Today's Teamster News 01.29.15

Teamsters
Shining the Light on Corporate Tax Breaks  teamster.org   ..."We need a more accurate accounting of tax abatements over the long term to “effectively bargain with our members’ governmental employers and to advocate for sound public policies that benefit our members working in the construction of infrastructure,” Hoffa said...
Tim Hortons can’t cut more than 20 per cent of HQ staff: Ottawa  The Star   ...Industry Canada says Burger King has agreed to keep 80 per cent of corporate jobs in takeover...“This round of layoffs should serve as a warning to Tim Hortons’ franchisees who depend on support from the company to grow their businesses, taxpayers who expect corporations to pay their fair share, and consumers who expect Tim Hortons to be a community leader in Canada,” said a group of union leaders from Unifor, Teamsters and SEIU Healthcare in a statement Wednesday...
Trade
Trans Pacific Pact is Almost Ready, Says US Trade Official Even As Protests Rock New York  International Business Times   …negotiators working on the TPP held parleys in New York City on Monday at an undisclosed location. But braving all secrecy, hundreds of protesters from drawn trade, labour, environmental, health, anti-GMO, food justice, anti-fracking, animal activists protested in the blizzard, against the trade agreement for its reported "fast tracking" by Trade Promotion Authority, according to Oped News...
Rep. Cooper must oppose Fast Track, defend TN economy (opinion)  The Tennessean   ...Rep. Cooper was one of just a handful of Democrats in the House of Representatives to not stand up against an undemocratic 1970s-era procedure known as Fast Track that has been used to railroad the most controversial and damaging of U.S. “trade” deals through Congress...
10 Tall Tales on Trade  Global Trade Watch   ...Here’s a rundown of the top 10 fibs and half-truths that Froman uttered before the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee yesterday in his sales pitch for the administration’s bid to expand the NAFTA “trade” pact model by Fast-Tracking through Congress the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
State Battles
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner Previews 'Right-To-Work Zones' As First-Year Priority  Peoria Journal Star   ...Gov. Bruce Rauner said Tuesday he wants to prioritize creating "right-to-work zones" in economically depressed areas where local officials could decide whether union fees would be voluntary for local workers...
Logan County Gives First Nod To Right-To-Work Ordinance  Bowling Green Daily News   ...Logan County Fiscal Court approved the first reading of a right-to-work ordinance today. The ordinance passed unanimously on the first reading, Logan County Judge-Executive Logan Chick said in a phone interview. A final reading of the ordinance is scheduled for Feb. 24...
'Right To Work' Not Dead  WSAU   ...The controversial right-to-work legislation might not be on a fast track in Wisconsin, but it’s also not a dead issue. That’s according to state Senate majority leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau). “It’s still out there. I think it’s still something that deserves debate. The votes are probably there in the Assembly, which is odd that there’s so much focus on the Senate I guess, but that’s fine. I’m not counting noses, I’ve said all along. I’m still talking to members about how they feel about the issue.”...
New Kansas Job Figures Reveal Another Failure For Sam Brownback’s Tax Cuts (opinion)  Kansas City Star   ...The final Kansas job figures are in for 2014, and Gov. Sam Brownback’s costly income tax cut “experiment” has laid another egg. Total nonfarm employment climbed only 1,700 people in December, according to Tuesday’s release of figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Overall, that means Kansas added a meager 12,800 jobs from December 2013 to December 2014, or barely more than 1,000 a month. That’s a puny growth rate of .9 percent, one of the lowest in the BLS data for 2014...
Senate Republicans Ready For A Fight On Right To Work Bill  Charleston Daily Mail   ...Five Republican lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson, introduced Senate Bill 337 on Tuesday. The bill, known as “Creating Workplace Freedom Act,” would make West Virginia the 25th state in the country to adopt a right to work law. The Mountain State would be the first in the nation since 2012 when Michigan and Indiana became right to work states, if the bill is enacted...
House Panel Kills Minimum Wage Proposal  WTOP   ...A Republican-led House committee has killed a proposal to raise Virginia’s minimum wage...
Washington State House Weighs Minimum Wage Hike  KING5   ...Washington state's minimum wage, already the highest statewide wage in the country, would get a boost to $12 an hour over the next four years if lawmakers pass a bill under consideration by the state House...
War on Workers
Gains From Economic Recovery Still Limited to Top One Percent  New York Times   ... the economic recovery so far has only boosted the incomes of the rich, and it has yielded no improvement for the bottom 99 percent of the distribution. After adjusting for inflation, the average income for the richest 1 percent (excluding capital gains) has risen from $871,100 in 2009 to $968,000 over 2012 and 2013. By contrast, for the remaining 99 percent, average incomes fell by a few dollars from $44,000 to $43,900...
Here's How Much You Have To Earn To Be In The 1 Percent In Each State  Huffington Post   ...What does it take to make it into the 1 percent of earners? In Arkansas, you'd need to pull in $228,298 a year. In Connecticut, the threshold is $677,608...
Mexican authorities pronounce 43 missing students dead but parents reject murder theory  The Independent   ...The 43 students abducted by police in Mexico have been officially declared dead for the first time, despite the fact that remains of only one person have been identified. Parents accuse the government of trying to close an investigation that has implicated security forces, the army and a mayor in a case that shocked the world...
Oil Train Spills Hit Record Level In 2014  NBC News   ...By volume, that's dramatically less crude than trains spilled in 2013, when major derailments in Alabama and North Dakota leached a record 1.4 million gallons -- more than was lost in the prior 40 years combined. But by frequency of spills, 2014 set a new high with 141 "unintentional releases," according to data from the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). By comparison, between 1975 and 2012, U.S. railroads averaged just 25 spills a year...
On-Demand Workers: ‘We Are Not Robots’  Wall Street Journal   ...Current and former workers for Uber, Amazon Inc.’s Mechanical Turk and Handybook, better known as Handy, say on-demand work platforms give them little control over the terms of their labor, and complain that the contracts they’re required to accept force them to shoulder personal and financial risk without the returns or advantages they’d hoped for...
Worker dies on Taiwan film lot to be used for Scorsese movie  Associated Perss   …A worker was killed in an accident Thursday at a Taiwanese film lot during preparations for the shooting of a new Martin Scorsese movie, media reports said...
Miscellaneous
Scott Walker’s “Our American Revival” PAC Uses Foreign Stock Videos In Debut Ad  Buzzfeed   …Republican Gov. Scott Walker announced Tuesday the creation of a political action committee to help him raise money as he mulls a presidential run. The PAC, “Our American Revival,” debuted with this video…Several of the videos ... come from foreign-based photographers and appear to have been purchased through stock image sites...

Teamsters gear up for new battle against unsafe Mexican trucks

The Teamsters are once again preparing to reverse a U.S. Department of Transportation's decision to open the border to Mexican trucks.

The Teamsters have long fought to keep the border closed to unsafe trucks even after NAFTA took effect on Jan. 1, 1994. The union succeeded for decades.

In September 2007, the Bush administration launched a ‘demonstration program’ to allow Mexican trucks to travel throughout the United States. The program lasted for a year and a half while the Teamsters lobbied Congress to end it. In March 2008, Congress passed a bill cutting off funding for the program, and President Obama signed it into law.  

Mexico then retaliated by imposing $2.4 billion in tariffs on 80 products it imports from the United States.

With prodding from the Teamsters, Congress ordered the Transportation Department to let some Mexican trucks to U.S. highways only as part of a rigorously supervised pilot program. As a precaution, Congress ordered the Transportation Department’s watchdog, the inspector general, to report regularly on the pilot program.

In December 2014, the inspector general reported the pilot program failed under the law. Only 15 carriers participated in it, making it impossible to know if Mexican trucks are safe enough to drive on U.S. highways.

The inspector general also reported the Transportation Department couldn’t inspect enough carriers in Mexico because of the danger to transportation inspectors. The Teamsters have long argued that letting Mexican trucks travel in the United States was unfair because American truckers don’t want to travel in Mexico because of the ongoing drug war.

Shocking news was announced in January. First, the Transportation Department decided to open the border to Mexican trucks even after the pilot program failed.

Second, the Transportation Department had already secretly allowed 351 Mexican trucking carriers to drive wherever they wanted to in the United States. Transportation officials claimed NAFTA allowed them to do it under ‘direct foreign investment’ provisions of the treaty. Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said,

This policy change by the DOT flies in the face of common sense and ignores the statutory and regulatory requirements of a pilot program. Allowing untested, Mexican trucks to travel our highways is a mistake of the highest order and it’s the driving public that will be put at risk by the DOT’s rash decision.

Hoffa also fired off a letter to Transportation Department Secretary Anthony Foxx to say opening the border to Mexican trucks jeopardized U.S. highway safety.

The Teamsters are now exploring all options in the continuing fight to keep the roads safe for the motoring public. Keep an eye on this space to find out what happens next.

Today's Teamsters News 11.24.14

Teamsters
Billion-dollar California salad company exploits undocumented migrants, say workers and Teamsters  Guardian   ...Taylor Farms, the world’s largest supplier of ‘healthy, wholesome’ cut vegetables and salad, denies claims it threatened to call immigration officials to keep workers on ‘temporary’ status, exposing them to dangerous working conditions...
Local labor organization to host awards banquet  TH Online   ...Dr. Liang Chee Wee and John Rosenthal (from Teamsters Local 120) will be named the labor and management recipients of the "Bob Bennett Recognition for Good Faith in Collective Bargaining" at the Dubuque Area Labor-Management Council's awards banquet Tuesday at the Grand River Center...
Trade
Scot Gov chiefs to analyse implications of TTIP  Farmers Guardian   ...As well as looking at agriculture, the environment and climate change, the discussions will also analyse the potential benefits for the Scottish economy of reducing trade barriers with the USA...
State Battles
Illinois Law to Fix $111 Billion Pension Deficit, Worst in U.S., Is Struck Down  Bloomberg  ...Illinois will have to find a new way to fix the worst pension shortfall in the U.S. after a judge struck down a 2013 law that included raising the retirement age...
Editorial: Indiana voting laws need quick, aggressive action  Tribune Star   ...Pretending to eradicate fraud, the ID laws in reality made it harder for two Democratic-leaning segments of the population, the poor and elderly, to vote. Voter ID laws, on average, decrease turnouts by 4 to 5 percentage points, according to Michael McDonald, the University of Florida political scientist overseeing the Elections Project...
War on Workers
Ex-Amazon Worker Plans Hunger Strike In Front Of Jeff Bezos’ Office To Protest Employee Treatment  International Business Times   ...A former Amazon product manager who says he was fired for voicing concerns about a software glitch is planning to starve himself in front of the CEO’s office to raise awareness about the treatment of Amazon employees...
Protesting GM Auto Workers Attacked by US Embassy Staff  Real News   ...US labor activists have filed a complaint with the Dept. of Justice and the SEC, charging the General Motors Company with a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, says Frank Hammer, retired General Motors employee and former president and chairman of Local 909 in Warren, Michigan...
Why Germans Work Fewer Hours But Produce More: A Study In Culture  KNOTE   ...Since the working day is focused on delivering efficient productivity, the off hours are truly off hours. Because of the focused atmosphere and formal environment of German businesses, employees don’t necessarily hang out together after work. Germans generally value a separation between private life and working life...
More Mass Graves in Mexican Search for Missing Students  telesur   ...Civilians and nongovernmental organizations in Mexico found four more mass graves Sunday, as part of the search efforts to locate the 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Teacher Training College that went missing after being detained by Iguala police on the night of September 26...
Indian tea workers kill owner during pay talks  New York Daily News   ...The owner of the Sonali tea estate in West Bengal was dragged out of the payment talks beaten up and stabbed by a crowd, reports the BBC. Police say the owner had not paid workers for up to three months...
Worker dies while changing truck tire at Whiteford truck stop  Monroe News   ...A 69-year-old Toledo man collapsed and died while changing a truck tire at a Whiteford Township truck stop Wednesday night....

Today's Teamster News 11.23.14

Teamsters
Teamsters: Port Truck Drivers At Pacer Cartage, Harbor Rail Transport Return To Work  teamster.org   ...On Friday, port truck drivers from the Pacer Cartage and Harbor Rail Transport in Long Beach, Calif., who had struck to protest wage theft caused by their misclassificaton as "independent contractors", took down their picket lines and made an unconditional offer to return to work after both companies pledged to continue talks...
Trade
Trading Up?  Politico   ...A separate Pew Research poll found that similar shares of both Republicans and Democrats are more or less in agreement that trade destroys jobs (54 percent in the GOP say so, and 50 percent of Democrats) and lowers wages (44 percent in the GOP and 49 percent of Democrats). Moreover, one of the TPP’s main goals is to spur foreign investment. On that score, Republicans are more wary than Democrats: 75 percent in the GOP think foreign companies buying U.S. companies is bad for the country, compared with 66 percent of Democrats...
Mládek: TTIP could become US election football  Prague Post   ...The talks on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), an extensive agreement between the European Union and the United States, should be completed by the end of next year, Czech Industry and Trade Minister Jan Mládek said. Then the complicated talks might fall victim to the campaign ahead of the presidential election in the United States...
State Battles
A Dozen Greedy, Inhumane and Cruel Policies That Top Corporate Lobbyists Will Push In 2015  Center for Media and Democracy   ...ALEC seeks to kill minimum wage increases, ban union organizing, deprive poor people of Medicaid-delivered health care, block shareholder advocacy, stop e-cigarette regulations, sabotage new rules for ride-share companies, lower medical training standards for dental assistants, and more, according to a legislative blueprint that will be discussed at an upcoming States & Nation Policy Summit in Washington, DC....
War on Workers
Amazing Black Friday Deals, Brought to You by the American Taxpayer  Economic Policy Institute   ...Nearly one in three retail workers or their families (31.5 percent) receives support from at least one means-tested public assistance program—such as food stamps (SNAP), the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), or Medicaid4—compared with less than one in four (22.2 percent) workers or their families in all other industries. Public assistance to families of workers in retail can be conservatively estimated to top $13.4 billion each year...
...
Wal-Mart workers plan Black Friday protests for higher pay  Los Angeles Times   ...Organizers say rallies and marches will occur at 1,600 Wal-Mart locations on the day after Thanksgiving in what they say will be the largest protests ever against the nation's biggest retailer...
Malled: The Hollowing Out of an American Institution. 'We Surrender'  Bloomberg   ...Steeplegate is one of about 300 U.S. malls facing a choice between re-invention and oblivion. Most are middle-market shopping centers being squeezed between big-box chains catering to low-income Americans and luxury malls lavishing white-glove service on One Percenters...
Yes, bankers lie more than the rest of us. Wall Street reforms aren’t likely to change that culture.  Washington Post   ... the group who were primed to think of themselves as bankers tended to lie significantly more — they misrepresented their results about 16 percent of the time and more than a quarter of the “bankers” group cheated...
Teeth and Bones: Mass Abduction Reveals a Decaying Mexican State  der Spiegel   ...More than 100,000 people have been killed in the ongoing drug war since 2006 with upwards of 25,000 more listed as missing. The bloodletting, the mass graves, the beheadings and the arrests of drug bosses have become so normal that they hardly manage to make it onto the front pages anymore...

Today's Teamster News 11.12.14

Teamsters
Drug Distributor Punishes Vets While Receiving Billions From VA  Huffington Post   ...McKesson is locked in a three-year battle with workers at its Lakeland, Fla. distribution center that voted in 2011 to join the Teamsters but still don't have a first contract...
Trade
Defending Foreign Corporations' Privileges Is Hard, Especially When Looking At The Facts  Public Citizen   ...it is no easy task to defend a system that empowers foreign corporations to bypass domestic courts and laws to demand taxpayer compensation for domestic policies that apply equally to their local competitors, but that they claim frustrate special privileges granted to them as foreign investors...
State Battles
Kansas revenues will fall $1 billion short of 2015 and 2016 expenses, fiscal experts say  Kansas City Star   ...The new figure raises the prospect of deep cuts in the state budget following controversial income tax cuts that Brownback vigorously defended during his re-election campaign against Democrat Paul Davis. Critics worry that schools, roads and social services will be among the areas cut in coming months...
Voter suppression laws are already deciding elections  Washington Post   ... it looks like the margin of victory in some of the most competitive races around the country was as big as the likely “margin of disenfranchisement,” as Weiser puts it. That is, more people were newly denied the right to vote than actually cast deciding ballots...
War on Workers
214,000 More Jobs Are Great. But Where Are the Raises?  Bloomberg   ...The U.S. economy added 214,000 jobs in October and the unemployment rate fell to a six-year low of 5.8 percent, but average earnings rose just 3 cents an hour...
Finding, and Battling, Hidden Costs of 401(k) Plans  New York Times   ...In many retirement plans, a significant amount of future retirees’ funds are devoured by fees. According to a 2012 study published by the progressive think tank Demos, high 401(k) fees can drain $155,000 from an average household over a lifetime...
Work Slowdown at Busiest U.S. Port Prompts Plea to Obama  Bloomberg   ...U.S. retailers appealed to President Barack Obama to intervene in contract negotiations between West Coast dockworkers and maritime companies after a work slowdown spread to the nation’s largest container hub ahead of the holiday shopping season...
Taj Mahal asks union to drop cost-savings appeal  Philadelphia Inquirer   ...Carl Icahn has jacked the interest rate up on the Trump loans from 6.2 percent to 12 percent, ripped $350 million out of this company in four years, and now he says workers can't have health care, pensions, paid breaks and many other things that other Atlantic City casino workers enjoy," union president Bob McDevitt said...
Missing Mexico students: Who is responsible?   AlJazeera   ...It's a case that has shocked a nation already hardened by gang violence and drug related crime - the disappearance of 43 students in Mexico, suspected of being abducted and murdered. The government, a mayor, police officers and gang members have all been implicated...
Construction worker dies 8 days after 30-foot fall  Associated Press   ...Officials say Moran took a 30-foot fall Nov. 3 at the former site of Del Castle-Legate Place. The once-palatial residence also was known as the Al Capone home...
Worker cleaning Ohio pond pulled from water, dies  Associated Press   ...a Michigan man in his 20s was using scuba equipment Tuesday to clean a 15-foot-deep pond at an office complex in New Albany, northeast of Columbus. When he didn't resurface when he was supposed to, a fellow worker called for help and said the man's tank had likely run out of oxygen...

Today's Teamster News 10.14.14

Teamsters
Schneiderman gets Teamsters endorsement  Albany Times-Union   ...State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman picked up the endorsement of the state Teamsters union Monday...Schneiderman’s campaign on Monday rolled out the backing of the Teamsters Joint Council 16, a union known for its electoral efforts...
Teamsters ratify contract giving Pasco County employees raises  Tampa Tribune   ...The vote was nearly unanimous — 97 percent — clearing the way for employees to get their raises in the first paycheck of the fiscal year....Teamsters Local 79 represents more than half of the county’s 2,000 workers...
Facebook Shuttle Drivers Demand a Union—And Some Sleep  In These Times   ...the company’s shuttle bus drivers are looking to unionize with the Teamsters, seeking reasonable work hours and a living wage...
Trade
Mexico lifts dollar restrictions after drug cartels target US businesses to launder profits  Fox News   ...A Mexican law to severely limit the amount of dollars that banks can accept in cash has led drug cartels to bring money back to the U.S. to be deposited in American banks and wired back in pesos under the guise of international trade...
Demonstrations over missing Mexico students turn violent  Washington Post   ...Hundreds of students and teachers smashed windows and set fires inside a state capital building in southern Mexico on Monday, as fury erupted over the disappearance of 43 young people believed abducted by local police linked to a drug cartel...
Shock China coal tariff decision throws Australian free trade talks into turmoil  Sydney Morning News   ...The crucial final stages of free trade talks between Canberra and Beijing have been thrown into turmoil following China's shock decision to impose harsh new tariffs on Australian coal supplies...
State Battles
Will Voters Punish or Reward Scott Walker for His Out-of-Touch Views on the Minimum Wage? (opinion)  Express Milwaukee  ...Although a majority of Wisconsinites support a higher minimum wage, Walker is standing on the side of employers who don’t pay adequate wages...
The Big Lie Behind Voter ID Laws  New York Times   ...There is virtually no in-person voter fraud; the purpose of these laws is to suppress voting...
War on Workers
Americans Face Post-foreclosure Hell As Wages Garnished, Assets Seized  Reuters   ...Many thousands of Americans who lost their homes in the housing bust, but have since begun to rebuild their finances, are suddenly facing a new foreclosure nightmare: debt collectors are chasing them down for the money they still owe by freezing their bank accounts, garnishing their wages and seizing their assets...
How 14 People Made More Money Than the Entire Food Stamp Budget for 50 Million People  Alternet   ...For the second year in a row, America's richest 14 individuals  made more from their annual investments than the  $80 billion provided for  people in need of food. Nearly half of the food-deprived are children...
Invisible Hands: The Businessmen’s Campaign to Dismantle the Post Office  Angry Bear   ...The plans are clear: eliminate the layoff protections in union contracts; cut the career workforce by nearly half while tripling the number of non-career workers; reduce service standards for first-class mail; do away with Saturday delivery; give management control of workers’ benefit plans; consolidate over 250 processing plants; and close 15,000 post offices...
Car Wash Worker in Newark Killed in Crossfire of Shooting  WABC-TV   ...Witnesses tell Eyewitness News that Zoungo Sou-Oud was hard at work at the car wash, when a spray of bullets from across the street shattered what had been a peaceful Sunday afternoon...
Texas Health Worker Tests Positive For Ebola  Huffington Post   ...A Texas health worker has contracted Ebola after treating a Liberian who died of the disease at a Dallas hospital last week, raising concern about how U.S. medical guidelines aimed at stopping the spread of the disease were breached...

Today's Teamster News 10.08.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Warehouse Workers Face a Bankruptcy Court Designed to Protect Bosses, Not Workers  In These Times   ...The Keene, New Hampshire-based C&S Wholesale Grocers’s actions could prove to be an immediate threat to the livelihoods of about 1,100 Teamster members in the Mid-Atlantic region, the latest in a series of damaging anti-union maneuvers by the company. The action also highlights the growing market power of C&S, a low-profile company that has quietly grown into the nation’s largest warehousing corporation...
Investors, activists press eBay, others to break up with ALEC  Reuters   ...Civic groups such as Common Cause and the Environmental Defense Fund and unions including the International Brotherhood of Teamsters wrote to the e-commerce company's management asking it to reconsider involvement in ALEC because of what they called its "extreme agenda."...
Trade
TTIP Could Weaken Chemical Rules, Environmental Groups Say  Wall Street Journal   ...environmental groups worry the chemical industry will use these procedures to delay or block new restrictions or bans on chemicals that pose a threat to people or the environment...
TPP Talks Slated For Oct. 25 As Nations Scramble For Deal  law360   ...The Australian government announced Thursday that it will host a meeting of Trans-Pacific Partnership trade ministers this month to tackle outstanding provisions on intellectual property, agricultural market access, state-owned enterprises and other areas as negotiators race to close major parts of the pact by year's end...
State Battles
Walker administration denies complaint seeking to raise minimum wage  Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel   ...Gov. Scott Walker's administration has denied a complaint by a labor group seeking to force an increase in Wisconsin's minimum wage...The state law requires that Wisconsin's minimum wage "shall not be less than a living wage."...
Rochester Borough Says No To Police Outsourcing  Insurance News   ...After comments about sacrificing safety for potential savings, officials decided Tuesday to halt a conversation with the township about contracting out police services...
City To Ponder Raise For Contractor Workers  News Journal   ...Wilmington City Council will take action next month on an ordinance that will require employees of city contractors to get paid at least $10.10 an hour...
War On Workers
Freight Train Drivers Report Falling Asleep On The Job  CBC   ...Train operators in Canada’s burgeoning freight rail industry report falling asleep at the controls and coming to work exhausted at an alarmingly high rate, according to an ongoing CBC News investigation into rail safety...
43 Missing Students, a Mass Grave and a Suspect: Mexico’s Police  New York Times   ...they are among 43 students reported missing after deadly clashes with the police on Sept. 26, when at least six student protesters and bystanders were killed in the restive, rural state of Guerrero, one of the poorest in the country and long afflicted by political, social and criminal upheaval...
Las Vegas Schools Groan From Growing Pains  New York Times   ...Schools in this suddenly robust community are so packed these days that 13 of them stay open 12 months a year. Children go to classes and eat lunch in cramped, windowless trailers, bustling with restless students. Thousands more take online classes at home, and school district administrators, desperate for space, are looking to abandoned strip malls for classrooms...
The Great Wage Slowdown Of The 21st Century  New York Times   ...The typical American family makes less than the typical family did 15 years ago, a statement that hadn’t previously been true since the Great Depression...
American Agriculture's Child Labor Problem  KCET   ...Fourteen hour days with no pay, very little food, routinely beaten and whipped by overseers before being locked away in cramped quarters every night. The fact that U.S. companies were reaping the benefits of this slave labor was outrageous. But what's more disturbing is the fact that child labor exploitation isn't only occurring outside of America. It happens here, too. And it's not entirely illegal...
Construction worker dies on the job  KCCI News   ...Authorities say a construction worker has died after he was pinned under a piece of equipment in northwest Iowa...
Tualatin worker dies after being struck by large metal plates, state agency says  Oregon Live   ...A 27-year-old man hit by large metal plates while working at a Tualatin manufacturing business Monday morning has died, according to the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division...
Is Your Dentist Ripping You Off?  Mother Jones   ...more and more young dentists are taking jobs with chains, many of which set revenue quotas for practitioners. This has created some legal backlash: In 2012, for example, 11 patients sued (PDF) a 450-office chain called Aspen Dental, claiming that its model turns dentists into salespeople...
Microsoft’s Windows 10 has permission to watch your every move  Tech Worm   ...“Microsoft collects information about you, your devices, applications and networks, and your use of those devices, applications and networks. Examples of data we collect include your name, email address, preferences and interests; browsing, search and file history; phone call and SMS data; device configuration and sensor data; and application usage.”...
Government Set Up A Fake Facebook Page In This Woman’s Name  Buzzfeed   ...A DEA agent commandeered a woman’s identity, created a phony Facebook account in her name, and posted racy photos he found on her seized cell phone. The government said he had the right to do that...

Today's Teamster News 10.06.14

Teamsters
Facebook’s Bus Drivers Seek Union  New York Times   ...they start work around 6 a.m. and do not finish until 9 p.m., 15 hours later. Now, some of these shuttle bus drivers, who get Facebook employees to work, are seeking representation by the Teamsters union...
Facebook workers 'like noblemen driven by servants' claims union  The Telegraph   ...Some of the drivers who ferry staff to the social network's headquarters in Menlo Park, California want to be part of the Teamsters union in order to get better conditions from the outside contractor they work for...
Uber Drivers Across The Country Are Organizing Their Largest Protest Yet  Buzzfeed   ...The California App-Based Drivers Association (CADA) – a non-profit dedicated to protecting fairness and transparency in the app-based car service industry – is mobilizing Uber drivers across the country and in some parts of the world to participate in what may be the largest coordinated Uber protest yet.
CADA, which is tied to the Teamsters Local 986 in L.A. , will be protesting at Uber’s L.A. offices on October 22 at noon and has encouraged all Uber drivers to gather at their local Uber offices...
Schakowsky walks picket line with Golan’s workers  Skokie Review   ... U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-9, and 7th District Cook County Commissioner Jesus Chuy Garcia joined dozens of striking workers Friday on the picket line outside Golan’s Moving & Storage in Skokie. The workers are entering their third month on strike after voting convincingly to unionize and join Teamsters Local 705. But the workers say the company has refused to bargain with them in good faith over a first contract...
Trade
Japan-U.S. accord still seen as key to TPP deal  Japan Times   ...An agreement between Japan and the United States is still a key element before the envisioned Trans-Pacific Partnership can become a reality, according to informed sources...
TISA, Yet Another Secret “Trade” Threat  New American   ...The four-day TISA event took place September 22-25 at the Geneva, Switzerland, headquarters of the World Trade Organization. It was held in secret, behind closed doors, of course, the same as with the ongoing talks for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)…. the drafters intend for the text of the agreement to remain secret for five years after the proposed TISA rules take effect!...
Make no mistake - the TTIP is a move in the wrong direction (opinion)  Ecologist   ...A huge EU-US trade and investment deal may not be quite so dangerous as its opponents portray it, writes Gabriel Siles-Brügge - but it still represents a serious threat to governments' ability to regulate for the benefit of citizens and environment, and would entrench 'competitive' markets in public service provision...
State Battles
Scott Walker is not running for governor  The Cap Times   ...The remarkable thing about Gov. Scott Walker’s re-election campaign is that Walker makes little effort to hide the fact that he is not running for governor in 2014. He is running for president in 2016...
Governor Walker dismisses need for extended DMV hours  Wisconsin Radio Network   ...“We know that 300,000 registered voters in Wisconsin lack the ID cards now necessary. Without better DMV service hours and more convenient DMV locations, I’m convinced many of these people will be shut out of the November election.”...
ALEC has huge influence in Indiana (LTE)  Indianapolis Star   ...By ALEC's own account, recurring controversies have caused the organization to lose almost 400 state legislators as members in the last three years. However, ALEC highlights Indiana as having a 40 percent gain in legislative members, with many members in the Indiana General Assembly...
War on Workers
Income Inequality Has Regressed to 1820 Levels, Will Likely Keep Regressing  Motherboard   ...Globalization, the study finds, has the curious effect of making nations more equal relative to each other, but making the residents of the nations less equal relative to each other...
Shift to Bad Retirement Plans Threatens Retirees With Privation  truthdig   ...The United States’ largest employers are increasingly pushing their workers into inadequate retirement plans—and they acknowledge doing so...
Oil, rail industries want time to fix cars  Associated Press   ...The oil and railroad industries are urging federal regulators to allow them as long as seven years to upgrade existing tank cars that transport highly volatile crude oil, a top oil industry official said. The cars have ruptured and spilled oil during collisions, leading to intense fires...
Two injured as freight train derails in north Louisiana  Reuters   ...The conductor of a Union Pacific freight train and an engineer on board were injured on Sunday when it crashed into a tractor-trailer that was stuck on tracks in northern Louisiana, a spokesman for Union Pacific said...
1 Dead In NJ Crash Involving Tanker Truck, SUV  myfoxphilly.com   ...One person is dead after a crash involving a tanker truck and an SUV in Westville...
Mexico massacre victims feared to be missing students  Reuters   ...Bodies found in mass graves in southwestern Mexico are feared to be those of students who went missing last month after they clashed with corrupt local police, authorities said on Sunday...
A grand design for greater gridlock at National Labor Relations Board  Los Angeles Times   ...Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee thinks he has the solution to perceived problems at the National Labor Relations Board: Make the five-member body just as deadlocked as Congress...
Big Pharma Ripoffs on Cancer Patients Makes 60 Minutes  Economic Populist   ... In 2012 alone, of the 12 cancer drugs approved by the FDA, 11 cost over $100,000...

Blame CAFTA for the children at the border

The violence in Central America that is sending tens of thousands of children to the U.S. border is a direct result of CAFTA, a 9-year-old trade deal that is remarkably similar to the TPP and TAFTA, now being negotiated in secret. 

Public Citizen nails it: 

Nine years ago this week, the polemical Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) was passed by the House of Representatives…in the dead of night…by a single vote.   

CAFTA proponents promised the deal would reduce gang and drug-related violence in Central America, boost economic development, and diminish the factors pushing Central Americans to migrate to the United States.  

Such promises already sounded hollow when they were voiced in 2005.  Today, as thousands of Central American children leave their homes and risk their lives to try to make it to the United States, CAFTA’s promises have proven tragically empty... 

67 members of Congress’ Progressive Caucus ... included CAFTA in their recent summary of the root causes of the refugee crisis occurring along the U.S.-Mexico border: “free trade agreements, including the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) have led to the displacement of workers and subsequent migration from these countries.” 

CAFTA isn't the only trade deal that's resulting in violence, misery and death. There's no doubt NAFTA contributed to the violence in Mexico that killed 120,000 people (with 27,000 missing) since 2006. And the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, which went into effect in May 2012, has exacerbated violence in the worst country in the world to be a trade unionist.

The Rev. Richard E. Pates, bishop of Des Moines, just returned from a visit to El Salvador, Guatemala and Hondurans. He wrote a letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry about the poverty, brutality and oppression spawned by CAFTA:

...we continue to question key policies facilitated by our trade agreements and to examine the consequences of these policies in the Central American region. We frequently heard during our visit, from Church leaders as well as representatives of civil society, that the implementation of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), and similar trade policies, has in many cases devastated small agricultural producers and businesses in the region, while depressing labor conditions and wages. As an example, U.S. corporations, receiving significant subsidies and other protections from our government, have been able to export corn and other agricultural products to Central America, driving down local prices for these products and forcing rural families off their lands. 

"We must recognize that there are correlations between these harmful trade practices and the deplorable conditions that lead to poverty, increased unemployment (especially among the young), violence, trafficking and the resultant push for migration," concluded Bishop Pates.

 

 

Today's Teamster News 07.09.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Local Union No. 340 inks deal in Eliot  seacoastonline.com   ...The Board of Selectmen recently signed a contract between the town and a new union. The contract is with Teamsters Local Union No. 340, representing employees of the Public Works Department and the transfer station. Contract negotiations with a second new union of town office employees are ongoing, also with Local 340...
Teamster Statement on Horse Carriage Heat Regulations  Teamsters Joint Council 16   ..."Those who are in favor of banning the trade have a long history of harassing our members and
using sensational statements to the press and derogatory language to carriage drivers while they
are working. This situation is no exception..."
Longshoremen Ordered Back To Work After Joining Trucker Strike Backed By Teamsters  International Business Times   ...Amid delicate negotiations that will determine the flow of a third of all U.S. cargo container traffic for the coming months, dozens of longshore workers at two of the country’s busiest ports were ordered back to work Tuesday after they walked off the job in solidarity with a group of fed-up truck drivers...
Teamster Walkout Could Disrupt Economy 'Far And Wide'  CNN Money   ...A Teamster strike that disrupt the U.S. economy "far and wide" is underway on the West Coast. About 120 truck drivers for three transport companies have walked off the job at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The drivers claim the companies are treating them unfairly and have intimidated them...
Port Drivers Begin Strike  Orange County Register   ...“We are prepared to go a long time, and do this for however long it takes,” said Fred Potter, director of the Port Division of the Teamsters and an executive vice president...
Los Angeles Port Truckers Strike To Join Union, Spokeswoman Says  Transport Topics   ...The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the busiest U.S. trade complex, were struck by about 120 truck drivers protesting low wages and their employers’ refusal to let them join a union, a spokeswoman said...
Port Of Savannah Truck Drivers Plan Protest For Better Working Conditions  GPB News   ...Truck drivers who haul goods in and out of the Port of Savannah are planning their second protest in several months for Tuesday morning. This time, they’re calling on Georgia Ports Authority officials to meet with drivers to discuss their requests for better working conditions, including better pay and benefits...
Trade
Citizens’ Group Concerned About Secrecy Around Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Talks In Ottawa  Ottawa Citizen   ...Like most trade talks, the meetings are not open to the public, but the Council of Canadians says the government has barely even acknowledged the talks are being held in Ottawa. The council is questioning why there is so much secrecy around the latest round of negotiations...
Mainstream Monopoly Keeps Us From Finding Out the Truth  Economy in Crisis   ...Why aren’t we hearing about the TPP from the mainstream media? These large corporations want this deal, even though it will have a major negative impact. ..
State Battles
Evidence piling up against "Wrong-Way Walker" (opinion)  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...Published and authoritative data collected in the very manner Gov. Wrong-Way previously praised show job growth here trails the rest of the Midwest and two-thirds of the country...
Missouri lawmakers didn't even read this ALEC bill they passed  TeamsterNation   ...Missouri lawmakers didn't even bother to read an ALEC bill they passed, so blindly did they follow the group's anti-worker, vote-suppressing, corporate-empowering agenda...
Mistrust In North Carolina Over Plan To Reduce Precincts  New York Times   ...Voting rights advocates fear that these local changes — combined with a number of new state laws restricting ballot access and requiring voters to show picture IDs — amount to a concerted effort to reduce voting by minority groups...
War On Workers
No Job Loss in Most States That Raised Minimum Wage  Fiscal Times   ...Of the 13 states that raised their minimum wages, all but one saw job growth in the first five months of 2014...
Statistical Analysis Shows that Violence, Not Deferred Action, Is Behind the Surge of Unaccompanied Children Crossing the Border  Center for American Progress   ...Whereas Central American countries that are experiencing high levels of violence have seen thousands of children flee, others with lower levels of violence are not facing the same outflow...
Uber Kindly Agrees to Stop Price Gouging During Emergencies  Valley Wag   ...in case of nuclear bombs falling across Brooklyn or a heavy blizzard, it will no longer cost you $300 to get a ride home...
Luxury Rolls-Royce car sales soar worldwide  Economic Times   ...The Britain-based manufacturer said Tuesday that global sales in the first half of the year were up 33 percent compared with the same period in 2013...
Miscellaneous
NASCAR And Unions: A Tumultuous History  Fox Sports   ...In 1961, Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa and star NASCAR driver Curtis Turner tried to create the Federation of Professional Athletes, a union that would prominently feature NASCAR drivers. The Teamsters offered loans to save Charlotte Motor Speedway, which was on the verge of failure because of massive cost overruns incurred in building the track...
Like His Dad, Charles Koch Was a Bircher (New Documents)   The Progressive   ...Charles Koch was not simply a rank and file member of the John Birch Society in name only who paid nominal dues. He purchased and held a "lifetime membership" until he resigned in 1968. He also lent his name and his wealth to the operations of the John Birch Society in Wichita, aiding its "American Opinion" bookstore -- which was stocked with attacks on the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King, and Earl Warren as elements of the communist conspiracy...

Violence worsens in Colombia after so-called trade deal

Teamsters said three years ago that a so-called trade deal with Colombia wouldn't end assassinations of trade unionists. Sadly, we were right.

Rallying against the murder of unionists.

Three years ago, proponents of the treaty to empower corporations in Colombia came up with something called a 'Labor Action Plan' (LAP). It was theoretically supposed to end anti-union violence. What it really did was give some lawmakers a fig leaf to let them vote for the treaty and pretend they care for workers' rights.

Treaties like NAFTA, CAFTA and Colombia always come with promises. More jobs, higher standard of living, an end to whatever problems plague the signers. Those promises never pan out.

NAFTA was supposed to reduce undocumented immigration from Mexico; instead, immigration doubled because wages didn't rise and farmers lost their farms. Mexico's drug cartels turned much of the country into a war zone, with 100,000 people killed in drug violence since 2006.

Violence against trade unionists is increasing in Colombia. There were four more unionist murders in 2013 than in 2012. Public Citizen tells us:

In the three years since the LAP was unveiled, 73 Colombian unionists have been murdered ... Colombia’s workers have also endured 31 murder attempts and 953 death threats since the LAP was announced. These crimes have not resulted in any captures, trials, or convictions. The overall impunity rate for unionist murders from 1977 through the present is 87%, while impunity for anti-union death threats stands at 99.9%.  

Colombia’s unions and the National Union School conclude that the decision to sign the LAP “was taken by the Colombian government as a step toward unfreezing the FTA with the United States rather than as an institutional mechanism to promote real protection of the labor and union rights that Colombian workers have lacked for so long.”

Vietnam doesn't actually let union killers get away with murder, but it does prohibit them from forming independent unions. Workers are paid an average minimum wage of 52 cents per hour and the apparel industry relies on slaves and child laborers. Nothing suggests the latest proposal for an international corporate power grab -- the TPP -- would make things any better for the workers of Vietnam.

Today's Teamster News 02.24.14

State Battles
Wisconsin’s Legacy for Unions  New York Times   ...Mr. Walker’s landmark law — called Act 10 — severely restricted the power of public-employee unions to bargain collectively, and that provision, among others, has given social workers, prison guards, nurses and other public employees little reason to pay dues to a union that can no longer do much for them. Members of Mr. Beil’s group, the Wisconsin State Employees’ Union, complain that their take-home pay has fallen more than 10 percent in recent years, a sign of the union’s greatly diminished power...
Trade
Fast Track to Nowhere: America’s Failed Trade Policy  Campaign for America's Future   ...Froman’s strategy now is to try to move the negotiations over the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) towards completion, using the treaty to convince legislators to pass fast track. Administration officials are reportedly hoping that they can mobilize enough Wall Street and corporate America muscle to cobble together sufficient votes in a lame duck session after the elections to move forward...
Tariff, intellectual property on agenda on 3rd day of TPP talks  Global Post   ...Countries involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade talks will tackle contentious issues including tariff removal and intellectual property rights on the third day of a ministerial conference Monday in Singapore...
Most wanted drug lord captured in Mexico  Associated Press   ...Guzman was hit with multiple federal drug trafficking indictments in the U.S. as his drug empire stretched throughout North America and extended branches into Europe and Australia. Guzman’s play for power against local cartels caused a bloodbath in Tijuana and made Ciudad Juarez one of the deadliest cities in the world. In 2013, he was named “Public Enemy No. 1″ by the Chicago Crime Commission, only the second person to get that distinction after U.S. prohibition-era crime boss Al Capone...
The War on Workers
You Need to Work at Least 67 Hours a Week to Afford Rent While Making the Minimum Wage AFL-CIO Now   ... In more than half the states, you'd have to work more than 80 hours a week...
Scandal of Europe's 11m empty homes  Guardian   ...Housing campaigners denounce 'shocking waste' of homes lying empty while millions cry out for shelter...
Detroit automakers worry about UAW money struggles  Associated Press   ...They worry that the 382,000-member UAW could be absorbed by a more hostile union. Such a merger could disrupt a decade of labor-management peace that has helped America's auto industry survive the financial crisis and emerge much stronger, according to a person with knowledge of executive discussions...
IMF Fires a Warning Shot at the Fed on Deflation  Wall Street on Parade   ...The IMF is clearly worried about the onset of the kind of intractable deflation that plagued the U.S. and the global economy during the Great Depression of the 30s...
Americans rising up against government: Column  USA Today   ..."The most plausible explanation is that someone up top at the DHS or ICE suddenly realized that publicly calling for bids on a nationwide surveillance system while nationwide surveillance systems are being hotly debated was ... a horrible idea..."
San Francisco Protesters Take Aim at Twitter’s Tax Breaks  In These Times   ... SEIU, the largest public sector union in San Francisco, is taking renewed aim at Twitter over the major tax break it received from City Hall in 2011...

Today's Teamster News 02.02.14

Real GDP per capita  Angry Bear   ...Decades of tax cuts have not led to increasing prosperity...
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Poll: Only The Strongest Obama Supporters Want Him To Have Fast Track Authority  International Business Times   ... Overall, the U.S. public is cooling to the idea of free-trade agreements, believing, unlike they have in the past, that multinational agreements to bring down trade barriers is costing U.S. jobs while favoring large multinational corporations over the interests of small businesses...
Who Wins From Trade?  Economic Policy Institute   ...multinational companies were the biggest supporters of trade and investment deals with Mexico, Korea and China, deals that have cost U.S. workers nearly four million jobs in the past two decades...
Bolivia ordered to compensate UK power company  One News Page   ...Government that nationalised power assets in 2010 ordered by international court to payout $41m to Rurelec giving hope to others seeking reparations...
Get Some Sleep, and Wake Up the G.D.P.  New York Times   ...A survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that one in 25 people admitted to having fallen asleep while driving during the previous month. To put that in perspective, mathematical models based on this data imply that an estimated 15 to 33 percent of all fatal crashes in the United States might involve a drowsy driver...
Law Doesn’t End Revolving Door on Capitol Hill  New York Times   ...Federal ethics rules are intended to limit lobbying by former senior officials within one year after they leave the government. Yet even after the ethics rules were revised in 2007 following a lobbying scandal, more than 1,650 congressional aides have registered to lobby within a year of leaving Capitol Hill...
Building a Harley Faster  New York Times   ...Keith Wandell, the chief executive, told me that even during the company’s worst days, management never considered busting its union...
Why Alt-Labor Groups Are Making Employers Mighty Nervous  American Prospect   ...the Chamber of Commerce, the National Restaurant Association and anti-union coalition groups publicly insist that these new groups are unions, because they want them to be subjected to the same kinds of legal limits that have come to constrain America’s labor unions, such as not being able to strike in sympathy with other workers....
Fury as Mexico's blonde 'cartel princess' posts steamy selfies wearing her drug lord father's Knights Templar gang insignia amid escalating vigilante violence  Daily Mail   ...The war on Mexico's deadly cartels spread from the streets to the web after the daughter of a notorious drug lord sparked an outrage by posing in an outfit featuring the symbol of her father’s gang...
Scott Walker raised $5 million at end of 2013, paid $86,000 to defense lawyers  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...information spilled out in court records about a secret John Doe investigation into campaign fundraising and spending surrounding Wisconsin's recent recall elections...
Pennsylvania Could Become Ground-Zero in Union Fight  Philadelphia Magazine   ...Rick Bloomingdale, head of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, declared earlier this month that the bill represents a “war on workers.”...
Fan claims NFL is withholding Super Bowl tickets from public, selling most to companies  New York Daily News   ...A Jersey guy hopes to sack the NFL over its Super Bowl ticket policy, accusing the league of greedily gouging its biggest fans for seats to its biggest game...

Today's Teamster News 12.18.13

Teamsters Stand in Solidarity with Korean Railway Workers on Strike  teamster.org   ...The Teamsters and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division of the Teamsters are standing in solidarity with striking Korean railway workers...
Port Workers In IKEA Supply Chain Hold Solidarity Actions Over Lockout  teamster.org   ...hundreds of dock workers at 10 ports around the globe held rallies to show their support for the 350 Teamsters who have been locked out from their jobs without pay for seven months at IKEA’s store in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada...
Teamsters Donating Toys to Hershey Ronald McDonald House  teamster.org   ...Teamsters Local Union 776 in Harrisburg will be donating more than $7,500 in toys to the Ronald McDonald House in Hershey...
SCI Deceives Grieving Family For $15,000 Funeral, Relatives Outraged  teamster.org   ...“We had no clue there was a change of ownership,” Johnson said. “We went there on the memory of a good family business only to find out it is owned by this huge conglomerate that is mistreating workers and basically spitting on the memory of my mom...”
Northern Tier Refinery Workers Vote To Strike  teamster.org   ...workers from the Northern Tier refinery in St. Paul Park, Minn. voted overwhelmingly to strike if necessary, rejecting cuts proposed by management that could dramatically undermine the safety of operations. The refinery workers are represented by Teamsters Local 120...
GES Exposition Services Threatens Chicago's Convention Business  teamster.org   ...The company is demanding a laundry list of concessions from the Teamsters, including more work-rule restrictions, further crew-size reductions and changes in seniority...
It’s Time to Halt Middle-Class Housing Crisis  teamster.org   ...10 million homeowners still owe more than their homes are worth...
Accidental Tax Break Saves Wealthiest Americans $100 Billion  Bloomberg   ...By shuffling his company stock in and out of more than 30 trusts, he’s given at least $7.9 billion to his heirs while legally avoiding about $2.8 billion in U.S. gift taxes since 2010, according to calculations based on data in Adelson’s U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings...
U.S. preparing civil charges against Citigroup, Merrill Lynch: sources  Reuters   ...Civil investigators have compiled evidence that allegedly shows that investors lost tens of billions of dollars after purchasing securities Citigroup had marketed as safe even though the bank had reason to believe otherwise...
Elizabeth Warren’s New Bill Aims to Stop Employers Discriminating Against the Poor  truthdig   ...Employers often use credit scores to weed out poorer applicants despite the fact that studies show these numbers have nothing to do with productivity or dedication, but the Equal Employment for All Act introduced Tuesday would prohibit this form of discrimination from taking place...
Why are we letting China buy American companies?  New York Post   ...The Smithfield buyout is a great loss because the company has become a huge exporter, to Japan and elsewhere, and has developed, with taxpayer assistance, systems and technologies that are best in class. Of course, that was why it became a target and why China Inc. overpaid to get it. But the only American beneficiaries will be a handful of investors. The rest of Smithfield’s stakeholders, and the American economy, will be bruised...
Another Apple Supplier in China Admits Gross Violations of Worker Rights  Economic Policy Institute   ...In a swift reaction to ugly publicity about suicides, injuries, and mistreatment of workers, Biel Crystal, one of Apple’s most important suppliers of touchscreen cover glass for its iPhones, reached an agreement with the Chinese labor rights group, SACOM, to take three steps toward better conditions by January 2014...
Mexico's rights body warns of growth of vigilantes  Associated Press   ...Raul Plascencia, president of the National Human Rights Commission, said the growth of these groups are already undermining the rule of law but could also lead to more violence. He blamed the emergence of such groups on an official failure to provide security...
Merkel compared NSA to Stasi in heated encounter with Obama  The Guardian   ...German chancellor furious after revelations US intelligence agency listened in on her personal mobile phone...
Court: Occupy Columbia can sue Haley over arrests  Associated Press   ...Gov. Nikki Haley isn't immune from being sued by Occupy Columbia protesters who were kicked off the Statehouse grounds in 2011, a federal appeals court ruled Monday...

Today's Teamster News 12.10.13

Teamsters Call On Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan To Stop Worker Abuse  Teamsters Canada   ...The demonstrators will publicly call on Teachers' to stop worker and human rights abuses at EXAL Corp., an aluminum bottle manufacturer in Youngstown, Ohio. EXAL is owned and actively managed by the Canadian pension plan...
Use of Phones on Planes Would Be More Than Just Annoying  teamster.org   ...President James P. Hoffa wrote to the head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last week asking the agency not to move forward with proposed changes that would allow passengers to speak on cell phones while in flight...
Sysco to buy rival US Foods Inc and become largest American distributor  The Guardian   ...Shareholders of US Foods, owned by affiliates of private equity firms Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and KKR & Co, will own about 13% of Sysco after the closing of the deal, which will create a company with revenue of $65bn...
Get a clue, McDonald’s: Chain tells workers how much to tip their pool cleaners, dog walkers, and masseuses  Salon   ...“In total, the tips add up to hundreds, if not more than a thousand dollars of gift suggestions for McDonald’s workers, many of whom earn just above minimum wage...”
A Record Number of Americans Can’t Afford Their Rent  ThinkProgress   ... low-income renters who make $15,000 or less would have to find housing that costs less than $375 a month, yet the median monthly cost for housing that was built in the last four years is more than $1,000...
More Than Three-Quarters of Workers Missing from the Labor Force Are Under Age 55  Economic Policy Institute   ...even if all of the missing workers age 55 and over are early retirees who will never reenter the labor force no matter how strong job opportunities are (a very strong assumption), that still leaves 4.3 million missing workers under the age of 55 who are likely to re-enter the labor force when job opportunities strengthen...
TPP Trade Pact Misses Deadline as More Talks Planned for January  Bloomberg   ...The TPP, which would link an area with about $28 trillion in annual economic output, has been bogged down by differences over issues from agricultural tariffs to intellectual property. Leaders from the U.S. to Malaysia and Japan face opposition to the deal from lawmakers at home, an obstacle that will have to be overcome once the agreement itself is finalized...
NAFTA’s Impact on U.S. Workers  Economic Policy Institute   ...NAFTA was the template for rules of the emerging global economy, in which the benefits would flow to capital and the costs to labor...
Eight bodies, some dismembered, found on Mexican highway  Reuters   ...Mexican authorities found the bodies of eight kidnap victims, some dismembered, on a highway in the troubled southern state of Guerrero where government troops have been deployed to stem violence, officials said on Monday...
Meet the 20 Percent: Wealthy Social Liberals Standing Against Efforts to Fight Income Inequality  Alternet   ...The "20 percent" don’t want their taxes raised in an effort to reduce inequality...
Let's get this straight: AIG execs got bailout bonuses, but pensioners get cuts (opinion)  The Guardian   ...No one has accused city workers in Chicago or Detroit of bringing down the economy, but they could face pension cuts...
Unionization Yields Significant Gains in Pay and Benefits for Women Workers  Center for Economic Policy Research   ...Unionized women workers on average make 12.9 percent more than their non-union counterparts, are 36.8 percent more likely to have employer-provided health insurance and 53.4 percent more likely to have participated in an employer-sponsored retirement plan...
“They’re getting away with murder”: East Coast takes Midwest to task over air pollution  Salon   ...The governors of eight Northeastern states petitioned the EPA to crack down on coal burning in the Midwest...
Detroit Bankruptcy Bankrupts Democracy  The Nation   ...The voters of Michigan sent a clear signal last fall. They rejected emergency-manager authoritarianism. Unfortunately, a federal bankruptcy judge has sided with a governor who could not win an election in Detroit and an approach that Detroit voters rejected...
Bad deals with Wall Street are costing the city as much as $1 billion a year: report  New York Daily News   ..."New York City could be saving $1 billion annually just by changing the way it does business with Wall Street," one of the report's authors, Connie Razza, director of strategic research initiatives at the Center for Popular Democracy, told the Daily News...

Today's Teamster News 11.18.13

Is a stealth Right to Work effort brewing in Columbus? Thomas Suddes  Cleveland Plain Dealer   ... fretting about whether this General Assembly will spring so-called Right to Work (for Less) on Ohioans isn’t a symptom of paranoia. Instead, it may be common-sense caution...
ALEC’s Latest Trojan Horse: The Attack on Standards and Safeguards Moves to the States  Center for Effective Government   ..., these pieces of legislation serve as a Trojan horse designed to quietly shut down state efforts to establish public protections that ensure all their residents enjoy safe and healthful lives...
The 10 Companies Paying Americans The Least: 24/7 Wall Street  Huffington Post   ...CEOs at nine of these 10 companies are paid more than $10 million annually, while Michael Duke and Howard Schultz, CEOs of Walmart and Starbucks, each receive more than $20 million per year...
Three Million More in Poverty than Previously Estimated  The Real News   ...the West now becomes the area that has the highest poverty rate, at about 25 percent of their population being counted as poor...
Deadly tornadoes hit US Midwest states  BBC News   ...Powerful tornadoes have swept through the US Midwest, destroying buildings and overturning vehicles in the states of Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky...
The People Can Defeat the Trans-Pacific Partnership  Counterpunch   ...The broad bi-partisan opposition announced this week shows that winning Fast Track has very little support in Congress.  In fact, the letters may be the death knell for such legislation...
Qatar migrant workers 'treated like animals' - Amnesty  BBC News   ...Amnesty says migrant workers are often subjected to non-payment of wages, dangerous working conditions and squalid accommodation. The rights group said one manager had referred to workers as "animals"...
Rights group: Gulf must increase worker protection  Associated Press   ...Riots have broken out in Saudi Arabia as authorities crack down on laborers without proper visas. In Qatar, rights groups and others have raised concerns about living and working conditions for crews building venues for the 2022 World Cup. ...
Mexico officials find 8 bodies in border city home  Associated Press   ...the bodies were found early Sunday and apparently were members of the same extended family. He said exact ages were not yet available but three of the dead appeared to be children and five were adults...
Something stinks in Wisconsin  Center for Media and Democracy   ...Wisconsin is home to two SPN right-wing think tanks: the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute (WPRI) and the MacIver Institute for Public Policy. While WPRI and the MacIver Institute claim to be focused on issues important to the people of Wisconsin, both push a right-wing agenda dictated by their right-wing funders and partners, such as the Bradley Foundation...
Workers Standing Together to Demand Respect at Taylor Farms  Labor's Edge   ...at Taylor Farms in Tracy, the bosses are threatening and intimidating workers as part of a campaign to stop those workers from joining a union...

Today's Teamster News 11.12.13

Teamsters Union Ad Criticizes Dart On Prison Staffing, Spending  CBS Chicago   ...The Teamsters Union – representing law enforcement officers at the Cook County Sheriff’s office – has taken out a full-page newspaper ad criticizing the sheriff’s staffing and spending priorities...
YRC to Teamsters: Make a deal or else  Kansas City Business Journal   ...YRC needs the help of the Teamsters, which represent more than 25,000 of the company's 32,000 employees. The company and union are operating under a labor agreement that lasts through March 2015. YRC wants to extend the pact, which includes a range of employee concessions...
Anheuser-Busch, Local 267 Teamsters begin contract talks  Coloradoan.com   ...Anheuser-Busch/InBev and the Teamsters union are starting their first contract negotiations since InBev purchased the iconic U.S. label in 2008. That means Local 267’s Howie Dorsher is busy juggling day-to-day union operations, representing about 500 members at the Fort Collins brewery and keeping abreast of national contract talks...
Iraq Vet: Losing Home ‘Worse Than Getting Blown Up’  truthdig   ...Twenty-six year National Guardsman Jerrod Hays lost nearly half his face to a roadside bomb in Iraq. Now, like too many other Americans, he could lose his home to banks...
Amazon Teams With USPS For Sunday Delivery  Slate   ...Starting this week, the postal service will bring Amazon packages on Sundays to shoppers' doors in the Los Angeles and New York metropolitan areas at no extra charge. Next year, it plans to roll out year-round Sunday delivery to Dallas, New Orleans, Phoenix and other cities....
Unless Social Security Is Expanded with Increased Funding, We Face An Unprecedented Crisis of Millions of Baby Boomers In Poverty  Alternet   ...A majority of Americans, especially women and people of color, will spend their final years living in poverty in coming decades unless Social Security is improved and expanded ... and there are many fair ways to accomplish that, experts told a congressional briefing last week...
EU and US resume trade deal talks  BBC News   ...The EU and US have begun a second round of negotiations towards creating the world's biggest free-trade deal...
180,000 pounds of food recalled in E. coli scare  Salon   ...This Sunday, Glass Onion Catering of Richmond, Calif., recalled approximately 181,620 pounds of ready-to-eat salads and sandwich wraps that may be contaminated with E. coli. According to the USDA the items were produced between Sept. 23 and Nov. 6, and were sent off to distribution sites in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Washington...
Report: Bloomberg News Spikes Stories That Could Anger China  Slate   ...Bloomberg News editors are telling reporters that cover Chinese news that they have to tread carefully, and are reportedly spiking stories deemed too sensitive out of fear that Beijing will make it impossible for the company to continue operating in the world’s second-largest economy...
Sweden closes four prisons as number of inmates plummets  The Guardian   ...Decline partly put down to strong focus on rehabilitation and more lenient sentences for some offences...
Mexico authorities say U.S. man led kidnapping ring  Associated Press   ...Mexican authorities say a U.S. citizen who once served in the U.S. Navy and was a police officer in Texas has been detained in northern Mexico for allegedly heading a group of kidnappers...
NSA revelations unleash flood of new customers for privacy products  SFGate.com   ...the unremitting surveillance scandal could take billion dollar bites out of businesses whose stock in trade is user information — which is to say, much of the online economy today...