Teamsters
Hoffa: CEO Pay Rule Will Help Close Wage Gap Detroit News ...Those in favor of corporate disclosure won a hard-fought victory at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last week when the agency finally decided to move ahead with a portion of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law that requires companies to report the pay gap between CEOs and rank-and-file workers...
Sun Tran Worker Strike Now In Sixth Day, Still Going Strong WTTU ...On day six of the Sun Tran worker strike, the mood at Ronstadt Transit Center in downtown, Tucson was unity and solidarity...
Nearly 30 percent Of Loudoun County’s Commuter Bus Drivers May Strike Loudoun Times Mirror ...Nearly 30 percent of the county's public transit bus drivers may go on strike if their Teamsters union and Loudoun's commuter bus contractor, Transdev, can't reach a deal on a new collective bargaining agreement...
City Council Skips Closed Session Over For Police Contract Negotiations Chicago Tribune ...Teamsters Local 700 represents 10,000 public employees across the state of Illinois, including more than 5,000 law enforcement members, according to the union's website. Forty police officers and personnel from the Park Ridge Police Department voted to join the union in May 2014. After briefly reviewing a bargaining agreement for a three-year contract with the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police, which represents seven police sergeants in Park Ridge, city councilors decided to forgo an option to take the discussion into closed session, with some alderman stating that they failed to see the advantage in keeping the talks a secret...
Global Labor & Trade
Will Trans-Pacific Trade Deal Go Up In Smoke Over Anti-Tobacco Proposal? Politico ...Big Tobacco is pushing back against a strict anti-smoking provision in the massive Trans-Pacific trade deal — and it has enlisted the support of the most powerful Republican in the Senate...
The Ripple Effects Of China's Weakening Currency The Atlantic ...China devalued its currency for the second straight day, sending markets across the region sharply lower and raising fresh concerns about the health of the world’s second-largest economy...
TPP Protesters Descend On Parliament Radio New Zealand ...The group said it was conducting a nationwide search for the full text of the TPP trade deal, and started with the ministry's Auckland headquarters. Several members of the group went into the offices, equipped with giant magnifying glasses, to demand the Government release the full TPP text by the end of the month...
State & Living Wage Battles
Long Beach City Council Votes To Study Minimum Wage Hike KPCC ...The Long Beach City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to commission a study of the impact of raising the city's minimum wage - to even higher than the wage hike coming to Los Angeles...
New York State Officials Recover More Than $18.1 Million In Wages For Short-Changed Workers New York Daily News ...During the first six months of 2015, the state Labor Department recovered more than $18.1 million for nearly 19,000 workers who were not paid the proper minimum wage, overtime or fringe benefits, officials reported. The recoveries represented a 6% increase from the same time period in 2014 and put the state on pace to surpass last year’s record of $30.2 million...
More N.J. Public Employee Unions Join Lawsuit Against Christie Over Pay Freeze NJ.com ...The state's largest state workers union and three others have joined a lawsuit against the Christie administration over its decision to freeze wages for state employees...
Railroads Face Big Fines For Failure To Meet Federal Safety Deadline Truthout ...The Federal Railroad Administration plans to impose big penalties on railroads that fail to meet a year-end deadline to install a new collision avoidance system, including more than 70 percent of the nation's commuter railroads...
Scott Walker Signs Arena Deal, Handing $400 Million To Billionaire NBA Owners Huffington Post ...Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) signed legislation Wednesday that commits hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money to a new arena for the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks, a move that could complicate the Republican presidential candidate’s efforts to paint himself as the most ardent small-government conservative in a crowded field...
U.S. Labor
Single Mothers ‘Most Likely’ To Benefit From Paid Overtime Expansion Al Jazeera America ...A proposal to extend overtime pay eligibility to millions of workers would have its biggest impact on single mothers and women of color, according to a study published Tuesday by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) and the advocacy group MomsRising...
Uber Drivers Could Earn Thousands In Benefits As Full-Time Employees Forbes ...According to a new analysis, Uber drivers in six major U.S. cities would receive paid holidays and health care benefits worth an average of $5,500 annually...
America Is Working Itself To Death: How “9 To 5″ Became “24/7″ Salon.com ...The reality is, Americans don’t just work more than they have in the past, they work more than most of the industrialized world. It’s not exactly breaking news that we spend more hours at the office — or on the assembly line or behind the coffee counter — than our European peers. A 2004 study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found Americans work “50 percent more than do the Germans, French, and Italians.” More recent data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development found that in 2014, Americans outworked several expected other countries, among them Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Finland, Switzerland and Austria, all countries that (coincidentally, I’m so sure) rank higher than us on the most recent World Happiness survey...
Social Justice & Other News
Black Poverty Differs From White Poverty Washington Post ...The poverty that poor African Americans experience is often different from the poverty of poor whites. It's more isolating and concentrated. It extends out the door of a family's home and occupies the entire neighborhood around it, touching the streets, the schools, the grocery stores. A poor black family, in short, is much more likely than a poor white one to live in a neighborhood where many other families are poor, too, creating what sociologists call the "double burden" of poverty. The difference is stark in most major metropolitan areas, according to new data analyzed by Rutgers University's Paul Jargowsky in a new report for the Century Foundation...
Teachers Union Lawsuit Over State Evaluation System May Go To Trial Santa Fe New Mexican ...State District Judge Francis Mathew of Santa Fe cleared the way Tuesday for a trial on whether New Mexico’s system of evaluating teachers should remain in place...
St. Louis County Police File Charges Against 3 Journalists One Year After Ferguson Protests Think Progress ...St. Louis County police are suddenly levying an onslaught of charges against journalists who covered the Ferguson protests last year, accusing them of minor offenses days before the statute of limitations is up. This week alone, three journalists have been charged for interfering with on-duty officers — a full year after their arrests. The recent developments follow an ongoing trend of criminalizing journalists for doing their jobs...
Teaching People Not To Be Corrupt Could Save Millions Of Lives Think Progress ...Corruption takes a particularly heavy toll in developing countries which lack the political and economic infrastructure to effectively regulate businesses. “In developing countries, corruption is a killer,” said David McNair of the advocacy organization ONE. “Up to 3.6 million lives could be saved if we end the web of secrecy that helps the criminal and corrupt. When governments are deprived of their own resources to invest in the essentials — like nurses and teachers — the human cost is devastating.”...
Black Activists Know Feds Are Monitoring Them, Yet Refuse to Be Intimidated Alternet ...When Erika Totten returned to protesting in the DC area after taking a few months off last winter, law enforcement officers were waiting to greet her...
Amnesty International Is Finally On The Right Side Of The Sex Work Struggle The Nation ...“We really hope that those who have opposed Amnesty’s position in the past will reconsider their position and look at the evidence that criminalization of sex work is a key factor in our vulnerability to violence and abuse,” Stevenson told me. “We hope that this evidence-based decision by Amnesty will help other progressive organizations take a position to support sex workers’ rights.”...
Don’t Blame Citizens United For Donald Trump; Blame 1976’s Buckley v. Valeo Decision The Intercept ...If you don’t think it’s fair that billionaires like Donald Trump can run their own self-funded campaigns for president, don’t blame the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision. Blame the 1976 case Buckley v. Valeo instead. Citizens United lets billionaires give unlimited money to Super PACs trying to elect other people, but billionaires have been able to give as much money as they wanted to their own campaigns since Buckley...
The Pentagon's Half-Billion Dollar Drone Boondoggle The Intercept ...Rivalry between the Army and Air Force over Predator drones may have cost the Pentagon over $500 million in wasteful spending, according to a report released under the Freedom of Information Act. The report, which the Pentagon’s Inspector General completed in 2010, is not available on the Defense Department’s public website, which instructs people to request it through the Freedom of Information Act. The Pentagon released a copy of the report to The Intercept this week, nearly five years after it was originally requested...
Showing posts with label police officers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label police officers. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Today's Teamster News 03.12.15
Teamsters
Teamsters hit FMCSA with lawsuit over move to open border for Mexican carriers Overdrive ...The Teamsters Union announced this week it has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s recent move to expand its cross-border trucking program with Mexico...
Teamsters Win Landslide Shareholder Vote At Hologic teamster.org ... A shareholder proposal sponsored by the Teamsters-affiliated GCC Benevolent Trust Fund secured an overwhelming majority vote of shareholders at last week’s Hologic Incorporated annual meeting. The proposal called on the Board of Directors to submit the adoption, maintenance or extension of any poison pill plan to a vote of the shareholders...
Hoffa: Film Tax Credits Are Worth Saving Detroit News ...Lawmakers on the campaign trail in Michigan have rightfully stressed the need for jobs in recent years. They say it is a top priority. But once within the cozy confines of the Statehouse in Lansing, too many seem to lose sight of the issue or its importance to their constituents. Case in point — a House committee’s decision last week to back legislation that ends some $50 million in annual tax credits to encourage films and television shows to shoot in the Great Lakes State...
Teamsters, RI Hospital Negotiations Stall Rhode Island Public Radio ...The Teamsters represent about 2500 nursing assistants, food service, and other workers at Rhode Island Hospital. They’ve threatened to strike if negotiators can’t agree on job protections and wage hikes, as well as improvements to their retirement plan...
Debate Over Fawn's Police Coverage Intensifies Pittsburgh Tribune Review ...Smith had a copy of a letter dated March 2, from Tom Huck, business agent for Teamsters Local 249 which represents the police, to supervisors chairman David Montanari. The supervisors and Teamsters negotiators were unable to come to a contract agreement for the police and the contract is headed to arbitration. In the letter, also sent to the Valley News Dispatch, Huck criticized the supervisors for allowing the shifts to go unmanned...
County Employees Receive Pay Hike Ottumwa Courier ...Employees in two different bargaining units were given identical pay increases by Wapello County Board of Supervisors Tuesday night. Teamsters Local 238 for the courthouse bargaining unit and Teamsters Local 238 for the sheriff's bargaining unit will receive a two percent increase on July 1, 2015, and July 1, 2016 and a two and half percent increase on July 1, 2017...
Trade
Push against investment rules in U.S. trade deals picks up Reuters ...Law professors from across the United States urged lawmakers to keep rules to protect foreign investors out of trade pacts on Wednesday, warning they would give big companies too much power...
Huckabee slams 'globalists,' free trade agreements Politico ...Expressing deep skepticism of proposed free trade agreements, Mike Huckabee warned in Iowa Saturday that the United States is becoming like communist China...
Unions To Fight Trade Pact By Freezing Political Donations Wall Street Journal ...The move is part of the unions’ campaign against the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, which the Obama administration is negotiating with 11 nations around the Pacific Ocean. The unions worry the trade agreement could send more jobs to low-wage countries, including Vietnam and Malaysia...
Paul Krugman: TPP At The NABE New York Times ...Why, exactly, should the Obama administration spend any political capital – alienating labor, disillusioning progressive activists – over such a deal?...
Health Impact Assessment: TPP Poses Risks To Affordable Medicines, Tobacco Control And Nutrition Labeling Techdirt ...The negotiations are still being conducted with a total lack of transparency -- especially compared to TAFTA/TTIP, where public pressure has led to the release of a large number of documents from the EU, though not from the US...
State Battles
Unions Challenge Wisconsin's New 'Right-To-Work' Law In Court Reuters ...The Wisconsin state AFL-CIO and two other unions filed suit on Tuesday challenging a new statute that lets private-sector employees avoid joining unions or paying dues even when covered by union-negotiated contracts...
Right-To-Work: NM Senate Panel Tables Bill KOTA ...A New Mexico Senate panel has voted along party lines to stop the advance of a bill that prohibits requiring workers to join a union and pay dues as a condition of employment...
War on Workers
Not a Puzzle—Wages Growth is Sluggish Because Employers Hold All the Cards Economic Policy Institute ...We’ve finally seen 12 consecutive months of job growth above 200,000, but wage growth shows little sign of accelerating. The question that everyone seems to be asking now is, when will wage growth pick up?...
Business Pushes for Delay, Litigation, and One-Sided Access in Union Elections Economic Policy Institute ... The NLRB is updating obsolete election rules that fail to recognize modern developments like e-mail, and which encourage excessive litigation and delay. Yet a panel stacked with anti-union lawyers attacked the rules as if they were ending American democracy...
How income fraud made the housing bubble worse Science Daily ... The researchers place the blame for falsified earnings listed on mortgage applications -- which the researchers call "buyer income overstatement" -- on brokers producing mortgages intended to be sold as securities...
Worker Electrocuted, Killed On South Tropical Trail Space Coast Daily ...A worker was killed Tuesday at about 2:45 p.m. while replacing power poles...
Teamsters hit FMCSA with lawsuit over move to open border for Mexican carriers Overdrive ...The Teamsters Union announced this week it has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s recent move to expand its cross-border trucking program with Mexico...
Teamsters Win Landslide Shareholder Vote At Hologic teamster.org ... A shareholder proposal sponsored by the Teamsters-affiliated GCC Benevolent Trust Fund secured an overwhelming majority vote of shareholders at last week’s Hologic Incorporated annual meeting. The proposal called on the Board of Directors to submit the adoption, maintenance or extension of any poison pill plan to a vote of the shareholders...
Hoffa: Film Tax Credits Are Worth Saving Detroit News ...Lawmakers on the campaign trail in Michigan have rightfully stressed the need for jobs in recent years. They say it is a top priority. But once within the cozy confines of the Statehouse in Lansing, too many seem to lose sight of the issue or its importance to their constituents. Case in point — a House committee’s decision last week to back legislation that ends some $50 million in annual tax credits to encourage films and television shows to shoot in the Great Lakes State...
Teamsters, RI Hospital Negotiations Stall Rhode Island Public Radio ...The Teamsters represent about 2500 nursing assistants, food service, and other workers at Rhode Island Hospital. They’ve threatened to strike if negotiators can’t agree on job protections and wage hikes, as well as improvements to their retirement plan...
Debate Over Fawn's Police Coverage Intensifies Pittsburgh Tribune Review ...Smith had a copy of a letter dated March 2, from Tom Huck, business agent for Teamsters Local 249 which represents the police, to supervisors chairman David Montanari. The supervisors and Teamsters negotiators were unable to come to a contract agreement for the police and the contract is headed to arbitration. In the letter, also sent to the Valley News Dispatch, Huck criticized the supervisors for allowing the shifts to go unmanned...
County Employees Receive Pay Hike Ottumwa Courier ...Employees in two different bargaining units were given identical pay increases by Wapello County Board of Supervisors Tuesday night. Teamsters Local 238 for the courthouse bargaining unit and Teamsters Local 238 for the sheriff's bargaining unit will receive a two percent increase on July 1, 2015, and July 1, 2016 and a two and half percent increase on July 1, 2017...
Trade
Push against investment rules in U.S. trade deals picks up Reuters ...Law professors from across the United States urged lawmakers to keep rules to protect foreign investors out of trade pacts on Wednesday, warning they would give big companies too much power...
Huckabee slams 'globalists,' free trade agreements Politico ...Expressing deep skepticism of proposed free trade agreements, Mike Huckabee warned in Iowa Saturday that the United States is becoming like communist China...
Unions To Fight Trade Pact By Freezing Political Donations Wall Street Journal ...The move is part of the unions’ campaign against the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, which the Obama administration is negotiating with 11 nations around the Pacific Ocean. The unions worry the trade agreement could send more jobs to low-wage countries, including Vietnam and Malaysia...
Paul Krugman: TPP At The NABE New York Times ...Why, exactly, should the Obama administration spend any political capital – alienating labor, disillusioning progressive activists – over such a deal?...
Health Impact Assessment: TPP Poses Risks To Affordable Medicines, Tobacco Control And Nutrition Labeling Techdirt ...The negotiations are still being conducted with a total lack of transparency -- especially compared to TAFTA/TTIP, where public pressure has led to the release of a large number of documents from the EU, though not from the US...
State Battles
Unions Challenge Wisconsin's New 'Right-To-Work' Law In Court Reuters ...The Wisconsin state AFL-CIO and two other unions filed suit on Tuesday challenging a new statute that lets private-sector employees avoid joining unions or paying dues even when covered by union-negotiated contracts...
Right-To-Work: NM Senate Panel Tables Bill KOTA ...A New Mexico Senate panel has voted along party lines to stop the advance of a bill that prohibits requiring workers to join a union and pay dues as a condition of employment...
War on Workers
Not a Puzzle—Wages Growth is Sluggish Because Employers Hold All the Cards Economic Policy Institute ...We’ve finally seen 12 consecutive months of job growth above 200,000, but wage growth shows little sign of accelerating. The question that everyone seems to be asking now is, when will wage growth pick up?...
Business Pushes for Delay, Litigation, and One-Sided Access in Union Elections Economic Policy Institute ... The NLRB is updating obsolete election rules that fail to recognize modern developments like e-mail, and which encourage excessive litigation and delay. Yet a panel stacked with anti-union lawyers attacked the rules as if they were ending American democracy...
How income fraud made the housing bubble worse Science Daily ... The researchers place the blame for falsified earnings listed on mortgage applications -- which the researchers call "buyer income overstatement" -- on brokers producing mortgages intended to be sold as securities...
Worker Electrocuted, Killed On South Tropical Trail Space Coast Daily ...A worker was killed Tuesday at about 2:45 p.m. while replacing power poles...
Saturday, January 17, 2015
Today's Teamster News 01.17.15
Teamsters
Teamster Pilots With Allegiant Air Authorize Strike teamster.org ...Pilots at Allegiant Air, represented by the Airline Professionals Association (APA) Teamsters Local 1224, voted overwhelmingly, 465-8, today to authorize a strike against Allegiant Air. The 10-day voting period closed at 12:00 p.m. EST today, with 98 percent of voting Allegiant Air pilots voting “Yes” to authorize the union to call a strike if necessary...
At Hunts Point Market, Awaiting Word on Strike as Talks Continue New York Times ...Many of the workers said they were prepared to carry out the first strike at the market in nearly 30 years if contract talks between their union, Teamsters Local 202, and management failed to resolve differences between the two sides over proposed wage increases and health care contributions...
Teamsters Leader Daniel Grace Lauds Governor-Elect Wolf for Barring Yuengling teamster.org ...The leader of Philadelphia-based Teamsters Local 830 today lauded the decision of Governor-Elect Tom Wolf to exclude Yuengling Beer products from his inaugural ball in Harrisburg next Tuesday, Jan. 20...
Teamsters Support Administration’s Push For Paid Leave teamster.org ...The Teamsters encourage a workplace that grants dignity and respect to all workers and the union applauds the Obama administration for pushing forward with an agenda that calls for hardworking Americans to receive paid sick time. We also support an executive order that would give federal employees six weeks paid time off after giving birth...
Labor Agreements Inked With City Unions Daily Sun News ...The Sunnyside City Council, at its first meeting in 2015 this past Monday, authorized agreements with the city’s office/clerical and public works collective bargaining units. Both agreements include a change to the health insurance premiums, from a 70 percent employer/30 percent employee cost to a 75/25 split. Both agreements also include additional longevity pay based on years of service...
CN Reaches Tentative Labour Agreement With Teamsters Union Representing Rail Traffic Controllers American Journal Of Transportation ...The four-year agreement would provide wage increases and benefit improvements to approximately 180 employees. Details of the agreement are being withheld pending ratification by union members. The union is expected to announce the results of the ratification vote before the end of February 2015...
North Versailles Township Police Get Raises, To Pay For Health Insurance Pittsburgh Tribune Review ...North Versailles Township police will get annual raises for the next four years under a new contract township commissioners approved Thursday...
Trade
What You Need To Know When Obama Talks Trade Campaign for America's Future ...President Obama is likely to use the State of the Union to push for passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the rigged “fast track” trade promotion authority...
Dana Milbank: Cracks in the GOP foundation (opinion) Washington Post ...On Tuesday morning, a group of tea-party conservatives met in the Capitol complex to complain about Republican plans to pass “trade promotion authority,” giving Obama greater ability to negotiate trade deals with less congressional say-so...
‘Corporate Wolves’ Will Exploit TTIP Trade Deal, MPs Warned The Guardian ...The controversial TTIP trade deal between Europe and the US could depress workers’ wages by £3,000 a year and allow “corporate wolves” to sue the government for loss of profit, MPs have heard...
EU Consultation On Corporate Sovereignty In TAFTA/TTIP Shows 145,000 Against It; European Commission Carries On Anyway Techdirt ...As well as the unanimity of the rejection, what is striking is the fact that 145,000 citizens replied to a consultation on an obscure aspect of trade agreements that most people had never heard of a year ago. That alone bespeaks an unprecedented engagement by the public -- something rare enough at a time when people are generally disenchanted with politicians and their grand projects...
Say No To Dangerous Trade Pacts (opinion) The New American ...Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders ... rightly insists that TPP “is much more than a free trade agreement.” If he understands this, other senators and congressmen can see it as well...
EPA Wants To Map Radioactive Waste In Bridgeton Landfill St. Louis Post Dispatch ...The Environmental Protection Agency wants tests of the Bridgeton Landfill to map radioactive contamination. The decision takes a step back from past pronouncements by the EPA, which had said the waste was contained within fenced areas of the adjacent West Lake Landfill...
State Battles
To Pay For His Failed Experiment With Trickle-Down Economics, Kansas Governor Could Raid The School Budget Think Progress ...Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) is reportedly getting ready to propose some form of revenue increases as part of a plan to fix the nearly $900 million budget hole his tax cuts created for the state. But whatever cracks are emerging in his anti-tax facade, the conservative governor’s response to the budget crisis is more likely to focus on spending for the state’s already flailing schools...
Opting Out Of Unions Gets Boost In States Wall Street Journal ...A new wave of bills that would allow workers to opt out of joining unions is expected from Maine to New Mexico as Republicans look to capitalize on statehouse gains to put new limits on organized labor...
War on Workers
Obama expands parental leave for federal workers Washington Post ...President Obama signed a presidential memorandum Thursday directing agencies to allow federal workers to take six weeks of advanced paid sick leave to care for a new child or ill family members...
Majority of U.S. public school students are in poverty Washington Post ...For the first time in at least 50 years, a majority of U.S. public school students come from low-income families, according to a new analysis of 2013 federal data, a statistic that has profound implications for the nation...
Holder limits seized-asset sharing process that split billions with local, state police Washington Post ...Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Friday barred local and state police from using federal law to seize cash, cars and other property without warrants or criminal charges...
United Airlines Moves To Outsource Labor At 28 Airports Denver Post ...The jobs that have the potential to be affected in this latest move fall into the category of "airport operations," which includes baggage-handing ramp workers and inside customer service agents, among others, depending on the airport...
Worker Killed Near Rocks State Park, Officials Say Havre de Grace Patch ...At 1:30 p.m., two workers were at the base of a ravine on MD Route 24 at Saint Clair Bridge Road when a jersey wall fell on one and debris injured another...
Miscellaneous
'All Labor Has Dignity': King's Other Legacy (opinion) Huffington Post ...As we mark Dr. King's 86th birthday, it is my hope that Americans will remember another less-celebrated element of his dream -- a belief in the importance of unions, labor rights and robust worker voice...
Teamster Pilots With Allegiant Air Authorize Strike teamster.org ...Pilots at Allegiant Air, represented by the Airline Professionals Association (APA) Teamsters Local 1224, voted overwhelmingly, 465-8, today to authorize a strike against Allegiant Air. The 10-day voting period closed at 12:00 p.m. EST today, with 98 percent of voting Allegiant Air pilots voting “Yes” to authorize the union to call a strike if necessary...
At Hunts Point Market, Awaiting Word on Strike as Talks Continue New York Times ...Many of the workers said they were prepared to carry out the first strike at the market in nearly 30 years if contract talks between their union, Teamsters Local 202, and management failed to resolve differences between the two sides over proposed wage increases and health care contributions...
Teamsters Leader Daniel Grace Lauds Governor-Elect Wolf for Barring Yuengling teamster.org ...The leader of Philadelphia-based Teamsters Local 830 today lauded the decision of Governor-Elect Tom Wolf to exclude Yuengling Beer products from his inaugural ball in Harrisburg next Tuesday, Jan. 20...
Teamsters Support Administration’s Push For Paid Leave teamster.org ...The Teamsters encourage a workplace that grants dignity and respect to all workers and the union applauds the Obama administration for pushing forward with an agenda that calls for hardworking Americans to receive paid sick time. We also support an executive order that would give federal employees six weeks paid time off after giving birth...
Labor Agreements Inked With City Unions Daily Sun News ...The Sunnyside City Council, at its first meeting in 2015 this past Monday, authorized agreements with the city’s office/clerical and public works collective bargaining units. Both agreements include a change to the health insurance premiums, from a 70 percent employer/30 percent employee cost to a 75/25 split. Both agreements also include additional longevity pay based on years of service...
CN Reaches Tentative Labour Agreement With Teamsters Union Representing Rail Traffic Controllers American Journal Of Transportation ...The four-year agreement would provide wage increases and benefit improvements to approximately 180 employees. Details of the agreement are being withheld pending ratification by union members. The union is expected to announce the results of the ratification vote before the end of February 2015...
North Versailles Township Police Get Raises, To Pay For Health Insurance Pittsburgh Tribune Review ...North Versailles Township police will get annual raises for the next four years under a new contract township commissioners approved Thursday...
Trade
What You Need To Know When Obama Talks Trade Campaign for America's Future ...President Obama is likely to use the State of the Union to push for passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the rigged “fast track” trade promotion authority...
Dana Milbank: Cracks in the GOP foundation (opinion) Washington Post ...On Tuesday morning, a group of tea-party conservatives met in the Capitol complex to complain about Republican plans to pass “trade promotion authority,” giving Obama greater ability to negotiate trade deals with less congressional say-so...
‘Corporate Wolves’ Will Exploit TTIP Trade Deal, MPs Warned The Guardian ...The controversial TTIP trade deal between Europe and the US could depress workers’ wages by £3,000 a year and allow “corporate wolves” to sue the government for loss of profit, MPs have heard...
EU Consultation On Corporate Sovereignty In TAFTA/TTIP Shows 145,000 Against It; European Commission Carries On Anyway Techdirt ...As well as the unanimity of the rejection, what is striking is the fact that 145,000 citizens replied to a consultation on an obscure aspect of trade agreements that most people had never heard of a year ago. That alone bespeaks an unprecedented engagement by the public -- something rare enough at a time when people are generally disenchanted with politicians and their grand projects...
Say No To Dangerous Trade Pacts (opinion) The New American ...Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders ... rightly insists that TPP “is much more than a free trade agreement.” If he understands this, other senators and congressmen can see it as well...
EPA Wants To Map Radioactive Waste In Bridgeton Landfill St. Louis Post Dispatch ...The Environmental Protection Agency wants tests of the Bridgeton Landfill to map radioactive contamination. The decision takes a step back from past pronouncements by the EPA, which had said the waste was contained within fenced areas of the adjacent West Lake Landfill...
State Battles
To Pay For His Failed Experiment With Trickle-Down Economics, Kansas Governor Could Raid The School Budget Think Progress ...Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) is reportedly getting ready to propose some form of revenue increases as part of a plan to fix the nearly $900 million budget hole his tax cuts created for the state. But whatever cracks are emerging in his anti-tax facade, the conservative governor’s response to the budget crisis is more likely to focus on spending for the state’s already flailing schools...
Opting Out Of Unions Gets Boost In States Wall Street Journal ...A new wave of bills that would allow workers to opt out of joining unions is expected from Maine to New Mexico as Republicans look to capitalize on statehouse gains to put new limits on organized labor...
War on Workers
Obama expands parental leave for federal workers Washington Post ...President Obama signed a presidential memorandum Thursday directing agencies to allow federal workers to take six weeks of advanced paid sick leave to care for a new child or ill family members...
Majority of U.S. public school students are in poverty Washington Post ...For the first time in at least 50 years, a majority of U.S. public school students come from low-income families, according to a new analysis of 2013 federal data, a statistic that has profound implications for the nation...
Holder limits seized-asset sharing process that split billions with local, state police Washington Post ...Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Friday barred local and state police from using federal law to seize cash, cars and other property without warrants or criminal charges...
United Airlines Moves To Outsource Labor At 28 Airports Denver Post ...The jobs that have the potential to be affected in this latest move fall into the category of "airport operations," which includes baggage-handing ramp workers and inside customer service agents, among others, depending on the airport...
Worker Killed Near Rocks State Park, Officials Say Havre de Grace Patch ...At 1:30 p.m., two workers were at the base of a ravine on MD Route 24 at Saint Clair Bridge Road when a jersey wall fell on one and debris injured another...
Miscellaneous
'All Labor Has Dignity': King's Other Legacy (opinion) Huffington Post ...As we mark Dr. King's 86th birthday, it is my hope that Americans will remember another less-celebrated element of his dream -- a belief in the importance of unions, labor rights and robust worker voice...
Friday, January 9, 2015
Today's Teamster News 01.09.15
Teamsters
Virginia Teamsters Strike At TW Perry Construction Supplier teamster.org ...Teamsters at TW Perry launched a strike early Tuesday morning against the local contractor supplier's bad faith bargaining. Frustration among workers, represented by Teamsters Local 639 in Washington, DC, has been building over several months...
New York's most famous rat Marketplace ...Both ugly and effective, Scabby makes regular appearances during labor disputes. He's even been taken to court, when an asbestos contractor argued that the rat qualified as "disruptive activity."...
Federal Data Shows Regional Broadliners’ Troubled Safety Record teamster.org ...Performance Food Group (PFG) drivers have the highest number of fitness and safety violations among the top 10 broadline foodservice industry players...As the Federal Trade Commission continues its antitrust review of Sysco’s proposed merger with US Foods, smaller regional competitors like PFG, Reinhart Foodservice and other distributors have been the focus of news reports as potential divestiture buyers...
Volusia County Declares 'Impasse' With Already-Woefully Underpaid Sheriff's Deputies Headline Surfer ...Bob Walker, business agent for Teamsters 385 out of Orlando knows the drill all too well and he thinks it stinks...
Trade
Democrats Step Up Efforts to Block Obama’s Trade Agenda New York Times ... President Obama is facing new opposition from fellow Democrats to one of his top priorities: winning the power to negotiate international trade agreements and speed them through Congress...
Dems rally opposition for fast-track trade The Hill ...A group of House Democrats is teaming up with labor, environmental and religious groups to rally against fast-track trade authority for President Obama...
Enormous, Humongous Trade Deficit Falls To Enormous, Humongous Level Economy in Crisis ...A trade deficit of $39 billion, while lower than it had been, is still an enormous, humongous amount drained from our economy in a single month. It demonstrates the extent to which our trade “partners” are not reciprocating and actually “trading” with us...
TTIP Papers Published As EU Ombudsman Demands More Transparency EurActiv ...It is the first time that the Commission has published the legal language and binding rules the EU is pushing for during free trade agreement negotiations. The TTIP talks have been dogged by accusations of secrecy and suspicions that big business is having too much influence on negotiations...
State Battles
Ohio labor supporters rally against post midterm elections Right to Work push Keep Ohio's Heritage ...With midterm elections solidifying GOP control in many of the nation’s Right to Work battleground states, labor supporters are gearing up for the inevitable: battles over Right to Work...
Right to work to be biggest battle in upcoming NM legislative session KOB4 ...Right to work - three little words we will be hearing over and over again during New Mexico's 60-day legislative session. It's a proposal to end compulsory union membership in the state. Business leaders fired the opening shots Wednesday in their campaign to get it into the law books – and it promises to be the mother of all battles this year...
Koster Asks Court To Force Bridgeton Landfill Owner To Collect More Data St. Louis Post Dispatch ...Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster is asking a St. Louis County Circuit Court judge to order the owner of the Bridgeton Landfill to immediately begin collecting data that could show whether an underground fire is nearing radioactive waste...
Paid Sick Days, More Workplace Benefits For D.C. Workers Roll Call ...Overall, workplace rights may be changing in the District of Columbia, but until Congress implements broader legislative changes, sick days, pregnancy accommodations and family leave won’t be a given for the rest of the country — even as they are for Hill staffers...
Bill Would Raise Kansas’ Minimum Wage $3 Kansas City Star ...A Wichita Democrat is sponsoring a bill that would raise the state’s minimum wage by $3 dollars by 2017. Rep. Jim Ward’s proposal would raise the wage by $1 – to $8.25 an hour– on July 1. The wage would then go up to $1 a year during the next two years...
Conservatives Have a New Plan for Busting America's Unions Vice ...After years of fighting organized labor in state houses and on Capitol Hill, conservatives opened up a fresh battleground in Kentucky last month, pushing a brand new crop of anti-union laws in counties across the state. Propped up by major conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the "right-to-work"ordinances—which weaken unions by allowing employees to opt out of paying dues—test the boundaries of US labor laws, putting the fate of union workers squarely in the hands of local, rather than state, governments...
War on Workers
EPA Delays Regulations On Cutting Carbon At Coal Power Plants Houston Chronicle ...A final rule was due by law on Jan. 8, a year after it was first proposed. But the Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday it would wait until midsummer, and issue the new power plant rules with a separate regulation aimed at cutting the pollution blamed for global warming from the existing coal-fired power fleet...
The GOP's Social Security Assault Has A Human Cost (opinion) Huffington Post ...perhaps in an attempt to add to the false hysteria over Social Security's finances, they're refusing to make this routine correction. If it stands, disability insurance benefits for 11 million people -- benefits that are meager in the best of times -- will be cut by 20 percent next year...
Most of America’s rich think the poor have it easy Washington Post ...the majority of the country's most financially secure citizens (54 percent at the very top, and 57 percent just below) believe the "poor have it easy because they can get government benefits without doing anything in return." America's least financially secure, meanwhile, vehemently disagree — nearly 70 percent say the poor have hard lives because the benefits "don't go far enough."...
A Ban On Child Labor In Tobacco Fields (opinion) New York Times ...some cigarette companies and growers have said they will voluntarily restrict child labor in tobacco fields. Though welcome, these steps should be reinforced by new federal rules. Children as young as 7 are working on tobacco farms in North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia...
Car Loans See Rise In Missed Payments Wall Street Journal ...Borrowers who took out auto loans over the past year are missing payments at the highest level since the recession, fueling concerns among regulators, analysts and some in the car industry that practices that helped boost 2014 light-vehicle sales to a near-decade high could backfire...
Worker Killed By Garbage Truck In Franklin Lakes, Police Seek Witnesses NJ.com ...A trash hauling company employee died after a garbage truck his co-worker was driving hit him in an apparent accident Wednesday, borough police said...
Miscellaneous
In Low Gasoline Prices, an Opening Emerges for Higher Taxes Wall Street Journal ...The sharp drop in gasoline prices over the past few months is providing a rare political opening for state and federal officials who want to raise gasoline taxes to repair highways and boost construction jobs...
Virginia Teamsters Strike At TW Perry Construction Supplier teamster.org ...Teamsters at TW Perry launched a strike early Tuesday morning against the local contractor supplier's bad faith bargaining. Frustration among workers, represented by Teamsters Local 639 in Washington, DC, has been building over several months...
New York's most famous rat Marketplace ...Both ugly and effective, Scabby makes regular appearances during labor disputes. He's even been taken to court, when an asbestos contractor argued that the rat qualified as "disruptive activity."...
Federal Data Shows Regional Broadliners’ Troubled Safety Record teamster.org ...Performance Food Group (PFG) drivers have the highest number of fitness and safety violations among the top 10 broadline foodservice industry players...As the Federal Trade Commission continues its antitrust review of Sysco’s proposed merger with US Foods, smaller regional competitors like PFG, Reinhart Foodservice and other distributors have been the focus of news reports as potential divestiture buyers...
Volusia County Declares 'Impasse' With Already-Woefully Underpaid Sheriff's Deputies Headline Surfer ...Bob Walker, business agent for Teamsters 385 out of Orlando knows the drill all too well and he thinks it stinks...
Trade
Democrats Step Up Efforts to Block Obama’s Trade Agenda New York Times ... President Obama is facing new opposition from fellow Democrats to one of his top priorities: winning the power to negotiate international trade agreements and speed them through Congress...
Dems rally opposition for fast-track trade The Hill ...A group of House Democrats is teaming up with labor, environmental and religious groups to rally against fast-track trade authority for President Obama...
Enormous, Humongous Trade Deficit Falls To Enormous, Humongous Level Economy in Crisis ...A trade deficit of $39 billion, while lower than it had been, is still an enormous, humongous amount drained from our economy in a single month. It demonstrates the extent to which our trade “partners” are not reciprocating and actually “trading” with us...
TTIP Papers Published As EU Ombudsman Demands More Transparency EurActiv ...It is the first time that the Commission has published the legal language and binding rules the EU is pushing for during free trade agreement negotiations. The TTIP talks have been dogged by accusations of secrecy and suspicions that big business is having too much influence on negotiations...
State Battles
Ohio labor supporters rally against post midterm elections Right to Work push Keep Ohio's Heritage ...With midterm elections solidifying GOP control in many of the nation’s Right to Work battleground states, labor supporters are gearing up for the inevitable: battles over Right to Work...
Right to work to be biggest battle in upcoming NM legislative session KOB4 ...Right to work - three little words we will be hearing over and over again during New Mexico's 60-day legislative session. It's a proposal to end compulsory union membership in the state. Business leaders fired the opening shots Wednesday in their campaign to get it into the law books – and it promises to be the mother of all battles this year...
Koster Asks Court To Force Bridgeton Landfill Owner To Collect More Data St. Louis Post Dispatch ...Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster is asking a St. Louis County Circuit Court judge to order the owner of the Bridgeton Landfill to immediately begin collecting data that could show whether an underground fire is nearing radioactive waste...
Paid Sick Days, More Workplace Benefits For D.C. Workers Roll Call ...Overall, workplace rights may be changing in the District of Columbia, but until Congress implements broader legislative changes, sick days, pregnancy accommodations and family leave won’t be a given for the rest of the country — even as they are for Hill staffers...
Bill Would Raise Kansas’ Minimum Wage $3 Kansas City Star ...A Wichita Democrat is sponsoring a bill that would raise the state’s minimum wage by $3 dollars by 2017. Rep. Jim Ward’s proposal would raise the wage by $1 – to $8.25 an hour– on July 1. The wage would then go up to $1 a year during the next two years...
Conservatives Have a New Plan for Busting America's Unions Vice ...After years of fighting organized labor in state houses and on Capitol Hill, conservatives opened up a fresh battleground in Kentucky last month, pushing a brand new crop of anti-union laws in counties across the state. Propped up by major conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the "right-to-work"ordinances—which weaken unions by allowing employees to opt out of paying dues—test the boundaries of US labor laws, putting the fate of union workers squarely in the hands of local, rather than state, governments...
War on Workers
EPA Delays Regulations On Cutting Carbon At Coal Power Plants Houston Chronicle ...A final rule was due by law on Jan. 8, a year after it was first proposed. But the Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday it would wait until midsummer, and issue the new power plant rules with a separate regulation aimed at cutting the pollution blamed for global warming from the existing coal-fired power fleet...
The GOP's Social Security Assault Has A Human Cost (opinion) Huffington Post ...perhaps in an attempt to add to the false hysteria over Social Security's finances, they're refusing to make this routine correction. If it stands, disability insurance benefits for 11 million people -- benefits that are meager in the best of times -- will be cut by 20 percent next year...
Most of America’s rich think the poor have it easy Washington Post ...the majority of the country's most financially secure citizens (54 percent at the very top, and 57 percent just below) believe the "poor have it easy because they can get government benefits without doing anything in return." America's least financially secure, meanwhile, vehemently disagree — nearly 70 percent say the poor have hard lives because the benefits "don't go far enough."...
A Ban On Child Labor In Tobacco Fields (opinion) New York Times ...some cigarette companies and growers have said they will voluntarily restrict child labor in tobacco fields. Though welcome, these steps should be reinforced by new federal rules. Children as young as 7 are working on tobacco farms in North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia...
Car Loans See Rise In Missed Payments Wall Street Journal ...Borrowers who took out auto loans over the past year are missing payments at the highest level since the recession, fueling concerns among regulators, analysts and some in the car industry that practices that helped boost 2014 light-vehicle sales to a near-decade high could backfire...
Worker Killed By Garbage Truck In Franklin Lakes, Police Seek Witnesses NJ.com ...A trash hauling company employee died after a garbage truck his co-worker was driving hit him in an apparent accident Wednesday, borough police said...
Miscellaneous
In Low Gasoline Prices, an Opening Emerges for Higher Taxes Wall Street Journal ...The sharp drop in gasoline prices over the past few months is providing a rare political opening for state and federal officials who want to raise gasoline taxes to repair highways and boost construction jobs...
Monday, October 27, 2014
Today's Teamster News 10.27.14
Teamsters
Disney workers appeal firing over sweaty costumes Orlando Sentinel ...The Teamsters union that represents them is bringing the issue in front of a federal arbitrator later this year. The union argues Disney violated its contract by providing unsanitary clothing...
Philadelphia Labor Law Attorney Bruce M. Ludwig Presents at International Conference of Teamsters Lawyers North Fork View ...Bruce M. Ludwig, of the labor, employment and workers’ compensation law firm Willig, Williams & Davidson, recently presented a paper at the 29th meeting of the International Conference of Teamsters Lawyers in Providence, R.I., entitled “Growing the Union at Penn State University: Issues in Organizing a Residual Unit in the Public Sector.”...
Trade
TPP talks in Sydney end with no breakthrough Japan Times ...Japan and the United States failed to reach a much-awaited breakthrough, seen as vital to advancing the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, at a three-day meeting on the proposed trade accord that wrapped in Sydney on Monday...
The row over TTIP rumbles on Left Foot Forward ...The row over TTIP (the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership deal between the EU and the USA) and the inclusion of an ISDS (Investor State Dispute Settlement) mechanism is growing almost daily...
UK poultry industry worried about TTIP impact on food safety Global Meat News ...Members of the UK poultry industry are concerned that trade negotiations under the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the EU and US could undermine food safety...
State Battles
Wisconsin Voters Know Walker -- and That’s His Problem Bloomberg ...Yet if Walker is to advance his momentum into the 2016 presidential race, he needs to win re-election next week in a state where roughly half of the voters say they’ve had enough of him...
Fox News Host Calls Out Chris Christie For Putting Millionaires Over State’s Economy ThinkProgress ...You decided to cut payments to pension funds and instead of raising taxes on millionaires and businesses. The credit rating for New Jersey has actually been downgraded eight times your watch, and the polls in New Jersey show you with your lowest favorability rating since you became governor...
War on Workers
States With The Widest Gap Between Rich And Poor: 24/7 Wall St. Huffington Post ...New York was one of only two states, along with Connecticut, where more than 25% of all income was earned by just the top 5% of households...
Inflation Deceptive, CPI 0.1% Yet Some Items Off the Charts Economic Populist ...The average hourly real wage feel -0.2% [in September] and is now $10.32. and has increased just 0.3% for the year. This means wages are not keeping up with inflation. Weekly real earnings increased by only because people were working 0.3% more hours per week...
Police Pay Gap: Many of America's Finest Struggle on Poverty Wages NBC News ...Data obtained by NBC News from 24 municipal police departments in St. Louis County reveal a gulf between police officer pay in poor, majority African-American northern cities and wealthier, whiter cities further south. Average annual patrol officer pay ranges from $23,000 in Hillsdale to nearly $70,000 in Town and County and Des Peres...
Chris Christie Stuck Her In 'Prison.' So Ebola Nurse Says She'll Sue. Forbes ...She worked for Doctors Without Borders — the aid group fighting West Africa’s Ebola epidemic — before flying home on Friday and being rushed into a surprise isolation that she’s described as scary, disorganized, and even cruel...
Disney workers appeal firing over sweaty costumes Orlando Sentinel ...The Teamsters union that represents them is bringing the issue in front of a federal arbitrator later this year. The union argues Disney violated its contract by providing unsanitary clothing...
Philadelphia Labor Law Attorney Bruce M. Ludwig Presents at International Conference of Teamsters Lawyers North Fork View ...Bruce M. Ludwig, of the labor, employment and workers’ compensation law firm Willig, Williams & Davidson, recently presented a paper at the 29th meeting of the International Conference of Teamsters Lawyers in Providence, R.I., entitled “Growing the Union at Penn State University: Issues in Organizing a Residual Unit in the Public Sector.”...
Trade
TPP talks in Sydney end with no breakthrough Japan Times ...Japan and the United States failed to reach a much-awaited breakthrough, seen as vital to advancing the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, at a three-day meeting on the proposed trade accord that wrapped in Sydney on Monday...
The row over TTIP rumbles on Left Foot Forward ...The row over TTIP (the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership deal between the EU and the USA) and the inclusion of an ISDS (Investor State Dispute Settlement) mechanism is growing almost daily...
UK poultry industry worried about TTIP impact on food safety Global Meat News ...Members of the UK poultry industry are concerned that trade negotiations under the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the EU and US could undermine food safety...
State Battles
Wisconsin Voters Know Walker -- and That’s His Problem Bloomberg ...Yet if Walker is to advance his momentum into the 2016 presidential race, he needs to win re-election next week in a state where roughly half of the voters say they’ve had enough of him...
Fox News Host Calls Out Chris Christie For Putting Millionaires Over State’s Economy ThinkProgress ...You decided to cut payments to pension funds and instead of raising taxes on millionaires and businesses. The credit rating for New Jersey has actually been downgraded eight times your watch, and the polls in New Jersey show you with your lowest favorability rating since you became governor...
War on Workers
States With The Widest Gap Between Rich And Poor: 24/7 Wall St. Huffington Post ...New York was one of only two states, along with Connecticut, where more than 25% of all income was earned by just the top 5% of households...
Inflation Deceptive, CPI 0.1% Yet Some Items Off the Charts Economic Populist ...The average hourly real wage feel -0.2% [in September] and is now $10.32. and has increased just 0.3% for the year. This means wages are not keeping up with inflation. Weekly real earnings increased by only because people were working 0.3% more hours per week...
Police Pay Gap: Many of America's Finest Struggle on Poverty Wages NBC News ...Data obtained by NBC News from 24 municipal police departments in St. Louis County reveal a gulf between police officer pay in poor, majority African-American northern cities and wealthier, whiter cities further south. Average annual patrol officer pay ranges from $23,000 in Hillsdale to nearly $70,000 in Town and County and Des Peres...
Chris Christie Stuck Her In 'Prison.' So Ebola Nurse Says She'll Sue. Forbes ...She worked for Doctors Without Borders — the aid group fighting West Africa’s Ebola epidemic — before flying home on Friday and being rushed into a surprise isolation that she’s described as scary, disorganized, and even cruel...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)