF Gate   ...A San Francisco Department of Public Works garbage truck struck and killed a crew member Thursday morning, city officials said...
Miscellaneous
Boomer Wealth Dented by Mortgages Poses U.S. Risk  Bloomberg   ...The share of Americans 65 and older with mortgage debt rose to 30 percent in 2011 from 22 percent in 2001, according to a May analysis by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau based on the latest available figures...

Today's Teamster News 07.07.14

Trade
TPP deal 'unlikely' without Japan  Radio New Zealand News   ...He said while Japan has been reluctant to open its market fully, New Zealand continues to push for open access to Japan's markets for farmers...
TPP talks in full gear as chief negotiators join working-level meeting  Mainichi   ...the chief negotiators discussed legal and institutional matters as well as labor, and made some progress on forging a framework for curbing serious labor problems...
State Battles
Students Joining Battle to Upend Laws on Voter ID  New York Times   ...Under the North Carolina law passed last year, the period for early voting was shortened and same-day registration was eliminated. Beginning in 2016, voters will need to show photo identification, and student ID cards, including those issued by state universities, will not be acceptable. In most instances, neither will an out-of-state driver’s license...
War on Workers
As Jobs Surge, Hurdles Linger  Wall Street Journal   ...Consumer spending remains weak, a consequence of a labor market delivering new jobs but skimpy wage growth. And the share of Americans working or looking for work—the so-called labor-force participation rate—is near its lowest levels since the late 1970s, despite steady hiring...
Face of U.S. unions shifting more to public-sector workers, women  Associated Press   ...Unions representing government workers are expanding while organized labor has been shedding private-sector members over the past half-century...
Investors Are Pushing Starter-Home Prices Up  New York Times   ...WALL STREET is driving up home prices again, but this time it is not by granting mortgages to customers who cannot afford houses. Instead, institutional investors have been buying up relatively inexpensive homes, particularly in areas hard hit by foreclosures during and after the Great Recession...
Miscellaneous
Rail Traffic Is Growing Like Crazy  Business Insider   ...Year-over-year monthly carload growth averaged 4.9 percent from March 2014 through June 2014, the highest average for any four-month period since December 2010 through March 2011...
Enhanced security measures at certain airports overseas  TSA   ...During the security examination, officers may also ask that owners power up some devices, including cell phones. Powerless devices will not be permitted onboard the aircraft. The traveler may also undergo additional screening...

Economist: Strong unions needed for prosperity to return

Watch Heiner Flassbeck argue that strengthening labor unions will prevent economic collapse. He is an influential German economist who has taught at the University of Hamburg, a Vice Minister at the German Ministry of Finance, and a director at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

If you don't have time to watch the whole video, his main point is this:

...all over the place, the high unemployment that we have is putting pressure on wages so that we have never--in no country, we have not seen a normalization of wage expectations, of income expectations of the average people. And as long as we do not have that, as long as we rely on a cut in savings ratio or new credit or new credit card bubbles, then the whole thing is extremely dangerous, too... 

The labor market is not functioning at all. We have--as I said, we have high pressure on wages that are low. Formerly, you had a situation where you had high pressure on wages that were high. And now, 30 years after the neoliberal counterrevolution, it is the other way around, that this is destabilizing the whole economy, that that is why you need intervention. You need re-unionization. You need more power on the labor side. Or you need direct intervention of the government.

Shorter version: Strong unions are needed for prosperity to return.

Today's Teamster News 09.06.13

Teamster Mailers Union Respond to Star-Ledger Publisher Threats  teamster.org ...This is the official statement from Steve Grant, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 1100 in Fairfield, N.J. which represents 195 mailer employees at the Star-Ledger newspaper...
Teamsters among grocery workers picket to raise regional awareness  Auburn Reporter   ...Members of three unions representing grocery store workers in the Puget Sound region, including members of Teamsters Local 38, took to the streets on Aug. 28, picketing to raise awareness about ongoing contract negotiations with several local grocery stores, including the Auburn Safeway and Fred Meyer stores...
BMWED’s Western Region Association Holds Annual Meeting  teamster.org   ...Representatives from the Unified System Division;  Atchison, Topeka, Santa Fe, Frisco System Federation; Allied Federation; and Burlington System Division, all part of the Western Region Association, met to conduct an educational conference this week...
Allied Waste drops lawsuit filed against Youngstown Teamsters Union  WFMJ 21 News   ...Allied Waste has dropped a federal lawsuit that was filed against the Teamsters Union during this past spring's walkout against the trash hauler...
Union contract talks continue  Dyersville Commercial  ...The Delaware County (Iowa) board met again with representatives of the sheriff’s department deputies and jailers to further iron out details of a proposed switch over from American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union membership to the Teamsters Union...
JPMorgan Will Stop Making Student Loans  firedoglake   ...Competition from the government may be a factor, another might also be that student loans are in a massive trillion dollar bubble...
Failed Policy — The 401(k) Shrinks In A Growing Economy  The National Memo   ...even though the economy is improving, the number of workers saving out of their paychecks for old age is shrinking. So is the amount they save, down 6 percent in real terms from 2008 to 2010...
Nearly Half Of U.S. Births Are Covered By Medicaid, Study Finds  Kaiser Health News   ...About half the births in the United States are paid for by Medicaid — a figure higher than previous estimates – and the numbers could increase as the state-federal health insurance program expands under the Affordable Care Act, according to a study released Tuesday...
Demonstrators protest against low wages at Walmart store in Lakewood  Denver Post   ...The protest outside the store at West Colfax Avenue and Wadsworth Boulevard was one of about 15 demonstrations held nationwide Thursday against the retailer...
24 Walmart Protesters Arrested At Demonstrations In New York And Los Angeles (UPDATED)  Huffington Post   ...The New York Police Department arrested three Walmart protesters in New York City on Thursday during demonstrations against the company's wages and worker conditions...Also on Thursday, 21 protesters were arrested in Los Angeles during a similar demonstration downtown...
New York Unions Might Find a Friend in City Hall  Wall Street Journal   ...Private-sector labor unions could have a strong ally in the next mayor as they embark on new efforts to organize workers in New York City...
Fast-food condemnation  The Economist   ...What do you say to a teenager with a job? Answer: “A Big Mac, fries and a Coke, please.” At least, that was the joke in happier times. Today’s question might be: “What do you say to a single parent with two jobs and no health insurance?...”
Gov. Brown plan exempts thousands of transportation workers from pension limits  Los Angeles Times   ...Brown's proposal comes in response to a federal threat to withhold transit money from California...
Organized labor readies for Kentucky right-to-work battle  Louisville Morning Call   ...Kentucky legislators seeking to curb the power of unions could face major hurdles if a Labor Day event was any indication. About a dozen unions participated in a Louisville picnic for organized labor members, and thousands of people showed up...
Hart Schaffner Marx, Apparel Union Workers Stand In Solidarity Against Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement   Progress Illinois   ...The Chicago-based apparel firm Hart Schaffner Marx, its factory workers and their union say they will collectively fight against the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement that is currently under negotiations...
U.S. likely to approve Chinese purchase of Smithfield  Reuters   ...The U.S. government is unlikely to block Chinese meat company Shuanghui International's $4.7 billion deal to buy Smithfield Foods, Inc. on national security grounds, according to one person familiar with the matter...
Female doctors make $56,000 less than male MDs  MSN Money   ...The Journal of the American Medical Association points out the wage gap, which has been getting wider over the years...
Detroit Billionaires Get Arena Help as Bankrupt City Suffers  Bloomberg News   ...In the wake of Detroit becoming the biggest U.S. municipality to declare bankruptcy and raid pensions, Republican Gov. Rick Snyder approved a plan to put public money toward a $450 million downtown arena on behalf of the NHL’s Red Wings and their billionaire owners...
Alabama's job creation struggle: Growth is not only slow, but also low-quality   The Huntsville Times   ...A comparison of job growth in Alabama and Utah published last week looked at changes in unemployment rates and job growth overall. This story goes a level deeper, and looks at the quality of jobs being created in each state...
Signatures collected for Alaska wage initiative  The State   ...Sponsors of an initiative to raise the minimum wage in Alaska said they have collected more than a third of the signatures required to qualify the measure for the ballot...