Teamsters
Hoffa: Presidential Veto of Keystone Hurts Middle Class Americans teamster.org ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa expressed his disappointment in President Obama’s decision today to veto the Keystone Pipeline Act despite bipartisan support in both the House of Representatives and Senate...
Teamsters Seen As Upping Effort To Be Clark County Schools Union Las Vegas Review Journal ...A three-member Nevada Local Government Employee-Management Relations Board unanimously agreed to change its 13-year-old policy that requires a supermajority vote for one union to oust another. That decision came in the wake of the Teamsters overwhelming victory in a vote to determine whether workers wanted the Teamsters or ESEA to represent them...
Teamsters Port Division Responds To Tentative Contract Agreement Between The PMA And ILWU Long Beach Post ...“The longshoreman have fought for more than 100 years for a seat at the economic table; it is now the truckers turn,” the statement continued. “The Teamsters will continue to support the drivers’ fight for a seat at the economic table until justice is served.”...
BLET Members Ratify New Contract With Long Island Rail Road BLET ...On February 22, members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) ratified a new collective bargaining agreement with the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) by a 71 percent majority...
Trade
Lawmakers grapple with ‘fast track’ trade bill Marketwatch …Lawmakers from both parties are trying to strike a difficult balance as they wrangle over the final intricacies of a bill that would expedite consideration of trade deals...
Devastating Impacts Of “Secretly Negotiated” TTIP Trade-Deal Between EU And US, Obama Blocks Making Its Terms Public Centre for Research on Globalization ...Basically: U.S. President Barack Obama is demanding that European nations weaken their regulations, but has been encountering stiff resistance from some, which has dragged out negotiations...
Fighting Fast Track: Is It Really China Or Us? (opinion) Huffington Post ...Those deals and others like them have led to the U.S. accumulating more than $10 trillion in trade deficits over the past 20 years, far more than the rest of the world combined. Those deals have emptied small and large cities from Trenton to St. Louis of millions of jobs that would have provided a decent income to urban America. Instead our cities are burned out and in the case of Detroit and others, bankrupt...
WTO Rules Against China In Steel Anti-Dumping Dispute Tax News ...The panel found that the Chinese measures did not fully respect the prescribed WTO methods to calculate dumping margins. It also said that China failed to demonstrate that its domestic industry had been adversely affected by imports of the product in question, and said that Chinese anti-dumping procedure came short of the WTO requirements in terms of due process and transparency...
State Battles
About 2,000 rally against right-to-work in Wisconsin Associated Press …About 2,000 construction workers, electricians, carpenters and other union members rallied at the Wisconsin state Capitol on Tuesday, pushing back against a fast-tracked right-to-work bill backed by Republicans and Gov. Scott Walker...
Wisconsin Republicans worry about protest redux as right-to-work debate begins Washington Post ...In 2011, large protests against bills undercutting the political power of public employee unions rocked the Wisconsin Capitol in Madison, sparking recall elections that nearly toppled Gov. Scott Walker (R). Four years later, Republicans want to avoid a repeat as they consider another measure that would curb union power...
Right-to-work offers little for Wisconsin's economy Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...Wisconsin may soon become the 25th right-to-work state. Republicans in the state Senate have the votes — and there is little Democrats can do to stop the train. It's left the station...
Scott Walker’s Economic Mess: How Worker Wages Were Gutted In Wisconsin Salon.com ...I was in Wisconsin for the labor uprising of 2011. Faced with the threat from newly elected Gov. Scott Walker of eviscerated collective bargaining protections, unions and their allies brought hundreds of thousands of workers into the streets in protest. They fought like their lives depended on it. Four years later, we now know that they did...
Right-To-Work Debate Begins In Wisconsin With Hearing Denver Post ...Opponents of a Republican push to turn Wisconsin into a right-to-work state began to converge on the Capitol on Tuesday for a rally and to testify against the fast-tracked measure...
Oldham considers 'right-to-work' ordinance The Courier-Journal ...Some Oldham officials are hoping a proposed 'right-to-work' ordinance — which would prohibit mandatory union involvement as a condition of employment — could be the solution to a business park that, a decade after its $20 million purchase, "hasn't had the success the people who started it had initially hoped for," said Judge-Executive David Voegele...
Liquor privatization bill clears Pennsylvania House panel Associated Press ...A proposal to sell off most of Pennsylvania's state-owned liquor system and its wholesale distribution network moved ahead with a vote in the Legislature on Monday, although its prospects to become law remain uncertain...
'Paycheck protection' union-dues issue returns to the spotlight in Pa. Senate Penn Live ...The Senate State Government Committee on Monday voted 6-5 along mostly partisan lines to approve a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban the collection of union membership dues and political contributions from paychecks of state government and school district employees...
Two different Missouri Senate proposals to require photo IDs for voting St. Louis Public Radio ...The battle by Republican lawmakers to restore photo identification requirements in Missouri has moved over to the Senate, where two rather different approaches are being considered...
Minimum Wage To Rise In Alaska To $8.75 An Hour The Oregonian ...Voters in November overwhelmingly approved raising the minimum wage from $7.75 per hour to $8.75 per hour, effective Jan. 1. Because the state constitution calls for ballot measures to take effect 90 days after election results are certified, the raise doesn't take effect until Tuesday...
War on Workers
California Metrolink Derailment Is Latest in Series of High-Profile Crashes NBC News ...A commuter train derailment outside Los Angeles that sent 28 people to the hospital and left a tractor-trailer in flames was the latest in a series of high-profile accidents on the nation's rails...
Recent “Bomb Trains” Expose Regulatory Failures Oil Price ...even though the CPC-1232 cars have demonstrated that they are inadequately safe, much of the crude hitting the nation’s railways are not even traveling to that standard. Railcar manufacturers do not have the capability to ramp up production of the CPC-1232s fast enough, with a backlog of at least 50,000 cars. Meanwhile, there are still around 171,000 DOT-111s still in operation...
Telecom workers ratify agreement to end strike in New England Reuters ... Union members ratified an agreement on Sunday that ends a four-month-long strike by some 1,800 workers at FairPoint Communications, a major land-line telecommunications provider in northern New England, union officials announced...
U.S. refinery strike affects one-fifth of national capacity Reuters ...The largest U.S. refinery strike in 35 years entered its fourth week on Sunday as workers at 12 refineries accounting for one-fifth of national production capacity were walking picket lines...
Big Banks Face Scrutiny Over Pricing Of Metals Wall Street Journal ...U.S. officials are investigating at least 10 major banks for possible rigging of precious-metals markets, even though European regulators dropped a similar probe after finding no evidence of wrongdoing, according to people close to the inquiries...
Showing posts with label steel dumping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label steel dumping. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Today's Teamster News 12.09.14
Teamster News
Horse carriage ban introduced in City Council, sparks dueling rallies New York Daily News ...Supporters and opponents of banning the city’s horse drawn carriages battled at dueling rallies Monday as the bill was finally introduced in the City Council - and more Council members came out against the controversial ban. A dozen unions joined horse carriage drivers on the City Hall steps to blast the proposal they say will kill the livelihoods of 300 drivers...
City Councilman Who Previously Agreed To Support Ban On Horse Carriages Flips Sides New York Daily News ...A city councilman who was endorsed by the animal rights group NYCLASS and agreed to back a ban on horse-drawn carriages under certain conditions has come out against Mayor de Blasio’s bill to outlaw the carriage industry...
Horse Nonsense From City Hall (opinion) New York Times ...Why wipe out a well-loved, well-regulated, law-abiding part of the tourist economy? So many tough questions. One simple answer: Dump the bill. Keep the horses...
Franklin Park Public Works Employees Ratify First Teamsters Contract teamster.org …Public works employees in the Village of Franklin Park, Ill., ratified their first Teamsters contract after unanimously voting to join the Teamsters...
Cook DuPage Transport Puts Paratransit Services, Teamsters Local 727 Members at Risk teamster.org ...Paratransit services in Cook and DuPage counties are in danger of being suspended due to a possible work stoppage because of Cook DuPage Transport’s bad faith bargaining for a first contract...
Trade
Activists In Washington Protest Against TPP Public Citizen ...An hour of loud chanting and noisemakers ensured that chief negotiators involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks on Tuesday were aware of growing US public opposition to the TPP and the dim prospects that US President Barack Obama will obtain Fast Track trade authority, Public Citizen said...
TPP Negotiators Come to DC and are Met By People Telling Them ‘Fast Track’ Is Dead and Make the TPP Text Public Popular Resistance ...On Monday morning members of Popular Resistance held a ‘Sit-in to End the Secrecy’ on the front steps of the USTR office . As Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiators and USTR staff arrived for their first day of meetings this week, demonstrators demanded that they stop hiding the text of the trade agreement and instead make it available to the public telling them “secret negotiations are anti-democratic.”...
House Democrats vow to block Obama on Asia trade pact Washington Post ...House Democrats from the nation's manufacturing heartland are vowing to fight President Obama's push for a major trade deal in the Asia Pacific, saying the pact will harm U.S. jobs and charging that the administration has not been transparent with Congress in its negotiations...
Obama Ready To Defy Base In Order To Advance Trans-Pacific Partnership MintPress News ...In a speech before CEOs of major U.S. corporations, Obama indicates he's ready to go head-to-head with Democrats, labor unions, and environmentalists on trade deals...
Growing Trans-Pacific Trade Deficits Set the Stage for Growing Trade-Related Job Displacement Economic Policy Institute ...The United States has a large and growing trade deficit with the 11 other countries in the proposed TPP. This deficit has increased from $110.3 billion in 1997 to an estimated $261.7 billion in 2014, as shown in the figure below. With trade deficits already on the rise, it makes no sense to sign a deal that would exacerbate them further...
Hardship On Mexico's Farms, A Bounty For U.S. Tables Los Angeles Times ...for thousands of farm laborers south of the border, the export boom is a story of exploitation and extreme hardship...
United States To Investigate Potential Steel Dumping NWI Times ...The U.S. International Trade Commission voted 6-0 last week to investigate an estimated $601 million in annual Korean and Turkish imports of carbon and alloy welded API line pipe, which is used in oil and gas pipelines. The agency will look into whether the steel products are being sold at less than fair value, if it's hurting domestic steelmakers and if duties should be imposed...
State Battles
Our view: Right-to-work not the right priority (opinion) LaCrosse Tribune ...It’s apparently so important that Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald announced Thursday that he will put the issue on the fast track and a bill addressing the issue will be brought forth in the Assembly...
More than 3,800 state workers paid under federal poverty level Richmond Times-Dispatch ...The jobs of the state employees in the poverty zone include hospital food service workers and housekeepers, school security officers, mental health workers, deputy sheriffs, corrections workers, secretaries, researchers and associate professors. In some respects, their plight is not surprising, given the number of state workers who are dependent on federal assistance. That number has increased more than 150 percent — from 892 in 2011 to 2,287 in 2013, according to statistics compiled by the state Department of Human Resources Management...
NC education department used Koch-funded group for proposed history lessons Charlotte News Observer ...State high school social studies teachers would be encouraged to use curriculum materials prepared by an institute funded by the conservative Koch family, under a proposal the Department of Public Instruction presented...
ALEC Fumes: Transparency Threatens Corporate Free Speech! Center for Media and Democracy ...After spending hundreds of millions of undisclosed funds on state and federal elections, the corporate members of the American Legislative Exchange Council are demanding that state legislators preserve their "right" to anonymously spend money on politics and curry favor with elected officials, and to thwart shareholder efforts to hold the corporations they own accountable...
More Corporations Flee as ALEC Rolls Out Its Legislative Agenda Center for Media and Democracy ...Only nine funders of the American Legislative Exchange Council's annual winter meeting in Washington, DC, are listed on ALEC's conference brochure this year...
Economist: Jobs Regained In Kansas Not The Same Ones Lost In Recession Wichita Eagle ...it has gained back only 600 of approximately 29,000 manufacturing jobs it lost, said Tyler Tenbrink, a senior labor economist with the Department of Labor...
War on Workers
Judge Calls Cablevision’s Raises an Anti-Union Act New York Times ...A judge with the National Labor Relations Board has ruled that Cablevision’s chief executive officer, James L. Dolan, gave raises illegally to company technicians in the Bronx to improperly sway them to vote against unionizing...
Oil Falls to 5-Year Low, and Energy Companies Start to Retrench New York Times ...The price of crude oil continued to collapse on Monday, plunging to a five-year low, as oil giants began to scale back their drilling ambitions and pare the ranks of their workers...
Inside the Koch data mine Politico ...The Koch brothers and their allies are pumping tens of millions of dollars into a data company that’s developing detailed, state-of-the-art profiles of 250 million Americans, giving the brothers’ political operation all the earmarks of a national party...
Worker dies in accident at Henderson plastics factory KVVU-TV ...Initial reports indicate a large object fell on the victim. The death is being investigated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration...
Worker dies from injuries in Boeing accident Associated Press ...A worker for a Boeing supplier has died, weeks after sustaining injuries while working on a passenger seat inside a Boeing 777 passenger jet...
Mexico Identifies Remains Of 1 Of 43 Missing Students Time ...Officials have identified the remains of one of 43 missing Mexican students whose disappearance in September sparked worldwide outrage over the country’s drug violence and corruption...
Horse carriage ban introduced in City Council, sparks dueling rallies New York Daily News ...Supporters and opponents of banning the city’s horse drawn carriages battled at dueling rallies Monday as the bill was finally introduced in the City Council - and more Council members came out against the controversial ban. A dozen unions joined horse carriage drivers on the City Hall steps to blast the proposal they say will kill the livelihoods of 300 drivers...
City Councilman Who Previously Agreed To Support Ban On Horse Carriages Flips Sides New York Daily News ...A city councilman who was endorsed by the animal rights group NYCLASS and agreed to back a ban on horse-drawn carriages under certain conditions has come out against Mayor de Blasio’s bill to outlaw the carriage industry...
Horse Nonsense From City Hall (opinion) New York Times ...Why wipe out a well-loved, well-regulated, law-abiding part of the tourist economy? So many tough questions. One simple answer: Dump the bill. Keep the horses...
Franklin Park Public Works Employees Ratify First Teamsters Contract teamster.org …Public works employees in the Village of Franklin Park, Ill., ratified their first Teamsters contract after unanimously voting to join the Teamsters...
Cook DuPage Transport Puts Paratransit Services, Teamsters Local 727 Members at Risk teamster.org ...Paratransit services in Cook and DuPage counties are in danger of being suspended due to a possible work stoppage because of Cook DuPage Transport’s bad faith bargaining for a first contract...
Trade
Activists In Washington Protest Against TPP Public Citizen ...An hour of loud chanting and noisemakers ensured that chief negotiators involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks on Tuesday were aware of growing US public opposition to the TPP and the dim prospects that US President Barack Obama will obtain Fast Track trade authority, Public Citizen said...
TPP Negotiators Come to DC and are Met By People Telling Them ‘Fast Track’ Is Dead and Make the TPP Text Public Popular Resistance ...On Monday morning members of Popular Resistance held a ‘Sit-in to End the Secrecy’ on the front steps of the USTR office . As Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiators and USTR staff arrived for their first day of meetings this week, demonstrators demanded that they stop hiding the text of the trade agreement and instead make it available to the public telling them “secret negotiations are anti-democratic.”...
House Democrats vow to block Obama on Asia trade pact Washington Post ...House Democrats from the nation's manufacturing heartland are vowing to fight President Obama's push for a major trade deal in the Asia Pacific, saying the pact will harm U.S. jobs and charging that the administration has not been transparent with Congress in its negotiations...
Obama Ready To Defy Base In Order To Advance Trans-Pacific Partnership MintPress News ...In a speech before CEOs of major U.S. corporations, Obama indicates he's ready to go head-to-head with Democrats, labor unions, and environmentalists on trade deals...
Growing Trans-Pacific Trade Deficits Set the Stage for Growing Trade-Related Job Displacement Economic Policy Institute ...The United States has a large and growing trade deficit with the 11 other countries in the proposed TPP. This deficit has increased from $110.3 billion in 1997 to an estimated $261.7 billion in 2014, as shown in the figure below. With trade deficits already on the rise, it makes no sense to sign a deal that would exacerbate them further...
Hardship On Mexico's Farms, A Bounty For U.S. Tables Los Angeles Times ...for thousands of farm laborers south of the border, the export boom is a story of exploitation and extreme hardship...
United States To Investigate Potential Steel Dumping NWI Times ...The U.S. International Trade Commission voted 6-0 last week to investigate an estimated $601 million in annual Korean and Turkish imports of carbon and alloy welded API line pipe, which is used in oil and gas pipelines. The agency will look into whether the steel products are being sold at less than fair value, if it's hurting domestic steelmakers and if duties should be imposed...
State Battles
Our view: Right-to-work not the right priority (opinion) LaCrosse Tribune ...It’s apparently so important that Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald announced Thursday that he will put the issue on the fast track and a bill addressing the issue will be brought forth in the Assembly...
More than 3,800 state workers paid under federal poverty level Richmond Times-Dispatch ...The jobs of the state employees in the poverty zone include hospital food service workers and housekeepers, school security officers, mental health workers, deputy sheriffs, corrections workers, secretaries, researchers and associate professors. In some respects, their plight is not surprising, given the number of state workers who are dependent on federal assistance. That number has increased more than 150 percent — from 892 in 2011 to 2,287 in 2013, according to statistics compiled by the state Department of Human Resources Management...
NC education department used Koch-funded group for proposed history lessons Charlotte News Observer ...State high school social studies teachers would be encouraged to use curriculum materials prepared by an institute funded by the conservative Koch family, under a proposal the Department of Public Instruction presented...
ALEC Fumes: Transparency Threatens Corporate Free Speech! Center for Media and Democracy ...After spending hundreds of millions of undisclosed funds on state and federal elections, the corporate members of the American Legislative Exchange Council are demanding that state legislators preserve their "right" to anonymously spend money on politics and curry favor with elected officials, and to thwart shareholder efforts to hold the corporations they own accountable...
More Corporations Flee as ALEC Rolls Out Its Legislative Agenda Center for Media and Democracy ...Only nine funders of the American Legislative Exchange Council's annual winter meeting in Washington, DC, are listed on ALEC's conference brochure this year...
Economist: Jobs Regained In Kansas Not The Same Ones Lost In Recession Wichita Eagle ...it has gained back only 600 of approximately 29,000 manufacturing jobs it lost, said Tyler Tenbrink, a senior labor economist with the Department of Labor...
War on Workers
Judge Calls Cablevision’s Raises an Anti-Union Act New York Times ...A judge with the National Labor Relations Board has ruled that Cablevision’s chief executive officer, James L. Dolan, gave raises illegally to company technicians in the Bronx to improperly sway them to vote against unionizing...
Oil Falls to 5-Year Low, and Energy Companies Start to Retrench New York Times ...The price of crude oil continued to collapse on Monday, plunging to a five-year low, as oil giants began to scale back their drilling ambitions and pare the ranks of their workers...
Inside the Koch data mine Politico ...The Koch brothers and their allies are pumping tens of millions of dollars into a data company that’s developing detailed, state-of-the-art profiles of 250 million Americans, giving the brothers’ political operation all the earmarks of a national party...
Worker dies in accident at Henderson plastics factory KVVU-TV ...Initial reports indicate a large object fell on the victim. The death is being investigated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration...
Worker dies from injuries in Boeing accident Associated Press ...A worker for a Boeing supplier has died, weeks after sustaining injuries while working on a passenger seat inside a Boeing 777 passenger jet...
Mexico Identifies Remains Of 1 Of 43 Missing Students Time ...Officials have identified the remains of one of 43 missing Mexican students whose disappearance in September sparked worldwide outrage over the country’s drug violence and corruption...
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Today's Teamster News 11.15.14
Teamster News
Teamsters: Port Truck Drivers Continue Strike in LA/Long Beach teamster.org ...Port truck drivers in Los Angeles/Long Beach, Calif., continued their strike today against drayage companies Pac 9 and TTSI. At issue is the continued misclassification of drivers as "independent contractors"...
Crash Truck Controversy WJAR ...Torigian and Simone are with the Teamsters, the union that represents attenuator drivers. They said they believe the state is breaking its own law by allowing crash trucks to sit empty...
Trade
U.S. Confirms Duties On Chinese Steel Wire Rod Imports Reuters ...The U.S. Department of Commerce confirmed steep duties on imports of carbon and alloy steel wire rod from China after ruling the products were being sold below cost in the U.S. market and received unfair levels of government subsidies...
Why Are Republicans Talking Like Elizabeth Warren? Huffington Post ... Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will have to expand the scope of President Barack Obama's executive powers if he wants Congress to approve a major free trade agreement currently being negotiated by the administration. And that's making elements of the tea party angry...
State Battles
ALEC Support Drops 19 Percent in 2013 Center for Media and Democracy ...The embattled American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) lost nearly 20 percent in grant revenue between 2012 and 2013 according to new tax filings, reflecting the financial hit that the "corporate bill mill" has suffered as it has been dragged into the sunlight and its corporate members have fled...
Nevada Eyes Voter-ID Bill Following Republican Takeover MSNBC ...State Republicans will have to hurry – Nevada will be a key 2016 battleground, both at the presidential level and with Sen. Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) re-election bid looming. If GOP policymakers are going to impose new restrictions, they’ll no doubt want to have those voting barriers in place before the next Election Day...
War on Workers
Atlantic City Casino Revenue Down 4.4 Pct In Oct. My Central Jersey ...Atlantic City’s casino revenue fell by 4.4 percent in October compared with a year ago. The casinos took in $207 million, compared to $216 million in October 2013...
ATA To Petition FMCSA For Hours Flexibility For Port Truckers Overdrive ...Truckers serving certain ports may soon have some flexibility in compliance with federal hours-of-service rules, if a push by the American Trucking Associations and some ports is successful...
Walmart Workers Promise Biggest Black Friday Strike Ever Think Progress ...Walmart employees who are organizing as part of OUR Walmart are promising the biggest strikes ever on Black Friday, saying more employees will participate than the previous two years. Barbara Gertz, an employee from Denver, Colorado, said organizers are expecting to see protests in 1,600 stores...
Rule Sought On Shipping Oil By Train New York Times ...North Dakota’s top energy industry regulator unveiled new rules on Thursday that would require oil companies to reduce the volatility of crude before it is shipped by rail...
Americans’ Cellphones Targeted In Secret U.S. Spy Program Wall Street Journal ...The Justice Department is scooping up data from thousands of mobile phones through devices deployed on airplanes that mimic cellphone towers, a high-tech hunt for criminal suspects that is snagging a large number of innocent Americans, according to people familiar with the operations...
Worker killed in explosion at Noble County oil and gas facility Columbus Dispatch ...A Virginia man working on an oil and gas pump at a fracking site in Noble County in eastern Ohio died in an explosion on Wednesday. It was the second major incident involving a fracking operation in Ohio in two weeks...
SEPTA worker fights ruling on accident that killed rail inspector philly.com ...A SEPTA worker involved in a fatal 2009 Regional Rail accident is fighting a federal effort to disqualify him from safety-sensitive rail work until 2019...
Miscellaneous
House passes Keystone bill — all eyes shift to Senate Politico ...As expected, the House easily passed a bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline on Friday — setting the stage for drama next week in the Senate, where supporters are inching close to the filibuster-proof majority needed to send the measure to President Barack Obama’s desk...
Teamsters: Port Truck Drivers Continue Strike in LA/Long Beach teamster.org ...Port truck drivers in Los Angeles/Long Beach, Calif., continued their strike today against drayage companies Pac 9 and TTSI. At issue is the continued misclassification of drivers as "independent contractors"...
Crash Truck Controversy WJAR ...Torigian and Simone are with the Teamsters, the union that represents attenuator drivers. They said they believe the state is breaking its own law by allowing crash trucks to sit empty...
Trade
U.S. Confirms Duties On Chinese Steel Wire Rod Imports Reuters ...The U.S. Department of Commerce confirmed steep duties on imports of carbon and alloy steel wire rod from China after ruling the products were being sold below cost in the U.S. market and received unfair levels of government subsidies...
Why Are Republicans Talking Like Elizabeth Warren? Huffington Post ... Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will have to expand the scope of President Barack Obama's executive powers if he wants Congress to approve a major free trade agreement currently being negotiated by the administration. And that's making elements of the tea party angry...
State Battles
ALEC Support Drops 19 Percent in 2013 Center for Media and Democracy ...The embattled American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) lost nearly 20 percent in grant revenue between 2012 and 2013 according to new tax filings, reflecting the financial hit that the "corporate bill mill" has suffered as it has been dragged into the sunlight and its corporate members have fled...
Nevada Eyes Voter-ID Bill Following Republican Takeover MSNBC ...State Republicans will have to hurry – Nevada will be a key 2016 battleground, both at the presidential level and with Sen. Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) re-election bid looming. If GOP policymakers are going to impose new restrictions, they’ll no doubt want to have those voting barriers in place before the next Election Day...
War on Workers
Atlantic City Casino Revenue Down 4.4 Pct In Oct. My Central Jersey ...Atlantic City’s casino revenue fell by 4.4 percent in October compared with a year ago. The casinos took in $207 million, compared to $216 million in October 2013...
ATA To Petition FMCSA For Hours Flexibility For Port Truckers Overdrive ...Truckers serving certain ports may soon have some flexibility in compliance with federal hours-of-service rules, if a push by the American Trucking Associations and some ports is successful...
Walmart Workers Promise Biggest Black Friday Strike Ever Think Progress ...Walmart employees who are organizing as part of OUR Walmart are promising the biggest strikes ever on Black Friday, saying more employees will participate than the previous two years. Barbara Gertz, an employee from Denver, Colorado, said organizers are expecting to see protests in 1,600 stores...
Rule Sought On Shipping Oil By Train New York Times ...North Dakota’s top energy industry regulator unveiled new rules on Thursday that would require oil companies to reduce the volatility of crude before it is shipped by rail...
Americans’ Cellphones Targeted In Secret U.S. Spy Program Wall Street Journal ...The Justice Department is scooping up data from thousands of mobile phones through devices deployed on airplanes that mimic cellphone towers, a high-tech hunt for criminal suspects that is snagging a large number of innocent Americans, according to people familiar with the operations...
Worker killed in explosion at Noble County oil and gas facility Columbus Dispatch ...A Virginia man working on an oil and gas pump at a fracking site in Noble County in eastern Ohio died in an explosion on Wednesday. It was the second major incident involving a fracking operation in Ohio in two weeks...
SEPTA worker fights ruling on accident that killed rail inspector philly.com ...A SEPTA worker involved in a fatal 2009 Regional Rail accident is fighting a federal effort to disqualify him from safety-sensitive rail work until 2019...
Miscellaneous
House passes Keystone bill — all eyes shift to Senate Politico ...As expected, the House easily passed a bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline on Friday — setting the stage for drama next week in the Senate, where supporters are inching close to the filibuster-proof majority needed to send the measure to President Barack Obama’s desk...
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...
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Today's Teamster News 08.23.14
Trade
U.S. Steel Producers Win Anti-Dumping Case Against Cheap Imports Reuters ...The U.S. International Trade Commission on Friday voted to impose anti-dumping duties against steel pipe imports from six countries, exempting two, handing a victory to domestic producers who had complained that the cheap imports were undercutting their prices...
State Battles
Documents Allege Scott Walker Pressured Groups To Donate To Campaign Huffington Post ...Newly released court documents include excerpts from emails showing that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's recall election campaign team told him to instruct donors to give to a key conservative group that would run ads for Walker and distribute money to other conservative groups backing him. … The documents are part of a secret investigation into whether Walker's campaign illegally coordinated with conservative groups during the run-up to the June 2012 recall...
Minimum Wage Ballot Campaign Begins KGTV ...A campaign spearheaded by local businesses to put the minimum wage ordinance before voters kicked off Thursday. The San Diego Small Business Coalition announced the referendum campaign at a news conference Thursday morning in Sorrento Valley...
Appeals Court Delays Wisconsin Voter ID Decision WCWF ...A federal appeals court put off a decision until next month on whether to put Wisconsin’s voter ID law back in place...
Survey: Economy Slows Down In Rural Areas Of Kansas KMUW ...A new monthly survey of bankers suggests the economy is slowing down in rural areas of Kansas, Missouri and eight other states...
Cruel Cuts: Philadelphia Public Schools Pay The Price For Pa.’s Expanded Neo-Voucher Program Americans United ...For the second year in a row Philadelphia’s public schools are struggling to open on time, and it appears deep budget cuts – including money siphoned for a voucher-like program – are to blame...
War On Workers
Bank Of America Papers Show Conflict And Trickery In Mortgages New York Times ...A founder of Countrywide Financial warned three years before the housing market collapsed that his company could face “financial and reputational catastrophe” if it continued holding certain risky mortgages on its balance sheet. Still, Countrywide continued to sell these loans to investors...
Few homeowners expected to benefit from Bank of America's $16.65B settlement Associated Press ...Only a fraction of homeowners would be eligible for refinancing under the settlement. And the process by which people would qualify and receive aid could drag on for years, with payouts set to be completed as late as 2018...
Man Claims Uber Driver Promised Him A Low Fare, Then Charged Him $814 LAist ...A man says that Uber charged his group a whopping $814 for a ride from El Monte to Culver City even though his driver promised it wouldn't be much more than $150...
Rebuilding America, One Bridge At A Time (opinion) Washington Post ...Our public infrastructure is rusting, rotting and, in some cases, falling apart, and we now lag behind nations that are investing in modern, efficient, low-carbon infrastructure...
Economic harassment and the Ferguson crisis (opinion) Los Angeles Times ...the Ferguson court is a "chronic offender" in legal and economic harassment of its residents. There's not much of a secret why: the municipality collects some $2.6 million a year in fines and court fees, typically from small-scale infractions like traffic violations. This is the second-largest source of income for that small, fiscally-strapped municipality...
A Walmart Manager Describes Walmart's Mismanagement Gawker ...Last week, we received an email from a current Walmart manager in Oklahoma asking to share his story. Below is his description of the policies that America's largest employer uses to pit managers against low-level employees, for the benefit of the richest family in America...
A first for Jackson Hole — protesters are here, and they don’t want rate hikes Marketwatch ...Protesters, worried that the central bank is about to put its foot on the brakes, have come to the Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole retreat this year to urge the central bank to hold off and give the economy more time to heal. This is believed to be the first time there ever has been protesters at the event...
Miscellaneous
Americans' Satisfaction With Job Security at New High Gallup ...In the U.S., 58% of full- or part-time workers are completely satisfied with their job security. This represents an increase from the levels recorded during the aftermath of the Great Recession -- from 2009 to 2013 -- when roughly 50% of Americans said they were completely satisfied...
U.S. Steel Producers Win Anti-Dumping Case Against Cheap Imports Reuters ...The U.S. International Trade Commission on Friday voted to impose anti-dumping duties against steel pipe imports from six countries, exempting two, handing a victory to domestic producers who had complained that the cheap imports were undercutting their prices...
State Battles
Documents Allege Scott Walker Pressured Groups To Donate To Campaign Huffington Post ...Newly released court documents include excerpts from emails showing that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's recall election campaign team told him to instruct donors to give to a key conservative group that would run ads for Walker and distribute money to other conservative groups backing him. … The documents are part of a secret investigation into whether Walker's campaign illegally coordinated with conservative groups during the run-up to the June 2012 recall...
Minimum Wage Ballot Campaign Begins KGTV ...A campaign spearheaded by local businesses to put the minimum wage ordinance before voters kicked off Thursday. The San Diego Small Business Coalition announced the referendum campaign at a news conference Thursday morning in Sorrento Valley...
Appeals Court Delays Wisconsin Voter ID Decision WCWF ...A federal appeals court put off a decision until next month on whether to put Wisconsin’s voter ID law back in place...
Survey: Economy Slows Down In Rural Areas Of Kansas KMUW ...A new monthly survey of bankers suggests the economy is slowing down in rural areas of Kansas, Missouri and eight other states...
Cruel Cuts: Philadelphia Public Schools Pay The Price For Pa.’s Expanded Neo-Voucher Program Americans United ...For the second year in a row Philadelphia’s public schools are struggling to open on time, and it appears deep budget cuts – including money siphoned for a voucher-like program – are to blame...
War On Workers
Bank Of America Papers Show Conflict And Trickery In Mortgages New York Times ...A founder of Countrywide Financial warned three years before the housing market collapsed that his company could face “financial and reputational catastrophe” if it continued holding certain risky mortgages on its balance sheet. Still, Countrywide continued to sell these loans to investors...
Few homeowners expected to benefit from Bank of America's $16.65B settlement Associated Press ...Only a fraction of homeowners would be eligible for refinancing under the settlement. And the process by which people would qualify and receive aid could drag on for years, with payouts set to be completed as late as 2018...
Man Claims Uber Driver Promised Him A Low Fare, Then Charged Him $814 LAist ...A man says that Uber charged his group a whopping $814 for a ride from El Monte to Culver City even though his driver promised it wouldn't be much more than $150...
Rebuilding America, One Bridge At A Time (opinion) Washington Post ...Our public infrastructure is rusting, rotting and, in some cases, falling apart, and we now lag behind nations that are investing in modern, efficient, low-carbon infrastructure...
Economic harassment and the Ferguson crisis (opinion) Los Angeles Times ...the Ferguson court is a "chronic offender" in legal and economic harassment of its residents. There's not much of a secret why: the municipality collects some $2.6 million a year in fines and court fees, typically from small-scale infractions like traffic violations. This is the second-largest source of income for that small, fiscally-strapped municipality...
A Walmart Manager Describes Walmart's Mismanagement Gawker ...Last week, we received an email from a current Walmart manager in Oklahoma asking to share his story. Below is his description of the policies that America's largest employer uses to pit managers against low-level employees, for the benefit of the richest family in America...
A first for Jackson Hole — protesters are here, and they don’t want rate hikes Marketwatch ...Protesters, worried that the central bank is about to put its foot on the brakes, have come to the Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole retreat this year to urge the central bank to hold off and give the economy more time to heal. This is believed to be the first time there ever has been protesters at the event...
Miscellaneous
Americans' Satisfaction With Job Security at New High Gallup ...In the U.S., 58% of full- or part-time workers are completely satisfied with their job security. This represents an increase from the levels recorded during the aftermath of the Great Recession -- from 2009 to 2013 -- when roughly 50% of Americans said they were completely satisfied...
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Today's Teamster News 07.08.14
Teamster News
Port Truck Drivers Picket Harbor-Area Trucking Companies Los Angeles Times ...More than 120 truck drivers at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports walked off the job Monday morning, organizers said, launching an indefinite protest against what they say are widespread workplace violations...
Teamsters Initiate Labor Action At LA-Long Beach In Midst Of Longshore Talks Journal of Commerce ...The Teamsters union, in the latest salvo in its long-sought plan to organize port truckers, took advantage of a critical juncture in contract negotiations for a new West Coast longshore agreement to set up pickets against three drayage companies operating at Los Angeles-Long Beach...
California Truck Drivers Go On Strike MSNBC ...California truck drivers at three major transportation companies went on strike Monday morning, demanding an end to purported labor law violations such as misclassification and intimidation. ...
California Truck Drivers Go On Indefinite Strike Think Progress ...The core complaint underlying the union drive is that companies like Total Transportation Services, Inc. (TTSI), Green Fleet Systems, and Pacific 9 Transportation deem their drivers “independent contractors” in order to avoid paying overtime and prevent their workers from enjoying various other labor law protections...
Teamsters Joint Council 16 Makes Three State Senate Endorsements New York Observer ...The union backed ex-Councilman Leroy Comrie’s bid against indicted Queens State Senator Malcolm Smith, Dell Smitherman’s campaign against indicted Brooklyn State Senator John Sampson and Bronx State Senator Gustavo Rivera’s re-election campaign against Councilman Fernando Cabrera...
Teamsters union demands action from Ga. Ports Authority WJCL News ...Teamsters Local Union 728 out of Atlanta announced this week that it has called on the Georgia Ports Authority to come out publicly condemning the classification of port truck drivers as contract employees rather than full-time...
Trade
NE Ohio steelmakers keeping close eye on Commerce Department ruling Trade Reform ...July 11 …(is) the date when the U.S. Department of Commerce is set to decide whether to put new import duties on tubular steel — the type generally referred to as “oil country tubular goods” or “OCTG.”...
Steel Institute Joins Autos and Other Industries in Joint Outreach to Administration on Currency Manipulation Steel Guru ...The American Iron and Steel Institute and a dozen other pro manufacturing groups impacted by unfair trade practices have asked the Obama Administration to make sure strong and enforceable provisions prohibiting currency manipulation are included in all future US free trade agreements, including the Trans Pacific Partnership currently under negotiation...
State Battles
No Job Loss In Most States That Raised The Minimum Wage Fiscal Times ...Of the 13 states that raised their minimum wages, all but one saw job growth in the first five months of 2014. To be sure, that’s a small achievement in an environment where the national economy is adding something on the order of 250,000 jobs per month. The really interesting finding is that the states that raised the minimum wage saw job growth that was, on average, higher than states that did not...
War On Workers
Why You Feel Poorer zero hedge ...Wages are not keeping up with inflation, even the understated numbers reported by government. In short, the decline of a once-great economic power is well underway. The country is no longer growing enough to raise everyone’s standard of living...
American Workers Die Needlessly In The Heat Every Year Washington Post ...Over the past 10 years, the average is 36 deaths and 2,810 heat-related illnesses each year. While that’s bad enough, OSHA officials think the true numbers are higher, because autopsies aren’t usually performed on the victims and many heat-related deaths are listed as heart attacks...
Where Does $2 Trillion in Subsidies for the Wealthiest Hide in Plain Sight? Capital Gains Tax Breaks. Next New Deal ...Under current law, the federal government will deliver an estimated $1.34 trillion in subsidies to investors over the next 10 years in the form of reduced tax rates for capital gains and dividends. Sixty-eight percent of that money will go to the top 1 percent. Stiglitz argues that there is “no justification for taxing those who work hard to earn a living at a higher rate than those who derive their income from speculation...”
REVEALED: Court docs show role of Pixar and Dreamworks Animation in Silicon Valley wage-fixing cartel Pando Daily ...Private emails sent by Pixar’s president and co-founder, Ed Catmull, and found by Pando amongst court documents, clearly state that Katzenberg’s Dreamworks Animation was party to the same secret non-solicitation agreements that the Department of Justice deemed were illegal antitrust violations that served to suppress workers’ wages. Catmull’s deposition in 2013 for the class action lawsuit further demonstrates that Dreamworks Animation was party to the illegal wage theft conspiracy...
Positively Un-American Tax Dodges Fortune Magazine ...Yes, leaving the country–a process that tax techies call inversion–is perfectly legal. A company does this by reincorporating in a place like Ireland, where the corporate tax rate is 12.5%, compared with 35% in the U.S. Inversion also makes it easier to divert what would normally be U.S. earnings to foreign, lower-tax locales ... mass inversion is a whole other thing, and that’s where we’re heading...
Miscellaneous
The NSA Said Edward Snowden Had No Access To Surveillance Intercepts. They Lied. Mother Jones ...In fact, he provided the Washington Post with a cache of 22,000 intercept reports containing 160,000 individual intercepts. The Post has spent months reviewing these files and estimates that 11 percent of the intercepted accounts belonged to NSA targets and the remaining 89 percent were "incidental" collections from bystanders...
Port Truck Drivers Picket Harbor-Area Trucking Companies Los Angeles Times ...More than 120 truck drivers at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports walked off the job Monday morning, organizers said, launching an indefinite protest against what they say are widespread workplace violations...
Teamsters Initiate Labor Action At LA-Long Beach In Midst Of Longshore Talks Journal of Commerce ...The Teamsters union, in the latest salvo in its long-sought plan to organize port truckers, took advantage of a critical juncture in contract negotiations for a new West Coast longshore agreement to set up pickets against three drayage companies operating at Los Angeles-Long Beach...
California Truck Drivers Go On Strike MSNBC ...California truck drivers at three major transportation companies went on strike Monday morning, demanding an end to purported labor law violations such as misclassification and intimidation. ...
California Truck Drivers Go On Indefinite Strike Think Progress ...The core complaint underlying the union drive is that companies like Total Transportation Services, Inc. (TTSI), Green Fleet Systems, and Pacific 9 Transportation deem their drivers “independent contractors” in order to avoid paying overtime and prevent their workers from enjoying various other labor law protections...
Teamsters Joint Council 16 Makes Three State Senate Endorsements New York Observer ...The union backed ex-Councilman Leroy Comrie’s bid against indicted Queens State Senator Malcolm Smith, Dell Smitherman’s campaign against indicted Brooklyn State Senator John Sampson and Bronx State Senator Gustavo Rivera’s re-election campaign against Councilman Fernando Cabrera...
Teamsters union demands action from Ga. Ports Authority WJCL News ...Teamsters Local Union 728 out of Atlanta announced this week that it has called on the Georgia Ports Authority to come out publicly condemning the classification of port truck drivers as contract employees rather than full-time...
Trade
NE Ohio steelmakers keeping close eye on Commerce Department ruling Trade Reform ...July 11 …(is) the date when the U.S. Department of Commerce is set to decide whether to put new import duties on tubular steel — the type generally referred to as “oil country tubular goods” or “OCTG.”...
Steel Institute Joins Autos and Other Industries in Joint Outreach to Administration on Currency Manipulation Steel Guru ...The American Iron and Steel Institute and a dozen other pro manufacturing groups impacted by unfair trade practices have asked the Obama Administration to make sure strong and enforceable provisions prohibiting currency manipulation are included in all future US free trade agreements, including the Trans Pacific Partnership currently under negotiation...
State Battles
No Job Loss In Most States That Raised The Minimum Wage Fiscal Times ...Of the 13 states that raised their minimum wages, all but one saw job growth in the first five months of 2014. To be sure, that’s a small achievement in an environment where the national economy is adding something on the order of 250,000 jobs per month. The really interesting finding is that the states that raised the minimum wage saw job growth that was, on average, higher than states that did not...
War On Workers
Why You Feel Poorer zero hedge ...Wages are not keeping up with inflation, even the understated numbers reported by government. In short, the decline of a once-great economic power is well underway. The country is no longer growing enough to raise everyone’s standard of living...
American Workers Die Needlessly In The Heat Every Year Washington Post ...Over the past 10 years, the average is 36 deaths and 2,810 heat-related illnesses each year. While that’s bad enough, OSHA officials think the true numbers are higher, because autopsies aren’t usually performed on the victims and many heat-related deaths are listed as heart attacks...
Where Does $2 Trillion in Subsidies for the Wealthiest Hide in Plain Sight? Capital Gains Tax Breaks. Next New Deal ...Under current law, the federal government will deliver an estimated $1.34 trillion in subsidies to investors over the next 10 years in the form of reduced tax rates for capital gains and dividends. Sixty-eight percent of that money will go to the top 1 percent. Stiglitz argues that there is “no justification for taxing those who work hard to earn a living at a higher rate than those who derive their income from speculation...”
REVEALED: Court docs show role of Pixar and Dreamworks Animation in Silicon Valley wage-fixing cartel Pando Daily ...Private emails sent by Pixar’s president and co-founder, Ed Catmull, and found by Pando amongst court documents, clearly state that Katzenberg’s Dreamworks Animation was party to the same secret non-solicitation agreements that the Department of Justice deemed were illegal antitrust violations that served to suppress workers’ wages. Catmull’s deposition in 2013 for the class action lawsuit further demonstrates that Dreamworks Animation was party to the illegal wage theft conspiracy...
Positively Un-American Tax Dodges Fortune Magazine ...Yes, leaving the country–a process that tax techies call inversion–is perfectly legal. A company does this by reincorporating in a place like Ireland, where the corporate tax rate is 12.5%, compared with 35% in the U.S. Inversion also makes it easier to divert what would normally be U.S. earnings to foreign, lower-tax locales ... mass inversion is a whole other thing, and that’s where we’re heading...
Miscellaneous
The NSA Said Edward Snowden Had No Access To Surveillance Intercepts. They Lied. Mother Jones ...In fact, he provided the Washington Post with a cache of 22,000 intercept reports containing 160,000 individual intercepts. The Post has spent months reviewing these files and estimates that 11 percent of the intercepted accounts belonged to NSA targets and the remaining 89 percent were "incidental" collections from bystanders...
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Today's Teamster News 06.26.14
Teamster News
Downtown D.C. Traffic Gridlocked As Taxi Drivers Protest Uber, Lyft, Sidecar Washington Post ...Drivers in and around downtown D.C. were gridlocked in traffic Wednesday as a caravan of angry taxi drivers made its way from East Potomac Park to Freedom Plaza — in a protest against app-based ride sharing services such as UberX...
DC Cabbies Join Protest Against Online Services The Hill ... The protest is being organized by the Washington, D.C. Taxi Operators Association, which is affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union. The union said cab drivers in the nation’s capital are upset because Internet-based taxi services don't face the same regulations as rank-and-file operators...
Teamsters hold 'Just Practicing' picket in Mobile to protest waste company's proposed health insurance plan changes AL.com ...Republic wants to be able to change health insurance plans without having to bargain with its workers, even though the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Republic is required to bargain over any changes to workers' health care," Jim Gookins, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 991, said in a press release...
How Do Los Angeles Uber Drivers Protest? They Take a Beach Day Bloomberg ...DeWolf says he and his fellow drivers were spurred by concerns over the company’s refusal to shoulder responsibility for insuring drivers; capricious-seeming policy changes, such as a recent announcement that pre-2010 cars will be phased out for Uber Black or Uber SUV services; and opaque disciplinary procedures...
Teamsters go on strike against concrete company Turnto10 ...Twenty-two men from the Teamsters union in Smithfield and Cranston went on strike Wednesday morning. "We believe in a fair day's work for a fair day's pay," said Stu Mundy, a union supporter...
Teamsters Local 43 Overwhelmingly Votes To Merge With Local 200 Teamsters Local 200 ... Teamsters Local 200 announced that members of Local 43 in Racine, Wisc. overwhelmingly voted to merge with the Milwaukee-based chapter. With the vote, the more than 600 members of Local 43 will join the 3,700 members of Local 200...
Trade
Capitol Hill Shines Spotlight on #SOSJobs manufacture this ...The fight to Save Our Steel Jobs came to Capitol Hill on Wednesday, as the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing looking at how enforcing trade rules can level the playing field for U.S. companies and workers...
Mexican Shale Industry Hoist on Nafta-Induced Gang Violence Petard naked capitalism ...There’s perilous little recognition in the US of how much of the rise in gang violence and drug wars, as well as much harsher economic conditions for ordinary people, is the direct result of Nafta...
State Battles
Union Dues Deduction Bill Advances In Pennsylvania WHTM ...Business-backed legislation that would restrict labor union deductions from the paychecks of unionized public employees is advancing in the Pennsylvania state Legislature...
Under Scott Walker, Wisconsin keeps increasing its long-term borrowing The Cap Times ...Under Walker’s 2013-15 budget, debt service will climb even higher, claiming 5.26% of general fund dollars in 2014 and 4.88% in 2015, according to WISTAX. The state’s historical debt level target has been 4%...
War On Workers
U.S. Economy Shrank in First Quarter by Most in Five Years Bloomberg ...Gross domestic product fell at a 2.9 percent annualized rate, more than forecast and the worst reading since the same three months in 2009, after a previously reported 1 percent drop, the Commerce Department said today in Washington...
Microsoft lawyer says future is ‘bleak’ because of NSA surveillance RT ...Microsoft’s top lawyer doesn’t see much reason to be optimistic going forward if the National Security Agency doesn’t stop its bulk collection of private data, pointing to a “bleak future” and a lack of justice and accountability...
Walmart Flunks Its Fact-Check: The Truth Behind Its Sarcastic Response To The Times Salon.com ...Walmart isn’t going away and any conversation about wages, manufacturing and the reliance on public benefits by the employees of America’s largest corporations is ultimately going to include its participation. This latest salvo seems to indicate it remains intent on making it as unproductive a conversation as possible...
Miscellaneous
Supreme Court Issues Bold Ruling On Cell Phone Privacy Think Progress ...As of today, in nearly all circumstances, the police must obtain a warrant before they can search through your cell phone...
Fifty Years After Freedom Summer, The Voting Rights Act Is Needed More Than Ever (opinion) Moyers & Company ...All across the country, we’re seeing the most significant push to restrict voting rights since Reconstruction...
Downtown D.C. Traffic Gridlocked As Taxi Drivers Protest Uber, Lyft, Sidecar Washington Post ...Drivers in and around downtown D.C. were gridlocked in traffic Wednesday as a caravan of angry taxi drivers made its way from East Potomac Park to Freedom Plaza — in a protest against app-based ride sharing services such as UberX...
DC Cabbies Join Protest Against Online Services The Hill ... The protest is being organized by the Washington, D.C. Taxi Operators Association, which is affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union. The union said cab drivers in the nation’s capital are upset because Internet-based taxi services don't face the same regulations as rank-and-file operators...
Teamsters hold 'Just Practicing' picket in Mobile to protest waste company's proposed health insurance plan changes AL.com ...Republic wants to be able to change health insurance plans without having to bargain with its workers, even though the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Republic is required to bargain over any changes to workers' health care," Jim Gookins, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 991, said in a press release...
How Do Los Angeles Uber Drivers Protest? They Take a Beach Day Bloomberg ...DeWolf says he and his fellow drivers were spurred by concerns over the company’s refusal to shoulder responsibility for insuring drivers; capricious-seeming policy changes, such as a recent announcement that pre-2010 cars will be phased out for Uber Black or Uber SUV services; and opaque disciplinary procedures...
Teamsters go on strike against concrete company Turnto10 ...Twenty-two men from the Teamsters union in Smithfield and Cranston went on strike Wednesday morning. "We believe in a fair day's work for a fair day's pay," said Stu Mundy, a union supporter...
Teamsters Local 43 Overwhelmingly Votes To Merge With Local 200 Teamsters Local 200 ... Teamsters Local 200 announced that members of Local 43 in Racine, Wisc. overwhelmingly voted to merge with the Milwaukee-based chapter. With the vote, the more than 600 members of Local 43 will join the 3,700 members of Local 200...
Trade
Capitol Hill Shines Spotlight on #SOSJobs manufacture this ...The fight to Save Our Steel Jobs came to Capitol Hill on Wednesday, as the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing looking at how enforcing trade rules can level the playing field for U.S. companies and workers...
Mexican Shale Industry Hoist on Nafta-Induced Gang Violence Petard naked capitalism ...There’s perilous little recognition in the US of how much of the rise in gang violence and drug wars, as well as much harsher economic conditions for ordinary people, is the direct result of Nafta...
State Battles
Union Dues Deduction Bill Advances In Pennsylvania WHTM ...Business-backed legislation that would restrict labor union deductions from the paychecks of unionized public employees is advancing in the Pennsylvania state Legislature...
Under Scott Walker, Wisconsin keeps increasing its long-term borrowing The Cap Times ...Under Walker’s 2013-15 budget, debt service will climb even higher, claiming 5.26% of general fund dollars in 2014 and 4.88% in 2015, according to WISTAX. The state’s historical debt level target has been 4%...
War On Workers
U.S. Economy Shrank in First Quarter by Most in Five Years Bloomberg ...Gross domestic product fell at a 2.9 percent annualized rate, more than forecast and the worst reading since the same three months in 2009, after a previously reported 1 percent drop, the Commerce Department said today in Washington...
Microsoft lawyer says future is ‘bleak’ because of NSA surveillance RT ...Microsoft’s top lawyer doesn’t see much reason to be optimistic going forward if the National Security Agency doesn’t stop its bulk collection of private data, pointing to a “bleak future” and a lack of justice and accountability...
Walmart Flunks Its Fact-Check: The Truth Behind Its Sarcastic Response To The Times Salon.com ...Walmart isn’t going away and any conversation about wages, manufacturing and the reliance on public benefits by the employees of America’s largest corporations is ultimately going to include its participation. This latest salvo seems to indicate it remains intent on making it as unproductive a conversation as possible...
Miscellaneous
Supreme Court Issues Bold Ruling On Cell Phone Privacy Think Progress ...As of today, in nearly all circumstances, the police must obtain a warrant before they can search through your cell phone...
Fifty Years After Freedom Summer, The Voting Rights Act Is Needed More Than Ever (opinion) Moyers & Company ...All across the country, we’re seeing the most significant push to restrict voting rights since Reconstruction...
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