After 50 years, Lone Star Teamster reflects on career

A.D. Dawson

A.D. Dawson looks back on his 50 years as a Teamster, most of them at the Lone Star Army Ammunition plant, with great fondness – especially for his fellow union members. As he prepares to retire in the spring, the 35-year shop steward often reflects on the work heyday of the Cold War, privatization and decades of contract negotiations.

Dawson, who started his career at East Texas Motor Freight, has had a remarkable career at Lone Star. He has reliably transported countless rounds of ammunition and explosives for our armed services, and his legacy of service for our nation is a point of pride and passion, he said:

The military to me is the number one priority. I respect our troops so I do the best job possible for them. The people who worked with me, if they came to me with a problem, I would always tell them, that our main priority is to do a good job and do it correctly for our service members. My grandson is in the Marine Corps and to this day, the military still is priority number one.

Dawson has also provided more than 35 years to his fellow Teamsters as a shop steward. Starting as an auditor, the East Texas native learned inside and out the business practices of his employer, along with the rules governing wages, benefits and the workplace in the Teamster contract. After three years as an auditor, he was voted chief steward for the Teamsters at Lone Star. Since his first election victory in 1980, his colleagues haven’t elected anyone else to that role.

Tim Nichols, President of Local 878 in Little Rock, Ark., said:

Mr. Dawson and all of our amazing stewards deserve our utmost respect and gratitude. They are on the front line of union service, helping resolve the issues that our members face on a daily basis. We’ve worked with A.D. for a long time and I want to congratulate him on a remarkable and successful career and wish him all the best in retirement. He is the epitome of what a Teamster steward and leader should embody.

Outside of his union job, Dawson has been noted as one of the most popular bartenders in East Texas. Operating his own bartending business after his cousin helped him learn the ropes at Texarkana Country Club, he has poured drinks for over 35 years. He has served a collection of well-known individuals including President Bill Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden and Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

A proud husband, father and grandfather, Dawson looks back with pride on his time with the Teamsters:

If you are a Teamster, you stand tall. Your shoulders go back. When I’m introduced, I say I’m a Teamster. And people, you can see it in their eyes, they understand the prestige and honor that comes with that title. I am so proud to say I am a part of this union.

Let's get America working!

The Teamsters want greater investment, better jobs.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is unveiling a new “Let’s Get America Working” campaign in advance of the 2016 election that will encourage both Democratic and Republican lawmakers to endorse a pro-worker platform.

At the center of the platform is the need for this country to invest in infrastructure, which in turn will create good jobs for everyday Americans. Working on transportation, energy and water projects will put thousands to work in construction jobs across the country. It will also improve roads, bridges, ports and other infrastructure, which in turn will help business and improve the U.S. economy.

The U.S. Labor Department’s own statistics support the Teamsters’ initiative. The median union worker earns more than $200 a week more than the median non-union worker. That’s an extra $10,000 a year that goes into the pockets of union workers. These jobs also offer health benefits and a pension.

Teamster President Jim Hoffa said:

While unemployment is down, the vast majority of jobs being created pay low wages. We can stop this trend and create good-paying union jobs if government invests in our nation’s workforce.

Infrastructure presents an opportunity to break the political gridlock. Congress in late July approved a three-month extension for spending on transportation projects that provides a temporary patch until the end of October for the continuing issue of road and rail funding. But it is not a real solution.

Since 2008, Congress has transferred more than $62 billion from the general fund to keep the Highway Trust Fund afloat, and it has been more than a decade since Congress has passed a highway bill more than two years in duration. Meanwhile, the transportation system continues to crumble and the safety of those who work and travel along the vast network of U.S. roads and rails is being jeopardized. Our nation’s failure to maintain and improve our infrastructure is costing Americans more and more.

There also is a significant need to move forward with a broader agenda that puts U.S. workers first. That means standing up against lousy trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership that send American jobs overseas; protecting workers’ rights to form unions and collectively bargain; increasing affordability of college and vocational schools; and ensuring retirement and pension security for working families.

Lawmakers need to remember that dollars invested in education, job training and supporting retirement for those who worked hard all their lives helps not only individuals, but our society as a whole. These are promises each generation in this country has made to the next and we can’t forget it.

But if this nation is going to improve the lives of its citizens, Congress needs to advance bipartisan policies that will encourage good job growth. And it must put the current and future generations of workers in a position to succeed in the workforce by giving them the skills they need.

There was a time when all these issues weren’t partisan issues – they were American values, something everyone could support. But government is broken. Partisan bickering has replaced finding solutions. That’s why it’s essential for the Teamsters and like-minded allies all over the country to join together and push this message with lawmakers, colleagues, friends and family.

If elected officials from both parties want to rebuild and repair the trust between government and workers, they need to reinvest in people that have and can continue to make this country great. Better pay will lead to more spending and improve workers’ quality of life. That way everyone wins.

Let’s Get America Working! Now is the time to Build, Repair and Maintain America!

Today's Teamster News 08.14.15

Teamsters
Public Employees To San Bernardino: Keep Your Promises  Teamster.org   ...At this week’s San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors public meeting, more than 60 county employees, who are members of Teamsters Local 1932, attended in order to testify in front of the Board about how wage theft is directly impacting not only the cost of living, but their basic needs, many holding signs that read, “San Bernardino: Keep Your Promises.”...
Contract Between EVSC, Teamsters Still Up In The Air  WFIE   ...President of Teamsters Local 215 Chuck Whobrey says the EVSC never had any intention of reaching an agreement with the union...
Sun Tran Union Workers Contact Federal Mediator  KTTU   ...The Teamsters Local Union 104 released a press release on Thursday evening, stating they have contacted a federal mediator and presented a "comprehensive proposal addressing all open items."...
Burnco Ends Labour Dispute  660 News   ...A labour dispute at the Burnco Rock Products plant in Calgary is over. The company and the Teamsters Local Union 362 reached an agreement Thursday evening, but no specific details have been released...

Global Labor & Trade
Greece Crisis: Eurogroup Agrees To Third Bailout  BBC News   ...Eurozone finance ministers have agreed on a new bailout deal for Greece after Athens backed the plan. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the deal sent a message "loud and clear" - Greece will stay in the eurozone...
Sen. Sherrod Brown Blocks Trade Nominee To Protest TPP Secrecy  Cleveland Plain Dealer   ...U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown has decided to block a cabinet-level trade nominee from being confirmed, saying he will relent if President Barack Obama drops a secrecy requirement that has made it hard for Congress to review a pending trade deal with Pacific Rim nations...
TTIP Controversy: Secret Trade Deal Can Only Be Read In Secure 'Reading Room' In Brussels  The Independent   ...The European Commission is making the secret Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) trade deal even more secret, introducing a new rule that means politicians can only view the text in a secure 'reading room' in Brussels...

State & Living Wage Battles
Court Rejects Suit Over Obama Immigration Moves  Politico   ...A federal appeals court Friday upheld the dismissal of an Arizona sheriff's lawsuit challenging President Barack Obama's executive actions on immigration, but one judge on the panel expressed strong doubts about the constitutionality of Obama's moves — now largely on hold as a result of other litigation...
Workers Score Paid Sick Leave Victory In Pittsburgh  Next City   ...The bill, which passed 7-1 with one abstention, requires employers with 15 employees or more to provide as much as 40 hours of paid sick time per year, while employers of fewer than 15 people will be required to provide up to 24 hours per year. Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, who ran for office on a progressive track record and platform, is expected to sign the bill, in the face of assurances from business groups that a legal challenge is on its way...
Florida: Disputed Plan For Voting Map Advances  New York Times   ...A House panel on Thursday approved changes to Florida’s 27 congressional districts, despite criticism that the move would disenfranchise black voters. The new map would make several changes, including shifting the district now held by Representative Corrine Brown, a Democrat who is suing to stop the Legislature and says the proposal would dilute the voting strength of blacks...
City Begins Minimum Wage Outreach  Santa Monica Daily Press   ...Santa Monica is considering local rules that would raise the minimum wage in a way similar to a recently passed law in Los Angeles. As of July 1, 2016 Los Angeles will begin raising the minimum wage annually to $10.50, $12, $13.25, $14.25 and $15 by 2020. The rules allow small companies to delay implementation for a year and have an additional year exemption for nonprofits that help the disadvantage or receive a majority of funding from government grants. The increases are indexed to inflation and an enforcement office will be established...
How Corporate Farmers Are Waging War On Our 1st Amendment  AlterNet   ...The First Amendment may be inconvenient to some people at times, but it’s still the law of the land. Case in point: so-called “ag-gag laws.” These are laws in Idaho, Montana, Utah, North Dakota, Missouri, Kansas, and Iowa that prohibit people from taking photos or videos of farms without permission. They’re designed to prevent the exposure of cruelty to animals on factory farms...
$15 Minimum Wage Proposal Could Go On November Ballot In Kansas City  Kansas City Star   ...The Kansas City Council has taken the first step toward putting a $15 minimum wage question on the November ballot. In a procedural move Thursday, an ordinance was introduced on the council docket to submit a petition initiative to voters in the Nov. 3 election. The council must discuss and vote on the measure by next Thursday to meet election authorities’ deadline for the November ballot...

U.S. Labor
Pilots Are Spotting More Drones, Prompting Worries About Collisions  Wall Street Journal   ...Pilots are spotting drones in flight at a far higher rate than last year, U.S. regulators said, triggering authorities to step up efforts to prevent a midair collision as drones proliferate in U.S. skies...
The Many Ways You Can Be Screwed Out Of Unemployment Benefits  The Nation   ...Unemployment insurance provides a critical income support to workers who lose their jobs “through no fault of their own.” But this compensation, which states generally award on the basis of past earnings, don’t quite work for the millions who are forced to work irregular part-time shifts or stuck in unstable “casual” service work. For these “irregular” workers—filling our retail stores, restaurants and warehouses—being forced to quit because of unsustainable hours is routine. But the standard unemployment check is often out of reach...
Retirement Isn't What It Used To Be  The Atlantic   ...As the idea of retirement continues to evolve for Americans, the hope is that seniors still be able to afford the leisure they seek—whether it’s through social-security reforms or companies taking greater responsibility in their workers’ retirement plans—and that they’re healthy enough to work if they’d like...

Social Justice & Other News
Citizens United Means Wealthy, White Donors Dominate 2016 Presidential Fundraising  The Intercept   ...Though the American population is becoming more and more diverse, the presidential candidates are being bankrolled by a pool of very wealthy donors, the vast majority of whom are white...
John Kerry Raises U.S. Flag At American Embassy In Cuba  Huffington Post   ...Watched over by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, U.S. Marines raised the American flag at the embassy in Cuba for the first time in 54 years on Friday, symbolically ushering in an era of renewed diplomatic relations between the two Cold War-era foes...
Let's Expand Social Security On Its Birthday  Huffington Post   ...Eighty years ago, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law, creating a national plan to provide economic security for American workers. Since then, Social Security has proven to be the most successful anti-poverty program in our history. Each year, Social Security lifts more than 20 million Americans - including a million children - out of poverty...
Student Loan Delinquencies Jump As Crisis Spreads  Huffington Post   ...About 11.5 percent of outstanding student debt was at least 90 days late or in default as of June 30, up from around 10.9 percent at the same time last year, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The New York Fed estimates that nearly one in four borrowers whose loans have come due are severely delinquent, or double the published rate, because nearly half of student debt doesn't presently require a monthly payment...

People need to preach importance of unions

PHOENIX -- Lawmakers and activists let the thousands of Netroots Nation conference attendees know last week that workers have the power. They just need to harness it.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren at Netroots conference.

In keynote addresses and smaller panel discussions, speakers shared stories about the successes and failures in trying to embolden a movement that puts the people above the powerful. They let it be known that it wouldn't be easy, but it is necessary to take this country back from corporate rule.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) brought conventioneers to their feet by repeatedly stating that issues such as income inequality, retirement security, financial reform and student loan debt are ranked as important ones by the public, even if they are too-often ignored by many on Capitol Hill.

"On these key economic issues, these economic issues that will shape the country, America is progressive. But insider Washington can't hear you; it turns its back. So it's on us to show what we believe in and fight for those values you believe in."

She also noted the importance that unions have in creating a solid middle class. Warren said the decline in income for hardworking Americans can be directly linked to undermining of the labor movement in the U.S.

The senator's thoughts echoed those of participants on a panel looking at how unions can provide solutions to the nation's current economic shortcomings. Several of them noted that a growth in union membership is essential to making a dent in income inequality.

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) noted workers are currently pitted against a big business-dominated system that is doing everything it can to stop organizing nationwide.

"This has been a very deliberate, long-run effort of corporate America primarily and government to strip away the ability of unions to organize."

To change that, union advocates need to reframe the discussion, panelists said. That means explaining to Americans that a union contract is the best way to raise wages, ensure a secure retirement and receive paid leave for vacation as well as sick time.

Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress, also said pro-worker activists need expand on how better-paid workers would help boost the U.S. economy overall.

"When wages are stagnant in this country, consumption drags and growth drags. It's not the most complicated argument in the world, but we need to make it over and over."

Big banks need to be shown who's boss

Wall Street's continuing war against workers seems endless. Just when you think it can't get any worse, it does. And even when big players in the financial world get caught for wrongdoing, the penalties never seem to make a difference.

The latest example came last week when the Justice Department announced that five major banks -- Citicorp, JP Morgan Chase, Barclays, The Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS -- were pleading guilty to felony charges and agreeing to pay more than $5 billion to settle charges they had worked together to manipulate international interest and foreign currency exchange rates.

Yet despite the "brazen" activity by the banks, as Attorney General Loretta Lynch put it herself, no one ultimately will spend a day in jail for engaging in these illegal activities. That, said former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich, is simply outrageous:

America used to have antitrust laws that permanently stopped corporations from monopolizing markets, and often broke up the biggest culprits.

No longer. Now, giant corporations are taking over the economy – and they’re busily weakening antitrust enforcement. 

The result has been higher prices for the many, and higher profits for the few. It’s a hidden upward redistribution from the majority of Americans to corporate executives and wealthy shareholders.

The bad behavior of banks is nothing new for hardworking Americans, who have taken the brunt of the financial world's malfeasance. They've seen Wall Street fritter away their pensions and retirement investments and jeopardize their future. Financial institutions teamed up with big business last December to push through a federal spending bill that attacked workers' pensions and put their retirements at risk.

The same Wall Street banks that rake in hundreds of millions of dollars managing pension funds lobbied to reduce pension benefits for the people whose sweat created those funds. Congress did the bankers' bidding and reduced benefits, but the banks get to keep making millions on the backs of the very pensioners whose benefits were cut. That is unfair, unjust and plain un-American.

It's well past time for the big banks to face the consequences of their actions with punishments that have real teeth. Penalties need to be higher than any bank would pay just as part of the cost of doing business.

It's also time that financial institutions pay their fair share of taxes instead of receiving breaks while workers pick up the tab. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) previously put forward a Wall Street speculation tax proposal that would charge a fee on large financial institutions for the sale of credit default swaps, derivatives, options, future and large amounts of stock. It's an idea with merit.

Banks have continually abused the benefits given to them. It's only fair that people get treated the same as the powerful. That's what's going to get America working again.

Today's Teamster News 03.23.15

Teamsters 
Canadian National Railway has recently experienced a troubling spike in train derailments  Reuters   ...Doug Finnson, president of a Teamsters union representing CN Rail's train crews, said he was particularly concerned with the recent Ontario derailments. "We're on the record saying the trains are too long, the cars are too heavy, and the trains go too fast."...
'Jane the Virgin' Star Gina Rodriguez Gets Real About Hollywood Success  Latino Post   ...The actress also added that her father Gino, a well-known representative for the Teamsters, was "always very honest" and that he prepared their family "for the crude game that is society."...
Trade
Letter: Nolan working to block freetrade agreement fast-track  Park Rapids Enterprise   ...How can the United States sign an international trade agreement when Congress, our constitutionally delegated body to regulate commerce with foreign nations, isn’t allowed a seat at the negotiating table?...
State Battles
AG Madigan says no to Rauner right-to-work zones  Chicago Tribune   ...Democratic Attorney General Lisa Madigan said Friday that Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s plan to put in place small right-to-work areas across Illinois is illegal, marking the second time the state’s chief legal officer has pushed back against governor’s attempts to limit employee unions...
War on Workers
Retirement Crisis: The Great 401(k) Experiment Has Failed for Many Americans  NBC News   ...millions of workers nearing retirement are on track to leave the workforce with savings that do not even approach what they will need for health care, let alone daily living. Not surprisingly, retirement is now Americans' top financial worry, according to a recent Gallup poll...
How The Media Enable The Anti-Worker Movement  National Memo   ...News organizations help this anti-worker movement, even if they do not mean to, when they get facts wrong, lack balance, provide vagaries instead of telling details, and fail to apply time-tested reporting practices to separate fact from advocacy...
Union: Collective bargaining rights at issue in BP strike  Chicago Tribune   ...United Steelworkers members working at BP Whiting Refinery and public school teachers have a common bond, according to the local USW president — they both found themselves in a fight to maintain their collective bargaining rights...
Survival of the fittest might have actually been survival of the richest​  Washington Post   ...Researchers recently uncovered a sharp decline in genetic diversity in male lineages across the world during the Stone Age. The study’s authors hypothesized that material gains made through early agricultural success — a proxy for wealth — gave smaller groups of related men the reproductive upper hand for generations...
Funeral Set for Tolland Worker Killed Patching Potholes  NBC Connecticut   ...David Lee Ridzon, 50, of Willington, died Thursday after he was struck by a public works truck while patching potholes on Anderson Road...
Miscellaneous
The Planet’s Best Stealth Fighter Isn’t Made in America  The Daily Beast   ...The U.S. military likes to think it makes the world’s most sophisticated combat aircraft. Think again...

Today's Teamster News 03.14.15

Teamsters
FedEx Freight Workers In California Vote To Join Teamsters Local 439  teamster.org   ...A group of 50 drivers at FedEx Freight’s Stockton, Calif., terminal have voted to join Teamsters Local 439. The vote took place Thursday, March 12 and today, and the workers voted 33 to 12 to become Teamsters...
Teamsters Testify About UNFI At Supply Chain Commission Hearing  teamster.org   ...Former Workers Tell Commission Members About UNFI’s Abuses...
Drivers For Facebook Contractor Loop Transp. Gain Strong Agreement, Wage Increases  teamster.org   ...Drivers for Facebook contractor Loop Transportation are now covered under a Teamsters Local 853 contract, providing for wage increases, health care benefits and a number of improvements to their working conditions. The contract, which workers overwhelmingly voted to ratify on Feb. 21, went to Facebook for its agreement as Loop’s paying client before implementation...
San Bernardino County Public Employees To Vote In Teamster Election  teamster.org   ... Ballots were mailed out this week to more than 15,000 San Bernardino, Calif., county, city and agency employees to vote in an election for Teamsters representation...
Teamsters Continue Fight To Unionize More Bay Area Drivers KGO ...The Teamsters hit the streets of San Francisco for a rally. They're handing out union cards to the drivers of Bauer Transportation, a company contracted to drive workers to some Bay Area tech companies, including Cisco and Google...
Woodbridge Winery Workers Join Teamsters Local 601 In California  teamster.org   ...Nearly 50 workers at Woodbridge Winery in Acampo, Calif. joined Teamsters Local 601 in Stockton, voting 32-13 in favor of representation. The new bargaining unit of cellar operation employees includes 46 workers who are seeking improved pay, benefits and the protection of a union contract...
Trade
Unhappy Third Birthday for Korea FTA Drags Down Obama Push for Fast Track  Public Citizen Global Trade Watch   ...U.S. Exports Down, Imports from Korea Up and Job-Killing Trade Deficit With Korea Balloons 84 Percent on Third Anniversary of Korea Pact, Which Is TPP Template...
Progressives: We’ve Never Heard Of This “Progressive” Group Backing Obama’s Trade Deal  BuzzFeed News   ...The “Progressive Coalition For American Jobs,” run by former Obama campaign staffers, purports to represent the progressive left on the trade deal that the progressive left hates...
Major Unions Stepping up Battle against Free-Trade Pact  Associated Press   ...the Teamsters union called for U.S. negotiators on the trade pact to press for a crackdown on Mexican cross-border trucking as part of the emerging agreement...
‘Exploitation’: Clothing Labels Accused Of Cambodia Worker Discrimination, Child Labor  RT   ...HRW [Human Rights Watch] says workers in Cambodia’s garment factories, producing name-brand clothing sold in the US, Canada and Europe, often come to grips with "discriminatory and exploitative labor conditions." According to HRW, the combination of short-term contracts which make it easier to get rid of workers at any moment, poor government labor inspection and enforcement, as well as aggressive tactics against independent unions make it extremely difficult for workers to assert their rights...
State Battles
Push to rewrite Kansas collective bargaining laws stalls  Kansas City Star   ...The committee was set to vote Friday on both measures, but Chairwoman and Olathe Republican Julia Lynn canceled the meeting. Lynn said she’s not sure when the votes will occur and said House GOP leaders have signaled that they’re reluctant to tackle such issues...
Chumbley: Right to work all wrong for Missouri  Springfield News-Leader   ...Missouri's General Assembly is preparing to pass the deceptively titled Right to Work and Paycheck Protection bills. These bills are an attack on workers and an offense to the God of justice...
Union members rally against GOP labor bills outside Legislature  Las Vegas Review-Journal   ... Hundreds of union members rallied in front of the Nevada Legislature on Thursday to protest Republican efforts to curb collective bargaining and push public employee retirement reforms...
Union workers to protest Walker in NH  New Hampshire Union Leader   ...Union members and organizers plan to protest outside when Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker speaks to a state Republican Party event Saturday at Concord High School...
WV Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signs prevailing wage change, Coal Jobs and Safety Act  WOWK TV   ...Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signed three bills into law March 12, including one that changes West Virginia's prevailing wage law...
Maine Republicans Try Again To Push Through 'Right-to-Work' Legislation  NPR   ...Republicans are once again trying to move a so-called "right-to-work" bill through the Legislature. Their goal is to put an end to a long-standing requirement that public and private sector workers in a unionized shops must either join the union or pay representation fees as a condition of employment...
Senate Kills Bill To Restore State Minimum Wage  New Hampshire Union Leader   ...The Republican-dominated state Senate has rejected a bill to restore a state minimum wage in New Hampshire. The legislation would have set the hourly rate at $8.25 in 2016, $9 in 2017 and $10 in 2018...
War on Workers
The Retirement Savings Gap Between Haves and Have-Nots Is Getting Bigger  Bloomberg   ...The median retirement account balance when you look across all households? $2,500...
Dangerous Trains, Aging Rails (opinion)  New York Times   ...To protect communities and the environment, the Transportation Department needs to act quickly to require more resilient rail cars, improve the safety of rail infrastructure and operations, and reduce the volatility of oil at the wellhead, before it is loaded onto trains...
Miscellaneous
U.S. Retail Sales Fall Amid Rough Weather  Wall Street Journal   ...U.S. retail sales fell for the third consecutive month in February as a mix of bad weather and consumer caution outweighed an improving labor market and cheap gasoline prices...

Today's Teamster News 01.25.15

Teamsters
Teamsters approve new commercials contract  Los Angeles Times   …Members of Teamsters Local 399 have approved a new contract, avoiding a strike that would have shut down commercial production in Los Angeles...
Ernie Banks, the Eternally Hopeful Mr. Cub, Dies at 83  New York Times   …Ernie Banks, the greatest power-hitting shortstop of the 20th century and an unconquerable optimist whose sunny disposition never dimmed in 19 seasons with the perennially stumbling Chicago Cubs, died Friday in Chicago. [He was also a Teamster.]...
Trade
The President Vs. TPP: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back  daily kos   …It's pretty simple: you can't advance a progressive agenda, or even one you call "liberal", that claims to want to combat inequality AND go all out to ram through the Trans Pacific Partnership using the odious "Fast track" authority. Here are the contradictions...
STOP TPP, EMERGENCY RALLY: Confront the Negotiators New York City, MONDAY!!!  daily kos   …On Monday, the TPP negotiators are gathering in New York City. A coalition of activists is working to pull off a huge rally, in a short amount of time. MONDAY, NOON, Sheraton Times Square at 7th Ave and 53rd St…
Opinion: TTIP: a taxpayer funded safety net for the super-rich  Liberal Democrat Voice   …Few things are more complicated and opaque than the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a trade deal being hammered out between the EU and the USA...
TTIP – more “foreign” judges criticising “our” laws?  UK Human Rights Blob   …one part of the concern is that it will confer on investors (think multi-nationals) the right to sue governments for regulatory regimes causing loss of profits to those investors...
State Battles
Wisconsin set to finish fiscal year in $283M hole  Channel 3000   …New nonpartisan projections show Wisconsin is on track to finish the current fiscal year with a larger shortfall than Gov. Scott Walker's administration anticipated...
To Make Up For His Massive Tax Cuts, Kansas Governor Proposes Cutting Schools  ThinkProgress   …Rather than retreat from the massive tax cuts that are crippling his state’s finances, Gov. Sam Brownback (R) wants to cut classroom funding for Kansas schools by $127 million and push pension fund payments off into the future...
War on Workers
The Manufacturing Footprint and the Importance of U.S. Manufacturing Jobs  Alliance for American Manufacturing   …The United States lost 5.7 manufacturing jobs between March 1998 and December 2013...
Serious Ethical Questions Arising From Journalist’s Participation In Koch Event  ThinkProgress   …ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl will moderate a forum featuring three prominent GOP Senators on Sunday at an event hosted by a conservative political organization that has been called “the Koch Brothers’ secret bank.” While the event will be closed to media and the public — though streamed online — ThinkProgress has learned that ABC News will be paying for Karl’s travel and lodging for the Palm Springs, CA event...
Billions in Lost 401(k) Savings, Abusive Brokers Under White House Scrutiny  Blomberg   …One of President Barack Obama’s top economic advisers said abusive trading practices are costing workers billions of dollars in retirement savings each year and called for stricter rules on Wall Street brokers...
What You Can Learn from Oakland's Raw ALPR Data  Electronic Frontier Foundation   …Police cars mounted with automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) wind their way through the streets of Oakland like a “Snake” game on an old cell phone. Instead of eating up pixels of food, these cameras gobble down thousands of license plates each day. And instead of growing a longer tail, ALPRs feed into a giant database of locational data as they conduct surveillance on every driver within the city limits, and sometimes beyond...
The Davos oligarchs are right to fear the world they’ve made (opinion) …The big exception to the tide of inequality in recent years has been Latin America. Progressive governments across the region turned their back on a disastrous economic model, took back resources from corporate control and slashed inequality. The numbers living on less than $2 a day have fallen from 108 million to 53 million in little over a decade...
International Paper worker killed  Press Republican   …A worker at International Paper’s Ticonderoga mill who suffered severe burns Friday morning has died...

Today's Teamster News 11.12.14

Teamsters
Drug Distributor Punishes Vets While Receiving Billions From VA  Huffington Post   ...McKesson is locked in a three-year battle with workers at its Lakeland, Fla. distribution center that voted in 2011 to join the Teamsters but still don't have a first contract...
Trade
Defending Foreign Corporations' Privileges Is Hard, Especially When Looking At The Facts  Public Citizen   ...it is no easy task to defend a system that empowers foreign corporations to bypass domestic courts and laws to demand taxpayer compensation for domestic policies that apply equally to their local competitors, but that they claim frustrate special privileges granted to them as foreign investors...
State Battles
Kansas revenues will fall $1 billion short of 2015 and 2016 expenses, fiscal experts say  Kansas City Star   ...The new figure raises the prospect of deep cuts in the state budget following controversial income tax cuts that Brownback vigorously defended during his re-election campaign against Democrat Paul Davis. Critics worry that schools, roads and social services will be among the areas cut in coming months...
Voter suppression laws are already deciding elections  Washington Post   ... it looks like the margin of victory in some of the most competitive races around the country was as big as the likely “margin of disenfranchisement,” as Weiser puts it. That is, more people were newly denied the right to vote than actually cast deciding ballots...
War on Workers
214,000 More Jobs Are Great. But Where Are the Raises?  Bloomberg   ...The U.S. economy added 214,000 jobs in October and the unemployment rate fell to a six-year low of 5.8 percent, but average earnings rose just 3 cents an hour...
Finding, and Battling, Hidden Costs of 401(k) Plans  New York Times   ...In many retirement plans, a significant amount of future retirees’ funds are devoured by fees. According to a 2012 study published by the progressive think tank Demos, high 401(k) fees can drain $155,000 from an average household over a lifetime...
Work Slowdown at Busiest U.S. Port Prompts Plea to Obama  Bloomberg   ...U.S. retailers appealed to President Barack Obama to intervene in contract negotiations between West Coast dockworkers and maritime companies after a work slowdown spread to the nation’s largest container hub ahead of the holiday shopping season...
Taj Mahal asks union to drop cost-savings appeal  Philadelphia Inquirer   ...Carl Icahn has jacked the interest rate up on the Trump loans from 6.2 percent to 12 percent, ripped $350 million out of this company in four years, and now he says workers can't have health care, pensions, paid breaks and many other things that other Atlantic City casino workers enjoy," union president Bob McDevitt said...
Missing Mexico students: Who is responsible?   AlJazeera   ...It's a case that has shocked a nation already hardened by gang violence and drug related crime - the disappearance of 43 students in Mexico, suspected of being abducted and murdered. The government, a mayor, police officers and gang members have all been implicated...
Construction worker dies 8 days after 30-foot fall  Associated Press   ...Officials say Moran took a 30-foot fall Nov. 3 at the former site of Del Castle-Legate Place. The once-palatial residence also was known as the Al Capone home...
Worker cleaning Ohio pond pulled from water, dies  Associated Press   ...a Michigan man in his 20s was using scuba equipment Tuesday to clean a 15-foot-deep pond at an office complex in New Albany, northeast of Columbus. When he didn't resurface when he was supposed to, a fellow worker called for help and said the man's tank had likely run out of oxygen...

Today's Teamster News 10.06.14

Teamsters
Facebook’s Bus Drivers Seek Union  New York Times   ...they start work around 6 a.m. and do not finish until 9 p.m., 15 hours later. Now, some of these shuttle bus drivers, who get Facebook employees to work, are seeking representation by the Teamsters union...
Facebook workers 'like noblemen driven by servants' claims union  The Telegraph   ...Some of the drivers who ferry staff to the social network's headquarters in Menlo Park, California want to be part of the Teamsters union in order to get better conditions from the outside contractor they work for...
Uber Drivers Across The Country Are Organizing Their Largest Protest Yet  Buzzfeed   ...The California App-Based Drivers Association (CADA) – a non-profit dedicated to protecting fairness and transparency in the app-based car service industry – is mobilizing Uber drivers across the country and in some parts of the world to participate in what may be the largest coordinated Uber protest yet.
CADA, which is tied to the Teamsters Local 986 in L.A. , will be protesting at Uber’s L.A. offices on October 22 at noon and has encouraged all Uber drivers to gather at their local Uber offices...
Schakowsky walks picket line with Golan’s workers  Skokie Review   ... U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-9, and 7th District Cook County Commissioner Jesus Chuy Garcia joined dozens of striking workers Friday on the picket line outside Golan’s Moving & Storage in Skokie. The workers are entering their third month on strike after voting convincingly to unionize and join Teamsters Local 705. But the workers say the company has refused to bargain with them in good faith over a first contract...
Trade
Japan-U.S. accord still seen as key to TPP deal  Japan Times   ...An agreement between Japan and the United States is still a key element before the envisioned Trans-Pacific Partnership can become a reality, according to informed sources...
TISA, Yet Another Secret “Trade” Threat  New American   ...The four-day TISA event took place September 22-25 at the Geneva, Switzerland, headquarters of the World Trade Organization. It was held in secret, behind closed doors, of course, the same as with the ongoing talks for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)…. the drafters intend for the text of the agreement to remain secret for five years after the proposed TISA rules take effect!...
Make no mistake - the TTIP is a move in the wrong direction (opinion)  Ecologist   ...A huge EU-US trade and investment deal may not be quite so dangerous as its opponents portray it, writes Gabriel Siles-Brügge - but it still represents a serious threat to governments' ability to regulate for the benefit of citizens and environment, and would entrench 'competitive' markets in public service provision...
State Battles
Scott Walker is not running for governor  The Cap Times   ...The remarkable thing about Gov. Scott Walker’s re-election campaign is that Walker makes little effort to hide the fact that he is not running for governor in 2014. He is running for president in 2016...
Governor Walker dismisses need for extended DMV hours  Wisconsin Radio Network   ...“We know that 300,000 registered voters in Wisconsin lack the ID cards now necessary. Without better DMV service hours and more convenient DMV locations, I’m convinced many of these people will be shut out of the November election.”...
ALEC has huge influence in Indiana (LTE)  Indianapolis Star   ...By ALEC's own account, recurring controversies have caused the organization to lose almost 400 state legislators as members in the last three years. However, ALEC highlights Indiana as having a 40 percent gain in legislative members, with many members in the Indiana General Assembly...
War on Workers
Income Inequality Has Regressed to 1820 Levels, Will Likely Keep Regressing  Motherboard   ...Globalization, the study finds, has the curious effect of making nations more equal relative to each other, but making the residents of the nations less equal relative to each other...
Shift to Bad Retirement Plans Threatens Retirees With Privation  truthdig   ...The United States’ largest employers are increasingly pushing their workers into inadequate retirement plans—and they acknowledge doing so...
Oil, rail industries want time to fix cars  Associated Press   ...The oil and railroad industries are urging federal regulators to allow them as long as seven years to upgrade existing tank cars that transport highly volatile crude oil, a top oil industry official said. The cars have ruptured and spilled oil during collisions, leading to intense fires...
Two injured as freight train derails in north Louisiana  Reuters   ...The conductor of a Union Pacific freight train and an engineer on board were injured on Sunday when it crashed into a tractor-trailer that was stuck on tracks in northern Louisiana, a spokesman for Union Pacific said...
1 Dead In NJ Crash Involving Tanker Truck, SUV  myfoxphilly.com   ...One person is dead after a crash involving a tanker truck and an SUV in Westville...
Mexico massacre victims feared to be missing students  Reuters   ...Bodies found in mass graves in southwestern Mexico are feared to be those of students who went missing last month after they clashed with corrupt local police, authorities said on Sunday...
A grand design for greater gridlock at National Labor Relations Board  Los Angeles Times   ...Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee thinks he has the solution to perceived problems at the National Labor Relations Board: Make the five-member body just as deadlocked as Congress...
Big Pharma Ripoffs on Cancer Patients Makes 60 Minutes  Economic Populist   ... In 2012 alone, of the 12 cancer drugs approved by the FDA, 11 cost over $100,000...

Today's Teamster News 10.05.14

Trade
U.S. ‘feckless’ on trade? — Dates set for TPP meeting — Export ban won't stop oil refining, study says  Politico   ...Former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman questions whether his old boss, President Barack Obama, has the political drive and interest to win congressional approval of a pair of ambitious trade deals with Asia-Pacific countries and the European Union...
State Battles
Gov. Rick Scott’s complex finances raise new questions about his state disclosure  Miami Herald   ...The governor, for instance, does not disclose the entire value of assets that reside in different trust and partnership accounts and for which he’s listed in federal records as the “beneficial owner,” according to an extensive Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times review of hundreds of federal and state documents filed in Florida, Washington, Connecticut, Texas, Nevada and Illinois...
Study: State taxpayers on the hook for $1 billion in useless highway projects due to faulty data  Wisconsin Gazette   ...The Wisconsin Department of Transportation will waste up to $1 billion on unneeded highway expansions if it continues to rely on inaccurate, outdated highway-use projections, concluded a comprehensive traffic study by a nonpartisan watchdog group...
Democrats question Walker's use of state planes for short trips  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...state planes are being used to carry Gov. Scott Walker on trips around Wisconsin with legs as short as the 30-mile jaunt from Burlington to Milwaukee, according to state records...
War on Workers
Wage Theft Costing Low-Income Workers Billions  NBC News   ...Nearly $1 billion was recovered in 2012 by lawyers or regulatory agencies acting on behalf of workers who were paid below minimum wage, not paid for overtime or other wage and hour violations...
Workers in Part-Time Limbo Point to U.S. Job-Market Slack  Bloomberg   ...Forty-nine percent of people working less than 35 hours a week in 2012 and desiring full-time work were able to find such a position within a year, according to research by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. That’s down from 61 percent in 2006...
A Middle-Class Crunch Obama Didn't Mention  Bloomberg View   ...A new report shows that more and more U.S. workers are getting squeezed in another way: pushed into inadequate retirement plans by the country's largest employers. Worse, their employers acknowledge as much...
States probe JPMorgan Chase as hack seen fueling fraud  Reuters   ... Two U.S. states are investigating the theft of 83 million customer records from JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) in a massive cyber attack uncovered over the summer, and more may soon join, Reuters learned on Friday...
The Walmart Wealth Gap Is Getting Much More Troubling  Huffington Post   ...By at least one estimate, the Walmart family could already buy every single home in Seattle...
Germany just eliminated tuition, while Americans are drowning in $1.2 trillion student loan debt.  Daily Kos   ...Germany has just joined other nations of the Continental European Union to eliminate all university tuition, as a human right...
Worker dies after being struck by truck at St. Louis business  St. Louis Post-Dispatch   ...Police are investigating a fatal accident in which an Antler Trucking Company employee was struck by a box truck on the rear parking lot of the company in the 3000 block of North Broadway this morning...
Miscellaneous  
Sheriff's department issues tickets to prompt train movement  Goshen News   ...Sheriff’s deputies went to the crossing and began issuing tickets to Norfolk Southern for blocking the road in violation of state statue. The officers continued writing tickets for every 10 minutes the crossing was blocked, issuing 18 citations in total...

Today's Teamster News 08.29.14

Teamster News
MV Transportation Drivers Unanimously Choose Teamsters Union  IBT   ...MV Transportation drivers have voted unanimously, 67-0, to join Teamsters Local 890 in Salinas, Calif., to improve their working conditions. The 91 drivers provide adult paratransit services, shuttle and tourist trolley routes in Salinas and Monterey...
Calif. Senate Approves Bill To Protect Temporary Workers   IBT   ...The California Senate approved AB 1897 Wednesday evening. The bill will hold companies accountable for serious violations of the rights of workers on their premises that are committed by their own labor suppliers...
Uber Drivers In Southern California Form Association With Teamsters Local 986  IBT   ...The California App-Based Drivers’ Association (CADA) met in El Monte, California on Tuesday, to formalize its affiliation with Teamsters Local 986...
How One Union Is Playing For Both Sides In The Battle Between Uber And Taxis  BuzzFeed   ...As the bitter divide between ride-sharing and taxi companies continues to grow, one union is trying to unite all the drivers, no matter who they work for...
Trade
TTIP Will Sacrifice Food Safety For Faster Trade, Warn NGOs  EurActiv   ...The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will irreversibly put EU consumers and animals at risk, the European Commission will be warned today...
Kristen Marshall: Reject the TPP  (opinion)   DailyCamera   ...“Why are we relying on WikiLeaks for information about TPP?”; and “What about Congress?”...
State Battles
Ballot Initiatives Become Pricey Playgrounds Of Parties And Corporations  Washington Post   ...For the first time in history, spending on the approximately 125 ballot questions facing voters in 41 states is likely to top $1 billion in campaign spending this year — and perhaps much more: Oil and gas companies in Alaska spent more than $170 for every vote they won in a successful campaign to reject higher taxes earlier this month...
The End Of The Scott Walker Experiment?  Slate   ...the biggest national test taking place in Wisconsin is a test of the Walker Hypothesis, which held that a politician who enacted conservative policies and didn’t shrink from the resulting controversy would be rewarded by a wide range of voters—conservatives, but also swing voters. ... With each new poll showing a close race, that hypothesis grows weaker...
DOR: Fiscal year revenue comes in $281.2 million below projections  WisPolitics Budget Blog   ...The largest shortfall came in income taxes, where the state collected $178.7 million less than expected. Corporate tax collections were also significantly lower, coming in $97.7 million behind projections...
War On Workers
You're Losing $18,000 A Year Because Of Income Inequality  Huffington Post   ..."Stagnant growth at the middle is just the flip side of fast growth at the top," Elise Gould, the author of the paper and EPI’s director of health policy research, told The Huffington Post...
When Do We Start Calling This “The Greater Depression”?  Washington Center for Equitable Growth   ...Between the start of 2005 and the end of 2007 U.S. real GDP grew at 3.1%/year. The recession trough in 2009 saw the U.S. real GDP level 11% lower than the 2005-2007 trend. Today it stands 16% below...
Most Americans Think The Economy Is Permanently Damaged  Huffington Post   ..."Looking at the aftermath of the recession, it is clear that the American landscape has been significantly rearranged," Rutgers professor Cliff Zukin said in a press release. "With the passage of time, the public has become convinced that they are at a new normal of a lower, poorer quality of life."...
For Every Education Level, Real Wages Have Gone Down So Far This Year  Bloomberg Businessweek   ...From the first half of 2007 to the first half of this year, real wages declined 4.9 percent for workers with a high school degree and 2.5 percent for workers with a college degree. Workers with advanced degrees registered an increase of only 0.2 percent over those seven years...
In Corporations, It’s Owner-Take-All (opinion)  Washington Post   ...Lazonick looked at the 449 companies listed every year on the S&P 500 from 2003 to 2012. ... That’s a total of 91 percent of their profits that America’s leading corporations targeted to their shareholders, leaving a scant 9 percent for investments, research and development, expansions, cash reserves or, God forbid, raises...
Sheriff releases name of Kalispell Walmart worker killed in fall  Missoulian   ...Larry Wurtz has been identified as the Kalispell Walmart employee who died after falling from a movable staircase in a back room of the store last week...
Worker hit and killed by SF city truck in the Bayview  SF Gate   ...A San Francisco Department of Public Works garbage truck struck and killed a crew member Thursday morning, city officials said...
Miscellaneous
Boomer Wealth Dented by Mortgages Poses U.S. Risk  Bloomberg   ...The share of Americans 65 and older with mortgage debt rose to 30 percent in 2011 from 22 percent in 2001, according to a May analysis by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau based on the latest available figures...

US economy shrinks, and New York Times says it's bad for....who???

We had to laugh at this New York Times story about the U.S. economy shrinking: The newspaper wrote it's bad for the White House.

Really? The White House? How about the millions of other people in this country whose wages are falling, who are losing their homes, who can't get a job, who shoulder enormous student debt, who work for temp agencies at poverty wages for years, who are middle-aged and living with their parents, who are 50 years old and scared to lose their jobs because they'll never get another one, who are 60 years old with no retirement savings, who graduated from college and are working at a fast-food restaurant, who got fired for trying to form a union, who are 76 and still working, who have given up looking for work because there are no jobs, who are dipping into their 401(k) plans before they retire?

A shrinking economy means things got worse for them.

This is what the New York Times actually published:

The Commerce Department said on Thursday that the nation’s overall output shrank at an annual rate of 1 percent in the first three months of the year ...It is the first quarter in three years in which the nation’s output of goods and services has contracted.
The figures are bad news for the White House...

Maybe it's just an attempt at self-parody...

(Anyhoo, the good news is that commercial activity appears to be picking up.)

Today's Teamster News 05.11.14

Teamster News
Employees of local bus company seek to join union  Bennington Banner   ...Employees of the Green Mountain Express may soon become part of the Teamsters Union...
Trade
TPP Is Another Upward Transfer of Wealth  naked capitalism   ...As with NAFTA, the TPP will benefit U.S. companies relocating jobs to low-wage, high-repression nations...
U.S. steelmakers ‘under assault’ from dumped imports  NWI Times   ...Steel dumping poses a real threat to jobs in Northwest Indiana, and policy-makers in Washington need to take heed, industry officials said...
War on Workers
Is the true unemployment rate 23.2%?   Trade Reform   ...The SGS unemployment rate for April 2014, unfortunately still dependent on government data, is: 23.2% — this being more consistent with the experience of live citizens... 
The Rise of the Gig Economy  truthout   ...Using the BLS definition, which includes independent contractors, temporary workers, on-call workers, and workers provided by contract firms, contingent workers made up over 11% of the labor force in 2005...
Now Trending: Whistleblowers in Low-Wage Jobs Turn to Social Media  Jobs With Justice   ...This recent step in the right direction comes after years of pressure from OUR Walmart, the association of current and former Walmart employees who have demanded more hours and stable work schedules from the retailer...
401(k)s are retirement robbery: How the Koch brothers, Wall Street and politicians conspire to drain Social Security  Salon   ... Thirty-five percent of total retirement contributions in the United States are made to Social Security, which puts them beyond the reach of the private market. The more that Social Security can be privatized, the more new profit opportunities the financial services industry will have...
The NSA’s Corporate Collaborators  Counterpunch   ...”There almost is no division between the private sector and the NSA, or the private sector and the Pentagon, when it comes to the American national security state. They really are essentially one...”
Getting past economic development subsidy hype  Angry Bear   ...The EU’s state aid rules guarantee transparency, restrict location subsidies to the poorest regions, and cap the amount of subsidy a project can receive based on two principles: 1) The richer the region, the lower the maximum subsidy allowed (with 0 as the maximum in many regions)...
Miscellaneous 
Federal Data: Americans keeping vehicles longer since start of recession  Washington Post   ...the average age of household autos increased from 10.1 years about 11.3 years between 2007 and 2012, while the average household income rose from $63,091 per year to $65,596 during the same period...
Target’s CEO didn’t leave because of a cybersecurity breach  Washington Post   ... The business model isn't working anymore, and it's going to take a serious overhaul to bring up to speed, when competitors are already far ahead...

Today's Teamster News 05.04.14

Teamster News
Historic Pay For Performance Measure Wins Majority Vote For First Time At A U.S. Public Company  teamster.org   ... Ken Hall, International Brotherhood of Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer, (said),“We do not believe executives should receive a guaranteed windfall in the outcome of a change-of-control when receipt of such compensation could have very little to do with the executives’ actual job performance...
Teamsters strike PepsiCo bottling plant over wages  Indianapolis Star   ...About 345 members of Teamsters Local 135 went on strike Thursday at a PepsiCo bottling plant on Indianapolis’ Northwestside...
Hoffa, Hall Remember Former Rep. Oberstar as Friend of Workers  teamster.org   ...Jim Oberstar stood up to Fed Ex when it repeatedly tried to shortchange its workforce and gain an advantage over the rest of the package delivery sector under the reauthorization of FAA...
Trade
Recent improvements in US trade deficit are unlikely to last  Sober Look   ...While the recent improvements in US trade deficit are a positive, they are largely driven by lower net energy imports. As the economy improves, growth in imports due to stronger demand will become the dominant trend, resulting in a downturn in the overall trade balance...
State Battles
Retirement Accounts for Everyone  Baseline Scenario   ...The Connecticut legislature is considering a bill that create a publicly administered retirement plan that would be open to anyone who works at a company with more than five employees...
War on Workers
Jobs Report: 288K Jobs Added, 806K Dropped out of Work Force  Trade Reform   ...The deindustrialization of America continues as the lowest paying eight categories of jobs gained in April, high paying jobs in manufacturing had little improvement, and hundreds of thousands of people stopped looking for work...
Subway leads fast food industry in underpaying workers  CNN Money   ...Individual Subway franchisees have been found in violation of pay and hour rules in more than 1,100 investigations spanning from 2000 to 2013, according to a CNNMoney analysis of data collected by the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division...
Brazil police accused of 'cleansing' favelas before World Cup football carnival rolls into town  Daily Mail   ...There has been an orgy of extra-judicial killing by Brazil’s military police – the result of a government crackdown to ‘pacify’ the favelas before the world’s media arrive...
Mutiny of the Lab Rats – Europeans Grow Weary of EU Experiment  naked capitalism   ...On the one side will be an unruly coalition of far-right and nationalist groups who would like nothing better than to torpedo the European frigate once and for all ... On the other side of the aisle will be a motley crew of leftist parties determined to put an end to the EU’s fetish for austerity measures and bank bailouts...
Homeless Grandmother Arrested 59 Times for Sitting on Sidewalk  Alternet   ...as part of a decade-long effort to "clean up" Skid Row in Los Angeles (i.e. run the homeless out of the area to ease development), the city of LA has spent at least a quarter of a million dollars arresting, prosecuting and jailing just one homeless woman, 59-year-old Ann Moody, mostly for sitting on a public sidewalk...
"The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap" *opinion)  truthout   ...People are beginning to become disturbingly comfortable with a kind of official hypocrisy. Bizarrely, for instance, we’ve become numb to the idea that rights aren’t absolute but are enjoyed on a kind of sliding scale...

The pension problem: You're not making enough money

The reason most Americans don't have anywhere near enough money to retire is that they don't earn enough while they're working, not because they make bad investments.

A study last year found that only half of Americans saved more than $2,500 for retirement.

James Kwak at the Baseline Scenario blog takes down the entrepreneurs who make money by blaming the victim of wage deflation. He names names:

...from the personal finance gurus (Suze Orman, Dave Ramsey) to the variable annuity salespeople to the peddlers of real estate get-rich-quick schemes to Sesame Street‘s corporate-sponsored financial education programs. (Of them all, Jane Bryant Quinn is one of the few who generally come off as more good than evil.) 

A lot of what’s going on is just semi-sleazy entrepreneurs trying to make a buck, taking “advice” that is equal parts routine, wrong, and contradictory and packaging it into attractive-looking books, TV shows, and in-person events. A lot of the rest is marketing by the real financial industry, which either (a) wants to make a show of promoting financial education so people will think they are good or (b) wants to teach people that they need their products. (You pick.) 

Kwak points out that the problem with financial advice is that it generally doesn't work. And that the real problem is people don't make enough money to begin with at a time when necessities like housing, education and health care are getting way more expensive. He concludes:

Somehow we ended up blaming ourselves for the fact that we don’t have a decent minimum wage, real national health insurance, subsidized child care that made it easier to hold a job, or long-term unemployment insurance (other than in special circumstances). If we saw individuals’ financial struggles as a political issue—or a class issue—things might be different.

Read the whole thing here.

Today's Teamster News 03.16.14

Teamster News
Food contracts cycle underway again for Southern Calif. Teamsters, UFCW  People's World   ...A historic core industry of the two major unions in Southern California, retail food, has begun its every-five-years-or-so cycle of bare-knuckle contract negotiations. First up, and going on right now, is the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) negotiations. Next, in September 2015, the Teamsters' own food employers agreement for drivers and warehouse workers expires...
Trade
U.S.-Korea Trade Deal Resulted in Growing Trade Deficits and Nearly 60,000 Lost Jobs  Economic Policy Institute   ...Overall, the U.S. trade deficit with Korea has increased $8.7 billion, or 59.6%, costing nearly 60,000 U.S. jobs. Most of the nearly 60,000 jobs lost were in manufacturing...
Foreign textile firms invest in Vietnam to take advantage of TPP  Thanh Nien  ...Many large foreign firms have entered Vietnam's garment and textile sector with an eye on export opportunities the Trans-Pacific Partnership is expected to bring...
How Big Pharma (and others) began lobbying on the Trans-Pacific Partnership before you ever heard of it  Sunlight Foundation   ...In 2009, four years before the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was a widely-debated trade deal, few would have noticed a new issue popping up in a handful of lobbying reports. That year, 28 organizations filed 59 lobbying reports mentioning the then far-off trade agreement. Almost half of those organizations were pharmaceutical companies or associations...
The War on Workers
Nasa-funded study: industrial civilisation headed for 'irreversible collapse'?  The Guardian   ...A new study sponsored by Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center has highlighted the prospect that global industrial civilisation could collapse in coming decades due to unsustainable resource exploitation and increasingly unequal wealth distribution...
The “Paid-What-You’re-Worth” Myth  Robert Reich   ...Fifty years ago, when General Motors was the largest employer in America, the typical GM worker got paid $35 an hour in today’s dollars. Today, America’s largest employer is Walmart, and the typical Walmart workers earns $8.80 an hour...
National Coalition To Broadcast Networks: Viewers "Deserve To Know What's At Stake" If Minimum Wage Stays Low   Media Matters   ...A recently released Media Matters report found that over the past year, evening news programs on ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS have been largely silent about the burden that low minimum wages place on the financial security of public safety net programs...
Harry Reid says Kochs blocking Ukraine aid  Politico   ...Democratic leaders alleged on Thursday that GOP House and Senate leaders want to trade a delay in IRS rules changes affecting the political activities of nonprofits for passage of a broad Ukraine aid package including controversial International Monetary Fund reforms. Those IRS rules could affect the Koch-backed Super PAC Americans for Prosperity, which is running millions of dollars of attack ads against incumbent Democratic senators...
Miscellaneous
5 Compelling Reasons Never to Retire  Daily Finance   ...retirees were 51 percent more likely to die than those of their same age who continued to work...

Today's Teamster News 03.06.14

Teamster News
PA Teamsters Stand Against Paycheck Deception Bill  teamster.org   ...Teamster members and leaders joined with York County legislators to denounce what has been termed the ‘Paycheck Deception Bill’ (House Bill 1507) at a press conference yesterday...
Teamsters: Workers, Not the Rich, Need a Hand Up  teamster.org  ...The growing disparity in incomes between the “haves” and the “have nots” is a real problem for America, and one that is being felt in many corners of this country...
Deadline Rapidly Approaches for JRH Scholarship Applications  teamster.org   ...March 31st is the deadline to apply for the James R. Hoffa Memorial Scholarship that's been set up to benefit children or financially dependent grandchildren of Teamsters. For more details and downloadable materials, click here...
Trade
Is Japan Playing Ball with the US on the TransPacific Partnership?  naked capitalism   ...expect to hear the Trade Representative’s office to bray that considerable progress was made on the TPP as a result of Obama’s visit. Remember, in negotiating, the impression that progress is being made is critical. But anyone who has been following this beat and isn’t in the can for the Administration is certain to tell you otherwise...
USDA Ignores Food Safety, Hell Bent on Importing Brazilian Beef  Trade Reform   ...Brazil is to the U.S. beef industry what China is to the steel industry (and many other industries)… they are the goliath.  They are really big.  They will flood our market with potentially contaminated meat...
US: Administration outlines international trade goals  just-style   ....The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has outlined the US President's international trade goals and policies for 2014 - which include completing TPP negotiations, continuing T-TIP talks and working on eliminating trade barriers...
Controversial anti-smuggling trade agreement between China and the United States renewed   Art Media Agency   ...A controversial anti-smuggling trade agreement established between China and the United States in 2009 has been renewed for five years...
State Battles
Highest Minimum-Wage State Washington Beats U.S. in Job Creation  Bloomberg News   ...When Washington residents voted in 1998 to raise the state’s minimum wage and link it to the cost of living, opponents warned the measure would be a job-killer. The prediction hasn’t been borne out. In the 15 years that followed, the state’s minimum wage climbed to the highest in the country while job growth continued above the national rate...
Indiana union petitions state Supreme Court to rule Right to Work unconstitutional  Beverly Hills Courier   ...As Right to Work battles continue to wage across the country, labor supporters in Indiana are looking at a decisive victory if the state Supreme Court rules in their favor...
State Supreme Court Moves to Consolidate Pension Law Challenges  NBC News   ...Four lawsuits from the Retired State Employee Association, the Illinois State Employee Association, the We Are One Illinois Coalition and a group of retired school teachers challenging the state's pension law reform will now be heard as one challenge, according to the ruling...|
What ALEC Has Planned For Ohio In 2014: Hurt School Districts And More Tax Cuts For The Wealthy  Plunderbund   ...Despite 40 years of empirical evidence showing that cutting taxes for those at the top does exactly nothing to help anybody else, and, in fact, has helped skyrocket wealth inequality to Gilded Age levels, this “tax reform” push is a top priority...
Federal investigators issue ‘scathing’ report on Indiana OSHA  Indianapolis Star   ...IOSHA failed to investigate an explosion at Indianapolis Power & Light in March 2013, even as the agency was negotiating a settlement with the utility company over an explosion seven months earlier that killed one worker and injured another...
War on Workers
Companies in U.S. Added Fewer Jobs Than Forecast in February  Bloomberg News   ...Companies added fewer workers than projected in February, a sign that U.S. employers were waiting for a pickup in demand before boosting headcount, a private report based on payrolls showed today...
A Depressingly Simple Explanation For The Weak Recovery  Business Insider   ...income gains have been mediocre for a broad swath of middle income households for some time, and borrowing temporarily masked the demand drag. In combination these factors have been a contributing factor to the slow recovery of U.S. consumption and economic growth...
Researchers Suggest Banks Might Be Rigging Gold Prices  truthout   ...the five banks that set the gold price have now been accused of price manipulation in a class-action lawsuit filed Monday in a U.S. federal court in New York...
Booming Business at Alabama Shipyard Fuels New Union Campaign  In These Times   ...Rapid business growth may be the key to finally unionizing shipbuilding workers in Mobile, Ala., where an Australia-based defense contractor has successfully fought union organizing for more than a decade...
More Than 2 Million Unemployed Workers Are Now Going Without Benefits  ThinkProgress   ...Congress is failing this 40-year nursing veteran (and 2 million others like her)...
New Democratic Strategy Goes After Koch Brothers  New York Times   ...On Thursday, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is starting a digital campaign that will use Internet ads and videos, as well as social media, to tie Republican Senate candidates to the policies and actions of the Koch brothers. Its slogan: “The G.O.P. is addicted to Koch” (pronounced coke)...
Imposing a Starvation Diet on Government Programs Needs to End (Opinion)  Huffington Post   ...As any dietician will attest, starving the body of vital nutrients in an effort to slim down is a recipe for failure. The same is true for federal government programs and services...
Miscellaneous   
Americans Shut Out of Home Market Threaten Recovery: Mortgages  Bloomberg   ...First-time homebuyers hurt by rising prices and tougher credit standards are disappearing from the market, slowing the pace of the three-year recovery. The decline of these buyers, many of whom are young and non-white, also threatens to widen the wealth gap between owners, who benefit from appreciation, and renters, said Thomas Lawler, a former Fannie Mae economist...
Bernanke’s $250,000 fee for speech puts him near top of food chain  Wall Street Journal   ...Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s reported $250,000 for a speech in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday puts him in rarefied air of public speakers, experts said. With one speech, Bernanke exceeded his $199,700 annual salary as Fed chairman in 2013...
The Inverse of Oversight: CIA Spies On Congress  The Intercept   ... the CIA’s inspector general has asked for a criminal investigation into CIA monitoring of computers used by Senate aides who were investigating the agency’s prominent role in the Bush-era torture of detainees...
Rolls-Royce investigated in US over bribery claims  The Telegraph   ...Rolls-Royce is being investigated by the US Department of Justice (DoJ), following allegations that its executives bribed officials in Indonesia, China and India in order to win lucrative contracts...
BP fails to get out of compensating oil spill victims  Salon   ...An appeals court shut down the company's efforts to avoid paying damages...
Frigid U.S. Weather Means Highest Power Prices Since ’08: Energy  Bloomberg News   ...Freezing temperatures gripping the eastern U.S. will result in the highest electricity prices in six years for consumers in Boston, Dallas and San Francisco...
Scary Emerging Scientific Consensus: There's No Such Thing as Safe Plastic  Democracy Now!   ...There is new research suggesting that even BPA-free plastics contain chemicals that can act like estrogen in the body and cause disease. And the plastics industry has a big propaganda denial campaign in the works....