Today's Teamster News 07.20.13

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

Today's Teamster News 07.11.12

San Bernardino seeks bankruptcy protection  Los Angeles Times   ...San Bernardino, facing the possibility of missing payroll, becomes California's third city in weeks to authorize a bankruptcy filing...
Many Wall Street executives say wrongdoing is necessary: survey  Reuters   ...A quarter of Wall Street executives see wrongdoing as a key to success, according to a survey by whistleblower law firm Labaton Sucharow released on Tuesday...
Republican Senator On Romney: ‘It’s Really American To Avoid Paying Taxes’  ThinkProgress   ...tax dodging shifts $100 billion onto taxpaying Americans...
The Vanishing Entrepreneur  Washington Monthly   ...The single biggest factor driving down entrepreneurship is precisely the radical concentration of power we have seen not only in the banking industry but throughout the U.S. economy over the last thirty years...
Economic mobility: Who gets left behind  CNN Money   ...Most Americans make more than their parents did, but that doesn't mean they're all moving up the economic ladder...
Teamsters 'drawing the line' in Sorrento strike  Buffalo Business First   ...Members of Teamsters Local 264 on Tuesday began the second day of their strike at the Sorrento-Lactalis South Park Plant in Buffalo...

Murder rate soars in Stockton

Homicides are rising in Stockton, the bankrupt California city that has already cut its police force by more than a quarter.

Reports Business Insider,

The city has cut more than $90 million in spending over the past few years, specifically in its police department. The city has cut over one quarter of its police jobs, which has led to a "surge in murders," and has created an "emboldened criminal element" in the city. According to police spokesman Joe Silva, the city has had 87 murders since the start of 2011, 29 of which have already occurred this year. In contrast, there were 35 murders in 2009 and 48 in 2010. With six months left in the year, there have already been more murders in the city since the start of 2011 than the two-year stretch of 2009-2010.

Financial Armageddon blogger Michael Panzner notes that crime hasn't increased much despite the deteriorating U.S. economy (11.1 percent drop in wages between 2007-11).

...one thing we haven't seen is a dramatic rise in illegal activity, despite evidence, as sociologist Steven Box concluded in his 1977 book, Recession, Crime, and Punishment, that a "deterioration in material circumstances [leads] to more crime." 

Some have argued -- probably rightly so -- that the reason why things are different this time is because an extraordinary large percentage of Americans are currently in prison. Others maintain that the modern social safety net has alleviated at least some of the pressure that turns law-abiding citizens into opportunistic criminals. Regardless, a report at Business Insider, "Stockton Goes Bankrupt And Already The Murder Rate Is Soaring," suggests we may be getting closer to the point where economic circumstances and social conditions are more closely in synch...

Let's hope not.

Today's Teamster News 06.28.12

Single Payer Fight to Intensify in States if Court Strikes Down Health Care Law  firedoglake   ... if the Supreme Court strikes down the Affordable Care Act, is that this will afford an opportunity to return to the public with a full-throated call for “Medicare for All,” a single-payer system that would use taxes to fund health coverage for all of the country’s citizens, as is done throughout the world. This would reduce administrative costs and create added bargaining power to lower costs throughout the system...
JPMorgan Trading Loss May Reach $9 Billion  DealBook   ...the sharply higher loss totals will feed a debate over how strictly large financial institutions should be regulated and whether some of the behemoth banks are capitalizing on their status as too big to fail to make risky trades....
Uninsured and fighting blazes: Welcome to the life of a federal firefighter  Wonkblog   ...many federal firefighters are temporary employees, who only work six months out of the year (although as Lauer describes it, they can often work a full year’s worth of hours with the long shifts). Under federal regulations, temporary employees of the Forest Service do not receive benefits. That means no health care and no retirement pension...
Atwater hopes to reform flawed contracting process by exposing it to sunlight  Miami Herald   ...Florida will spend $47 billion this year hiring outsiders to provide goods and services for the state but hundreds of the contractors will not be required to show they provided services they agreed to and their documentation will be rife with errors...
Stockton, California’s Bankruptcy Makes 'Normal' Cities Nervous  Governing   ...Unlike many high-profile bankruptcies, Stockton’s financial woes are the result of many different factors that are not unusual for many localities....
Bill aims to prevent loss of auto jobs  Detroit News   ...nternational Brotherhood of Teamsters President James Hoffa — on a conference call with Brown and a Ford Motor Co. trade executive — said the administration should be careful about new trade agreements...

Today's Teamster News 06.27.12

Inquiry Looks Into a Shield for Donors in Elections  New York Times   ...Mr. Schneiderman issued a wide-ranging subpoena on Tuesday to executives at a foundation affiliated with the chamber, seeking e-mails, bank records and other documents to determine whether the foundation illegally funneled $18 million to the chamber for political and lobbying activities, according to people with knowledge of the investigation...
Biden: Romney is a job creator in India, China  CNN   ...Romney's former private equity firm – owned companies that were "pioneers" in outsourcing U.S. jobs to countries like China and India...
Secretary Vilsack Testifies on Behalf of Russia Trade Bill  Trade Reform   ...Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack testified Thursday before the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance on behalf of a recently proposed bill to move Russia from the Jackson-Vanik Amendment to the Trade Act of 1974, thereby establishing permanent normal trade relations with the country...
"Bankruptcy Only Choice Left" As Stockton Set To Become Largest US City Chapter 9  zero hedge   ...As mediation with the city's creditors fails, the California city of Stockton looks set to become the US' largest ever city bankruptcy. The city with the second largest foreclosure-rate in the nation has seen its property taxes and other revenues decline while retiree benefits drained city coffers, according to the SF Chronicle...
Coca-Cola, Teamsters Negotiating  Hartford Courant   ...Representatives from Coca-Cola and the Teamsters Union are actively negotiating in an effort to end a strike that has gone on for more than five weeks...
JOBS: Striking Teamsters, Anheuser-Busch talk  The Press-Enterprise   ...Teamsters Local 166 President Mike Pharris on Tuesday indicated there has been movement in an attempt to resolve a strike against Anheuser-Busch Sales in Riverside...

Today's Teamster News 11.10.11

Protesters give Sotheby's clients a rough reception  AFP   ...Union workers and Occupy Wall Street activists gave a rough welcome to well-heeled Sotheby's clients as they arrived in limousines to attend an auction of contemporary art in New York...
Occupy protesters start march from NYC to DC in time for decision on Bush tax cuts  Associated Press   ...Flanked by police scooters, about two dozen Occupy Wall Street protesters started a two-week walk from New York to Washington on Wednesday...
Ohio Republican legislators have an SB 5 rewrite to do: Kevin O'Brien (opinion)  Plain Dealer   ...Ohio awoke Wednesday morning to a different political landscape. The fiscal problems in state and local governments were all in their usual places...
Capitol Crackdown an Abuse of Power  ForwardforLiberty   ...The citations issued during this legislative session by law enforcement to protesters holding signs and videotaping events at the (Wisconsin) Capitol represent another chapter in an almost year-long story of the suppression of citizens’ access to government and the right to free expression and assembly...
Euro Fears Spread to Italy as the Debt Crisis Deepens  New York Times   ...Since the start of the euro crisis two years ago, the big fear has been contagion, that market unease about the high debt and slow growth in Europe’s southern rim would infect the core. On Wednesday, contagion arrived with brute force...
Largest Municipal Bankruptcy Filed  Wall Street Journal   ...Jefferson County, Ala., which owes more than $3 billion on a failed sewer deal, filed Wednesday for what would be the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history after a tentative rescue plan with creditors unraveled...