TEAMSTERS
Teamsters Local 1205 Members at Baumann Buses Overwhelmingly Approve Contract Teamster.org ...In a secret ballot vote that was completed this afternoon, by a margin of 84 percent to 16 percent, Teamsters Local 1205 members working for Baumann/Acme Buses approved a new three-year union contract. This new contract, with its complex details, was recommended by the elected rank-and-file negotiating committee...
Baltimore Sun Drivers, Mailers, Pressmen Ratify New Teamster Contract Teamster.org ...After two years of difficult negotiations, tentative agreements for three departments at the Baltimore Sun represented by Local 355 and Local 888 were ratified at a jointly-held membership meeting Saturday, Oct. 24, 2015. The company had sought to shift the full burden of healthcare premium costs to workers, among other regressive demands, but bargaining committee members representing drivers and printers (Local 355) and mailers (Local 888) endorsed agreements that preserve current healthcare contributions and enhances job security...
Trucker strike begins at ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles Press-Telegram ...A group of truck drivers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach went on strike Monday, but port officials said the labor action had minimal impact on cargo operations. The “unfair labor practice” strike includes drivers “misclassified as independent contractors” rather than employees by Pacific 9 Transportation and XPO Logistic, said Barb Maynard of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
President says Indonesia intends to join TPP trade deal Reuters ...Indonesian President Joko Widodo, speaking after a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday, said his Southeast Asian country intends to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal the United States has forged with 11 other nations. "We are the largest economy in Southeast Asia," Widodo said through a translator. "And Indonesia intends to join the TPP"...
Chamber holds off on endorsing trade deal Washington Examiner ...Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue held off on endorsing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation trade deal the White House recently concluded negotiations on, stating that even he was not certain what was in the fine print of the deal. The Chamber is one of the leading advocates for free-trade policies, and its support will be crucial to getting the deal approved by Congress...
The TPP: An Attack on the Internet Counterpunch ...Wikileaks, the on-line bible of revealed secrets, published several leaked sections of what its editors believe is the final edition and the collective groan morphed into an outcry. It was, as the Electronic Frontier Foundation puts it, “all that we feared.” The TPP internationalizes some of the worst inequities and abuses specific signing governments are currently committing and nowhere is that more true than with surveillance and communications repression...
Years after the Rana Plaza tragedy, too many of Bangladesh’s factories are still “death traps” Quartz ...The 2013 garment factory collapse at Bangladesh’s Rana Plaza, which killed at least 1,133 people, was seen around the world as a wake-up call. There had already been several deadly tragedies in the country’s massive and growing garment industry, such as the 2012 Tazreen Fashions fire, but the deaths at Rana Plaza were on a new scale. Nobody could ignore the dire conditions that workers toiled in any longer...
17,000 workers strike at Egypt’s largest public textile factory Al Bawaba ...A strike by 17,000 workers at Egypt’s largest public sector textile company entered its sixth day Monday, making it the largest and longest-lasting Mahallah workers action since ex-army general Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took office over a year ago. Labor Minister Gamal Sorour said after meetings on Monday with officials in Gharbiya province, home to the beleaguered Misr Spinning and Weaving Company, that workers must resume production immediately...
Portugal's Democracy Cracks Under Weight Of Austerity Huffington Post ...Elections in Portugal this week offered the latest sign that when an individual European nation’s voters challenge eurozone austerity policies, the monetary union -- and the international creditors it represents -- takes precedence. Portugal’s president, Anibal Cavaco Silva, fueled an ongoing debate about the future of European democracy on Thursday when he reappointed an outgoing center-right prime minister despite election results...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Group challenges $1M drive to repeal prevailing wage Detroit Free Press ...The ballot committee Protect Michigan Jobs filed a challenge Monday to a $1-million business-backed petition drive to repeal Michigan's prevailing wage law, saying more than 40% of the signatures submitted are duplicates or otherwise invalid. The group pushing to repeal the law, Protecting Michigan Taxpayers, disputes the finding, and now it will be up to the state Board of Canvassers -- and possibly the courts -- to decide the issue...
Voter ID lawsuit hearing tentatively set for January Daily Tarheel ...A federal judge refused to dismiss challenges to North Carolina’s Voter ID law during a court hearing on Friday, and set a new tentative hearing for Jan. 16. The N.C. General Assembly passed the law two years ago, requiring voters to have photo ID when voting in-person. It would go into effect in 2016, possibly influencing the upcoming presidential primaries...
Why Are So Many Food Charities Shutting Down In Ohio? Think Progress ...As the Thanksgiving season starts, Ohio’s food charities are in rocky shape. About 40 food pantries in the state have been forced to close down or merge with another outfit in the past 16 months. Despite the closures, Ohioans can still turn to more than 1,700 individual food pantries around the state. But the contraction in food charities’ presence is a reminder of how precarious the nation’s volunteer-driven anti-hunger efforts are these days...
Supporters of higher minimum wage in capital seek compromise as vote looms Sacramento Bee ...Proponents of an embattled plan to raise Sacramento’s minimum wage are rushing to craft a new compromise in advance of Tuesday’s scheduled City Council vote, but it is far from certain that a deal can be reached. The plan would gradually hike the minimum wage in the city to $12.50 an hour by 2020...
U.S. LABOR
A Significant Deal for Automakers and Unions The Atlantic ...For nearly a decade, new workers hired at unionized auto plants across the country have started their jobs knowing a troubling fact: They made less than their colleagues, sometimes half as much. And no matter how hard they worked, they could never earn the wages of the people standing next to them on the assembly line. But, in a deal reached Sunday night, the UAW and GM announced that they had hammered out an agreement that would get rid of the two-tier wage system...
UAW members anxiously await details of GM contract Detroit Free Press ...One down, another close to the finish line and one more to go. That's pretty much where things stand in the UAW's contract talks with the Detroit Three. The UAW reached a new tentative agreement with General Motors shortly before midnight on Sunday but that agreement still has a long way to go before it becomes official...
UFCW 8-Golden State Members Ratify Agreements with Rite Aid Business Wire ...Concluding two years of collective bargaining, members of UFCW 8-Golden State have voted overwhelmingly to ratify new agreements with the Rite Aid drug store in the northern and southern regions of the state. UFCW 8-Golden State President Jacques Loveall praised the agreements, which cover approximately 2,500 Rite Aid Clerks and Pharmacists between the Oregon border and Kern County...
Union elections are rigged against workers The Hill ...Over the past couple of years, low-wage McDonalds, Wal-Mart and federal contract workers have been striking to win a minimum wage of at least $15 an hour and the right to form a union. Some people ask us, “Why don’t you stop striking and just hold a union election?” The truth is America’s low-wage workers are striking because union election rules are rigged against us...
The Hellish Conditions Facing Workers At Chicken Processing Plants Think Progress ...In a report released on Tuesday, Oxfam America is launching a new campaign to address what it says are rampant health and safety issues, as well as low pay and few benefits, that face the people who process chicken in the country’s plants. Consumer demand has been growing. That demand has come with increased pressure on processing line speeds, which are twice as fast today as they were in 1979...
Latest GOP Buzzword for Turning Social Security Into A Welfare Program: Means-Testing Salon ...Means-testing Social Security is a popular position among Republican presidential candidates this election cycle—if not among prospective voters. That means, essentially, turning the nation’s retirement system into a welfare program, targeted at those with real hardships. If they get their way, not only will Social Security benefits be slashed for millions, but something fundamental will have changed: our national retirement system will be transformed from a social insurance program to a welfare program...
Top-Secret Pentagon Program Exploited Aid Workers as Covert Spies Common Dreams ... A new investigation published Monday reveals that the U.S. Pentagon for years funneled millions to a charity organization employing it to serve as the front group for global espionage—very real revelations that experts warn could have dangerous implications for aid workers worldwide...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
In Student Victory, U. of Mississippi Removes State Flag with Confederate Emblem Democracy Now ...Early Monday morning, three campus police officers at the University of Mississippi removed the state flag with its Confederate emblem from the grounds of the school’s campus in Oxford. The move comes after the student government voted to remove the flag. Mississippi’s flag is the latest Confederate symbol to be targeted for removal from a public space since a white supremacist killed nine African-American worshipers in Charleston, South Carolina, four months ago...
Disturbing Video Shows School Cop Body Slam and Drag a Black Female Student Mother Jones ...Authorities in Richland County, South Carolina, are investigating a video that surfaced Monday showing a uniformed officer aggressively confronting a high school student. The video, which appears to have been recorded on a cellphone by a classmate, shows a white male officer standing over a black female student...
Showing posts with label newspapers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label newspapers. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Today's Teamster News 08.10.13
Leaders From DHL Locals Approve Tentative Agreement IBT ...Leaders from Teamsters local unions that represent DHL members met in Washington, D.C. on August 7 and overwhelmingly approved the tentative master agreement and supplements. Ballot materials will be mailed out to members on or about Wednesday, August 21...
Gold Cross Ambulance Employees, Schaefer Ambulance Service Will Negotiate Again Soon Imperial Valley Press ...More negotiations between Gold Cross Ambulance employees on strike and the company will take place Aug. 20 in Glendale. A federal mediator came Tuesday to assist in negotiations, but Teamsters Local 542 President Phil Farias said it did not go well...
Cal City seeks 'uniformity' in its union contracts, approves deal with Teamster clerical workers NWI Times ...The City Council gave its approval Thursday to a two-year deal with the union representing city clerical staff, with city Treasurer Gerald Tarka saying the deal is meant to be comparable with the union contracts given in recent years to other city employees...
Strike continues, transit restoration plans to be presented Willits News ...Teamsters and Lake and Paratransit personnel will make an appearance at the Lake Transit Board of Directors meeting Wednesday where Lake Transit Manager Mark Wall will present a plan to restore transit services to Lake County. Wall said he expects representatives of Teamsters Local 665 to present a plan of their own.
It’s wait, see for Globe’s unions Boston Herald ...Union leaders at The Boston Globe said they’ll keep an open mind about new owner John Henry even as they face the unpleasant task of immediate negotiations over new contracts, including for delivery drivers who are represented by Teamsters Local 259…
Sale of Post and Globe signals new era in media ownership Minnesota Public Radio ...The recent sale of the Boston Globe and the Washington Post, both to businessmen who are billionaires, signals a new era in media ownership. The two will take control of properties that are part of an industry in turmoil...
China Factories Turn to Undocumented Labor as Local Wages Jump Bloomberg ...China’s embrace of higher wages to help bolster consumer spending has sparked a jump in factories along the east-coast export corridor bringing in undocumented and lower-paid workers from Myanmar and Vietnam...
Job Market Faces New Problem, Hitting One Unlucky Group Really Hard Yahoo Finance ...recent graduates under 25 years-old are in a particularly bad spot right now...
Study: Wall Street Overpaid, Rent Seeking firedoglake ...Yet even more evidence to support the emerging consensus regarding our now dominant financial sector being bloated and useless...
The Problem with 401(k) Plans Baseline Scenario ...What Ayres and Curtis did was point out the losses that investors in 401(k) plans incur because of high fees charged at the plan level and high fees charged by individual mutual funds in those plans...
Coming Soon: An Epic Mini-Series ‘Strength In Union’ NH Labor News ...A five-part documentary film mini-series about the history of the American Labor Movement. “Strength In Union” will most likely air on PBS. The films will also be shown at film festivals throughout the country. Be sure to visit "Strength In Union" website for more information and release information...
Moral Monday coming to Charlotte’s Marshall Park on Aug. 19 Charlotte Business Journal ...The Moral Monday protests in Raleigh that have generated international attention to North Carolina politics — and led to hundreds of arrests of activists — will arrive in Charlotte on Aug. 19...
The Fast-Food Strikers Are Fighting for All of Us Huffington Post ...Fast food workers have been conducting one-day strikes for better wages and working conditions in several American cities. They've also been doing much more than that: They're shown the entire country real leadership. They're fighting for all of us, and their fight is our fight...
NSA Intends To Fire 90% Of Their System Administrators To Prevent Future Leaks Fire Dog Lake ...Despite the NSA demanding the public just trust them, the agency itself seems to have some trust issues...
Sallie Mae, Education Department Under Fire For Student Loans To Military Service Members Huffington Post ...The U.S. Department of Education and Sallie Mae face fresh questions over the student loan business after the largest educational debt company disclosed a raft of likely federal violations that raise concerns over the government’s oversight of its largest corporate contractor...
Seniors Aren't Very Happy With the Republican Party These Days Mother Jones ...Erica Seifert writes that polling evidence suggests that seniors are turning against the Republican Party in big numbers. Here are three of her bits of evidence...
Michigan's bargain fees for overweight trucks need review, Snyder says ...Gov. Rick Snyder said that Michigan should review the nominal permit fees it charges overweight trucks that chew up the state’s roads...
Texas Launches New Legal Attack On Voting Rights Act Talking Points Memo ...Texas escalated a confrontation with the Obama administration this week over the Voting Rights Act, staking out an aggressive new challenge to the landmark 1965 law that could send it back to the Supreme Court for yet another review...
Why Don’t Corporations Give to Charity? Slate Group ...Go to virtually any museum—and many hospitals, universities, and civic centers—these days, and you will find a prominent example of corporate philanthropy. If you were to judge it simply by the weight of public branding, you would think that the corporate community in the U.S. has stepped up to support charities in a significant way. They haven’t. Their profits soar, yet they only get stingier...
Meet the Low-Key, Low-Cost Grocery Chain Being Called ‘Walmart’s Worst Nightmare’ Time ...Retail analysts say that the world’s biggest retailer has reason to fear a small grocery chain that’s based in Idaho and boasts a business model that allows it to undercut Walmart on prices...
Prison guards seek millions of dollars from state Wisconsin Radio Network ...Prison guards at 10 Wisconsin correctional institutions file a lawsuit, seeking payment for perhaps a few minutes of unpaid time every work day. That extra time could add up to millions of dollars for the guards...
Gold Cross Ambulance Employees, Schaefer Ambulance Service Will Negotiate Again Soon Imperial Valley Press ...More negotiations between Gold Cross Ambulance employees on strike and the company will take place Aug. 20 in Glendale. A federal mediator came Tuesday to assist in negotiations, but Teamsters Local 542 President Phil Farias said it did not go well...
Cal City seeks 'uniformity' in its union contracts, approves deal with Teamster clerical workers NWI Times ...The City Council gave its approval Thursday to a two-year deal with the union representing city clerical staff, with city Treasurer Gerald Tarka saying the deal is meant to be comparable with the union contracts given in recent years to other city employees...
Strike continues, transit restoration plans to be presented Willits News ...Teamsters and Lake and Paratransit personnel will make an appearance at the Lake Transit Board of Directors meeting Wednesday where Lake Transit Manager Mark Wall will present a plan to restore transit services to Lake County. Wall said he expects representatives of Teamsters Local 665 to present a plan of their own.
It’s wait, see for Globe’s unions Boston Herald ...Union leaders at The Boston Globe said they’ll keep an open mind about new owner John Henry even as they face the unpleasant task of immediate negotiations over new contracts, including for delivery drivers who are represented by Teamsters Local 259…
Sale of Post and Globe signals new era in media ownership Minnesota Public Radio ...The recent sale of the Boston Globe and the Washington Post, both to businessmen who are billionaires, signals a new era in media ownership. The two will take control of properties that are part of an industry in turmoil...
China Factories Turn to Undocumented Labor as Local Wages Jump Bloomberg ...China’s embrace of higher wages to help bolster consumer spending has sparked a jump in factories along the east-coast export corridor bringing in undocumented and lower-paid workers from Myanmar and Vietnam...
Job Market Faces New Problem, Hitting One Unlucky Group Really Hard Yahoo Finance ...recent graduates under 25 years-old are in a particularly bad spot right now...
Study: Wall Street Overpaid, Rent Seeking firedoglake ...Yet even more evidence to support the emerging consensus regarding our now dominant financial sector being bloated and useless...
The Problem with 401(k) Plans Baseline Scenario ...What Ayres and Curtis did was point out the losses that investors in 401(k) plans incur because of high fees charged at the plan level and high fees charged by individual mutual funds in those plans...
Coming Soon: An Epic Mini-Series ‘Strength In Union’ NH Labor News ...A five-part documentary film mini-series about the history of the American Labor Movement. “Strength In Union” will most likely air on PBS. The films will also be shown at film festivals throughout the country. Be sure to visit "Strength In Union" website for more information and release information...
Moral Monday coming to Charlotte’s Marshall Park on Aug. 19 Charlotte Business Journal ...The Moral Monday protests in Raleigh that have generated international attention to North Carolina politics — and led to hundreds of arrests of activists — will arrive in Charlotte on Aug. 19...
The Fast-Food Strikers Are Fighting for All of Us Huffington Post ...Fast food workers have been conducting one-day strikes for better wages and working conditions in several American cities. They've also been doing much more than that: They're shown the entire country real leadership. They're fighting for all of us, and their fight is our fight...
NSA Intends To Fire 90% Of Their System Administrators To Prevent Future Leaks Fire Dog Lake ...Despite the NSA demanding the public just trust them, the agency itself seems to have some trust issues...
Sallie Mae, Education Department Under Fire For Student Loans To Military Service Members Huffington Post ...The U.S. Department of Education and Sallie Mae face fresh questions over the student loan business after the largest educational debt company disclosed a raft of likely federal violations that raise concerns over the government’s oversight of its largest corporate contractor...
Seniors Aren't Very Happy With the Republican Party These Days Mother Jones ...Erica Seifert writes that polling evidence suggests that seniors are turning against the Republican Party in big numbers. Here are three of her bits of evidence...
Michigan's bargain fees for overweight trucks need review, Snyder says ...Gov. Rick Snyder said that Michigan should review the nominal permit fees it charges overweight trucks that chew up the state’s roads...
Texas Launches New Legal Attack On Voting Rights Act Talking Points Memo ...Texas escalated a confrontation with the Obama administration this week over the Voting Rights Act, staking out an aggressive new challenge to the landmark 1965 law that could send it back to the Supreme Court for yet another review...
Why Don’t Corporations Give to Charity? Slate Group ...Go to virtually any museum—and many hospitals, universities, and civic centers—these days, and you will find a prominent example of corporate philanthropy. If you were to judge it simply by the weight of public branding, you would think that the corporate community in the U.S. has stepped up to support charities in a significant way. They haven’t. Their profits soar, yet they only get stingier...
Meet the Low-Key, Low-Cost Grocery Chain Being Called ‘Walmart’s Worst Nightmare’ Time ...Retail analysts say that the world’s biggest retailer has reason to fear a small grocery chain that’s based in Idaho and boasts a business model that allows it to undercut Walmart on prices...
Prison guards seek millions of dollars from state Wisconsin Radio Network ...Prison guards at 10 Wisconsin correctional institutions file a lawsuit, seeking payment for perhaps a few minutes of unpaid time every work day. That extra time could add up to millions of dollars for the guards...
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Today's Teamster News 08.06.13
Teamsters, strikers call on Lake Transit, county leaders to take action Lake County Record-Bee ...Teamsters, Paratransit employees and members of the community gathered Friday at noon in front of Lake County’s City Hall to picket, address the media and call on county leaders and Lake Transit to take action on the public transportation issue...
New Hampshire Waste Workers Win Card-Check Recognition to Become Teamsters IBT ...Waste workers with Casella Waste Systems in Brentwood, N.H., will now be represented by the Teamsters Union, after Local 633 in Manchester, N.H., secured a card-check agreement. The workers overwhelmingly signed up to become Teamster members...
Gold Cross Strike Continues for EMTs, Paramedics Imperial Valley Press...Friends, families, and supporters of Teamsters Local 542 picket in front of Gold Cross Ambulance on Sunday afternoon in El Centro. Check out this photo gallery...
U.S. Trustee Objects to AMR Chief's $20 Million Severance, Again Wall Street Journal ...Justice Department officials monitoring the American Airlines bankruptcy case again objected to a proposed $20 million severance package for Tom Horton, AMR's current chief executive, according to a court filing made late Friday...
U.S. Issues New Rail Safety Rules After Quebec Disaster Journal of Commerce ...The Federal Railroad Administration on Friday issued an emergency order aimed at making the hauling of hazardous materials safer, following last month's deadly Quebec fuel train accident...
Politicians must step up and make rail safety a top priority (opinion) Rabble ...Transport Canada's emergency safety directive issued following the Lac-Mégantic rail tragedy is welcome but more can be done...
100 homes evacuated in southern Louisiana after train derails Los Angeles Times ...About 100 homes remained evacuated on Monday as officials worked to clean up the area around the derailment of a train carrying chemicals near the town of Lawtell, Louisiana. The accident took place Sunday and derailed 27 cars of a Union Pacific train...
40 Percent Of U.S. Workers Make Less Than What A Full-Time Minimum Wage Worker Made In 1968 Men's News Daily ...Are American workers paid enough? Back in 1968, the minimum wage in the United States was $1.60 an hour. Using the inflation calculator that the Bureau of Labor Statistics provides, $1.60 in 1968 is equivalent to $10.74 today...
Bernie Sanders: Walmart family’s ‘obscene’ wealth subsidized by taxpayers Raw Story ...Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) appeared on MSNBC’s “The Ed Show” on Saturday and scoffed at the idea that major corporations like Walmart can’t afford to pay their workers a living wage and that to raise the U.S. minimum wage would be bad for the economy...
The rich are saving cash at a record pace CNBC ...Since the financial crisis, the wealthy have become the nation's top cash hoarders, filling up deposit accounts and money markets at a rapid clip...
Massive Toxic Black Cloud, Brought To You by the Koch Bros, Blows Over Detroit Common Dreams ...Mind-boggling video of a billowing, high-carbon, high-sulfur cloud from the mountain of petroleum coke - waste from Canadian tar sands shipped from Alberta to Detroit, and the dirtiest potential energy source ever - illegally stored by the Koch Brothers along the Detroit River...
Eight Ways Privatization Has Failed America (opinion) Truth-Out ...Some of America's leading news analysts are beginning to recognize the fallacy of the "free market." They're right. A little analysis reveals that privatization doesn't seem to work in any of the areas vital to the American public...
The Force Behind Bills To Lower Wages and Suppress Workers’ Rights? You Guessed It: ALEC In These Times ...As working Americans speak out for higher wages, better benefits and respect in the workplace, a coordinated, nationwide campaign to silence them is mounting—and ALEC is at the heart of it...
Report: State workers need raise to match private sector Denver Post ...Colorado's roughly 32,000 state workers need a 3.8 percent raise to catch up to their counterparts in the private sector, the state Department of Personnel and Administration said...
Washington Post to be sold to Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon Washington Post ...Ultimately, the paper’s financial challenges prompted the company’s board to consider a sale, a step once regarded as unthinkable by insiders and the Graham family...
Indiana senator to push for municipal bankruptcy law Associated Press ...A northwestern Indiana lawmaker says he will push a measure next year that would change state law to allow local governments to file for bankruptcy like Detroit did in July...
Judge to open documents in Idaho prison lawsuit Associated Press ...A federal judge has ordered that several documents be unsealed in a lawsuit between Idaho inmates and Corrections Corporation of America just days before a hearing is set over whether the private prison company should be held in contempt of court...
Four-day bus strike in suburbs east of Phoenix ends Associated Press ...First Transit bus drivers in the Phoenix suburbs tentatively reached an agreement Sunday with a national bus company to end a four-day strike by the drivers that would let bus service resume in time for Monday morning's commute...
BART strike averted as Governor orders inquiry Associated Press ...Hundreds of thousands of San Francisco Bay area commuters got at least a temporary reprieve from a massive transit strike today when Gov. Jerry Brown ordered an inquiry into a labor contract dispute...
New Hampshire Waste Workers Win Card-Check Recognition to Become Teamsters IBT ...Waste workers with Casella Waste Systems in Brentwood, N.H., will now be represented by the Teamsters Union, after Local 633 in Manchester, N.H., secured a card-check agreement. The workers overwhelmingly signed up to become Teamster members...
Gold Cross Strike Continues for EMTs, Paramedics Imperial Valley Press...Friends, families, and supporters of Teamsters Local 542 picket in front of Gold Cross Ambulance on Sunday afternoon in El Centro. Check out this photo gallery...
U.S. Trustee Objects to AMR Chief's $20 Million Severance, Again Wall Street Journal ...Justice Department officials monitoring the American Airlines bankruptcy case again objected to a proposed $20 million severance package for Tom Horton, AMR's current chief executive, according to a court filing made late Friday...
U.S. Issues New Rail Safety Rules After Quebec Disaster Journal of Commerce ...The Federal Railroad Administration on Friday issued an emergency order aimed at making the hauling of hazardous materials safer, following last month's deadly Quebec fuel train accident...
Politicians must step up and make rail safety a top priority (opinion) Rabble ...Transport Canada's emergency safety directive issued following the Lac-Mégantic rail tragedy is welcome but more can be done...
100 homes evacuated in southern Louisiana after train derails Los Angeles Times ...About 100 homes remained evacuated on Monday as officials worked to clean up the area around the derailment of a train carrying chemicals near the town of Lawtell, Louisiana. The accident took place Sunday and derailed 27 cars of a Union Pacific train...
40 Percent Of U.S. Workers Make Less Than What A Full-Time Minimum Wage Worker Made In 1968 Men's News Daily ...Are American workers paid enough? Back in 1968, the minimum wage in the United States was $1.60 an hour. Using the inflation calculator that the Bureau of Labor Statistics provides, $1.60 in 1968 is equivalent to $10.74 today...
Bernie Sanders: Walmart family’s ‘obscene’ wealth subsidized by taxpayers Raw Story ...Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) appeared on MSNBC’s “The Ed Show” on Saturday and scoffed at the idea that major corporations like Walmart can’t afford to pay their workers a living wage and that to raise the U.S. minimum wage would be bad for the economy...
The rich are saving cash at a record pace CNBC ...Since the financial crisis, the wealthy have become the nation's top cash hoarders, filling up deposit accounts and money markets at a rapid clip...
Massive Toxic Black Cloud, Brought To You by the Koch Bros, Blows Over Detroit Common Dreams ...Mind-boggling video of a billowing, high-carbon, high-sulfur cloud from the mountain of petroleum coke - waste from Canadian tar sands shipped from Alberta to Detroit, and the dirtiest potential energy source ever - illegally stored by the Koch Brothers along the Detroit River...
Eight Ways Privatization Has Failed America (opinion) Truth-Out ...Some of America's leading news analysts are beginning to recognize the fallacy of the "free market." They're right. A little analysis reveals that privatization doesn't seem to work in any of the areas vital to the American public...
The Force Behind Bills To Lower Wages and Suppress Workers’ Rights? You Guessed It: ALEC In These Times ...As working Americans speak out for higher wages, better benefits and respect in the workplace, a coordinated, nationwide campaign to silence them is mounting—and ALEC is at the heart of it...
Report: State workers need raise to match private sector Denver Post ...Colorado's roughly 32,000 state workers need a 3.8 percent raise to catch up to their counterparts in the private sector, the state Department of Personnel and Administration said...
Washington Post to be sold to Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon Washington Post ...Ultimately, the paper’s financial challenges prompted the company’s board to consider a sale, a step once regarded as unthinkable by insiders and the Graham family...
Indiana senator to push for municipal bankruptcy law Associated Press ...A northwestern Indiana lawmaker says he will push a measure next year that would change state law to allow local governments to file for bankruptcy like Detroit did in July...
Judge to open documents in Idaho prison lawsuit Associated Press ...A federal judge has ordered that several documents be unsealed in a lawsuit between Idaho inmates and Corrections Corporation of America just days before a hearing is set over whether the private prison company should be held in contempt of court...
Four-day bus strike in suburbs east of Phoenix ends Associated Press ...First Transit bus drivers in the Phoenix suburbs tentatively reached an agreement Sunday with a national bus company to end a four-day strike by the drivers that would let bus service resume in time for Monday morning's commute...
BART strike averted as Governor orders inquiry Associated Press ...Hundreds of thousands of San Francisco Bay area commuters got at least a temporary reprieve from a massive transit strike today when Gov. Jerry Brown ordered an inquiry into a labor contract dispute...
Monday, August 5, 2013
Today's Teamster News 08.05.14
The Payday Playbook: How High Cost Lenders Fight to Stay Legal ProPublica ...Outrage over payday loans, which trap millions of Americans in debt and are the best-known type of high-cost loans, has led to dozens of state laws aimed at stamping out abuses. But the industry has proved extremely resilient. In at least 39 states, lenders offering payday or other loans still charge annual rates of 100 percent or more. Sometimes, rates exceed 1,000 percent...
Members of Congress denied access to basic information about NSA The Guardian ...Members of Congress have been repeatedly thwarted when attempting to learn basic information about the National Security Agency (NSA) and the secret FISA court which authorizes its activities, documents provided by two House members demonstrate...
Why Do the People Raising Our Children Earn Poverty Wages? The Nation ...Childcare workers perform that most vital labor, rearing our young. But across the country, they are invisible and poorly paid, without healthcare, unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation or other benefits...
Higher Wages Don't Destroy Fast Food Next New Deal ...high wages can lead to more prosperous companies, and those companies aren't getting the bad press about wage-related strikes...
Has the Rise of Online Shopping Made Traffic Worse? The Atlantic ...all those Amazon deliveries could just as easily be increasing congestion by putting more UPS trucks on the road, while at the same time freeing you up to travel for other reasons...
Top Fed economist slams 'incoherent' ECB The Telegraph ...The US Federal Reserve has launched a blistering attack on the European Central Bank, calling for quantitative easing across the board to lift the eurozone fully out of its slump...
Will Medical Trade Be Included in the EU Trade Deal and the TPP? If Not, Why Not? CEPR ... our hospitals, doctors, and medical equipment makers benefit from tariffs on the order of 500 percent or more. If the Obama administration really is interesting in promoting growth through trade it would be difficult to imagine a sector with larger potential gains than trade in medical care...
Detroit workers fear city’s bankruptcy could wipe out their pensions Agence France-Press ...their city-run plan is the only thing keeping them out of food banks or even homeless shelters...
After Detroit bankruptcy, Brits and bankers target Chicago Examiner ...Wall Street bankers are maneuvering to loot municipal pension funds across the country...
Boston Globe newspaper sells for fraction of buying price BBC News ...The New York Times company bought it for $1.1bn (£700m) in 1993 but has now agreed to sell it for $70m...
'Moral Monday' protests heading to Asheville WRAL ...With the North Carolina General Assembly finished for the year, protesters are bringing their Moral Monday demonstrations on the road...
Break given to Christel House could have spared two IPS schools from state takeover Indianapolis Star ...Two Indianapolis Public Schools might never have been taken over by the state if then-Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett had offered the district the same flexibility he granted a year later to the Christel House Academy charter school...
Members of Congress denied access to basic information about NSA The Guardian ...Members of Congress have been repeatedly thwarted when attempting to learn basic information about the National Security Agency (NSA) and the secret FISA court which authorizes its activities, documents provided by two House members demonstrate...
Why Do the People Raising Our Children Earn Poverty Wages? The Nation ...Childcare workers perform that most vital labor, rearing our young. But across the country, they are invisible and poorly paid, without healthcare, unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation or other benefits...
Higher Wages Don't Destroy Fast Food Next New Deal ...high wages can lead to more prosperous companies, and those companies aren't getting the bad press about wage-related strikes...
Has the Rise of Online Shopping Made Traffic Worse? The Atlantic ...all those Amazon deliveries could just as easily be increasing congestion by putting more UPS trucks on the road, while at the same time freeing you up to travel for other reasons...
Top Fed economist slams 'incoherent' ECB The Telegraph ...The US Federal Reserve has launched a blistering attack on the European Central Bank, calling for quantitative easing across the board to lift the eurozone fully out of its slump...
Will Medical Trade Be Included in the EU Trade Deal and the TPP? If Not, Why Not? CEPR ... our hospitals, doctors, and medical equipment makers benefit from tariffs on the order of 500 percent or more. If the Obama administration really is interesting in promoting growth through trade it would be difficult to imagine a sector with larger potential gains than trade in medical care...
Detroit workers fear city’s bankruptcy could wipe out their pensions Agence France-Press ...their city-run plan is the only thing keeping them out of food banks or even homeless shelters...
After Detroit bankruptcy, Brits and bankers target Chicago Examiner ...Wall Street bankers are maneuvering to loot municipal pension funds across the country...
Boston Globe newspaper sells for fraction of buying price BBC News ...The New York Times company bought it for $1.1bn (£700m) in 1993 but has now agreed to sell it for $70m...
'Moral Monday' protests heading to Asheville WRAL ...With the North Carolina General Assembly finished for the year, protesters are bringing their Moral Monday demonstrations on the road...
Break given to Christel House could have spared two IPS schools from state takeover Indianapolis Star ...Two Indianapolis Public Schools might never have been taken over by the state if then-Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett had offered the district the same flexibility he granted a year later to the Christel House Academy charter school...
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Hundreds protesting Kochs' rumored newspaper takeover, including Ry Cooder
Legendary session man Ry Cooder joined protests this week against the
Cooder, a six-time Grammy winner, sang before hundreds of Angelenos objecting to the sale of eight newspapers to the brothers. The song, a rewrite of "I Don't Want Your Millions, Mister," included the lyrics,
Don’t sell out to the Koch brothers / Don’t let the brothers in the door/ We don’t want them taking over / That is what we’re marching for.Protests have erupted in cities where the chain owns newspapers, including Chicago and Orlando. The chain includes the Chicago Tribune, the Orlando Sentinel, the Baltimore Sun, the Hartford Courant, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Baltimore Sun, Daily Press and The Morning Call.
Unions are supporting the protests because (a) the media outlets would become potent anti-union propaganda tools under the Kochs, and (b) union retirement plans are heavily invested in the current ownership of the Tribune, making a sale to the Kochs an enormous conflict of interest.
Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi explains:
The Koch brothers have always taken powerful and unequivocal stances against public sector unions and their retirement plans. They were primary financial backers of Scott Walker's anti-union movement in Wisconsin, where the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity group engaged in massive ad buys and signature-collecting campaigns to back Walker's play to crush collective bargaining rights for public workers. Through direct donations and support of groups like the conservative state policy group ALEC, the Kochs have taken aim at public unions, public union lobbying and public pensions in multiple states across the country, among other things spending $4 million in California to support Prop 32, a state ballot measure restricting union political activity.
The potential conflict comes from the fact that two of the major stakeholders at Tribune Co. are investment management firms that manage billions of dollars of public pension funds. One is called Oaktree Capital, a Los Angeles-based group that owns 23.5 percent of Tribune Co. Another is called Angelo Gordon & Co., which is based here in New York and owns 9.4 percent of Tribune. J.P. Morgan Chase, another major Tribune stakeholder, also manages public-sector funds.
This sale really can't happen, obviously, without the assent of these companies. Yet these companies are financially dependent upon public pension funds.
Oaktree's client list includes the two monster California funds, CalPERS (the California Public Employees' Retirement System) and CalSTRS (California State Teachers' Retirement System), as well as the City of Philadelphia Board of Pensions, the Houston Municipal Employees Pension System, the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, the Illinois State Retirement Systems, the Los Angeles City Employees' Retirement System, the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association and the Los Angeles Fire & Police Pensions, plus public funds in Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts and New Jersey.
Angelo Gordon's clients, meanwhile, include those same CalSTRS and Los Angeles Fire & Police funds, the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board, the New York State Common Retirement Fund, the New York State Teachers' Retirement System, Ohio State University, the Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System, the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio and the Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois, among others.The Huffington Post reports that the California protesters have influential politicians behind them:
And, LA City Councilman Bill Rosendahl introduced a motion last week to pull city pension money from the investment firms that own the Los Angeles Times if Tribune Co. sells to buyers who do not support "professional and objective journalism."
About one-quarter of the assets held by Oaktree Capital Management come from public pension funds. In a letter last week to Karsh, 10 public employee unions warned that a sale to the Koch brothers “would be adverse to the retirement security of public employees whose pension funds you are responsible for managing and investing.”And about those protests....
Union workers, environmentalists and others chanted "Say no to Koch" and "No Koch hate in LA" outside the office of Bruce Karsh, chairman of the Tribune Co. and president of Oaktree Capital Management, the largest Tribune shareholder.
"These are the folks who underwrite the Tea Party ... who think that the gap between the rich and the poor is a good thing … who deny climate change," Roxana Tynan, executive director of the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, told the crowd.You can sign a petition against a Koch brother purchase of the newspapers here.< br />
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Today's Teamster News 03.16.13
JP Morgan accused of hiding losses by Senate report BBC News ...The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations found that the bank misled investors and ignored risks...
Yin Wong, Disabled San Francisco Resident, Says She Was Foreclosed On But Never Missed A Payment Huffington Post ..."It's a very extreme situation if you're someone who doesn't speak English very well and suddenly, through no fault of your own, someone tells you that you no longer own your home..."
EU summit: Austerity push challenged amid mass protests BBC News ...Thousands of protesters rallied outside the summit venue, saying government spending cuts were hitting jobs...
Koch Brothers vs. Rupert Murdoch: The Fight for Tribune Newspapers Is On Atlantic Wire ...The Koch brothers are reportedly considering a bid for the Tribune Company newspapers — focusing on the crown jewels of the L.A. Times and Chicago Tribune, or at least what jewels of power are left in the flailing newspaper industry — but they may face stiff competition in the form of a debt-free, full pocketed media power player named Rupert Murdoch...
House Republicans Unanimously Vote Down Minimum Wage Hike Talking Points Memo ...House Republicans unanimously voted down a measure Friday that would have raised the federal minimum wage, from its current $7.25 per hour to $10.10 by 2015. Six Democrats joined 227 Republicans in voting it down; 184 Democrats voted yes...
Missouri Senate passes union paycheck deduction bill Associated Press ...The Senate voted 24-10 along party lines Thursday to send the measure to the House. Republicans supported the bill, while Democrats voted against it. The House on Wednesday passed a similar measure that would only require consent to spend dues on political contributions...
Detroit Is 'Olympics Of Restructuring,' New Emergency Manager Says NPR ...Kevyn Orr, "a high-powered Washington, D.C., lawyer and University of Michigan graduate who worked on Chrysler's 2009 bankruptcy restructuring," has been given the job of straightening out the city of Detroit's desperate financial mess...
Affidavit: State GOP got rid of redistricting files Associated Press ...An affidavit filed in federal court this week said documents were deleted from state redistricting computers last year even after lawmakers' aides were told to preserve all records. The filing raises the possibility that Republican officials or their lawyers could face sanctions from the panel of three federal judges overseeing the case...
Attorney general won't seek Supreme Court review of collective bargaining case ruling Madison.com ...Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen will not seek a state Supreme Court review of a decision by the Court of Appeals not to stay a Dane County Circuit Court order declaring part of the collective bargaining law to be unconstitutional...
Kasich’s budget plan lowers aid to public schools, boosts privately run charter schools Akron Beacon Journal ...The majority of Ohio and area school districts would get less state funding, while charter schools would get more, in Gov. John Kasich’s proposed changes to the state funding formula, according to an independent analysis by the Legislative Service Commission...
Gov. Dayton Lashes Out At Chamber Of Commerce CBS Minnesota ...Gov. Mark Dayton told hundreds of state business leaders on Wednesday he’s not backing down from a plan to raise taxes on high income Minnesotans...The governor unloaded on his Chamber of Commerce hosts and accused the business group of not telling the truth about the state of the state...
Teamsters confront Thorn Creek Basin officials over labor dispute NWI Times ...Officials with the Teamsters union local that represents 13 employees of the Thorn Creek Basin Sanitary District will meet Monday with Mayor David Gonzalez, who they perceive as a supporter of their ongoing labor dispute...
LABOR: Teamsters talking contract with ABF The Press-Enterprise ...Negotiators for the Teamsters are continuing their contract talks with trucking operator ABF Freight Systems, and these talks are getting close to what now constitutes a deadline...
Yin Wong, Disabled San Francisco Resident, Says She Was Foreclosed On But Never Missed A Payment Huffington Post ..."It's a very extreme situation if you're someone who doesn't speak English very well and suddenly, through no fault of your own, someone tells you that you no longer own your home..."
EU summit: Austerity push challenged amid mass protests BBC News ...Thousands of protesters rallied outside the summit venue, saying government spending cuts were hitting jobs...
Koch Brothers vs. Rupert Murdoch: The Fight for Tribune Newspapers Is On Atlantic Wire ...The Koch brothers are reportedly considering a bid for the Tribune Company newspapers — focusing on the crown jewels of the L.A. Times and Chicago Tribune, or at least what jewels of power are left in the flailing newspaper industry — but they may face stiff competition in the form of a debt-free, full pocketed media power player named Rupert Murdoch...
House Republicans Unanimously Vote Down Minimum Wage Hike Talking Points Memo ...House Republicans unanimously voted down a measure Friday that would have raised the federal minimum wage, from its current $7.25 per hour to $10.10 by 2015. Six Democrats joined 227 Republicans in voting it down; 184 Democrats voted yes...
Missouri Senate passes union paycheck deduction bill Associated Press ...The Senate voted 24-10 along party lines Thursday to send the measure to the House. Republicans supported the bill, while Democrats voted against it. The House on Wednesday passed a similar measure that would only require consent to spend dues on political contributions...
Detroit Is 'Olympics Of Restructuring,' New Emergency Manager Says NPR ...Kevyn Orr, "a high-powered Washington, D.C., lawyer and University of Michigan graduate who worked on Chrysler's 2009 bankruptcy restructuring," has been given the job of straightening out the city of Detroit's desperate financial mess...
Affidavit: State GOP got rid of redistricting files Associated Press ...An affidavit filed in federal court this week said documents were deleted from state redistricting computers last year even after lawmakers' aides were told to preserve all records. The filing raises the possibility that Republican officials or their lawyers could face sanctions from the panel of three federal judges overseeing the case...
Attorney general won't seek Supreme Court review of collective bargaining case ruling Madison.com ...Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen will not seek a state Supreme Court review of a decision by the Court of Appeals not to stay a Dane County Circuit Court order declaring part of the collective bargaining law to be unconstitutional...
Kasich’s budget plan lowers aid to public schools, boosts privately run charter schools Akron Beacon Journal ...The majority of Ohio and area school districts would get less state funding, while charter schools would get more, in Gov. John Kasich’s proposed changes to the state funding formula, according to an independent analysis by the Legislative Service Commission...
Gov. Dayton Lashes Out At Chamber Of Commerce CBS Minnesota ...Gov. Mark Dayton told hundreds of state business leaders on Wednesday he’s not backing down from a plan to raise taxes on high income Minnesotans...The governor unloaded on his Chamber of Commerce hosts and accused the business group of not telling the truth about the state of the state...
Teamsters confront Thorn Creek Basin officials over labor dispute NWI Times ...Officials with the Teamsters union local that represents 13 employees of the Thorn Creek Basin Sanitary District will meet Monday with Mayor David Gonzalez, who they perceive as a supporter of their ongoing labor dispute...
LABOR: Teamsters talking contract with ABF The Press-Enterprise ...Negotiators for the Teamsters are continuing their contract talks with trucking operator ABF Freight Systems, and these talks are getting close to what now constitutes a deadline...
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Santa Barbara News-Press sanctioned for bargaining in bad faith
Over a year ago, the National Labor Relations Board ruled the publisher fired News-Press Teamster journalists because of their union activity. The NLRB ordered the News-Press to offer eight employees their jobs back, rescind poor evaluations of four union supporters and revoke suspension notices for 11 others. The publisher was also ordered to give back pay to all the employees it had harmed.
That didn't stop union busting at the News-Press. And once again, the News-Press publisher -- Ampersand Publishing, LLC -- didn't get away with it.
The NLRB on Sept. 27 found that the publisher did all of these things:
- Submitted contract proposals that would have let the employer unilaterally set wages, discipline employees and hire and fire employees;
- Unlawfully fired and suspended an employee for union and concerted activities;
- Laid off an employee without telling the union or giving it an opportunity to bargain;
- Transferred bargaining unit work to non-union freelance journalists, and
- Offered employees the services of its attorneys if contacted by an NLRB agent investigating unfair labor practice charges.
George Tedeschi, president of the Teamsters Graphic Communications Conference, said in a statement,
This development is one more positive step towards rectifying the unfair treatment that reporters and other staffers received from News-Press management when they first organized their unit several years ago.No justice, no peace.
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