Today's Teamster News 09.18.13

Teamsters VP Potter Calls Out NJ Gov. Christie for Misclassification Law Veto  Leslie Marshall Show   ...Teamsters International Vice President Fred Potter tells labor radio host Leslie Marshall that New Jersey Gov. Christie’s priority is not workers since port workers and others are being cheated by misclassification...
Teamsters Union Takes New Tack On Drayage Carriers  Journal of Commerce   ...When long-haul and local truck drivers at Toll Global Forwarding's Cartaret, N.J., location voted this summer in favor of representation by the Teamsters, it was the union's latest successful bid to organize workers on the waterfront...
Drive Up Standards Newsletter Now Available  driveupstandards.org   ...Read the latest issue of the Teamsters school bus campaign newsletter here...
U.S. to Include Home Care Workers in Wage and Overtime Law  New York Times   ...Advocates for low-wage workers have pushed for this change, asserting that home care workers, who care for elderly and disabled Americans, were wrongly classified into the same “companionship services” category as baby sitters — a group that is exempt from wage and overtime coverage...
Labor unions oppose privatizing TVA  Times Free Press   ...Organized labor may have backed President Obama, but America’s biggest unions don’t like the idea he floated in April to consider selling the Tennessee Valley Authority...
Youth takes on Moral Monday movement  Duke Chronicle   ...Demonstrators carrying three empty coffins led a long, silent procession of more than 200 to Gov. Pat McCrory’s executive mansion Monday...
Google Knows The WiFi Passwords Of Every Android User: Report  Huffington Post   ...Google might have access to WiFi passwords...
  U.S. must take tobacco out of global trade talks (opinion)  San Francisco Chronicle   ...Tobacco companies continue to aggressively market their deadly products across the country and around the world, through insidious ad campaigns. And they have found a new arena to exploit their deadly products: international trade agreements...
Hacker group in China linked to big cyber attacks  Reuters   ...Researchers have discovered a group of highly sophisticated hackers operating for hire out of China, a U.S. computer security company said on Tuesday, and it linked them to some of the best-known espionage attacks in recent years...
The typical American family makes less than it did in 1989  Washington Post   ...The Census Bureau is out with the annual report on incomes and poverty. And while you might think that after years of stagnant incomes and elevated poverty rates, we would be inured to the depressing facts contained therein, it still somehow has the power to shock...
U.S. Banks Say They Are Now Safer (By Their Own Measure)  Reuters   ...The biggest U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co and Bank of America Corp, said that by their own reckoning they are better equipped to withstand global downturns now than they were in March...
Greek Doctors Join Civil Service Strike As Workers Protest Austerity Cuts To Hospitals, Schools  Huffington Post   ...Greek hospital doctors have embarked on a three-day strike, joining high school teachers who walked off the job a day earlier in a week of public sector strikes protesting planned job cuts...
California Legislature votes to end retroactive tax on investors   Los Angeles Times   ...California lawmakers have sent the governor a bill that would end state efforts to collect a retroactive tax increase from investors. A signature by Gov. Jerry Brown would relieve about 2,000 taxpayers from having to pay $120 million in back taxes...
Americans Are 110 Times More Likely to Die from Contaminated Food Than Terrorism  Alternet   ...In 2011, the year of Osama bin Laden's death, the  State Department reported that 17 Americans were killed in all terrorist incidents worldwide. The same year, a single outbreak of listeriosis from  tainted cantaloupe killed 33 people in the United States. Foodborne pathogens also sickened 48.7 million, hospitalized 127,839 and caused a total of  3,037 deaths. This is a typical year, not an aberration...

Meet Three Billionaires Asking Taxpayers To Buy Them New Stadiums  Think Progress   ...The NFL has 14 owners on the list, more than any other league. And three of the names should be notable, because they are asking taxpayers in their city to help foot the bill for new stadiums or massive renovation projects...
US super-rich hit new wealth record five years after financial crisis  The Guardian   ...the 400 wealthiest Americans are worth a record $2.02tn, up from $1.7tn in 2012...
Progress on Predatory Lending  New York Times   ...Payday loans have long been huge financial traps for cash-strapped, low-income borrowers. Several states have clamped down on these “quick fix” loans, which sometimes carry annual interest rates of 400 percent or more. But a lot more needs to be done...
U.S. Judge: CCA Violated Idaho Contract When It Understaffed Private Prison  Boise Weekly   ...Following years of controversy, private prison Operator Corrections Corporation of America, which operates Idaho's private prison, was told by a federal judge that it was in contempt of court for understaffing the Idaho Correctional Center...
Kansas won't require citizenship proof for driver's license renewals  Associated Press   ...Kansas no longer plans to require people renewing driver’s licenses to produce proof that they are living in the U.S. legally, Revenue Secretary Nick Jordan said Monday, confirming a policy shift with implications for the state’s administration of a separate proof-of-citizenship requirement for new voters...

Today's Teamster News 05.24.13

Average CEO Salary Reached A New Record High Of $9.7 Million In 2012  Alternet   ...The average CEO salary broke records in 2011 at $9.6 million — and now, that record high has been topped by 2012 salaries, which averaged out to $9.7 million...
Passenger Trains Bump Along With Fixes Outrunning Funding  Bloomberg   ...U.S. investigators looking into the May 17 Connecticut commuter-rail crash haven’t yet found a clear cause. The fact a broken rail became the most immediate suspect speaks to years of deferred maintenance that have left trouble spots throughout a Washington-Boston network that carries more than 700,000 people a day and dates to the 1800s...

Bridge Collapses in Washington State, Dumping at Least 2 Cars In River  Gawker   ...The Interstate 5 bridge spanning the Skagit River in Washington state collapsed Thursday evening. Several cars fell into the water, though authorities aren't sure how many or if there were any casualties...
Tighter U.S. Rule on Imported Meat May Cost $192 Million  Bloomberg   ...Canada vowed to escalate a dispute with the U.S. over plans to impose stricter country-of-origin labeling rules for meat that are opposed by industry groups on both sides of the border...
The Powerful People Arguing for U.S.-China Free Trade  Bloomberg News   ...Recommending that the U.S. and China work toward a free-trade deal is a bit like stepping into a prize fight and asking the boxers to settle their differences peacefully...
Marcus Hedger, Wrongfully Fired Worker, Loses His Home With NLRB In Limbo  Huffington Post   ...In the past three years, Marcus Hedger has lost a good-paying manufacturing job and a nice home in Antioch, Ill. Thanks to the dysfunction on Capitol Hill, there's no telling when he'll get either of them back...
Wal-Mart Hires Former Bush Aide as Chief Image Maker  New York Times   ...To continue burnishing its image, Wal-Mart has replaced a former Clinton White House aide with a former Bush White House staff member...
Petition urges Tribune not to sell Sun to 'union-bashing' Koch brothers   Baltimore Business-Journal   ...It remains unclear who might emerge as a buyer for the Baltimore Sun, but about 6,500 Maryland residents know whose hands they don't want the Sun to end up in...
Scott Walker's Austerity Plan: Turning Wisconsin Into the New Greece  (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...It's now become clear that austerity -- and the attack on unions that always comes with it -- was not only bad medicine, it was close to toxic...
Washington state joins 9 other states in passing password protection law  Examiner   ...Washington state became the latest one to join these ranks when Governor Jay Inslee signed a bill that would make it illegal for employers or potential employer to ask for the password to your Facebook or any other social media account...
Louisiana Senate passes amended Equal Pay for Women Act  Times-Picayune...Female state workers should be paid as much as their male colleagues, Louisiana lawmakers declared...
Oregon House votes to extend foreclosure mediation  Associated Press   ...The Oregon House has voted to extend a requirement that some mortgage lenders meet with struggling borrowers and a professional mediator before initiating foreclosure proceedings...
Missouri Unemployment Bill Prompted by Federal Rules  CBS News-KMOX   ...Awaiting action from Gov. Jay Nixon are proposed changes for the unemployment compensation program. The changes are designed to avoid a several hundred million dollar price tag and make it harder for workers to receive jobless benefits...
Teamsters Roll Up Their Sleeves in Wake of Oklahoma Tragedy  IBT   ...Teamsters are inundating Oklahoma locals with offers to help them recover from one of the most violent tornadoes in history. The twister that ripped through the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore killed at least 24 people and damaged as many as 13,000 homes in a 17-mile swath...
Durham School Bus Workers Speak Out About Safety, Wage Theft Concerns  IBT   ...School bus drivers and attendants with Durham School Services who transport students attending Baltimore City Public Schools joined with Teamsters, political and other community leaders at a rally today to demand respect and safe working conditions...
Apply Now for Chicago Teamsters Hispanic Caucus Scholarships  Teamsters Local 727   ...Applications are now available for the 2013-2014 Chicago Teamsters Hispanic Caucus Scholarship. Active adult Teamster members and the children, grandchildren and spouses of active Teamsters are eligible for the academic awards...