Teamsters
Chicago Parking Valet Engaged in Unfair Labor Practices, NLRB Rules Local 727 ...Chicago Parking Valet has engaged in unfair labor practices, according to the National Labor Relations Board. Last year, an arbitrator ordered Chicago Parking Valet to pay employees, Teamsters Local 727 and the union Benefit Funds years’ worth back pay, dues and benefit contributions. However, the company then refused to furnish the union with requested information that was essential to carrying out the arbitration decision...
Teamsters, without a contract for last year-and-a-half, go on strike Thursday Belleville News-Democrat ...Some local construction sites may not be receiving concrete Thursday after about 80 metro-east laborers went on strike Thursday morning. The Teamsters Union Local 50 in Swansea announced the work stoppage after members had been delivering ready-mix concrete while working without a contract for the past year and a half. Union president Scott Alexander said the laborers were no closer to a settlement over their wages, pension and health care...
Teamsters Rail Ratify Five-Year Agreement with Ontario Northland Corridor Capital ...Northland Transportation Commission (Ontario Northland) and Teamsters Rail Conference Maintenance of Way Employees Division (TCRC MWED) announced today the ratification of a new five-year collective agreement. 94% of the vote was in favour of the agreement. “I am happy that the membership strongly supported the agreement,” said Louis Wilson, representative of TCRC MWED...
Still No Deal Between EVSC and Teamsters Tristate Homepage ...Still no deal between the EVSC and Teamsters Local 215, the jobs of nearly 700 employees are on the line as both sides are still working to secure a contract. Their contract expired June 30. We're told while the Teamsters and the EVSC have been communicating negotiations have yet to resume...
Teamsters Local Union 340 holding annual food drive to benefit Caribou Catholic Charities News Channel Network ...Everyone loves being part of the Potato Blossom Festival…tomorrow the Teamsters Local Union 340 food truck will head up to the County to do just that. They’re holding their 6th annual statewide food drive to benefit Catholic Charities in Caribou. They’ll be bringing up what they’ve collected so far...
Global Labor & Trade
Tension builds between Canada, U.S. over TPP deal Globe and Mail ...The U.S. government is frustrated with Canada over Pacific Rim trade talks because it believes Ottawa promised greater foreign access to its dairy and poultry markets as a condition of joining – and yet has offered nothing as discussions enter the final stretch, sources say. This friction between Canada and the U.S. is exposing a fundamental disagreement...
Lawmakers say Canada risks ouster from TPP unless it opens access to dairy market AgriPulse ...A bipartisan group of 21 House members is warning Canada that it may not be included in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) if it continues to resist increasing access to its dairy market. The warning was contained in a letter to Gary Doer, Canada's ambassador to the U.S., and signed by House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway, R-Texas...
Public-Private 'Revolving Door' Boosts TTIP Lobby, Report Says TeleSur ...As a massive lobby fight swirls around TTIP negotiations, the extent of the fast-spinning revolving door between the public sector and the prospective private beneficiaries of the deal threatens to create major conflicts of interest and tighten the corporate stranglehold on TTIP trade talks, says a new report released Wednesday...
Pushed by unions, Labor threatens China trade deal in Senate Financial Review ...Pressure is building on the Abbott government to tighten the China Australia Free Trade Agreement with the federal Opposition saying the deal does not adequately protect Australian jobs. As the trade union movement prepares for an assault on the signed agreement at next week's Labor National Conference, shadow trade minister Penny Wong said it "lacks critical safeguards"...
Greek debt crisis eases as banks prepare to reopen Monday Washington Post ...The acute economic crisis that has gripped Greece for weeks eased markedly Thursday as European officials dismantled key obstacles to desperately needed loans and the country’s banks prepared to reopen Monday, three weeks after locking their doors. The positive signals came hours after Greece’s Parliament reluctantly approved austerity measures required as a condition of a $96 billion bailout...
Advancing Bailout, Greece Approves 'Terms of Surrender' to Austerity Common Dreams ...After a lengthy and tense debate that stretched into the early hours of Thursday morning, the 300-member Greek Parliament voted by a majority of 229-64 to pass what former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis—one of those to vote "No"—is calling the "Terms of Greece's Surrender" to European creditors. The €86 billion bailout comes at a high political and social cost, forcing the imposition of harsh austerity measures and economic reforms tougher than those rejected by more than 60 percent of Greek voters...
State & Living Wage Battles
Chris Christie Is Turning Tap Water Into a Private Commodity The Nation ...In 2010, the citizens of Trenton, New Jersey, were asked to sell part of their water system for $80 million to New Jersey American Water, the largest private water utility company in the state. They rejected the privatization attempt by nearly four-to-one at the ballot box. However, lawmakers in New Jersey have passed legislation that attempts to silence the voices of communities like Trenton.
5 Ways Scott Walker's Allies On Wisconsin's High Court Just Legalized Political Corruption Alternet ...The Wisconsin Supreme Court has single-handedly rewritten the state’s limits on money in politics, rendering the state’s disclosure laws and contribution limits meaningless, and opening the door to unlimited funds directly from corporations and foreign firms. In a 4-2 decision that broke along ideological lines, the Court's conservative majority ended the John Doe probe into whether Governor Scott Walker illegally coordinated with supposedly "independent" dark money groups during the recall elections...
Do the math: Rauner’s call for repeal of prevailing wage law doesn’t add up (opinion) Chicago Reporter ...Illinois residents are starting to feel the pain from the state’s budget stalemate, as Governor Rauner continues to insist that his anti-union “turnaround agenda” be part of any budget solution. As part of that agenda, Rauner has called for repeal of the state’s prevailing wage law. In his state of the state address, he argued that the prevailing wage law increases the cost of construction by 20 percent. That’s not mathematically possible...
Voter ID Laws, Legacy of Segregation Still Affect Alabama US News & World Report ...Earlier this month, when the Center for American Progress Action Fund think tank released a state-by-state assessment of democracy, which looked at citizens' access to the polls, legislative representation and political influence, most observers weren't surprised that the Deep South ended up on the bottom rung. The grade, however, is an indication of a deeper, more complex problem found in Alabama and other Southern red states like Louisiana and Texas. The region's bitter legacy of racial segregation has created an environment where access to the polls is still questionable...
Tomblin weighs in on prevailing wage debate Daily Mail ...When discussing the ongoing spectacle surrounding the expiration of West Virginia’s prevailing wage law, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin on Thursday said misunderstanding has fueled the dispute between legislators and WorkForce West Virginia, the agency tasked with developing a new wage. While Tomblin acknowledged WorkForce West Virginia’s failure to disclose requested documents that Republicans are saying show how labor organizations attempted to influence the wage recalculation, he said he doesn’t believe the agency tried to hide anything...
Martin O’Malley Backs $15 National Minimum Wage Huffington Post ...Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley on Thursday declared his support for raising the national minimum wage to $15 an hour, contrasting himself with frontrunner Hillary Clinton. “I strongly support the national movement to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, because it will lift millions of families out of poverty and create better customers for American businesses,” O’Malley said in a statement...
U.S. Labor
EEOC Rules Workplace Sexual Orientation Discrimination Already Illegal Under Federal Law Slate ...On Thursday, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission unanimously ruled that sexual orientation discrimination is already illegal under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As BuzzFeed's Chris Geidner reports, the EEOC's groundbreaking decision effectively declares that employment discrimination against gay, lesbian, and bisexual workers is unlawful in all 50 states...
Democrats push to limit abusive work scheduling practices like split shifts Daily Kos ...Low hourly wages aren't the only thing that keep workers in the fast food and retail industries struggling. Scheduling matters, too. These days it's common for workers to not know their schedules more than a week ahead. Democrats, led by Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Patty Murray, and Chris Murphy and Reps. Rosa DeLauro and Bobby Scott, have a bill to fix that, or at least start to fix it: the Schedules That Work Act...
Wage Disparities High on List as Fiat Chrysler, UAW Begin Talks Wall Street Journal ...Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV Chief Sergio Marchionne is open to killing the controversial two-tier wage system that union members dislike but is unwilling to raise overall labor costs, a position that could complicate the path to reaching a new labor deal in mid-September. “We need to make money in order to pay people, as crass as that may sound,” Mr. Marchionne said during Tuesday’s ceremonial handshake to mark the start of contract negotiations...
KapStone workers OK unfair labor practice strike TDN ...KapStone's union mill workers overwhelmingly authorized an unfair labor practice strike this week, the union reported. About 99 percent of voting union members approve of the strike authorization, officials of the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers said Wednesday night. The vote is an attempt to show that any strike would be over an unfair labor practice rather than purely economic concerns...
Papa John’s Franchisee Faces Jail Time Over Stealing Workers’ Wages Think Progress ...On Wednesday, the owner of nine Papa John’s franchises in New York City pled guilty to the first criminal case brought by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman against a fast food franchisee over wage theft. According to court documents, including company records obtained by the attorney general’s office, Abdul Jamil Khokhar, the franchisee, and BMY Foods Inc. paid its 300 current and former workers the same base rate for any hours they worked after putting in 40 a week...
Unemployment Rates in New York City and State Fall to Seven-Year Lows New York Times ...The unemployment rates in New York City and New York State fell to their lowest levels in nearly seven years as the long, steady improvement of New York’s economy continued in June, according to State Labor Department figures released on Thursday. The department reported that New York City’s unemployment rate dropped to 6.1 percent, from 6.4 percent in May...
Wisconsin unemployment rate holds steady at 4.6% Journal-Sentinel ...Wisconsin's unemployment rate stood unchanged in June at 4.6% from May, although the index is below the 5.4% in the same month a year ago and well below a peak of 9.2% at the worst point after the recession. Statistics show that Wisconsin has been a slow-growth jobs state for more than a decade...
Serfing the Web: On-Demand Workers Deserve a Place at the Table The Nation ...The Federal Trade Commission workshop “The ‘Sharing’ Economy” purported to focus on “issues facing platforms, participants, and regulators.” But calling an Uber driver a mere “participant” unfairly predetermines the most fundamental labor issue of the digital economy: whether those who work for massive digital platforms deserve the protection of employment, or can be treated as mere “independent contractors” bereft of traditional labor protections...
Miscellaneous
Federal Government Deepens Commitment To Separate Justice Systems For Wall Street, Main Street Think Progress ...People who apply for jobs with federal contractors still have to check a box if they have been to prison, but a government agency is finally trying to “ban the box” — at least, for billionaire bankers. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is quietly seeking to negate the consequences of felony guilty pleas that some of Wall Street’s biggest names entered earlier this year, according to a letter from Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)...
Immigration Reform: Undocumented Immigrant Protest In Los Angeles Against County Jails Leads To 3 Arrests International Business Times ...Three people were arrested Wednesday evening at a Los Angeles demonstration protesting county jails taking part in a new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) initiative that asks law enforcement officers to notify the agency if they believed an inmate was an undocumented immigrant before he or she was released. The controversial Priority Enforcement Program (PEP) was debated at a public forum hosted by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department before protesters took to the streets...
Mass Graves of Immigrants Found in Texas, But State Says No Laws Were Broken Democracy Now ...Texas says there is "no evidence" of wrongdoing after mass graves filled with bodies of immigrants were found miles inland from the U.S.-Mexico border. The bodies were gathered from the desert surrounding a checkpoint in Falfurrias, Texas, in Brooks County...
A Black Woman Named Sandra Bland Got Pulled Over in Texas and Died in Jail Three Days Later. Why? Slate ... troubling story posted Wednesday night by an ABC affiliate in Chicago is picking up momentum online Thursday: the case of Sandra Bland, a black woman from Naperville, Illinois, who was stopped by police in Waller County, Texas, for making an improper lane change last Friday and ended up dead in jail on Monday morning. Police say Bland—who was in the area for a job interview at her alma mater, Texas Prairie View A&M—was arrested for “assault on a public servant” and appears to have committed suicide...
After EPA Ignored Environmental Racism for Decades, Communities Fight Back Common Dreams ...The Environmental Protection Agency has been ignoring complaints about environmental racism across the United States for up to 20 years, repeatedly failing to investigate evidence that incinerators, power plants, and hazardous waste dumps are disproportionally harming the health of low-income communities of color, a new lawsuit charges...
Showing posts with label privatization. Show all posts
Showing posts with label privatization. Show all posts
Friday, July 17, 2015
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Democracy vs. austerity: Greece draws the line against global loan sharks
Last week our brothers and sisters in Greece's trade unions hung a massive banner from the country's Finance Ministry building which read: "No to blackmail and austerity."
A few days later Greek society echoed that defiant sentiment with a resounding "No" vote against the latest round of cuts demanded by European and international creditors on a nation already collapsing under the weight of austerity.
Following Sunday's vote, Greece saw celebrations in the streets while observers wondered if the rejection of concessions to the "troika" institutions -- the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF -- signaled Greece's exit from the Eurozone (or "Grexit").
As Think Progress reported following Sunday's referendum vote,
Following Sunday's vote, Greece saw celebrations in the streets while observers wondered if the rejection of concessions to the "troika" institutions -- the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF -- signaled Greece's exit from the Eurozone (or "Grexit").
As Think Progress reported following Sunday's referendum vote,
Greeks overwhelmingly voted against a European deal to extend financing to the country’s banks that would have required more harsh austerity measures on the part of the government. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who came to power in large part on a promise to reject more austerity measures, had called the referendum to get more bargaining power in the dealmaking process. Greeks rejoiced at the news of the vote.
The country’s financial fate is far from certain, and the prospects of Greece coming to an agreement with European creditors may now be dimmer after the no vote. In the meantime, Greek banks remain closed, the economy is suffering from the financial chaos, and any new bailout agreement may now come with a higher price tag.
The historic vote against austerity is a vote against more budget cuts, privatization and high taxes on financially-strapped workers -- the same policies that have been strangling Greece's financial system. Now Prime Minister Tsipras, who supported the vote against more austerity, is scrambling to put together another bailout proposal.
Led by Germany (with its own history of failing to repay its debts), the assault on workers and the poor in Greece is both economic and political. When Greeks dared to elect the anti-austerity Syriza party to power -- after years of savage cuts imposed by bank-installed technocrats -- powerful creditors were determined to punish them.
Economist Paul Krugman explains:
But, as has always been the case, austerity didn't break the cycle of debt -- it only accelerated it (something even the IMF admits). This should be no surprise for an institution with a long history of ensnaring impoverished countries of the Global South under mountains for odious debt, a recipe for privatizing their natural resources and selling them off the highest multinational bidder. In Greece, unemployment stands above 25 percent and more than 50 percent of Greek youths are jobless.
The solution, says Dean Baker, is simple -- stop the austerity:
All of this may seem a little distant to working families on this side of the Atlantic. But what happens in the eurozone will reverberate across the global economy. And it wasn't long ago when austerity was on the lips American lawmakers and business leaders as a "solution" to our economic crisis.
For the corporate class, the fallout from the 2008 financial meltdown in the U.S. was an opportunity to gut the public sector and shift the costs of the crisis onto the backs of working Americans. The government took on massive debts accumulated on Wall Street, which provided the perfect conditions of "disaster capitalism" to cut public spending. We are now living with the consequences of budget cuts at state and local levels nationwide -- targeting everything from workers' pensions to basic services (which have been increasingly privatized).
Events in Europe are a lesson on how deep austerity can cut before hitting a nerve of democratic revolt. We all must stand in solidarity with the popular movement against austerity in Greece.
Led by Germany (with its own history of failing to repay its debts), the assault on workers and the poor in Greece is both economic and political. When Greeks dared to elect the anti-austerity Syriza party to power -- after years of savage cuts imposed by bank-installed technocrats -- powerful creditors were determined to punish them.
Economist Paul Krugman explains:
The campaign of bullying -- the attempt to terrify Greeks by cutting off bank financing and threatening general chaos, all with the almost open goal of pushing the current leftist government out of office -- was a shameful moment in a Europe that claims to believe in democratic principles. It would have set a terrible precedent if that campaign had succeeded, even if the creditors were making sense.
What’s more, they weren’t. The truth is that Europe’s self-styled technocrats are like medieval doctors who insisted on bleeding their patients -- and when their treatment made the patients sicker, demanded even more bleeding. A “yes” vote in Greece would have condemned the country to years more of suffering under policies that haven’t worked and in fact, given the arithmetic, can’t work: austerity probably shrinks the economy faster than it reduces debt, so that all the suffering serves no purpose.It's important to remember the economic crisis began in part with shady financial practices by financial giants like Goldman Sachs that allowed Greece to grow and conceal its debt. Over the years, previous governments in Athens have surrendered to international loan sharks, submitting to intense austerity measures that were supposed to pull Greece back from the brink of default and to a place of economic stability.
But, as has always been the case, austerity didn't break the cycle of debt -- it only accelerated it (something even the IMF admits). This should be no surprise for an institution with a long history of ensnaring impoverished countries of the Global South under mountains for odious debt, a recipe for privatizing their natural resources and selling them off the highest multinational bidder. In Greece, unemployment stands above 25 percent and more than 50 percent of Greek youths are jobless.
The solution, says Dean Baker, is simple -- stop the austerity:
The best solution would be a turn by the eurozone leadership away from austerity. Germany and other countries are not lending money to the Greeks to support their profligate lifestyles, they are lending money to Greece to allow the country to get through the austerity that its creditors have imposed on the country. If Greece's economy was allowed to grow, then it would not be facing a budget deficit.As far as what Greece owes, the solution is simpler: forgive the debt. Just as Germany was allowed to write down its postwar debt, relief for Greece could similarly lead to restored economic growth.
All of this may seem a little distant to working families on this side of the Atlantic. But what happens in the eurozone will reverberate across the global economy. And it wasn't long ago when austerity was on the lips American lawmakers and business leaders as a "solution" to our economic crisis.
For the corporate class, the fallout from the 2008 financial meltdown in the U.S. was an opportunity to gut the public sector and shift the costs of the crisis onto the backs of working Americans. The government took on massive debts accumulated on Wall Street, which provided the perfect conditions of "disaster capitalism" to cut public spending. We are now living with the consequences of budget cuts at state and local levels nationwide -- targeting everything from workers' pensions to basic services (which have been increasingly privatized).
Events in Europe are a lesson on how deep austerity can cut before hitting a nerve of democratic revolt. We all must stand in solidarity with the popular movement against austerity in Greece.
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Today's Teamster News 02.22.15
Teamsters
Union and company reach contract for Facebook shuttle drivers USA Today …Facebook shuttle bus drivers can expect higher wages and better working conditions as part of a new contract agreement reached today. More than two-thirds of about 90 drivers voted unanimously Saturday to accept a contract negotiated by the Teamsters and South San Francisco-based Loop Transportation…
Trade
TPP accord no longer expected before April Japan Times …Japan and the United States had hoped the 12-member TPP talks would conclude as early as March, assuming the two countries could clinch an accord at a bilateral meeting in late February or early March. The delay reflects slow progress in U.S. congressional procedures to grant President Barack Obama trade promotion authority...
State Battles
Right-to-work effort winds around Great Lakes into Wisconsin Milwaukee Journal Sentinel …This week, the right-to-work debate moves front and center in Wisconsin...
NEW INFORMATION: Wisconsin Senate leader lays out timeline for right-to-work Associated Press …Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said Friday that a public hearing will be held Tuesday on the measure by the Senate Labor Committee. Debate will begin Wednesday in the Senate and continue until there's a vote...
Can Labor Survive Nevada's Republican Party? The Atlantic …For the first time in decades, the GOP controls the state's assembly, the senate, and the governor's mansion—and they're targeting unions...
Udall speaks against right-to-work, urges more funds for early ed Santa Fe New Mexican …U.S. Sen. Tom Udall used his pulpit during a joint session of the New Mexico Legislature on Friday to weigh in on two of the most divisive issues facing state lawmakers this session...
War on Workers
America, Land of Low Pay -- The Numbers Will Surprise You Alternet …Each American produced an average of $140,000 in goods in 2013, but median wages were less than $28,000. Who's getting that money?...
U.S. Oil Workers' Union Expands Biggest Plant Strike Since 1980 Bloomberg News …The United Steelworkers, which represents 30,000 U.S. oil workers, called on four more plants to join the biggest strike since 1980 as talks dragged on with Royal Dutch Shell Plc, negotiating a labor contract for oil companies...
This is the scariest chart in the American economy today Vox …The unemployment rate has come down a lot, but the share of unemployed workers who've been unemployed a long time is still at historic levels...
Inmates riot at Willacy County prison Valley Star …Complaints over medical service led about 2,000 prisoners to riot Friday at the so-called tent-city prison here, setting fire to a tent-like dome while guards fired tear gas to try to control what Willacy County Sheriff Larry Spence called the prison’s worst disturbance since it opened nearly 10 years ago.Two officers and a prisoner suffered minor injuries before officials tried to settle the uprising late Friday afternoon at the Willacy County Correctional Center, said Issa Arnita, spokesman for Management & Training Corp., the Utah company that operates the low security-level prison for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons…
The Rich Benefit the Most From Tax Breaks Designed to Help People Build Wealth Bloomberg …The federal government spent $384 billion in 2013 on tax incentives that encourage savings, linked mainly to home ownership and retirement plans. Most of that money went to the rich...
Investment Charges When Mexico Privatized Social Security Conversable Economist …"Fund managers charged an average load (a fee taken as a share of account contributions at the time of contribution) of 23 percent and an annual fee on assets under management of 0.63 percent, implying that a 100-peso deposit earning a 5 percent annual real return would only be worth 95.4 pesos after five years."...
Big tech companies cause income inequality — but not in the ways you think Pando Daily … these companies invest huge portions of their annual revenues into buying back stock to line the pockets of shareholders, not to mention keep the bulk of global profits safely offshore and out of the reach of US tax collectors. And because stock performance is often used as a key factor in determining executive compensation, buyback schemes may also boost a CEO’s take-home pay...
Coroner: Worker dies when rock falls in Pennsylvania mine WPXI …ndiana County Coroner Jerry L. Overman Jr. says in a news release that the man — 29-year-old Todd Trimble of Gallitzin — was installing roof bolts at Rosebud Heilwood mine on Friday afternoon when the rock fell and he was trapped underneath...
Union and company reach contract for Facebook shuttle drivers USA Today …Facebook shuttle bus drivers can expect higher wages and better working conditions as part of a new contract agreement reached today. More than two-thirds of about 90 drivers voted unanimously Saturday to accept a contract negotiated by the Teamsters and South San Francisco-based Loop Transportation…
Trade
TPP accord no longer expected before April Japan Times …Japan and the United States had hoped the 12-member TPP talks would conclude as early as March, assuming the two countries could clinch an accord at a bilateral meeting in late February or early March. The delay reflects slow progress in U.S. congressional procedures to grant President Barack Obama trade promotion authority...
State Battles
Right-to-work effort winds around Great Lakes into Wisconsin Milwaukee Journal Sentinel …This week, the right-to-work debate moves front and center in Wisconsin...
NEW INFORMATION: Wisconsin Senate leader lays out timeline for right-to-work Associated Press …Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said Friday that a public hearing will be held Tuesday on the measure by the Senate Labor Committee. Debate will begin Wednesday in the Senate and continue until there's a vote...
Can Labor Survive Nevada's Republican Party? The Atlantic …For the first time in decades, the GOP controls the state's assembly, the senate, and the governor's mansion—and they're targeting unions...
Udall speaks against right-to-work, urges more funds for early ed Santa Fe New Mexican …U.S. Sen. Tom Udall used his pulpit during a joint session of the New Mexico Legislature on Friday to weigh in on two of the most divisive issues facing state lawmakers this session...
War on Workers
America, Land of Low Pay -- The Numbers Will Surprise You Alternet …Each American produced an average of $140,000 in goods in 2013, but median wages were less than $28,000. Who's getting that money?...
U.S. Oil Workers' Union Expands Biggest Plant Strike Since 1980 Bloomberg News …The United Steelworkers, which represents 30,000 U.S. oil workers, called on four more plants to join the biggest strike since 1980 as talks dragged on with Royal Dutch Shell Plc, negotiating a labor contract for oil companies...
This is the scariest chart in the American economy today Vox …The unemployment rate has come down a lot, but the share of unemployed workers who've been unemployed a long time is still at historic levels...
Inmates riot at Willacy County prison Valley Star …Complaints over medical service led about 2,000 prisoners to riot Friday at the so-called tent-city prison here, setting fire to a tent-like dome while guards fired tear gas to try to control what Willacy County Sheriff Larry Spence called the prison’s worst disturbance since it opened nearly 10 years ago.Two officers and a prisoner suffered minor injuries before officials tried to settle the uprising late Friday afternoon at the Willacy County Correctional Center, said Issa Arnita, spokesman for Management & Training Corp., the Utah company that operates the low security-level prison for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons…
The Rich Benefit the Most From Tax Breaks Designed to Help People Build Wealth Bloomberg …The federal government spent $384 billion in 2013 on tax incentives that encourage savings, linked mainly to home ownership and retirement plans. Most of that money went to the rich...
Investment Charges When Mexico Privatized Social Security Conversable Economist …"Fund managers charged an average load (a fee taken as a share of account contributions at the time of contribution) of 23 percent and an annual fee on assets under management of 0.63 percent, implying that a 100-peso deposit earning a 5 percent annual real return would only be worth 95.4 pesos after five years."...
Big tech companies cause income inequality — but not in the ways you think Pando Daily … these companies invest huge portions of their annual revenues into buying back stock to line the pockets of shareholders, not to mention keep the bulk of global profits safely offshore and out of the reach of US tax collectors. And because stock performance is often used as a key factor in determining executive compensation, buyback schemes may also boost a CEO’s take-home pay...
Coroner: Worker dies when rock falls in Pennsylvania mine WPXI …ndiana County Coroner Jerry L. Overman Jr. says in a news release that the man — 29-year-old Todd Trimble of Gallitzin — was installing roof bolts at Rosebud Heilwood mine on Friday afternoon when the rock fell and he was trapped underneath...
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Today's Teamster News 12.13.14
Teamster News
While Cromnibus Waits, Teamsters Object to Pension Plan Roll Call ...the Senate might not be able to hold its final vote on the measure until Monday...Teamsters Object. With the fiscal 2015 spending bill on track for action, the Teamsters union is weighing in with a last-ditch effort to get lawmakers to reject the measure. A statement from Teamsters President Jim Hoffa pointed to pension changes in the measure, which the union said would result “in an untold number of retirees losing a substantial percentage of their fixed income should reductions be required.” The Teamsters are also objecting to the controversial hours of service rules in the bill...
34-Hour Restart Changes: House Passes Spending Bill; Eyes On Senate Commercial Carrier Journal ...First, it removes the requirement that drivers’ 34-hour restarts include two 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. periods. Second, it removes the one-per-week limit of the restart’s use. It also requires FMCSA to produce a study to show how the restart provisions improve safety. The stay of enforcement of the rules will end after Sept. 30, 2015, and after FMCSA provides its report justifying the rules...
Reid Announces Weekend Votes After Blockade (Updated) Roll Call ...Reid also said that absent an agreement, the Senate would vote at 1 a.m. Sunday to limit debate on the cromnibus spending package...
CRomnibus Disaster Signals a Sad New Normal in D.C. The Fiscal Times ...Under the bill, trustees would be enabled to cut pension benefits to current retirees, reversing a 40-year bond with workers who earned their retirement packages...
Sysco Poised To Complete $8.2B Merger With US Foods New York Post ...Sysco is poised to complete the $8.2 billion merger with its closest rival, US Foods, but at a much stiffer price than expected, The Post has learned. America’s biggest food-service provider, Sysco is selling assets worth $5 billion to Performance Food Group (owned by Steve Schwarzman-led Blackstone Group) to win regulatory approval, two sources said. That is equal to roughly one-quarter of US Foods’ revenue...
Congressman Urges Cooperation Between Teamsters And Giant Eagle Distributor WFMJ ...Representative Ryan as sent letters pleading with the Tamarkin Company and Teamsters Local 377 to “quickly and efficiently negotiate a fair resolution to the ongoing labor dispute. The result of an impasse is simply not in the best interests of the workers, the company or this community,” writes Ryan...
State AFL-CIO opposes Bill de Blasio's horse carriage ban New York Daily News ... A resolution passed Friday by the state AFL-CIO says New York City's carriage industry provides 300 good middle-class jobs. The major statewide labor coalition is the latest of several union groups to vow to fight the mayor's proposal...
Trade
Growing U.S. trade deficit with China cost 3.2 million jobs between 2001 and 2013, with job losses in every state Economic Policy Institute ...a growing U.S. goods trade deficit with China has the United States piling up foreign debt, losing export capacity, and losing jobs, especially in the vital but under-siege manufacturing sector...
Obama 'more optimistic' about Pacific trade deal The Hill ...President Obama said Thursday he believes the odds for striking a Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement are "significantly higher than 50-50" in a meeting Thursday with his export council...
State Battles
Warren County Votes To Become Right To Work County WBKO ...Fiscal Court approved a right to work ordinance on the first reading Thursday morning with a vote of 5-1, democrat Tommy Hunt was the lone magistrate against it...
Jury still out on Michigan's growth, lack of since becoming right-to-work state WNEM.com …Woods said right-to-work isn't creating jobs in Michigan. "Michigan still ranks in the top 10 states in unemployment rate at 7.1 percent," she said...
Rex Sinquefield’s million-dollar donation heralds new craziness in Missouri Kansas City Star ...many Missouri Republicans are very nervous about Sinquefield’s ostentatious bankrolling of his personal slate of candidates for the 2016 statewide ticket...
NJ AFL-CIO supports ‘Buy America’ bills PolitickerNJ ...Urgently needed legislation that will give American-made products and U.S. workers a fair shake in the domestic marketplace cleared another legislative hurdle on Thursday, December 11, when it was released by the Assembly Budget Committee...
GOP may seek last push for Pa. action TribLive ...[Pennsylvania] Lawmakers could make a final push to privatize state liquor stores, reform the public pension system and end government collection of union dues from paychecks — proposals Wolf opposes...
The Koch Wall Street Crusade To Rob Pensions Is Underway PoliticusUSA ...despite sending his state into an economic tailspin after squandering a budget surplus and cutting services to provide unimaginable tax cuts for the rich, Kansas governor Sam Brownback is robbing employee pensions to cover the state’s devastating budget shortfalls...
Koch brothers group files suit against Calif. AG, refuses to disclose donors Legal Newsline ...nonprofit group founded by the Koch brothers is challenging California Attorney General Kamala Harris’ threat to take its state tax-exempt status unless it discloses the identities of its donors...
War on Workers
Ruling Lets Work Email Be Used To Organize Unions New York Times ...Calling that ruling “clearly incorrect,” the current majority noted how technology had transformed daily habits. “The workplace is ‘uniquely appropriate’ and ‘the natural gathering place’ for such communications,” the board wrote, “and the use of email as a common form of workplace communication has expanded dramatically in recent years.”...
The Vanishing Male Worker: How America Fell Behind New York Times ...Working, in America, is in decline. The share of prime-age men — those 25 to 54 years old — who are not working has more than tripled since the late 1960s, to 16 percent. More recently, since the turn of the century, the share of women without paying jobs has been rising, too. The United States, which had one of the highest employment rates among developed nations as recently as 2000, has fallen toward the bottom of the list...
Wage Theft Costing Workers Millions of Dollars RH Reality Check ...The lost wages in those two states represent $20 million in lost income per week in New York and $29 million in lost income per week in California...
Construction Worker Killed After Roof Collapsed WGTU ...A 51-year-old West Branch man was killed after falling through the roof of a building...
Miscellaneous
Verizon's New, Encrypted Calling App Comes Pre-Hacked For The NSA Bloomberg Businessweek ...Verizon is the latest big company to enter the post-Snowden market for secure communication, and it's doing so with an encryption standard that comes with a way for law enforcement to access ostensibly secure phone conversations...
While Cromnibus Waits, Teamsters Object to Pension Plan Roll Call ...the Senate might not be able to hold its final vote on the measure until Monday...Teamsters Object. With the fiscal 2015 spending bill on track for action, the Teamsters union is weighing in with a last-ditch effort to get lawmakers to reject the measure. A statement from Teamsters President Jim Hoffa pointed to pension changes in the measure, which the union said would result “in an untold number of retirees losing a substantial percentage of their fixed income should reductions be required.” The Teamsters are also objecting to the controversial hours of service rules in the bill...
34-Hour Restart Changes: House Passes Spending Bill; Eyes On Senate Commercial Carrier Journal ...First, it removes the requirement that drivers’ 34-hour restarts include two 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. periods. Second, it removes the one-per-week limit of the restart’s use. It also requires FMCSA to produce a study to show how the restart provisions improve safety. The stay of enforcement of the rules will end after Sept. 30, 2015, and after FMCSA provides its report justifying the rules...
Reid Announces Weekend Votes After Blockade (Updated) Roll Call ...Reid also said that absent an agreement, the Senate would vote at 1 a.m. Sunday to limit debate on the cromnibus spending package...
CRomnibus Disaster Signals a Sad New Normal in D.C. The Fiscal Times ...Under the bill, trustees would be enabled to cut pension benefits to current retirees, reversing a 40-year bond with workers who earned their retirement packages...
Sysco Poised To Complete $8.2B Merger With US Foods New York Post ...Sysco is poised to complete the $8.2 billion merger with its closest rival, US Foods, but at a much stiffer price than expected, The Post has learned. America’s biggest food-service provider, Sysco is selling assets worth $5 billion to Performance Food Group (owned by Steve Schwarzman-led Blackstone Group) to win regulatory approval, two sources said. That is equal to roughly one-quarter of US Foods’ revenue...
Congressman Urges Cooperation Between Teamsters And Giant Eagle Distributor WFMJ ...Representative Ryan as sent letters pleading with the Tamarkin Company and Teamsters Local 377 to “quickly and efficiently negotiate a fair resolution to the ongoing labor dispute. The result of an impasse is simply not in the best interests of the workers, the company or this community,” writes Ryan...
State AFL-CIO opposes Bill de Blasio's horse carriage ban New York Daily News ... A resolution passed Friday by the state AFL-CIO says New York City's carriage industry provides 300 good middle-class jobs. The major statewide labor coalition is the latest of several union groups to vow to fight the mayor's proposal...
Trade
Growing U.S. trade deficit with China cost 3.2 million jobs between 2001 and 2013, with job losses in every state Economic Policy Institute ...a growing U.S. goods trade deficit with China has the United States piling up foreign debt, losing export capacity, and losing jobs, especially in the vital but under-siege manufacturing sector...
Obama 'more optimistic' about Pacific trade deal The Hill ...President Obama said Thursday he believes the odds for striking a Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement are "significantly higher than 50-50" in a meeting Thursday with his export council...
State Battles
Warren County Votes To Become Right To Work County WBKO ...Fiscal Court approved a right to work ordinance on the first reading Thursday morning with a vote of 5-1, democrat Tommy Hunt was the lone magistrate against it...
Jury still out on Michigan's growth, lack of since becoming right-to-work state WNEM.com …Woods said right-to-work isn't creating jobs in Michigan. "Michigan still ranks in the top 10 states in unemployment rate at 7.1 percent," she said...
Rex Sinquefield’s million-dollar donation heralds new craziness in Missouri Kansas City Star ...many Missouri Republicans are very nervous about Sinquefield’s ostentatious bankrolling of his personal slate of candidates for the 2016 statewide ticket...
NJ AFL-CIO supports ‘Buy America’ bills PolitickerNJ ...Urgently needed legislation that will give American-made products and U.S. workers a fair shake in the domestic marketplace cleared another legislative hurdle on Thursday, December 11, when it was released by the Assembly Budget Committee...
GOP may seek last push for Pa. action TribLive ...[Pennsylvania] Lawmakers could make a final push to privatize state liquor stores, reform the public pension system and end government collection of union dues from paychecks — proposals Wolf opposes...
The Koch Wall Street Crusade To Rob Pensions Is Underway PoliticusUSA ...despite sending his state into an economic tailspin after squandering a budget surplus and cutting services to provide unimaginable tax cuts for the rich, Kansas governor Sam Brownback is robbing employee pensions to cover the state’s devastating budget shortfalls...
Koch brothers group files suit against Calif. AG, refuses to disclose donors Legal Newsline ...nonprofit group founded by the Koch brothers is challenging California Attorney General Kamala Harris’ threat to take its state tax-exempt status unless it discloses the identities of its donors...
War on Workers
Ruling Lets Work Email Be Used To Organize Unions New York Times ...Calling that ruling “clearly incorrect,” the current majority noted how technology had transformed daily habits. “The workplace is ‘uniquely appropriate’ and ‘the natural gathering place’ for such communications,” the board wrote, “and the use of email as a common form of workplace communication has expanded dramatically in recent years.”...
The Vanishing Male Worker: How America Fell Behind New York Times ...Working, in America, is in decline. The share of prime-age men — those 25 to 54 years old — who are not working has more than tripled since the late 1960s, to 16 percent. More recently, since the turn of the century, the share of women without paying jobs has been rising, too. The United States, which had one of the highest employment rates among developed nations as recently as 2000, has fallen toward the bottom of the list...
Wage Theft Costing Workers Millions of Dollars RH Reality Check ...The lost wages in those two states represent $20 million in lost income per week in New York and $29 million in lost income per week in California...
Construction Worker Killed After Roof Collapsed WGTU ...A 51-year-old West Branch man was killed after falling through the roof of a building...
Miscellaneous
Verizon's New, Encrypted Calling App Comes Pre-Hacked For The NSA Bloomberg Businessweek ...Verizon is the latest big company to enter the post-Snowden market for secure communication, and it's doing so with an encryption standard that comes with a way for law enforcement to access ostensibly secure phone conversations...
Sunday, November 2, 2014
Today's Teamster News 11.02.14
Trade
Secret Negotiations Hide the TPP’s Most Damaging Provisions Economy in Crisis ...Under the proposed agreement, American laws regarding labor, environmental or financial issues would apply to companies based in America, but foreign companies operating in the U.S. could challenge these laws in a secret international tribunal if they felt these laws affected their ability to do business. ..
WTO in Seattle - 15 Years Ago Huffington Post ...it's clear that the WTO and NAFTA-style trade deals were never about economics or shared prosperity. They are really about power relationships. Who will have the power to claim any new gains created through work?...
State Battles
Voter ID Laws Are Now In 17 More States Than They Were In 2000 Five Thirty Eight ...It's gotten a lot harder to vote...
Scott Walker Runs Ad Supporting Equal Pay After Repealing Wisconsin's Equal Pay Law Huffington Post ...Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) released an ad on Tuesday in which his female lieutenant governor applauds his support for equal pay for women -- just two years after the governor signed a bill repealing the state's equal pay law...
New York State Allows Water Grab Natural Resources News Service ...Painted Post siphons water from a shallow, rain-dependent aquifer it shares with several neighboring communities, including the town of Corning. In 2012 the village signed a five-year deal reportedly worth up to $20 million with a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell to sell up to 1 million gallons a day used to frack Shell’s natural gas wells in Pennsylvania. The village has called the sale a routine disposal of “surplus property.”...
Has privatization failed Texas utility customers? Electric Light & Power ...Relative to U.S. electricity prices, Texas electricity prices during the deregulation and privatization period (2002-2011) rise four times faster than increases in Texas electricity prices before deregulation (1970-2001). The Texas electricity market is much less efficient now as a result of deregulation...
Minority Voter Suppression In North Carolina Witnessed Firsthand Politicususa ...on Thursday, October 23rd [] I voted in Winston-Salem at the Forsyth County Government Center. Several African-American voters told me they were told by people outside the polling place that it would take two hours to vote. I, a clearly upper-middle-class white man, was told forty-five minutes to an hour; it took fifty-five minutes...
War on Workers
$17.27 an Hour, With Benefits, While Training? Welcome to Union Apprenticeship in Indiana We Party Patriots ... Lee Culver of United Association (Plumbers) Local 210 said there was plenty of opportunity in his union and claimed they “struggled to get good applicants.” The five-year apprenticeship does not cost the students a dime. Rather, they earn $17.27 with benefits while they train....
Workers at Amazon.com logistics centers in Germany on strike again in wage dispute Associated Press ...The ver.di union said Monday workers at Amazon's logistics centers in Bad Hersfeld, Leipzig, Rheinberg and Graben will be off the job through the end of Wednesday's late shift, while those at Werne through Tuesday's late shift...
One worker killed, 3 injured when facade falls from building WGN-TV ...This morning, the building is barricaded and its owner is facing citations for having work performed by unlicensed contractors without permits...
Branson spaceship explosion: The 'missed' warnings The Telegraph ...Sir Richard Branson’s company and US authorities were repeatedly warned about safety issues surrounding Virgin Galactic’s rocket engine system...
Secret Negotiations Hide the TPP’s Most Damaging Provisions Economy in Crisis ...Under the proposed agreement, American laws regarding labor, environmental or financial issues would apply to companies based in America, but foreign companies operating in the U.S. could challenge these laws in a secret international tribunal if they felt these laws affected their ability to do business. ..
WTO in Seattle - 15 Years Ago Huffington Post ...it's clear that the WTO and NAFTA-style trade deals were never about economics or shared prosperity. They are really about power relationships. Who will have the power to claim any new gains created through work?...
State Battles
Voter ID Laws Are Now In 17 More States Than They Were In 2000 Five Thirty Eight ...It's gotten a lot harder to vote...
Scott Walker Runs Ad Supporting Equal Pay After Repealing Wisconsin's Equal Pay Law Huffington Post ...Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) released an ad on Tuesday in which his female lieutenant governor applauds his support for equal pay for women -- just two years after the governor signed a bill repealing the state's equal pay law...
New York State Allows Water Grab Natural Resources News Service ...Painted Post siphons water from a shallow, rain-dependent aquifer it shares with several neighboring communities, including the town of Corning. In 2012 the village signed a five-year deal reportedly worth up to $20 million with a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell to sell up to 1 million gallons a day used to frack Shell’s natural gas wells in Pennsylvania. The village has called the sale a routine disposal of “surplus property.”...
Has privatization failed Texas utility customers? Electric Light & Power ...Relative to U.S. electricity prices, Texas electricity prices during the deregulation and privatization period (2002-2011) rise four times faster than increases in Texas electricity prices before deregulation (1970-2001). The Texas electricity market is much less efficient now as a result of deregulation...
Minority Voter Suppression In North Carolina Witnessed Firsthand Politicususa ...on Thursday, October 23rd [] I voted in Winston-Salem at the Forsyth County Government Center. Several African-American voters told me they were told by people outside the polling place that it would take two hours to vote. I, a clearly upper-middle-class white man, was told forty-five minutes to an hour; it took fifty-five minutes...
War on Workers
$17.27 an Hour, With Benefits, While Training? Welcome to Union Apprenticeship in Indiana We Party Patriots ... Lee Culver of United Association (Plumbers) Local 210 said there was plenty of opportunity in his union and claimed they “struggled to get good applicants.” The five-year apprenticeship does not cost the students a dime. Rather, they earn $17.27 with benefits while they train....
Workers at Amazon.com logistics centers in Germany on strike again in wage dispute Associated Press ...The ver.di union said Monday workers at Amazon's logistics centers in Bad Hersfeld, Leipzig, Rheinberg and Graben will be off the job through the end of Wednesday's late shift, while those at Werne through Tuesday's late shift...
One worker killed, 3 injured when facade falls from building WGN-TV ...This morning, the building is barricaded and its owner is facing citations for having work performed by unlicensed contractors without permits...
Branson spaceship explosion: The 'missed' warnings The Telegraph ...Sir Richard Branson’s company and US authorities were repeatedly warned about safety issues surrounding Virgin Galactic’s rocket engine system...
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Today's Teamster News 10.16.14
Teamster News
Teamsters, Highway Safety Groups Sue Feds To Force Tougher Rule For New Trucker Training AFL-CIO ...What happened to Dorothy Wert’s late husband, David, on an unlit Pennsylvania highway three years ago shouldn’t happen to anyone. Thanks to the lack of a tough federal rule for training rookie tractor-trailer drivers, the Teamsters and highway safety groups say, it did. Now they’re suing in federal court to try to prevent such further tragedies...
Judge Reinstates Port Truckers Fired In Labor Dispute Los Angeles Times ...“This sends a message throughout the Port of Los Angeles and the shipping industry that misclassified drivers are in fact employees,” said Julie Gutman Dickinson, the attorney for the truckers and the Teamsters Union port division...
Clallam Rejects Mediator Proposal, But Is Willing To Work With Teamsters Union On New Labor Contract Peninsula Daily News ...The Clallam County commissioners unanimously rejected Tuesday a mediator’s proposal but said they are willing to continue working with Teamsters Local No. 589. Both county and union officials said that the county and its largest union are close to settling a new labor contract that has been in the works for 22 months...
Performance-Based Pay Accepted In 'Historic' Union Agreement Brainerd Dispatch ...The county also approved contracts with Teamsters Local 346, which includes nine corrections and dispatch sergeants, and with the Law Enforcement Labor Services of Minnesota (LELS) on behalf of communications officers in the sheriff's office...
Domestic Relations Court union in limbo The Chronicle-Telegram ...The push by Lorain County Adult Probation Department employees to unionize has had the unintended effect of throwing into question the legality of the [Teamsters] union representing workers at the county’s Juvenile Detention Home and other residential facilities under the control of the county’s Domestic Relations Court...
Trade
‘Tough’ issues still remain in Japan-U.S. TPP talks Japan Times ...“We were encouraged by the progress made this week during our negotiations,” Cutler said. “But we need to underscore that issues before us are tough.”...
Street Demonstrations In 21 European Countries Held To Protest Against TAFTA/TTIP; Another ACTA Revolt Brewing? TechDirt ..."Self-organised European Citizens' initiative Against TTIP and CETA"... was only launched last week, it has already collected over 600,000 signatures from European citizens at the time of writing...
State Battles
House Speaker gives his thoughts on what could help Ferguson rebound from months of turmoil Missouri Digital News ...Missouri's House Speaker said one of the ways the legislature could help Ferguson is by passing right-to-work legislation...
Opponents Ask Supreme Court To Block Texas Voter ID Law Reuters ... Civil rights lawyers on Wednesday asked a U.S. Supreme Court justice to block a Texas law requiring voters in the state to show certain forms of identification in order to cast a ballot...
Judge blocks Wisconsin law used in Walker probe Associated Press ...A federal judge Tuesday blocked enforcement of a Wisconsin election law that's at the center of an investigation into Gov. Scott Walker's 2012 recall campaign and more than two dozen conservative groups...
Investigation reveals influence of 'dark money' in Wisconsin against anti-mining senators The Cap Times ...The financial power and influence of an out-of-state mining company and business lobby Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce were used to directly target two Wisconsin lawmakers who stood in the way of the passage of a new state mining bill...
War on Workers
WalMart Makes Empty Gesture to End Minimum Wage Pay While Cutting Pay Levels naked capitalism ...pay levels, including benefits, are falling for WalMart workers, not rising...
Amid Ebola Fears, Airlines Share Few Cabin Cleaning Details KSTP ...flight attendants and others who work on planes are becoming increasingly concerned, while others are raising questions about just how clean airplane cabins are...
A Red Privatization Horror Story Thom Hartmann ...For Republicans, privatization is just a business opportunity. And they don’t care about the damage privatization does to our society because privatization destroys the one thing standing between them and the total corporate takeover of our democracy: our government...
Texas worker dies after electrocution at school Associated Press ...West Texas authorities say a contractor has died after being electrocuted while working on a light pole at a school...
Worker dies at nuclear facility in E. Tenn. Associated Press ... the employee fell into a vault where radioactive resins are unloaded before they are taken to be processed for disposal. He was taken to a hospital, where he died from his injuries...
Teamsters, Highway Safety Groups Sue Feds To Force Tougher Rule For New Trucker Training AFL-CIO ...What happened to Dorothy Wert’s late husband, David, on an unlit Pennsylvania highway three years ago shouldn’t happen to anyone. Thanks to the lack of a tough federal rule for training rookie tractor-trailer drivers, the Teamsters and highway safety groups say, it did. Now they’re suing in federal court to try to prevent such further tragedies...
Judge Reinstates Port Truckers Fired In Labor Dispute Los Angeles Times ...“This sends a message throughout the Port of Los Angeles and the shipping industry that misclassified drivers are in fact employees,” said Julie Gutman Dickinson, the attorney for the truckers and the Teamsters Union port division...
Clallam Rejects Mediator Proposal, But Is Willing To Work With Teamsters Union On New Labor Contract Peninsula Daily News ...The Clallam County commissioners unanimously rejected Tuesday a mediator’s proposal but said they are willing to continue working with Teamsters Local No. 589. Both county and union officials said that the county and its largest union are close to settling a new labor contract that has been in the works for 22 months...
Performance-Based Pay Accepted In 'Historic' Union Agreement Brainerd Dispatch ...The county also approved contracts with Teamsters Local 346, which includes nine corrections and dispatch sergeants, and with the Law Enforcement Labor Services of Minnesota (LELS) on behalf of communications officers in the sheriff's office...
Domestic Relations Court union in limbo The Chronicle-Telegram ...The push by Lorain County Adult Probation Department employees to unionize has had the unintended effect of throwing into question the legality of the [Teamsters] union representing workers at the county’s Juvenile Detention Home and other residential facilities under the control of the county’s Domestic Relations Court...
Trade
‘Tough’ issues still remain in Japan-U.S. TPP talks Japan Times ...“We were encouraged by the progress made this week during our negotiations,” Cutler said. “But we need to underscore that issues before us are tough.”...
Street Demonstrations In 21 European Countries Held To Protest Against TAFTA/TTIP; Another ACTA Revolt Brewing? TechDirt ..."Self-organised European Citizens' initiative Against TTIP and CETA"... was only launched last week, it has already collected over 600,000 signatures from European citizens at the time of writing...
State Battles
House Speaker gives his thoughts on what could help Ferguson rebound from months of turmoil Missouri Digital News ...Missouri's House Speaker said one of the ways the legislature could help Ferguson is by passing right-to-work legislation...
Opponents Ask Supreme Court To Block Texas Voter ID Law Reuters ... Civil rights lawyers on Wednesday asked a U.S. Supreme Court justice to block a Texas law requiring voters in the state to show certain forms of identification in order to cast a ballot...
Judge blocks Wisconsin law used in Walker probe Associated Press ...A federal judge Tuesday blocked enforcement of a Wisconsin election law that's at the center of an investigation into Gov. Scott Walker's 2012 recall campaign and more than two dozen conservative groups...
Investigation reveals influence of 'dark money' in Wisconsin against anti-mining senators The Cap Times ...The financial power and influence of an out-of-state mining company and business lobby Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce were used to directly target two Wisconsin lawmakers who stood in the way of the passage of a new state mining bill...
War on Workers
WalMart Makes Empty Gesture to End Minimum Wage Pay While Cutting Pay Levels naked capitalism ...pay levels, including benefits, are falling for WalMart workers, not rising...
Amid Ebola Fears, Airlines Share Few Cabin Cleaning Details KSTP ...flight attendants and others who work on planes are becoming increasingly concerned, while others are raising questions about just how clean airplane cabins are...
A Red Privatization Horror Story Thom Hartmann ...For Republicans, privatization is just a business opportunity. And they don’t care about the damage privatization does to our society because privatization destroys the one thing standing between them and the total corporate takeover of our democracy: our government...
Texas worker dies after electrocution at school Associated Press ...West Texas authorities say a contractor has died after being electrocuted while working on a light pole at a school...
Worker dies at nuclear facility in E. Tenn. Associated Press ... the employee fell into a vault where radioactive resins are unloaded before they are taken to be processed for disposal. He was taken to a hospital, where he died from his injuries...
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Today's Teamster News 09.27.14
Teamsters
Hospitality union, Teamsters, quietly negotiating contract with Harrah's after employees unionize NOLA.com ...A pair of labor unions have for the last six months been quietly negotiating a contract with Harrah's Hotel and Casino that, when inked, would double the size of organized labor's tiny footprint in the New Orleans tourism economy...
Local 653 Secures Two Contracts For Workers At Reinhart Food, Bridgewater Public Works teamster.org ...Teamsters Local 653 continued its tradition of strong representation this week, securing first contracts for members at two employers – recently organized Reinhart Food Service and East Bridgewater Department of Public Works...
Why the Garbage Man Might Dislike Your Dog New York Times ...“I’ve had people, while I’m picking up the bags, they walk up and let the dog pee on the bag,” a trash collector named Kevin said as he paused before a townhouse on Charles Street in the West Village...
Trade
Glum outlook for reaching TPP agreement in Nov. The Japan News ...The forecast looks cloudy for reaching a broad agreement in November among countries participating in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations, as Japan and the United States remain divided over specifics on sensitive issues...
Congress' Smackdown of Fast Track: Sweet 16 Bday Huffington Post ...Sixteen years ago today, 171 Democrats and 71 GOP Representatives united to vote down then-President Bill Clinton's request for Fast Track authority. As President Barack Obama now seeks to revive the extreme Nixon-era trade procedure, the 1998 Fast Track smackdown is worth remembering...
State Battles
ALEC Can't Hold On To Its Tech Giants Anymore New Republic ...With Yahoo becoming the latest company to cut ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council in a matter of days, it's official: ALEC has lost favor with tech giants. ALEC is the right-wing organization that writes model legislation on everything from unions to regulations and tries to push it at the state level...
International Paper Leaves ALEC Common Cause ...Spokesperson Tom Ryan told Common Cause on Friday that “we no longer have a membership with ALEC” and confirmed the company also no longer funds ALEC...
Scott Walker’s deficit, distortions, damage to state (opinion) The Cap Times ...Walker, who brags about closing a large budget deficit, can no longer cover up the fact his own budget manipulations will create an enormous $1.8 billion budget deficit for whoever is governor in January...
Conservative PAC Grow Missouri Asks St. Louis Journalists To Write for its Blog Romenesko ...Grow Missouri is a conservative political action committee funded by billionaire Rex Sinquefield – described as “the Show Me State’s version of the Koch brothers.” Apparently not knowing the ethics rules for journalists, a rep for Grow Missouri has asked St. Louis reporters – including one who covers Grow Missouri for the Post-Dispatch – to contribute to the PAC’s blog...
Los Angeles hotel workers win $15 minimum wage after city council vote The Guardian ...The city council voted on Wednesday night to establish a minimum hourly wage of $15.37 for employees of hotels with more than 125 rooms, a decision expected to boost campaigns for better wages in other industries and cities...
War on Workers
Amazon's new Baltimore warehouse has outdoor cages for smokers Baltimore Business Journal ...Jennings described security at Amazon warehouses as more stringent than airport screenings, saying the company is highly focused on maintaining strict inventory control. But the company also wants its employees to be happy, so it includes features such as the smoking cages in warehouses...
It happens: Seniors with student debt - and smaller Social Security checks Reuters ...The GAO found that 706,000 of households headed by those aged 65 or older have outstanding student debts. That’s just 3 percent of all households, but the debt they hold has ballooned from $2.8 billion in 2005 to about $18.2 billion last year. Some 27 percent of those loans are in default...
1 in 4 Americans 25-54 Not Working The Weekly Standard ...workplace participation overall is near a four-decade low...
Hyatt to pay ousted workers $1m in boycott-ending deal Boston Globe ...Hyatt Hotels Corp. has agreed to pay $1 million to 98 Boston-area housekeepers who were fired five years ago and replaced by lower-paid, outsourced workers...
Warren Calls for Hearings on New York Fed Allegations Bloomberg ...Carmen Segarra, a former New York Fed bank examiner who was fired in 2012, ...described how she felt that her Fed colleagues were afraid of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and handled it with kid gloves...
How Eric Holder Failed the Economy (opinion) Bloomberg ...Of 21 separate actions against major financial companies from 2009 through May 2014, only eight were accompanied by charges against individuals, and none of them were high-level executives….more than 1,000 people were charged after the savings-and-loan bust of the 1980s, and more than 100 company officers and directors served prison terms...
Oil field worker dies in mishap Amarillo Globe-News ...a man’s leg got caught in a ditch-digging machine. Responders provided emergency medical services on the man, but he died at the scene as a result of the injuries...
Police: Woman beheaded at Oklahoma workplace Associated Press ...A man fired from an Oklahoma food processing plant beheaded a woman with a knife and was attacking another worker when he was shot and wounded by a company official, police said Friday...
Chicago-area air traffic center fire grounds 1,750 flights Reuters ...The fire was set by a longtime employee of Harris Corp, which provides equipment and technical support for the Federal Aviation Administration facility in Chicago and many others, U.S. government officials said...
LIBRE Initiative criticized for its ties to the Koch brothers VOXXI ...The LIBRE Initiative bills itself as a non-profit group that pushes a message of economic freedom and limited government among the Latino community. But lately, the group has been taking a lot of heat for collecting millions of dollars from Charles and David Koch...
Hospitality union, Teamsters, quietly negotiating contract with Harrah's after employees unionize NOLA.com ...A pair of labor unions have for the last six months been quietly negotiating a contract with Harrah's Hotel and Casino that, when inked, would double the size of organized labor's tiny footprint in the New Orleans tourism economy...
Local 653 Secures Two Contracts For Workers At Reinhart Food, Bridgewater Public Works teamster.org ...Teamsters Local 653 continued its tradition of strong representation this week, securing first contracts for members at two employers – recently organized Reinhart Food Service and East Bridgewater Department of Public Works...
Why the Garbage Man Might Dislike Your Dog New York Times ...“I’ve had people, while I’m picking up the bags, they walk up and let the dog pee on the bag,” a trash collector named Kevin said as he paused before a townhouse on Charles Street in the West Village...
Trade
Glum outlook for reaching TPP agreement in Nov. The Japan News ...The forecast looks cloudy for reaching a broad agreement in November among countries participating in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations, as Japan and the United States remain divided over specifics on sensitive issues...
Congress' Smackdown of Fast Track: Sweet 16 Bday Huffington Post ...Sixteen years ago today, 171 Democrats and 71 GOP Representatives united to vote down then-President Bill Clinton's request for Fast Track authority. As President Barack Obama now seeks to revive the extreme Nixon-era trade procedure, the 1998 Fast Track smackdown is worth remembering...
State Battles
ALEC Can't Hold On To Its Tech Giants Anymore New Republic ...With Yahoo becoming the latest company to cut ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council in a matter of days, it's official: ALEC has lost favor with tech giants. ALEC is the right-wing organization that writes model legislation on everything from unions to regulations and tries to push it at the state level...
International Paper Leaves ALEC Common Cause ...Spokesperson Tom Ryan told Common Cause on Friday that “we no longer have a membership with ALEC” and confirmed the company also no longer funds ALEC...
Scott Walker’s deficit, distortions, damage to state (opinion) The Cap Times ...Walker, who brags about closing a large budget deficit, can no longer cover up the fact his own budget manipulations will create an enormous $1.8 billion budget deficit for whoever is governor in January...
Conservative PAC Grow Missouri Asks St. Louis Journalists To Write for its Blog Romenesko ...Grow Missouri is a conservative political action committee funded by billionaire Rex Sinquefield – described as “the Show Me State’s version of the Koch brothers.” Apparently not knowing the ethics rules for journalists, a rep for Grow Missouri has asked St. Louis reporters – including one who covers Grow Missouri for the Post-Dispatch – to contribute to the PAC’s blog...
Los Angeles hotel workers win $15 minimum wage after city council vote The Guardian ...The city council voted on Wednesday night to establish a minimum hourly wage of $15.37 for employees of hotels with more than 125 rooms, a decision expected to boost campaigns for better wages in other industries and cities...
War on Workers
Amazon's new Baltimore warehouse has outdoor cages for smokers Baltimore Business Journal ...Jennings described security at Amazon warehouses as more stringent than airport screenings, saying the company is highly focused on maintaining strict inventory control. But the company also wants its employees to be happy, so it includes features such as the smoking cages in warehouses...
It happens: Seniors with student debt - and smaller Social Security checks Reuters ...The GAO found that 706,000 of households headed by those aged 65 or older have outstanding student debts. That’s just 3 percent of all households, but the debt they hold has ballooned from $2.8 billion in 2005 to about $18.2 billion last year. Some 27 percent of those loans are in default...
1 in 4 Americans 25-54 Not Working The Weekly Standard ...workplace participation overall is near a four-decade low...
Hyatt to pay ousted workers $1m in boycott-ending deal Boston Globe ...Hyatt Hotels Corp. has agreed to pay $1 million to 98 Boston-area housekeepers who were fired five years ago and replaced by lower-paid, outsourced workers...
Warren Calls for Hearings on New York Fed Allegations Bloomberg ...Carmen Segarra, a former New York Fed bank examiner who was fired in 2012, ...described how she felt that her Fed colleagues were afraid of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and handled it with kid gloves...
How Eric Holder Failed the Economy (opinion) Bloomberg ...Of 21 separate actions against major financial companies from 2009 through May 2014, only eight were accompanied by charges against individuals, and none of them were high-level executives….more than 1,000 people were charged after the savings-and-loan bust of the 1980s, and more than 100 company officers and directors served prison terms...
Oil field worker dies in mishap Amarillo Globe-News ...a man’s leg got caught in a ditch-digging machine. Responders provided emergency medical services on the man, but he died at the scene as a result of the injuries...
Police: Woman beheaded at Oklahoma workplace Associated Press ...A man fired from an Oklahoma food processing plant beheaded a woman with a knife and was attacking another worker when he was shot and wounded by a company official, police said Friday...
Chicago-area air traffic center fire grounds 1,750 flights Reuters ...The fire was set by a longtime employee of Harris Corp, which provides equipment and technical support for the Federal Aviation Administration facility in Chicago and many others, U.S. government officials said...
LIBRE Initiative criticized for its ties to the Koch brothers VOXXI ...The LIBRE Initiative bills itself as a non-profit group that pushes a message of economic freedom and limited government among the Latino community. But lately, the group has been taking a lot of heat for collecting millions of dollars from Charles and David Koch...
Friday, September 26, 2014
Today's Teamster News 09.26.14
Teamster News
Teamsters Ratify New 3-Year Agreement With Transit Contractor KRNV ...Members of Teamsters Union Local 533 ratified a new three-year agreement with Texas-based MV Transportation -- the contractor employing workers operating the Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County transit system...
East Bridgewater Public Employees Vote For Teamster Contract teamster.org ...“They were able to work with city management to win a solid new contract with wage improvements for us,” Smith said. “Business agent Bill Trask and the executive board of the local union have worked hard for us already...
Zoo mulls Groundhog Day ban on mayors New York Post ...Staten Island Zoo officials — whom The Post exposed for covering up the death of a female groundhog posing as Chuck — want to stop letting butter-fingered politicians handle the critter during Groundhog Day festivities...
Trade
Amari-Froman TPP meeting ends in failure Japan Times ...Japan and the United States failed to narrow their differences over the remaining key bilateral trade issues linked to the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations, at their two-day ministerial meeting that ended in Washington Wednesday...
TTIP Draws Flak From Local Leaders In Europe And The US Deustche Welle ...While local and regional leaders have remained rather mum about TTIP so far, that appears to be changing. In the US lawmakers from New England and California have spoken out against the trade deal. In Europe, the mayor of Stuttgart, Germany's sixth-largest city and home to global heavyweights Daimler and Bosch, has recently warned that TTIP could undermine local governance...
State Battles
Silicon Valley Companies Follow Google's Lead By Cutting Ties with ALEC VICE News ...The companies announcing that they will no longer participate in the organization — Alexandria, Virginia-based American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) — are Google, Facebook, YELP, Yahoo, Uber, and Lyft...
African American Lawmakers Plan To Contact Justice Department Over Voter Applications WABE ...After meeting with top officials for the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office Monday, the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus said it still has a number of unanswered questions about the processing of about 51,000 voter registration applications turned in by the New Georgia Project...
Michigan Leads Nation In Loss of Payroll Employment Ann Arbor Independent ...The data, released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, come at an inopportune time for Mich. Gov. Rick Snyder. Snyder, locked in a battle for re-election, is leaning heavily on his job creation record...
What The EPA Has To Say About The West Lake Landfill ― And Why Everything Is Taking So Long St. Louis Public Radio ...A recent review by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources found evidence of increasing groundwater contamination at the Bridgeton Landfill, including unsafe levels of benzene, arsenic, and other toxic chemicals...
Gov. Dayton Asks For Additional Oil Train Safety In Letter To ND Counterpart Minneapolis Star Tribune ...Dayton says Minnesota is "one of the primary routes" for Bakken oil being transported from North Dakota. But Dayton says Minnesotans receive little benefit from the oil trains while experiencing increased risks of a derailment...
What's The Matter With Sam Brownback? Mother Jones ...Brownback had said that his tax cut plan would provide "a shot of adrenaline into the heart of the Kansas economy." Instead, the state has gone into cardiac arrest...
Indiana Toll Road rates and revenue are up, traffic has been stagnant Elkhart Truth ...Toll rates for cash customers on the Indiana Toll Road are up. Not surprisingly, revenue is up, too. Way up. Traffic, though, is down, at least compared to 2008...
Big-money donors play in quiet 2014 state election cycle Indianapolis Business Journal ...Campaign finance data collected by the state show that more than $35 million has been given to candidates and campaign committees so far this year. Of that amount, more than $13 million has come from single donations of at least $10,000...
L.A. City Council Approves Minimum-Wage Hike For Hotel Workers Los Angeles Times ...The City Council voted 12 to 3 on Wednesday to impose the higher wage on large hotels, delivering a huge victory to a coalition that included organized labor, more than a dozen neighborhood councils and the ACLU of Southern California...
War On Workers
G.O.P. Error Reveals Donors and the Price of Access New York Times ...The documents, many of which the Republican officials have since removed from their website, showed that many of America’s most prominent companies, from Aetna to Walmart, had poured millions of dollars into the campaigns of Republican governors since 2008. One document listed 17 corporate “members” of the governors association’s secretive 501(c)(4), the Republican Governors Public Policy Committee, which is allowed to shield its supporters from the public...
The Middle-Class Squeeze Center for American Progress ... for a married couple with two children, the costs of key elements of middle-class security—child care, higher education, health care, housing, and retirement—rose by more than $10,000 in the 12 years from 2000 to 2012, at a time when this family’s income was stagnant...
Worker dies after getting stuck in septic system during repairs WDRB.com ... the worker was performing a scheduled repair to the home owner's septic system. The worker was trying to replace a fitting when he got stuck in an 18-inch-pipe...
Worker killed while setting up for Texas Rice Festival Beaumont Enterprise ...A woman who was part of a carnival work crew was killed Wednesday while setting up for the Texas Rice Festival. The 30-year-old woman was struck by equipment...
Teamsters Ratify New 3-Year Agreement With Transit Contractor KRNV ...Members of Teamsters Union Local 533 ratified a new three-year agreement with Texas-based MV Transportation -- the contractor employing workers operating the Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County transit system...
East Bridgewater Public Employees Vote For Teamster Contract teamster.org ...“They were able to work with city management to win a solid new contract with wage improvements for us,” Smith said. “Business agent Bill Trask and the executive board of the local union have worked hard for us already...
Zoo mulls Groundhog Day ban on mayors New York Post ...Staten Island Zoo officials — whom The Post exposed for covering up the death of a female groundhog posing as Chuck — want to stop letting butter-fingered politicians handle the critter during Groundhog Day festivities...
Trade
Amari-Froman TPP meeting ends in failure Japan Times ...Japan and the United States failed to narrow their differences over the remaining key bilateral trade issues linked to the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations, at their two-day ministerial meeting that ended in Washington Wednesday...
TTIP Draws Flak From Local Leaders In Europe And The US Deustche Welle ...While local and regional leaders have remained rather mum about TTIP so far, that appears to be changing. In the US lawmakers from New England and California have spoken out against the trade deal. In Europe, the mayor of Stuttgart, Germany's sixth-largest city and home to global heavyweights Daimler and Bosch, has recently warned that TTIP could undermine local governance...
State Battles
Silicon Valley Companies Follow Google's Lead By Cutting Ties with ALEC VICE News ...The companies announcing that they will no longer participate in the organization — Alexandria, Virginia-based American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) — are Google, Facebook, YELP, Yahoo, Uber, and Lyft...
African American Lawmakers Plan To Contact Justice Department Over Voter Applications WABE ...After meeting with top officials for the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office Monday, the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus said it still has a number of unanswered questions about the processing of about 51,000 voter registration applications turned in by the New Georgia Project...
Michigan Leads Nation In Loss of Payroll Employment Ann Arbor Independent ...The data, released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, come at an inopportune time for Mich. Gov. Rick Snyder. Snyder, locked in a battle for re-election, is leaning heavily on his job creation record...
What The EPA Has To Say About The West Lake Landfill ― And Why Everything Is Taking So Long St. Louis Public Radio ...A recent review by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources found evidence of increasing groundwater contamination at the Bridgeton Landfill, including unsafe levels of benzene, arsenic, and other toxic chemicals...
Gov. Dayton Asks For Additional Oil Train Safety In Letter To ND Counterpart Minneapolis Star Tribune ...Dayton says Minnesota is "one of the primary routes" for Bakken oil being transported from North Dakota. But Dayton says Minnesotans receive little benefit from the oil trains while experiencing increased risks of a derailment...
What's The Matter With Sam Brownback? Mother Jones ...Brownback had said that his tax cut plan would provide "a shot of adrenaline into the heart of the Kansas economy." Instead, the state has gone into cardiac arrest...
Indiana Toll Road rates and revenue are up, traffic has been stagnant Elkhart Truth ...Toll rates for cash customers on the Indiana Toll Road are up. Not surprisingly, revenue is up, too. Way up. Traffic, though, is down, at least compared to 2008...
Big-money donors play in quiet 2014 state election cycle Indianapolis Business Journal ...Campaign finance data collected by the state show that more than $35 million has been given to candidates and campaign committees so far this year. Of that amount, more than $13 million has come from single donations of at least $10,000...
L.A. City Council Approves Minimum-Wage Hike For Hotel Workers Los Angeles Times ...The City Council voted 12 to 3 on Wednesday to impose the higher wage on large hotels, delivering a huge victory to a coalition that included organized labor, more than a dozen neighborhood councils and the ACLU of Southern California...
War On Workers
G.O.P. Error Reveals Donors and the Price of Access New York Times ...The documents, many of which the Republican officials have since removed from their website, showed that many of America’s most prominent companies, from Aetna to Walmart, had poured millions of dollars into the campaigns of Republican governors since 2008. One document listed 17 corporate “members” of the governors association’s secretive 501(c)(4), the Republican Governors Public Policy Committee, which is allowed to shield its supporters from the public...
The Middle-Class Squeeze Center for American Progress ... for a married couple with two children, the costs of key elements of middle-class security—child care, higher education, health care, housing, and retirement—rose by more than $10,000 in the 12 years from 2000 to 2012, at a time when this family’s income was stagnant...
Worker dies after getting stuck in septic system during repairs WDRB.com ... the worker was performing a scheduled repair to the home owner's septic system. The worker was trying to replace a fitting when he got stuck in an 18-inch-pipe...
Worker killed while setting up for Texas Rice Festival Beaumont Enterprise ...A woman who was part of a carnival work crew was killed Wednesday while setting up for the Texas Rice Festival. The 30-year-old woman was struck by equipment...
Friday, September 19, 2014
Today's Teamster News 09.19.14
Teamster News
Teamsters Call On FedEx To Stop Paying Personal Taxes For Executives teamster.org ...ISS, the country’s leading proxy voting advisor, has recommended that shareholders vote for a Teamsters-sponsored shareholder proposal at FedEx [NYSE: FDX] that calls on the board of directors to eliminate the practice of paying the personal taxes owed on restricted stock awards on behalf of CEO Fred Smith and other named executive officers...
Teamsters Call On Rush University Medical Center To Bargain In Good Faith teamster.org ...Teamsters Local Union 743 denounced management at Rush University Medical Center (RUMC) today, for continued refusal to bargain with the more than 230 patient care technicians (PCTs) that overwhelmingly voted to become Teamsters on Aug. 29...
Teamsters: 20 years is too long to wait for a safety rule TeamsterNation ...The Teamsters and other public safety advocates sued the U.S. Department of Transportation today for failing to issue long-overdue truck safety requirements...
Hoffa: Georgia Official Must Stop Ignoring Voter Registration Requests IBT ...James P. Hoffa, General President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, issued a statement today addressing reports that Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp is ignoring more than 50,000 voter registration requests as the deadline for new voters to sign up to participate in the upcoming Nov. 4 election looms near...
Trade
Corporate Courts — A Big Red Flag On “Trade” Agreements Trade Reform ...Corporations even sue governments for passing laws that might cause the investors in the corporations to make a bit less money — like raising the minimum wage. But wait, there’s more. The suits aren’t even heard in courts. They are settled by corporate-controlled tribunals set up by these trade agreements...
State Battles
Oregon Minimum Wage Will Increase To $9.25 In 2015 The Oregonian ...Oregon's minimum wage will increase 15 cents to $9.25 an hour in 2015, state labor officials announced Wednesday...
Missouri Governor releases additional funding for public education ABC3 ...Missouri Governor Jay Nixon made a stop at Truman State University Wednesday afternoon to discuss new funding for public universities like Truman State...
More trouble from privatized food contracts TeamsterNation ...Aramark is once again proving in Michigan that outsourcing government services to for-profit corporations results in really, really bad service...
Wisconsin ranks 33rd in private-sector job growth, lagging behind the national average Associated Press ...the job-growth ranking and Walker's failure to meet his 2010 campaign promise to add 250,000 private-sector jobs are evidence that (Scott Walker's) policies have not worked...
Administration disputes projections of huge state deficit WTAQ ...Wisconsin’s non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau painted a bleak financial picture earlier this month, predicting a $1.8 billion dollar structural deficit in the 2015-2017 biennium...
Fox News Admits WI Voter ID Laws May Disenfranchise Voters Media Matters ...Fox News acknowledged that a voter ID law may prevent people from casting votes while discussing the upcoming gubernatorial elections in Wisconsin -- despite the network's sustained campaign to deny the negative repercussions these laws have on voting...
Six Years Later, La. Still Waiting For Keystone (opinion) Shreveport Times ...From a safety perspective, Keystone is a better option than the rail transport currently used in the American market. A recent study by the Manhattan Institute reaffirmed the longstanding fact that pipelines are a much safer way to transport oil...
War On Workers
Wal-Mart Truck Drivers Granted Class Action Status In California Minimum Wage Lawsuit The Trucker ...Truck drivers employed by Wal-Mart have been granted class action status in a lawsuit over the employer’s alleged failure to pay minimum wage in violation of the California Labor Code...
Even in Palin Country, Raising the Minimum Wage Is Wildly Popular Mother Jones ... Twenty-three states already have moved past the federal rate, and this November, voters in five more will have a chance to follow suit...
Which Industry's CEOs Are Ripping Off Workers Most? Huffington Post ...Today, CEOs at leading fast food companies pocket more than 1,200 times more than their average employees, according to a report by Demos, an economic policy think tank. In comparison, the average CEO at S&P 500 companies today makes about 200 times more than typical employees...
Poverty Unchanged By Wall Street Recovery firedoglake ...wealth inequality has actually gotten worse during the recovery. The overwhelming majority of assets are owned by the rich and super-rich so when government policy is used to push the Dow up, few Americans go with it...
School Bus Driver Sacrifices Life To Save 10-Year-Old Girl Huffington Post ...Zborowski worked for a private bus company, Cincinnati-based Petermann, a subsidiary of National Express Corp. Zborowski was pronounced dead at a hospital about two hours after the 8:10 a.m. accident...
Worker killed by wood press at Mill City lumber plant Fox 12 Oregon ...A lumber mill worker was killed when a wood press was activated as he was conducting repairs on the machine...
Worker killed on the job in Dalton WRCB-TV ..."An outside contractor, Spartan Industrial Contracting, was moving equipment and one of their employees was involved in an accident that resulted in a death of one of their employees," Marketing Alliance Group HR spokesperson Michael Arnold said in a statement...
Miscellaneous
Occupy Wall Street Buys, Then Cancels, Student Debt Huffington Post ...Strike Debt, a group of anti-debt activists born out of the Occupy Wall Street movement, said it purchased $3.9 million in delinquent private student debt and immediately canceled it...
Police Demilitarization Pits Police Union Against Top Labor Federation BuzzFeed ...The International Union of Police Associations, a member of the AFL-CIO, has been largely quiet on the issue of police militarization. But in a couple of open letters the union has shown support for the program that provides police with military-grade weaponry. The AFL-CIO meanwhile has been a vocal supporter of police demilitarization and better oversight...
Domestic Workers Advocate Wins MacArthur Genius Award Moyers and Company ...Ai-jen Poo, a labor organizer for America’s nannies, house cleaners and home care attendants, has been named a MacArthur “genius” for 2014...
Teamsters Call On FedEx To Stop Paying Personal Taxes For Executives teamster.org ...ISS, the country’s leading proxy voting advisor, has recommended that shareholders vote for a Teamsters-sponsored shareholder proposal at FedEx [NYSE: FDX] that calls on the board of directors to eliminate the practice of paying the personal taxes owed on restricted stock awards on behalf of CEO Fred Smith and other named executive officers...
Teamsters Call On Rush University Medical Center To Bargain In Good Faith teamster.org ...Teamsters Local Union 743 denounced management at Rush University Medical Center (RUMC) today, for continued refusal to bargain with the more than 230 patient care technicians (PCTs) that overwhelmingly voted to become Teamsters on Aug. 29...
Teamsters: 20 years is too long to wait for a safety rule TeamsterNation ...The Teamsters and other public safety advocates sued the U.S. Department of Transportation today for failing to issue long-overdue truck safety requirements...
Hoffa: Georgia Official Must Stop Ignoring Voter Registration Requests IBT ...James P. Hoffa, General President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, issued a statement today addressing reports that Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp is ignoring more than 50,000 voter registration requests as the deadline for new voters to sign up to participate in the upcoming Nov. 4 election looms near...
Trade
Corporate Courts — A Big Red Flag On “Trade” Agreements Trade Reform ...Corporations even sue governments for passing laws that might cause the investors in the corporations to make a bit less money — like raising the minimum wage. But wait, there’s more. The suits aren’t even heard in courts. They are settled by corporate-controlled tribunals set up by these trade agreements...
State Battles
Oregon Minimum Wage Will Increase To $9.25 In 2015 The Oregonian ...Oregon's minimum wage will increase 15 cents to $9.25 an hour in 2015, state labor officials announced Wednesday...
Missouri Governor releases additional funding for public education ABC3 ...Missouri Governor Jay Nixon made a stop at Truman State University Wednesday afternoon to discuss new funding for public universities like Truman State...
More trouble from privatized food contracts TeamsterNation ...Aramark is once again proving in Michigan that outsourcing government services to for-profit corporations results in really, really bad service...
Wisconsin ranks 33rd in private-sector job growth, lagging behind the national average Associated Press ...the job-growth ranking and Walker's failure to meet his 2010 campaign promise to add 250,000 private-sector jobs are evidence that (Scott Walker's) policies have not worked...
Administration disputes projections of huge state deficit WTAQ ...Wisconsin’s non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau painted a bleak financial picture earlier this month, predicting a $1.8 billion dollar structural deficit in the 2015-2017 biennium...
Fox News Admits WI Voter ID Laws May Disenfranchise Voters Media Matters ...Fox News acknowledged that a voter ID law may prevent people from casting votes while discussing the upcoming gubernatorial elections in Wisconsin -- despite the network's sustained campaign to deny the negative repercussions these laws have on voting...
Six Years Later, La. Still Waiting For Keystone (opinion) Shreveport Times ...From a safety perspective, Keystone is a better option than the rail transport currently used in the American market. A recent study by the Manhattan Institute reaffirmed the longstanding fact that pipelines are a much safer way to transport oil...
War On Workers
Wal-Mart Truck Drivers Granted Class Action Status In California Minimum Wage Lawsuit The Trucker ...Truck drivers employed by Wal-Mart have been granted class action status in a lawsuit over the employer’s alleged failure to pay minimum wage in violation of the California Labor Code...
Even in Palin Country, Raising the Minimum Wage Is Wildly Popular Mother Jones ... Twenty-three states already have moved past the federal rate, and this November, voters in five more will have a chance to follow suit...
Which Industry's CEOs Are Ripping Off Workers Most? Huffington Post ...Today, CEOs at leading fast food companies pocket more than 1,200 times more than their average employees, according to a report by Demos, an economic policy think tank. In comparison, the average CEO at S&P 500 companies today makes about 200 times more than typical employees...
Poverty Unchanged By Wall Street Recovery firedoglake ...wealth inequality has actually gotten worse during the recovery. The overwhelming majority of assets are owned by the rich and super-rich so when government policy is used to push the Dow up, few Americans go with it...
School Bus Driver Sacrifices Life To Save 10-Year-Old Girl Huffington Post ...Zborowski worked for a private bus company, Cincinnati-based Petermann, a subsidiary of National Express Corp. Zborowski was pronounced dead at a hospital about two hours after the 8:10 a.m. accident...
Worker killed by wood press at Mill City lumber plant Fox 12 Oregon ...A lumber mill worker was killed when a wood press was activated as he was conducting repairs on the machine...
Worker killed on the job in Dalton WRCB-TV ..."An outside contractor, Spartan Industrial Contracting, was moving equipment and one of their employees was involved in an accident that resulted in a death of one of their employees," Marketing Alliance Group HR spokesperson Michael Arnold said in a statement...
Miscellaneous
Occupy Wall Street Buys, Then Cancels, Student Debt Huffington Post ...Strike Debt, a group of anti-debt activists born out of the Occupy Wall Street movement, said it purchased $3.9 million in delinquent private student debt and immediately canceled it...
Police Demilitarization Pits Police Union Against Top Labor Federation BuzzFeed ...The International Union of Police Associations, a member of the AFL-CIO, has been largely quiet on the issue of police militarization. But in a couple of open letters the union has shown support for the program that provides police with military-grade weaponry. The AFL-CIO meanwhile has been a vocal supporter of police demilitarization and better oversight...
Domestic Workers Advocate Wins MacArthur Genius Award Moyers and Company ...Ai-jen Poo, a labor organizer for America’s nannies, house cleaners and home care attendants, has been named a MacArthur “genius” for 2014...
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Today's Teamster News 09.16.14
Teamster News
Leaked memo: YRC tweaks discipline policy; union takes exception Kansas City Business Journal ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is taking exception to a new discipline policy at YRC Worldwide Inc., according to a leaked internal memo...
St. Charles City Council OKs 4-year Teamsters union contract My Suburban Life ...The contract is for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local Union No. 330. The union represents 54 employees in the departments of public works, finance and community development...
Trade
Trade Deals Set Their Sights on Public Workers (opinion) Huffington Post ...Under the guise of crafting trade agreements, big business -- which bankrolled many of those same elected officials -- is looking to impose provisions across the globe that open up government services to the private sector. Other language would limit the ability of democratic governments to regulate in the public interest...
Teamsters, others protest World Bank hearing on Pacific Rim's right to mine El Salvador TeamsterNation ...a protest was held in front of the World Bank by Teamsters and others who don't think multinationals should be able to override the laws of a sovereign nation...
State Battles
Here's What Happened When 13 States Raised Their Minimum Wages New Republic ...job growth was higher in states that raised their minimum wages than it was in those that didn’t...
MDOC Wants New Private Prison Contracts Jackson Free Press ...The MDOC and the private firms managing the agency's prisons have come under intense scrutiny in recent years. East Mississippi, which houses the state's prisoners with the most acute mental illnesses, is currently the subject of a class-action lawsuit that alleges inmates' health needs are often ignored...
This Is What Happens When Chicago Privatizes School Janitorial Services Addicting Info ...One Southwest Side elementary principal — who along with others did not want her name printed for fear of retribution — said in a telephone interview that since Aramark took over the school, it has developed a problem with bugs and rodents that are feasting on garbage and on spilled drops of milk on floors that aren’t being cleaned enough, she said...
Illinois, Michigan move ahead on high-speed rail Associated Press ...If you’re looking for high-speed rail with a Chicago connection, don’t look toward Wisconsin. Two high-speed train sets that originally were set to connect Chicago with Milwaukee and Madison, and eventually Minneapolis, look like they’re headed to Michigan instead...
‘A Big, Big Mistake’ In Voter ID Case (opinion) New York Times ...Mr. Hasen predicted that the appeals court’s ruling itself could well be stayed by the Supreme Court on the grounds that last-minute changes risk introducing electoral chaos...
Sinquefield donates $1.2 million to MO Club for Growth PAC Missouri Times ...In March, the group received $973,000.00 from Sinquefield, making the total contribution from the businessman to the group now $2,173,000.00...
Illinois is labor’s next big battleground MSNBC ...This year, Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn is squaring off against a Republican challenger who has made opposition to the labor movement into a central plank of his campaign. Bruce Rauner, a venture capitalist, has promised to establish “right-to-work” zones in Illinois if elected and dramatically revise the state’s public employee retirement system...
Income Inequality Is Hurting State Tax Revenue, Report Says Washington Post ...The widening gap between the wealthiest Americans and everyone else has been matched by a slowdown in state tax revenue, according to a report being released Monday by Standard and Poor’s...
Conservative Experiment Faces Revolt In Reliably Red Kansas New York Times ...Mr. Brownback’s proudly conservative policies have turned out to be so divisive and his tax cuts have generated such a drop in state revenue that they have caused even many Republicans to revolt. Projections put state budget shortfalls in the hundreds of millions of dollars annually, raising questions of whether the state can adequately fund education in particular...
Koch Brothers' Dollars To Scott Sarasota Herald Tribune ...The latest campaign finance reports show Koch Industries and national pro-school voucher advocate Jack R. Anderson combined to give Gov. Rick Scott’s political action committee $75,000 in August to help him win re-election. That came on top of a $4.5 million check given to Scott’s campaign from the Republican Governors Association since Aug. 19...
Exclusive: New Jersey unloads investment related to Charlie Baker 'pay-to-play' allegations Fortune ...The New Jersey Division of Investments has quietly sold its stake in a venture capital fund managed by General Catalyst Partners, following allegations of impropriety related to a political contribution from General Catalyst “executive-in-residence” and current Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker...
War On Workers
Oil Trains Move Across Dozens Of Missouri Counties Columbia Daily Tribune ...Railroads have been hauling more than a dozen trains weekly through Missouri carrying volatile crude oil from the Northern Plains that has been involved in multiple fiery accidents, according to railroad disclosures released Thursday...
Pool Worker Dies in Pool WJHG ...27 year old Ryan Cook of Chipley and a co-worker were replacing the wiring for the pool lights at a home on North Lagoon Drive around 9 am Monday morning...
Google Report Shows Governments’ Increasing Demands for Users’ Data New York Times ...The roughly 32,000 requests Google fielded in the first six months of 2014 were up 15 percent from the previous six months, and up 150 percent since the company started publishing its transparency report in 2009...
Union ends strike after reaching agreement with Lear NWI.com ...A tentative agreement has ended a strike at the Lear Corp. automotive seat factory in Hammond, a day after workers walked off the job...
UBER DRIVERS PROTEST: 'You Can't Make A Living Working Only For Uber' Business Insider ...Uber's steep discounts, intended to give the company a competitive edge over competitors like Lyft and Gett, as well as yellow cabs, are hurting Uber drivers...
Miscellaneous
New Social Network For “Elites” Has $9,000 Membership Fee GovtSlaves ...Are you a 1-percenter who needs a safe social media outlet to talk about your first-world problems, without the risk of alienating your commoner friends? Now you have an alternative to the impoverished unwashed masses of Facebook. Enter Netropolitan.club, an exclusive digital country club — essentially, Facebook for rich people...
Leaked memo: YRC tweaks discipline policy; union takes exception Kansas City Business Journal ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is taking exception to a new discipline policy at YRC Worldwide Inc., according to a leaked internal memo...
St. Charles City Council OKs 4-year Teamsters union contract My Suburban Life ...The contract is for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local Union No. 330. The union represents 54 employees in the departments of public works, finance and community development...
Trade
Trade Deals Set Their Sights on Public Workers (opinion) Huffington Post ...Under the guise of crafting trade agreements, big business -- which bankrolled many of those same elected officials -- is looking to impose provisions across the globe that open up government services to the private sector. Other language would limit the ability of democratic governments to regulate in the public interest...
Teamsters, others protest World Bank hearing on Pacific Rim's right to mine El Salvador TeamsterNation ...a protest was held in front of the World Bank by Teamsters and others who don't think multinationals should be able to override the laws of a sovereign nation...
State Battles
Here's What Happened When 13 States Raised Their Minimum Wages New Republic ...job growth was higher in states that raised their minimum wages than it was in those that didn’t...
MDOC Wants New Private Prison Contracts Jackson Free Press ...The MDOC and the private firms managing the agency's prisons have come under intense scrutiny in recent years. East Mississippi, which houses the state's prisoners with the most acute mental illnesses, is currently the subject of a class-action lawsuit that alleges inmates' health needs are often ignored...
This Is What Happens When Chicago Privatizes School Janitorial Services Addicting Info ...One Southwest Side elementary principal — who along with others did not want her name printed for fear of retribution — said in a telephone interview that since Aramark took over the school, it has developed a problem with bugs and rodents that are feasting on garbage and on spilled drops of milk on floors that aren’t being cleaned enough, she said...
Illinois, Michigan move ahead on high-speed rail Associated Press ...If you’re looking for high-speed rail with a Chicago connection, don’t look toward Wisconsin. Two high-speed train sets that originally were set to connect Chicago with Milwaukee and Madison, and eventually Minneapolis, look like they’re headed to Michigan instead...
‘A Big, Big Mistake’ In Voter ID Case (opinion) New York Times ...Mr. Hasen predicted that the appeals court’s ruling itself could well be stayed by the Supreme Court on the grounds that last-minute changes risk introducing electoral chaos...
Sinquefield donates $1.2 million to MO Club for Growth PAC Missouri Times ...In March, the group received $973,000.00 from Sinquefield, making the total contribution from the businessman to the group now $2,173,000.00...
Illinois is labor’s next big battleground MSNBC ...This year, Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn is squaring off against a Republican challenger who has made opposition to the labor movement into a central plank of his campaign. Bruce Rauner, a venture capitalist, has promised to establish “right-to-work” zones in Illinois if elected and dramatically revise the state’s public employee retirement system...
Income Inequality Is Hurting State Tax Revenue, Report Says Washington Post ...The widening gap between the wealthiest Americans and everyone else has been matched by a slowdown in state tax revenue, according to a report being released Monday by Standard and Poor’s...
Conservative Experiment Faces Revolt In Reliably Red Kansas New York Times ...Mr. Brownback’s proudly conservative policies have turned out to be so divisive and his tax cuts have generated such a drop in state revenue that they have caused even many Republicans to revolt. Projections put state budget shortfalls in the hundreds of millions of dollars annually, raising questions of whether the state can adequately fund education in particular...
Koch Brothers' Dollars To Scott Sarasota Herald Tribune ...The latest campaign finance reports show Koch Industries and national pro-school voucher advocate Jack R. Anderson combined to give Gov. Rick Scott’s political action committee $75,000 in August to help him win re-election. That came on top of a $4.5 million check given to Scott’s campaign from the Republican Governors Association since Aug. 19...
Exclusive: New Jersey unloads investment related to Charlie Baker 'pay-to-play' allegations Fortune ...The New Jersey Division of Investments has quietly sold its stake in a venture capital fund managed by General Catalyst Partners, following allegations of impropriety related to a political contribution from General Catalyst “executive-in-residence” and current Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker...
War On Workers
Oil Trains Move Across Dozens Of Missouri Counties Columbia Daily Tribune ...Railroads have been hauling more than a dozen trains weekly through Missouri carrying volatile crude oil from the Northern Plains that has been involved in multiple fiery accidents, according to railroad disclosures released Thursday...
Pool Worker Dies in Pool WJHG ...27 year old Ryan Cook of Chipley and a co-worker were replacing the wiring for the pool lights at a home on North Lagoon Drive around 9 am Monday morning...
Google Report Shows Governments’ Increasing Demands for Users’ Data New York Times ...The roughly 32,000 requests Google fielded in the first six months of 2014 were up 15 percent from the previous six months, and up 150 percent since the company started publishing its transparency report in 2009...
Union ends strike after reaching agreement with Lear NWI.com ...A tentative agreement has ended a strike at the Lear Corp. automotive seat factory in Hammond, a day after workers walked off the job...
UBER DRIVERS PROTEST: 'You Can't Make A Living Working Only For Uber' Business Insider ...Uber's steep discounts, intended to give the company a competitive edge over competitors like Lyft and Gett, as well as yellow cabs, are hurting Uber drivers...
Miscellaneous
New Social Network For “Elites” Has $9,000 Membership Fee GovtSlaves ...Are you a 1-percenter who needs a safe social media outlet to talk about your first-world problems, without the risk of alienating your commoner friends? Now you have an alternative to the impoverished unwashed masses of Facebook. Enter Netropolitan.club, an exclusive digital country club — essentially, Facebook for rich people...
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Today's Teamster News 08.28.14
Teamster News
Teamsters At Fred Meyer Warehouse Vote To OK Strike The Stand ...Teamster warehouse workers employed at the Fred Meyer grocery distribution center in Puyallup voted overwhelmingly over the weekend to authorize a strike. The final vote was 241-2. Voting took place at the Teamsters Union hall in Tukwila...
Safety Agents and de Blasio Administration Reach Labor Deal New York Times ...Mayor Bill de Blasio and Teamsters Local 237, the municipal union representing school safety agents and special officers, announced a tentative contract and the proposed settlement of a pay equity lawsuit on Tuesday that would distribute $38 million in back pay to current and former school safety agents who are overwhelmingly female...
City Pays $38M To Settle Equal Pay Lawsuit From Female Safety Agents Being Paid Far Less Than Male Counterparts New York Daily News ...In a move timed to Women’s Equality Day, the city announced Monday it had settled a four-year-old lawsuit from a group of safety agents who were paid far less than their male counterparts. The suit was settled for $38 million as part of a new labor agreement with Teamsters Local 237...
Mayor’s Office: Union Contract Means Pay Equity For Largely Female School Safety Agents CBS News ...The deal with Teamsters Local 237, which represents both the largely female school safety agents and special officers, was reached Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office announced...
Union Employees Air Contract Dispute On MDI Bangor Daily News ...Municipal employees of three Mount Desert Island towns who are members of the Teamsters labor union are airing their grievances as they try to reach a new labor contract with the towns...
Contract Disputes Lead To Demonstrations On Mount Desert Island Maine Public Broadcasting ...Members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters are demonstrating on Mount Desert Island this afternoon to draw attention to ongoing contract disputes with three area towns...
Weary U.S. Workers Are Still Experiencing Hard Times (opinion) Huffington Post ...Despite a dip in unemployment during the past few years, low pay continues to plague many employees while their corporate bosses rake in record profits...
Trade
TPP: Expansive Rights for Big Pharma, Expensive Medicines for U.S. Consumers Public Citizen ...Leaked draft intellectual property texts for the TPP reveal broad monopoly protections for pharmaceutical corporations, which elevate the costs of medicines and medical procedures...
Turkish Firms Hit By Anti-Dumping Duties On Steel Pipes To US Todays Zaman ...The US International Trade Commission (USITC) decided to impose anti-dumping duties on Turkish steel pipes last week following an investigation into export prices, a development that is likely to hurt Turkish pipe exporters to this country...
State Battles
Minimum Wage Bump Would Help Close Wealth Gap For 23% In S.F. San Francisco Chronicle ...If San Francisco voters approve raising the minimum wage law in November, 142,000 workers - or 23 percent of the city's workforce - would get a raise by the time it fully kicks in to $15 an hour by 2018...
Scott Walker, J.B. Van Hollen Again Ask Court To Reinstate Voter ID Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...Gov. Scott Walker and Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen are asking a federal court to reinstate Wisconsin's voter ID law, but they have not finalized a plan to comply with a different court's decision requiring the state to provide IDs to people who don't have birth certificates...
War On Workers
Market Basket Revolt Ends as Arthur T. Demoulas Wins Bid Bloomberg ...Arthur T. Demoulas, the ousted chief executive officer of the Market Basket supermarket chain whose employees gained national attention in a revolt to get him back, won his bid to buy the company...
Why America’s Workers Need Faster Wage Growth—And What We Can Do About It Economic Policy Institute ...Comparing the first half of 2014 with the first half of 2013, real (inflation-adjusted) hourly wages fell for workers in nearly every decile—even for those with a bachelor’s or advanced degree...
The Expanding World of Poverty Capitalism (opinion) New York Times ...Sentinel Offender Services … oversees case management, including breath alcohol and drug-testing services, “all at no cost to county taxpayers.”…Sentinel is a part of the expanding universe of poverty capitalism. In this unique sector of the economy, costs of essential government services are shifted to the poor...
Caught on Tape: What Mitch McConnell Complained About to a Roomful of Billionaires (Exclusive) The Nation ...At a secret meeting of elite donors convened by the Koch brothers, McConnell laid out his plan for shrinking the federal government and whined about having to vote on minimum wage bills...
At Koch Retreat, Top GOP Senate Candidates Credited Koch Network For Their Rise Huffington Post ...Iowa state Sen. Joni Ernst and Arkansas Rep. Tom Cotton directly credited donors present at the June 16 retreat in Dana Point, California, for propelling them forward. Colorado Rep. Cory Gardner told attendees that his race would likely be decided by the presence of "third party" money -- an obvious pitch for generosity from the well-heeled crowd...
Argentina Set for Second National Strike as Economic Woes Deepen Bloomberg ...Argentina is bracing for a day of road blocks and disruption as labor unions stage a second national strike in less than five months while July’s bond default threatens to fuel inflation and undermine growth...
40 Percent of Restaurant Workers Live In Near-Poverty Mother Jones ...The industry's wages have stagnated at an extremely low level. Restaurant workers' median wage stands at $10 per hour, tips included—and hasn't budged, in inflation-adjusted terms, since 2000...
Miscellaneous
U.S. Budget Gap Narrows to Smallest Since 2007, CBO Says Bloomberg ...The projected shortfall will be $506 billion in the 12 months ending Sept. 30, compared with an April prediction for $492 billion and a $680 billion gap posted last year, the nonpartisan CBO said today in a report. In 2015 it’s projected to shrink for a sixth straight year, to $469 billion, capping the longest stretch of fiscal improvement since 2000, near the end of an era of surpluses...
Teamsters At Fred Meyer Warehouse Vote To OK Strike The Stand ...Teamster warehouse workers employed at the Fred Meyer grocery distribution center in Puyallup voted overwhelmingly over the weekend to authorize a strike. The final vote was 241-2. Voting took place at the Teamsters Union hall in Tukwila...
Safety Agents and de Blasio Administration Reach Labor Deal New York Times ...Mayor Bill de Blasio and Teamsters Local 237, the municipal union representing school safety agents and special officers, announced a tentative contract and the proposed settlement of a pay equity lawsuit on Tuesday that would distribute $38 million in back pay to current and former school safety agents who are overwhelmingly female...
City Pays $38M To Settle Equal Pay Lawsuit From Female Safety Agents Being Paid Far Less Than Male Counterparts New York Daily News ...In a move timed to Women’s Equality Day, the city announced Monday it had settled a four-year-old lawsuit from a group of safety agents who were paid far less than their male counterparts. The suit was settled for $38 million as part of a new labor agreement with Teamsters Local 237...
Mayor’s Office: Union Contract Means Pay Equity For Largely Female School Safety Agents CBS News ...The deal with Teamsters Local 237, which represents both the largely female school safety agents and special officers, was reached Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office announced...
Union Employees Air Contract Dispute On MDI Bangor Daily News ...Municipal employees of three Mount Desert Island towns who are members of the Teamsters labor union are airing their grievances as they try to reach a new labor contract with the towns...
Contract Disputes Lead To Demonstrations On Mount Desert Island Maine Public Broadcasting ...Members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters are demonstrating on Mount Desert Island this afternoon to draw attention to ongoing contract disputes with three area towns...
Weary U.S. Workers Are Still Experiencing Hard Times (opinion) Huffington Post ...Despite a dip in unemployment during the past few years, low pay continues to plague many employees while their corporate bosses rake in record profits...
Trade
TPP: Expansive Rights for Big Pharma, Expensive Medicines for U.S. Consumers Public Citizen ...Leaked draft intellectual property texts for the TPP reveal broad monopoly protections for pharmaceutical corporations, which elevate the costs of medicines and medical procedures...
Turkish Firms Hit By Anti-Dumping Duties On Steel Pipes To US Todays Zaman ...The US International Trade Commission (USITC) decided to impose anti-dumping duties on Turkish steel pipes last week following an investigation into export prices, a development that is likely to hurt Turkish pipe exporters to this country...
State Battles
Minimum Wage Bump Would Help Close Wealth Gap For 23% In S.F. San Francisco Chronicle ...If San Francisco voters approve raising the minimum wage law in November, 142,000 workers - or 23 percent of the city's workforce - would get a raise by the time it fully kicks in to $15 an hour by 2018...
Scott Walker, J.B. Van Hollen Again Ask Court To Reinstate Voter ID Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...Gov. Scott Walker and Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen are asking a federal court to reinstate Wisconsin's voter ID law, but they have not finalized a plan to comply with a different court's decision requiring the state to provide IDs to people who don't have birth certificates...
War On Workers
Market Basket Revolt Ends as Arthur T. Demoulas Wins Bid Bloomberg ...Arthur T. Demoulas, the ousted chief executive officer of the Market Basket supermarket chain whose employees gained national attention in a revolt to get him back, won his bid to buy the company...
Why America’s Workers Need Faster Wage Growth—And What We Can Do About It Economic Policy Institute ...Comparing the first half of 2014 with the first half of 2013, real (inflation-adjusted) hourly wages fell for workers in nearly every decile—even for those with a bachelor’s or advanced degree...
The Expanding World of Poverty Capitalism (opinion) New York Times ...Sentinel Offender Services … oversees case management, including breath alcohol and drug-testing services, “all at no cost to county taxpayers.”…Sentinel is a part of the expanding universe of poverty capitalism. In this unique sector of the economy, costs of essential government services are shifted to the poor...
Caught on Tape: What Mitch McConnell Complained About to a Roomful of Billionaires (Exclusive) The Nation ...At a secret meeting of elite donors convened by the Koch brothers, McConnell laid out his plan for shrinking the federal government and whined about having to vote on minimum wage bills...
At Koch Retreat, Top GOP Senate Candidates Credited Koch Network For Their Rise Huffington Post ...Iowa state Sen. Joni Ernst and Arkansas Rep. Tom Cotton directly credited donors present at the June 16 retreat in Dana Point, California, for propelling them forward. Colorado Rep. Cory Gardner told attendees that his race would likely be decided by the presence of "third party" money -- an obvious pitch for generosity from the well-heeled crowd...
Argentina Set for Second National Strike as Economic Woes Deepen Bloomberg ...Argentina is bracing for a day of road blocks and disruption as labor unions stage a second national strike in less than five months while July’s bond default threatens to fuel inflation and undermine growth...
40 Percent of Restaurant Workers Live In Near-Poverty Mother Jones ...The industry's wages have stagnated at an extremely low level. Restaurant workers' median wage stands at $10 per hour, tips included—and hasn't budged, in inflation-adjusted terms, since 2000...
Miscellaneous
U.S. Budget Gap Narrows to Smallest Since 2007, CBO Says Bloomberg ...The projected shortfall will be $506 billion in the 12 months ending Sept. 30, compared with an April prediction for $492 billion and a $680 billion gap posted last year, the nonpartisan CBO said today in a report. In 2015 it’s projected to shrink for a sixth straight year, to $469 billion, capping the longest stretch of fiscal improvement since 2000, near the end of an era of surpluses...
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