Teamsters give to service members through 'iPods for Wounded Veterans' program

Airline Division Capt. Bourne, President Hoffa and others hail money raised.

When Teamsters Airline Division Director Captain David Bourne trekked across Scotland, what kept him going through the physically exhausting hike was the end goal—helping our nation’s veterans.

The trek was part of a fundraiser for wounded servicemen and women through a program called iPods for Wounded Veterans. The organization, founded by Paul Cardello, a Vietnam veteran and retired Teamster with Local 170 in Worcester, Mass., provides iPods, iPads, e-readers and other materials to improve the quality of life for wounded veterans.

Last Friday, Capt. Bourne was presented with a “Medal of Honor Sponsor”-level recognition at the International Union headquarters, and was joined by Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa and members of iPods for Wounded Veterans. Bourne’s 230-mile hike through mountains and forests raised $10,000 for the all-volunteer organization. This is the highest honor given by the iPods for Wounded Veterans program to an individual.

Capt. Bourne said:

What we did was nothing compared to what our wounded troops have endured. I am so honored to have so many Teamsters and others step up to support my walk and support this program to help our wounded veterans. They deserve so much more than we can ever give them. 

Cardello explained that the program is just more than raising funds, and that it involves interaction with the veterans:

We see soldiers who have had 20 operations or more. It’s long-term care and the rehabilitation process is extensive. We provide electronics they can use to communicate and for entertainment. We see over 100 soldiers every time we go to a veterans’ hospital and they are always grateful. 

Wayne Fox, a member of Local 25 in Boston, is the co-chairman of iPods for Wounded Veterans, along with Cardello, and is the son of a World World War II veteran who recently passed away at the age of 96:

We are proud of our 50-plus volunteers, because without the Teamsters, the mom and pops and our sponsors, we couldn’t have scratched the surface of what we’ve been able to do to help our servicemen and women. This is our 17th trip to D.C. in the past four years. It’s not just the physical scars, it’s also emotional, it’s tough and my heart goes out to them. 

Following the ceremony to present Bourne with the plaque, the volunteers visited local veterans’ hospitals.

Teamster local unions around the country volunteer with the organization, and more local unions are joining in.

To find out more, visit www.ipodsforwoundedveterans.org.

Off For the Holiday: Today's Teamster News

HAPPY VETERANS' DAY

Teamster Nation is taking a break from posting in observance of Veterans' Day today, honoring all who have bravely served in the U.S. Armed Forces.

We will resume normal posting tomorrow.

Memorial Day magazine preview: Teamsters Military Assistance Program (TMAP)

Jerry Winkler, Teamster military hero

This Memorial Day, as we honor the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country, we are paying tribute to our Teamster military heroes and the Teamsters Military Assistance Program (TMAP).

In the last issue of Teamster Magazine, we introduced you to Jerry Winkler, a Local 416 Teamster who, in his capacity as an Air Force Reservist, took part in an action to save a Kurdish community from the ISIS terrorist group.

But Winkler is far from the only Teamster who proudly wears his military uniform while keeping a firm grip on his union card. Thanks to an innovative training program for veterans, even more of those who have served in the armed forces have the opportunity to transition to Teamster jobs.

Teamsters, through TMAP, have been assisting veterans in obtaining careers in the transportation industry for years.

In the next issue, you’ll meet several more people enlisted in the military who are transitioning to good jobs thanks to the Teamsters Union … people like Fiona O’Brien. From the story in the next issue:

Fiona O’Brien was among the first group of a dozen graduates that have completed the TMAP program at Fort Sill. The 16-year Army veteran had been deployed three times to Afghanistan, but when she completed her service, O’Brien needed to think of her next steps.

“It’s hard for many veterans to get out and find a job, to transition from Army to civilian life. This program gives us one less thing to stress about,” said O’Brien, who is now working for ABF Freight in New Jersey. 

The story details what happened during a recent ceremony at Fort Sill, Okla., honoring graduates of a program that helps military personnel transition to a career in transportation:

Recently, Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa took part in a ceremony recognizing soldiers like Pitkin, the first graduates of a program that helps active military personnel transition to a career in transportation. The ribbon-cutting ceremony was held to inaugurate the Army’s new Industrial Training Complex (ITC) in Fort Sill, Okla. 

“This transition is seamless because the Teamsters, ABF and the Army are partnering. They’ve shown they care about veterans. The impact that this has on soldiers coming out is a tremendous thing,” Pitkin said.

In the next issue, you’ll also read about Covina, Calif.’s Local 396, which has been recognizing veterans at monthly membership meetings, bestowing special Teamster veteran jackets to members of the local in each branch of service.

In the meantime, enjoy this Memorial Day with family and friends -- and don't forget to stock your barbecue activities with American-made, union-made products. 

Today's Teamster News 12.12.14

Teamster News
Workers At Con-Way Freight In Miami Vote To Join Teamsters Local 769  teamster.org   … A group of 74 drivers and dockworkers at Con-way Freight in Miami Lakes, Fla., voted today to join Teamsters Local 769 in North Miami, Fla...
Teamsters Mourn Death Of Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka  teamster.org   ...Teamsters Local 727 joins the State of Illinois in mourning the death of State Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka, who died Dec. 10 of complications from a stroke...
New Orleans Ready Mix Drivers Vote For Teamsters  teamster.org   ...Ready Mix cement workers at Lafarge Concrete have voted to become members of Teamsters Local 270, New Orleans. Lafarge Concrete is one of the largest cement suppliers in the area and handles all types of projects: highways, commercial buildings, schools and residences...
Teamsters Make Public Cry For Better Contracts  Insurance News   ..."While emergency communication is important, so are the daily needs of the nursing home residents and your employees who care for them," said Herb Garber, a representative of Teamsters Local 776, a union representing nursing home workers, during a speech at the meeting...
Bill de Blasio’s Horse-Carriage Ban Gains Little Support From Congress Members From New York  New York Daily News   ...Members of Congress from New York don't get to vote on Mayor de Blasio's bid to ban horse-drawn carriages — but that isn't stopping them from weighing in against the proposal...
Anti-horse carriage group NYCLASS will make 'substantial payment' for campaign finance violations  New York Daily News   ...The group trying to ban horse-drawn carriages in the city will make a “substantial payment” to settle charges that it broke campaign finance rules in last year’s city elections, its lawyer said Wednesday...
Gene Laughlin  Champaign News-Gazette   ...Gene was a World War II Army veteran, serving in the Philippines and Australia. Upon discharge, he worked as a Teamsters truck driver and was a member of Teamsters Local 26. Gene was also a lifetime member of the VFW Post 630, American Legion Post 24, Moose and Eagles Lodges...
Teamsters Reject Contract Proposed By Giant Eagle Subsidiary  WFMJ   ...Local Teamsters employed by Tamarkin, a subsidiary of Giant Eagle, tonight narrowly defeated a contract extension which employees say was the company's "final offer. Union Leaders won't comment, but rank and file employees told 21 News that the company is trying to build a new warehouse, at their expense...
Trade
Labor warns Obama on trade policy  The Hill   ...Labor unions and environmental groups warned President Obama Wednesday that getting too cozy with congressional Republicans on trade issues could imperil other parts of his policy agenda...
Germany calls for transparency on US-EU trade deal  Economic Times   ...Germany has called for more transparency in negotiations for a sweeping trade pact between the European Union and the United States after complaints that the controversial talks are too secretive. "The trust of the citizens is essential to make this important agreement happen," German agriculture minister Christian Schmidt said yesterday after discussing the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) pact with officials in Washington...
State Battles
Wisconsin lawmaker, right-to-work champion leads push on U.S. Constitution  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...The state Legislature's most vocal advocate for right-to-work legislation inside Wisconsin is working outside the state to hold a convention to amend the U.S. Constitution...
Board of Port Authority Proposes a Wage Increase for Airport Workers  New York Times   ...The board meeting held by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on Wednesday may turn out to be the last one held somewhere other than the World Trade Center and the last one attended by redshirted airport workers demanding higher wages...
Ohio's charter school performance is "grim" and needs state attention, Stanford researcher tells the City Club  Plain Dealer   ...Ohio's longstanding and "grim" problem with underperforming charter schools is improving, a Stanford researcher said at the City Club today, but the state needs to increase its quality control efforts...
War on Workers
Congress poised to allow cuts to private pension payouts  Los Angeles Times   ...More than 1 million Americans who were promised secure, predictable retirement income probably will see part of their monthly benefit checks evaporate as Congress moves to stabilize some private pension systems veering toward insolvency...
Congressional spending bill would suspend some hours-of-service provisions, require FMCSA to further study rules’ impacts  CCJ   ...Congress likely will send a bill to the White House in the coming days that includes a provision that will put a stay on enforcement of two key elements of the 2013 rule: The requirement that a driver’s 34-hour restart include two 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. periods and the provision limiting the use of the restart to one time per week. The suspension of enforcement will last at least until Sept. 30, 2015...
House narrowly averts government shutdown, Senate up next  Chicago Tribune   …The House of Representatives averted a government shutdown on Thursday, narrowly passing a $1.1 trillion spending bill despite strenuous Democratic objections to controversial financial provisions.
Employees Shouldn’t Be Treated Like Products (opinion)  Washington Post   ...Hail the lowly bar code. By enabling retailers to track sales and inventory, it allows them to order goods from warehouses and manufacturers only when needed, reducing overhead and costs. Just-in-time production is a signal achievement of our digitized age. Just-in-time labor is not. Millions of retail workers are routinely summoned to their workplaces with little more advance warning than their employers accord the truckloads of goods or food those workers sell...
Walmart Illegally Punished Workers, Judge Rules  New York Times   ...In a decision made public on Wednesday, Geoffrey Carter, an N.L.R.B. administrative law judge, also found that a Walmart manager had illegally intimidated workers by saying, “If it were up to me, I’d shoot the union.” In addition, the judge said it was unlawful for Walmart managers to tell employees that co-workers returning from a one-day strike would be looking for a new job...
Guest: For better or worse, the labor movement is reinventing itself (opinion)  Los Angeles Times   ...Haltingly, with understandable ambivalence, the American labor movement is morphing into something new. Its most prominent organizing campaigns of recent years — of fast-food workers, domestics, taxi drivers and Wal-Mart employees — have prompted states and cities to raise their minimum wage and create more worker-friendly regulations...
Miscellaneous
Backroom Move Strips 'Backdoor' NSA Spying Ban From Spending Bill  Huffington Post   ...In place of the backdoor surveillance ban is language that states the NSA must not "target" American citizens' content for surveillance. But the agency's highly specific definition of targeting would still allow it to collect and search Americans' emails as long as they are sent abroad...
Fed Sets Tough New Capital Rule For Big Banks  Wall Street Journal   ...The proposal, which will be phased in starting in 2016 and take full effect in 2019, is aimed squarely at pushing big banks to shrink, an outcome regulators were explicit in saying they hope to encourage to reduce the likelihood a firm’s failure could require bailouts or damage the broader economy...

Walmart spin vs. Walmart fact: a guide

Walmart spends a lot of money trying to clean up its image, which right now is as soiled as the floor in a Walmart produce section. You hear a lot of corporate spin from the largest employer in the United States, but pretty much all of it is false.

Our friends at the Center for Media and Democracy just launched a new website that fact checks Walmart's claims in its advertisements and statements.

Said Lisa Graves, executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy:

Walmart likes to say it is committed to supporting families, communities, and our economy, but the facts often tell a different story.

They sure do. Here's a sample:

Walmart spin:

We've committed $2 billion to fight hunger in the U.S.

Walmart fact:

Subsidies and tax breaks for Walmart and the Walton family cost taxpayers approximately $7.8 billion per year, including about $6.2 billion in assistance to Walmart workers due to low wages and inadequate benefits, according to Americans for Tax Fairness. 

Walmart spin: 

"We believe we can create more American jobs by supporting more American manufacturing."

Walmart fact: 

Walmart's imports from China coast 200,000 U.S. jobs between 2001 and 2006, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

Walmart spin:

"We put the needs of our customers above our own."

Walmart fact:

Walmart was ranked last among 55 supermarkets in a 2014 survey of 27,000 Consumer Reports subscribers.

Walmart spin:

"We're working toward three aspirational sustainability goals: to be supplied 100% by renewable energy, to create zero waste and to sell products that sustain people and the environment."

Walmart fact:  

Walmart’s self-reported greenhouse gas emissions have grown 14 percent since 2005 – the year the company launched its “sustainability” campaign. Each of Walmart's 3,200 supercenters uses as much energy as nearly 1,100 homes, according to the Sierra Club.

Today's Teamster News June 15, 2014

Teamsters
Obama signs order; SEPTA Regional Rails to roll Sunday  Philly.com   ...President Obama signed an executive order Saturday evening, appointing an emergency board to mediate the SEPTA labor dispute, thus averting a lengthy strike. All 13 SEPTA Regional Rail lines should be back to normal operating schedules Sunday morning...
Trade
Obama’s Free Trade Strategy Falters in Asia  Inter Press Service  ...Obama’s latest trip to Asia, however, underlined the inability of Washington to balance its economic and geopolitical initiatives in the region. While Obama managed to strike new strategic agreements with leading Southeast Asian countries, namely Malaysia and the Philippines, and strengthen bilateral military alliances with Japan and South Korea, there was, in turn, no concrete development vis-à-vis the ongoing TPP negotiations...
State Battles
Mayor vetoes collective bargaining ordinance  WANE   ...(Fort Wayne) Mayor Tom Henry has vetoed the ordinance passed by the City Council that would have ended collective bargaining for non-public safety union employees...
International Human Rights Violations in Detroit  On the Commons   ...The water department has decreed that it will turn the water off to all 150,000 residences that are behind on their bills   by the end of the summer although it has made no such threat to the many corporations and other institutions that are in arrears on their bills as well...
War on Workers
Recession linked to more than 10,000 suicides  CBS News   ...New research suggests that the economic downturn could be linked with more than 10,000 suicides across North America and Europe. The study found that between 2008 and 2010, rates of suicide surged in the European Union, Canada and the United States…
A Three-Pronged Attack on Organized Labor  Huffington Post   ...The claim that companies leave the U.S. to avoid paying union wages is false. It's an outright lie disseminated by free market fundamentalists, and anyone who believes it is a dupe. The reason companies leave is to avoid paying an American wage...
Who actually earns the minimum wage?  CBS News   ...While more than a quarter of all low-wage workers were teenagers back in 1979, today only about one in 10 are teens ... almost 37 percent of these employees on low wages, defined as less than $10.10 per hour, are between 35 to 64 years old...
Senior NSA Executive: NSA Started Spying On Journalists in 2002 … In Order to Make Sure They Didn’t Report On Mass Surveillance  Washington's Blog   ...Senior NSA executive Thomas Drake tells Washington’s Blog that the spying on reporters started12 years ago – in 2002 – and has been fairly systematic...
Miscellaneous
As Iraq fighting rages, gas prices climb  CBS Money Watch   ...A rising tide of violence in Iraq is driving up prices at the pump...
Wait Times at the VA  Angry Bear   ...the VA is well beyond the typical private healthcare system in providing “evidence-based protocols of care — not inadvertently ordering up dangerous combinations of drugs, or performing unnecessary surgeries and tests just to make a buck and treating the whole patient and not just one part at a time...”

Today's Teamster News 06.08.14

Teamsters
Dispatchers, Customer Service Reps Unite for Teamster Representation  teamster.org   ...Dispatchers and customer service representatives at Cook DuPage Transportation (CDT) joined their paratransit driver and garage attendant co-workers by voting for Teamsters Local 727 representation on June 2... 
Trade
The Real Effects of KORUS Can Be Seen in Our Struggling Economy  Economy in Crisis   ...Since it was enacted, our total trade deficit with South Korea has been over 55 billion dollars. Our exports actually fell by 12 percent in the first month, which was exactly the opposite of what we were told would happen…
State Battles
Infrastructure Sticker Shock: Financing Costs More than Construction  Washington's Blog   ...California needs $700 billion in infrastructure over the next decade, and the state doesn’t have that sort of money in its general fund. Where will the money come from? ... The Chinese government has a hidden funding source: it owns its own banks. That means it gets its financing effectively interest-free...
New signature rule causing headaches for candidates, state election officials  Wisconsin State Journal   ...(Lt. Gov. candidate Mary Jo) Walters said the new law is an effort at “voter intimidation” akin to putting the recall petitions online...
War on Workers
Lack of funding is the real VA scandal  Physicians for a National Health Program   ...There are two primary reasons for the problem of wait times. One has to do with Congress’ consistent failure to provide adequate funding so that the VA could hire more staff to care for an increasing number of veterans who live longer with complex service and age related health problems...
Genius deal? Apple's staff paid less than Coles' checkout workers  Sydney Morning Herald   ...Tech giant Apple has struck a new pay deal with retail staff that locks in starting rates lower than supermarket checkout workers and probable pay cuts in real terms every year for the next four years....
America’s Wealthiest Family Uses Phony Philanthropy to Increase Personal Wealth  Jobs With Justice   ...America’s richest family contributes almost none of their personal wealth to the family’s charity, according to a new report by the Walmart 1 Percent...
CEO Performance Pay is Bad for Everyone Except CEOs  Next New Deal   ...CEO pay is not just unfair, but harmful. It’s bad for businesses, workers, and taxpayers, and it’s one of the reasons that the economy remains sluggish...
University Presidents Are Laughing All the Way to the Bank While the People Who Work for Them Are on Food Stamps  History News Network   ...as the incomes of the 25 best-paid public university presidents soared, the livelihoods of their faculty deteriorated. This deterioration resulted largely from the fact that tenured and tenure-track faculty were replaced with adjuncts (part-time instructors, paid by the course) and contingents (temporary faculty)...
Miscellaneous
Feds propose chemical safety overhaul  The Hill   ...The 121-page plan calls for strengthened regulations at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as steps to protect chemical plants from the threat of a terrorist strike....
Billionaire Heir Sentenced To Four Months In Jail For Sexually Assaulting His Stepdaughter  ThinkProgress   ...A Wisconsin billionaire pled guilty to sexual assault of his stepdaughter, but was only sentenced to four months in jail on Friday. Samuel Curtis Johnson III, heir to the SC Johnson cleaning supplies empire, will have to serve at least 60 days of his sentence and pay a fine up to $6,000...

Today's Teamster News 06.01.14

Trade
Ford moves jobs, production from Mexico to America  PowerNation   ...Ford Motor Co. plans to announce details of a manufacturing shift of medium-duty trucks from Mexico to the United States. Its F-650s and F-750s will be moved to the Ohio Assembly Plant, and the switch is planned to take place in early 2015…
Success Of Fringe Parties In European Parliament Raises New Obstacle To TAFTA/TTIP's Progress  TechDirt   ...following last week's elections for the European Parliament, a new obstacle to concluding the agreement has been added: an increased number of European politicians (MEPs) that are skeptical about pan-European projects in general, and TAFTA/TTIP...
State Battles
Wall Street Journal hits Scott Walker again on Doe deal-making  Milwauke Journal Sentinel   ...The Wall Street Journal editorial page has once again spanked Gov. Scott Walker for allegedly contemplating a settlement deal with John Doe prosecutors...
The War on Workers
How the NSA Can Get Onto Your Computer  PBS Frontline   ...there is a suite of programs, codenamed QUANTUM, which allows the NSA access to a much wider variety of computers...
New Law ‘Facilitates Privatization’ of US Water Systems  Mint Press News   ...Much of America’s drinking water and wastewater infrastructure needs attention, but critics worry that a new funding bill could be a pipeline to government-subsidized privatization...
Fast Food Workers' Movement: Union 2.0?  Real News Network   ...With the support of America's second largest union SEIU, the fast food workers' $15 wage movement has grown, but is this unorganized workforce of the past shaping up to be the future face of the American organized labor force?...
The problems isn't the VA or Eric Shinseki (opinion)  GQ   ...thus ends the honorable career of a soldier who was correct about the lies behind the greatest policy disaster of our times, about the essential criminality of the people who launched the invasion of Iraq, but whose primary failures as an administrator were his inability to oversee the people in his department who were directly trying to cope with the flood of casualties that resulted from all of those soldiers that most of official Washington told Eric Shinseki they would never need to create a democratic paradise in Iraq...
SEC Chair Mary Jo White Earns the Wrath of the Media for Refusing to Acknowledge High Frequency Trading Perks as a Crime  Wall Street on Parade   ...there has been a slow, but steady, realization that the woman President Obama sold to the American people as the white knight who would rein in abuses on Wall Street has failed miserably in that role...
Miscellaneous
It's simple. If we can't change our economic system, our number's up (opinion)  Guardian   ...It was neither capitalism nor communism that made possible the progress and pathologies (total war, the unprecedented concentration of global wealth, planetary destruction) of the modern age. It was coal, followed by oil and gas...
Not Walking the Walk on Board Diversity  New York Times   ...is there a penalty if a company reneges on its promise of change? The answer, if you are Skechers USA, the footwear manufacturer, is apparently not…

Today's Teamster News 05.29.14

Trade
The fight to save an industry and middle class jobs from imports  Cleveland Plain Dealer   ...The United States is losing middle class jobs; but those in the fight to limit steel imports are hoping they will be able to offer an example on how to save them. At its core, the effort to limit steel imports is part of a much bigger effort to save American jobs. Not just any job, but “decent-paying” and “family supporting” jobs, to draw upon the chants of organized labor...
State Battles
City council votes to repeal collective bargaining for some workers  WANE.com   ...In a 7-2 vote Tuesday night, Fort Wayne City Council approved an ordinance that will remove collective bargaining for some city workers. Council members had three ordinances to vote on Tuesday that would affect collective bargaining rights for most of the city’s union workers...
Scientists: Florida's congressional map is 'partisan gerrymander'  Orlando Sentinel   ...The coalition of groups trying to prove Florida's congressional map was intentionally gerrymandered to help Republicans turned to experts Tuesday who testified it was "virtually impossible" to have drawn the maps without political bias...
War On Workers
Supreme Court case could impact public unions   Philadelphia Inquirer   ...A largely overlooked Supreme Court case has the potential to fundamentally alter the right of public employees to unionize — and a ruling could be handed down as early as this week...
American jails have become the new mental asylums – and you're paying the bill (opinion)  Guardian   ...As sheriff, I run the Cook County Jail, the largest jail on a single site in the country with approximately 10,000 inmates on any given day – and approximately 30% of them suffering from a serious mental illness...
How Tech Companies Tricked A Generation Into Working For Free  Forbes   ...Valve’s Steam service is building an ecosystem of unwaged user productivity, selling games through its “Early Access” program, essentially allowing game developers to charge players to beta test their games in exchange for the flattering thrill of seeing something before it’s ready...
The Worst Places On The Planet To Be A Worker  Huffington Post   ...The U.S., embarrassingly, scored a 4, indicating "systematic violations" and "serious efforts to crush the collective voice of workers."s...
Walmart's Penny Pinching Doesn't Extend To Executives, Says Report  Gawker   ...The problems afflicting crap mecca Walmart extend beyond its persecuted workforce, all the way into the corporate executive suite. A new report from an outside overseer says the famously cheap company doesn't mind burning tons of money to benefit top executives...
Walmart Workers Launch Effort To Unseat Rob Walton As Chair  Forbes Magazine   ...Walmart has a new CEO in Doug McMillon, a one-time warehouse worker who took over the top job this year. Is it time for a new chairman too? A coalition of Walmart workers believe so, and they're mobilizing fellow shareholders in an effort to boot billionaire Rob Walton off the board at the big box giant's annual meeting on Friday, June 6...
Miscellaneous
VA investigators: Delayed care is everywhere  USA Today   ..."Our reviews at a growing number of VA medical facilities have thus far provided insight into the current extent of these inappropriate scheduling issues throughout the VA health care system and have confirmed that inappropriate scheduling practices" are widespread, the report said...
R.I.P., Maya Angelou, Proud Gun Owner and User  National Review   ...Angelou also emerged very late in life as an off-hand supporter of the right to bear arms. In a 2013 interview with Time magazine’s Belinda Luscombe, the ancient poetess talked Star Trek and death (“I’ll probably be writing when the Lord says, ‘Maya, Maya Angelou, it’s time’”), but she also recounted how she used a gun for home defense...

Today's Teamster News 05.27.14

Trade
WTO Final Ruling: European Ban on Products from Inhumane Seal Harvest Violates WTO Rules  Public Citizen   ...The WTO today added fuzzy white baby seals clubbed to death on bloody ice flows to dolphins and sea turtles as animals that the WTO has declared cannot be protected by domestic laws because they  violate “trade” rules, which will just fuel public and policymaker skepticism about these so-called trade deals...
W.T.O. Sides With U.S. in Dispute Over Chinese Car Tariffs  New York Times   ... The World Trade Organization sided with the United States on Friday in a dispute over punitive Chinese tariffs on American exports of cars and sport utility vehicles...
U.S. Case Offers Glimpse Into China’s Hacker Army  New York Times   ...Many hackers working directly for the Chinese government are men in their 20s and 30s who have been trained at universities run by the People’s Liberation Army and are employed by the state in myriad ways. ..
War on Workers
Using Jailed Migrants as a Pool of Cheap Labor  New York Times   ...As the federal government cracks down on immigrants in the country illegally and forbids businesses to hire them, it is relying on tens of thousands of those immigrants each year to provide essential labor — usually for $1 a day or less — at the detention centers where they are held when caught by the authorities...
The loss of Memorial Day's meaning is just one way we short-change veterans (opinion)  The Guardian   ...from 2009 to 2011, according to estimates by the Department of Veteran Affairs, 22 soldiers a day committed suicide – an average of nearly one per hour. That means that, in just one year, more than 8,000 veterans take their own lives – more than the total number of OIF and OEF casualties combined...
Atlas hid: Uber has set up a decoy office to keep drivers away from its shiny new HQ  Pando   ...Euphemistically called a “driver center,” one Uber driver told us the second office is actually more of a decoy: allowing the company to fulfill its promise to be more accessible to drivers without, you know, actually having them make Uber’s real office look untidy. …  Uber’s office on Mission Street has been a focal point for protests by drivers...
The US labor market is not working  Antonio Fatas on the Global Economy   ...Among OECD economies, the US stands towards the bottom of the table when it comes to employment to population ratio...
Federal probe into Major League Baseball for illegal pay practices expands  Salon   ...A federal investigation of pay practices in Major League Baseball has been expanded to include two more teams—the Baltimore Orioles and Oakland A’s—bringing to four the number of clubs that have come under scrutiny for possible violations of U.S. wage standards. The Labor Department’s focus is pay for clubhouse and administrative workers and interns...
Chlorine in your chicken: Why poultry is more dangerous than ever  Salon   ... poultry workers, who ... already report an injury rate that’s more than 50 percent higher than the injury rate for all U.S. workers...
New Docs Reveal Extensive Monitoring of Occupy  In These Times   ...The monitoring appears similar to that conducted by the FBI counterterrorism officials...
Miscellaneous
Train accident kills at least 40 in Northern India   Associated Press   ...The Gorakhpur Express passenger train was traveling at high speed and slammed on its brakes in an attempt to stop, but hit the train sitting on the tracks near a railway station in Uttar Pradesh state, district magistrate Bharat Lal said...

Today's Teamster News 05.18.14

Trade
TPP ministers to seek progress in Singapore but deal unlikely  global post   ...Hopes have grown that talks for an ambitious Pacific trade deal will advance when ministers from 12 countries gather in Singapore on Monday and Tuesday after Japan and the United States moved closer on thorny issues, but observers say reaching a broad deal at the upcoming meeting is unlikely...
Brussels authorities help silence opposition to the ‘Great Transatlantic Market’ (TTIP)  The Economic Voice   ...over a thousand people were in the streets of Brussels, attempting to peacefully protest against austerity and the proposed great transatlantic market (TTIP) which were being discussed in the absence of citizens at the European Business Summit. In an unprovoked move 281 people were violently arrested said the Corporate Europe Observatory, including Belgian and European parliamentarians and candidates, senior trade union officials, farmers and many elderly citizens...
State Battles
In Georgia, Lawmakers Taking Pride in Policies That Hurt the Poor  Next New Deal   ...lawmakers in Georgia have been systematically dismantling the state’s social safety net. Of the 300,000 Georgian families living below the poverty line, only 19,000 receive TANF and more than three quarters of those cases involve children only. That means that fewer than seven percent of low-income Georgians are able to get the welfare assistance they badly need...
‘Right-to-work’ is actually just a right to freeload  The Athens News   ...But why should they bother with the transparent ruse of right-to-work laws when they can just offer legislation to ban unions? That's what they really want...
Come to North Dakota for the paycheck, lose your life  Los Angeles Times   ...The state had the highest rate of worker fatalities in the nation--17.7 per 100,000 workers, or more than five times the national average. The union calculated the toll as "one of the highest state job fatality rates ever reported for any state," and observed that it had more than doubled from the rate in 2007...
ALEC fires back, but proves its 'pro-business' state index is bogus  Los Angeles Times   ...Plainly stung by the chorus of ridicule that has greeted their latest attempt to paint anti-union policies and tax cuts for the rich as pathways to economic nirvana, the folks at the American Legislative Exchange Council have struck back with a "response to the critics..."
War on Workers
A guide to the VA health care controversy  Washington Post   ...Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki faced tough questions from a Senate panel Thursday about the state of his department after allegations that some VA health clinics have cooked their books to cover up treatment delays...
The Deep Roots of Skilled Labor Shortages: Anti-Union, Anti-Worker Corporations  Economic Policy Institute   ...Oil giants like Chevron can afford to have their construction contractors pay well for skilled work, but they resist. Organizations they fund, such as the Business Roundtable, have led a decades-long campaign to weaken or destroy the building trades unions that actually train the greatest number of skilled tradesmen. Chevron, Koch Industries, ExxonMobil and many other energy industry corporations fund the American Legislative Exchange Council and its legislative efforts to kill unions and eliminate labor standards...
G.M. Is Fined Over Safety and Called a Lawbreaker  New York Times   ...Saying that safety practices at General Motors were “broken,” federal regulators on Friday imposed the biggest punishment they could on the automaker and condemned it over its failure to promptly report a defect that G.M. has linked to 13 deaths...
GM suggested engineers avoid ‘judgment words’ like ‘death trap,’ ‘grenade-like’  Politico Pro   ...GM told engineers to avoid using dozens of words when communicating about vehicle problems that could potentially lead to recalls, including everything from “safety” to “Kevorkianesque...”
Shocker: Cable TV prices went up four times the rate of inflation  ars technica   ...US homes on average receive 189.1 cable TV channels and only watch 17.5 of them...
Wal-Mart Says It Won't Oppose Increase in Minimum Wage  Wall Street Journal   ...Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it wouldn't oppose an increase in the federal minimum wage, its most explicit comment yet on the controversial debate to move past the $7.25-an-hour minimum...
Miscellaneous
Over 3000 Chinese Evacuated (By Boat & Plane) As Vietnam's Anti-China Riots Escalate; Taiwan Also On "High Alert"  zero hedge   ...China began evacuating hundreds of its nationals from Vietnam (via at least 2 planes and 5 ships) as the anti-China protests have become increasingly deadly following Beijing's attempt to deploy an oil drill in Vietnamese dispuited waters...

Today's Teamster News 03.20.14

Teamster News
CCTA Strike Continues, Management Awaits Offer  Vermont Public Radio   ...Two days into their strike, Chittenden County Transportation Authority bus drivers represented by Teamsters Local 597 said Tuesday they have prepared a counter-offer for management...
Amboy School District Workers Ratify Teamster Contract  Teamsters Joint Council 25   ...Secretaries, aides, cooks and custodians with Amboy Community School District 272 in central Illinois, who are members of Teamsters Local 722, recently ratified a new three-year agreement that includes better wages, paid holidays and stronger contract language...
Teamsters Union: Hernando violated hiring process for fire chief   Hernando Today   ...Dan Oliver, a steward for Teamsters Local 79, said Hernando County violated its own hiring policy by not posting a job opening for public safety director in-house before seeking outside candidates...
Teamsters Union: More rail workers needed to solve grain transportation backlog  The Canadian Press   ...A cold winter and a record crop have been blamed for a grain transportation backlog, but a Teamsters spokesman says that’s not the whole story...
Trade
Obama's Trans-Pacific Partnership Deal Would Deepen Income Divide  Truthout   ...“Those at the top have never done better,” President Obama ruefully acknowledged in his January 28 State of the Union speech. “But average wages have barely budged. Inequality has deepened.”...
China Keeps Moving Forward While America Falls Behind – and We Are Doing Nothing About It!  Trade Reform   ...Our political leaders often deemphasize the downturn in American manufacturing by touting a focus on areas such as new, high tech manufacturing and alternative energy, but it appears China has the same goals and is taking targeted steps to meet them...
Korea Trade Agreement – Exports Actually Decrease  Trade Reform ...Michael Froman, the U.S. Trade Representative, never talks about balance of trade. But the USTR is embarrassed that our exports to Korea actually decreased since the Korea trade and global government agreement was passed. Yes. Exports (not net exports) decreased...
State News
“Right to Work” bill trying to gain steam in Missouri  KBIA   "...I’ve seen folks go down to parts of Mississippi and were working for $12 an hour, union jobs, while up in Missouri they’re making $28 an hour at the time..."
Right-to-work is dangerous fraud (Opinion)  St. Louis Post-Dispatch   ..The right-to-work proposal being considered in the Missouri Legislature is a dangerous fraud.As American citizens, we already have the right to seek employment and to work. But under a right-to-work law, we would continue to work — for less money and fewer benefits than we already have...
Gov. Cuomo Signs Bill Extending Effective Date of New Independent Contractor Law in New York  Independent Contractor Compliance   ...After months of uncertainty, the law of independent contractor misclassification in New York State will change on April 10, 2014. The new law affects transportation and delivery companies in New York that classify certain drivers that deliver commercial goods in the state as independent contractors...
Thirty-nine Moral Monday Georgia activists arrested in daylong Medicaid expansion protests at the Gold Dome  Creative Loafing   ...Nearly 40 Moral Monday Georgia activists today were arrested for interrupting proceedings throughout the Georgia Capitol in an effort to urge Gov. Nathan Deal to expand Medicaid - and block legislation that would strip him of the authority to do so...
Wisconsin Republican Legislator Tears Into His Own Party For Voter Suppression  ThinkProgress   ...it ought to be abundantly clear to everybody in this state that there is no massive voter fraud. The only thing that we do have in this state is we have long lines of people who want to vote. And it seems to me that we should be doing everything we can to make it easier, to help these people get their votes counted...
Costly Loans Are Drawing Attention From States  New York Times   ...States are increasing efforts to shield vulnerable Americans from short-term loans with interest rates that can exceed 300 percent...
Minnesota GOP Lawmaker Says Sick Leave, Equal Pay Bills Make Women 'Look Like Whiners' Huffington Post   ...A package of bills in Minnesota that would enhance women's economic security by raising the minimum wage, providing paid family and sick leave and addressing the gender pay gap makes women "look like whiners," said State Rep. Andrea Kieffer (R) last week...
War on Workers
McDonald's Reviews Wage Theft Claims As Workers In 30 Cities Protest For Overtime Pay  Forbes   ...Tuesday’s protest in midtown Manhattan was one of dozens planned in 30 cities across the U.S., coming as McDonald’s faces class-action lawsuits in New York, California and Michigan for what workers describe as “wage theft...”
Fast-food workers get new ally in New York City fight for fair pay  The Guardian   ...A hotline for fast-food workers to anonymously report allegations of illegal or unjust pay practices by their bosses would be set up in New York under plans to build on a national campaign to improve conditions for American workers...
Supremes Could Decide Sky's the Limit for Campaign Donations  Public News Service   ...Another major Supreme Court decision on campaign finance could come as early as next week. In McCutcheon v. Federal Elections Commission, Alabama businessman Shaun McCutcheon said his First Amendment rights are violated when he cannot give a $2,600 donation to as many parties and candidates for federal office as he pleases. Many groups working to get money out of politics hope the high court rules against McCutcheon...
Reports of the Death of a National License-Plate Tracking Database Have Been Greatly Exaggerated  The Intercept   ... the databases are growing at a furious pace due to rapidly improving technology and ample federal grant money for more cameras and more computers. Tens if not hundreds of millions of observations per month are streaming into bulging electronic archives, often remaining there indefinitely, for a vast array of clients in both the public and private sector...
Expand Overtime Pay? GOP Says No  In These Times   ...Republicans apparently don’t believe that Americans who work longer hours should get paid more...
Meet the ‘Missing Workers’  In These Times   ...More than 5 million Americans have given up hope of a job. Who are they?...
7-11 Clerk Says She Was Fired For Giving Freezing Homeless Man A $1 Cup Of Coffee ThinkProgress   ...The worker felt compelled to help him after her own recent brush with homelessness...
Woman Whose Boss Told Her ‘It’s Best You Go Home With Your Babies’ Won’t Get Discrimination Trial  ThinkProgress   ...Angela Ames was on her first morning back from maternity leave and couldn’t gain access to the lactation room when her department head told her, “I think it’s best that you go home to be with your babies,” handing her a pen and paper and dictating the contents of a resignation letter...
Hershey Investors Suing Over Child Labor Can Pursue Files  Bloomberg   ...Hershey Co., the largest chocolate maker in the U.S., was ordered to face a lawsuit by investors seeking to force it to turn over records about cocoa from African farms that may use illegal child labor...
The Law that Launched a Boondoggle: Gold for Executives, Contempt for Taxpayers  CounterPunch   ...Jamie Dimon took high heat over his 74% mega-raise, but he’s not at fault. The blame goes to a 1993 boondoggle for bigwigs—a boondoggle that’s cost taxpayers by the billions ever since. Congress should call a halt, and the country’s mood could push it to do just that...
Miscellaneous
IRS says security breach affected 20,000 employees, but no taxpayer records  Reuters   ...The personal data of about 20,000 U.S. Internal Revenue Service employees going back to 2007 or earlier may have been exposed on the Internet, but no general taxpayer information or records were part of the security breach, the agency said on Tuesday...
Toyota and Justice Department said to reach $1.2 billion settlement in criminal case  Los Angeles Times   ...Toyota Motor Co. and the Justice Department have agreed on a $1.2-billion settlement to close a criminal probe into whether the automaker handled cases of sudden acceleration...
Google Won’t Face Group E-Mail Privacy Lawsuit: Judge  Bloomberg News   ...Google Inc. won a major victory in its fight against claims it illegally scanned private e-mail messages to and from Gmail accounts, defeating a bid to unify lawsuits in a single group case on behalf of hundreds of millions of Internet users...

Today's Teamster News 02.28.14

Teamster News
Teamsters not happy with inmates filling potholes  WFMJ.com   ...The Teamsters union, representing employees with the Mahoning County engineer's office, is considering filing a grievance after seeing inmates filling potholes...

Teamster School Bus News  teamster.org   ...Baltimore school bus workers win $1.25 million wage settlement; Teamsters Local 445 drivers and monitors in New York win fight for fair contract at Durham; what to do when your bus equipment is defective – all these stories and more are in the latest issue of the Drive Up Standards newsletter...
Nashville Chapter of TNBC Honors Leaders  teamster.org   ...The Nashville Middle TN Valley Chapter of the Teamsters National Black Caucus (TNBC) held its second annual awards banquet titled “Education and Accountability” on February 22, 2014 in Nashville...
Liam Neeson: NYC Mayor Is a Horse Nazi  TMZ   ...Liam Neeson is PISSED OFF at New York City's new mayor for trying to kill the Central Park horse industry...
Will Academy Award nominees speak up for the workers who make the Oscars?  Pando Daily   ...The Teamsters Local 743 in Chicago has been unable to reach an agreement with R.S. Owens & Company, the local awards shop that has exclusively manufactured the familiar gold statuettes for the last three decades...
D.C. Taxi Drivers' Voices Are Being Heard  teamster.org   ...Over the past few months, Washington, D.C. taxi drivers have joined together with the Washington, D.C. Taxi Operators Association, affiliated with Teamsters Local 922, for one strong voice...
Teamster Tells Lawmakers How TPP Will Damage Workers  teamster.org   ..."this is about American families and these trade deals have brutalized the American economy,” he said. “A trade agreement is not an agreement. It is a gun to the head of the American worker...”
BLET tells House: Don’t extend deadline for Positive Train Control  BLET News   ...BLET Vice President & National Legislative Representative John P. Tolman made a strong case for the timely implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC) and other measures to boost rail safety and improve the quality of life for BLET members during testimony delivered at a House subcommittee hearing on February 26...
Trade
NPPC: Japan's Offer On TPP Unacceptable to U.S. Agriculture  National Hog Farmer   ...The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) says U.S. acceptance of the recent Japanese offer, made as part of the ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade talks,  would be a radical departure from previous U.S. free trade agreements (FTAs) and could potentially set an unacceptable precedent for future trade deals...
Japanese activist: TPP will affect food security  FMT News   ...The TPP will not only widen the economic disparity between the rich and the poor, but also deny poor nations the power to secure food import, says a Japanese activist...
Ending currency manipulation would create jobs  ABC, Sioux Falls   ...Policy change could bring 20,000 jobs to South Dakota...
State Battles
Protestors gather as Republicans unveil Right to Work legislation  WAVE News   ...Protesters gathered in Frankfort on Thursday as Kentucky Republicans introduced right to work legislation, even though the legislation has dim chances of success this year...
Vermont Citizens Push to Form a State Bank, But Will Ratings Agencies Kill the Idea?  naked capitalism   ...The objective is not to set up a retail bank (say along the lines of a Post Office bank) but to save the fees that are now paid to large financial institutions and to fund public projects...
The War on Workers
Household wealth still down 14 percent since recession  EurekAlert   ...the mean net worth of American households in mid-2013 was still about 14 percent below the pre-recession peak in 2006. Their analysis suggested that middle-aged people took the biggest hit...
Wal-Mart Ad Celebrates American Workers With A Canadian Band's Song About A Guy Who Hates His Job  Business Insider   ...Wal-Mart has been running a high-profile advertising campaign to promote its recent pledge to purchase $250 billion of American-made products over the next 10 years...Rush was strange choice of soundtrack for an ad celebrating American manufacturing given that the band is not just Canadian, but famously Canadian...
Underemployment Piles On Problems For Low-Wage Workers  CBS   ...The state Labor Department says there are about 276,000 Pennsylvanians in the category “working part time for economic reasons.” They include 47,900 people who usually work full-time but are working part-time, and 228,000 people who usually work part-time but are working less than they normally would...
GOP blocks veterans bill  The Hill   ...Senate Republicans stopped Democrats from advancing a bill that would have expanded healthcare and education programs for veterans...
Miscellaneous
Federal Budget Deficit Falls to Smallest Level Since 2008  New York Times   ...Closing the books on a fiscal year in which the federal budget deficit fell more sharply than in any year since the end of World War II, the Treasury Department reported on Thursday that the deficit for 2013 dropped to $680 billion, from about $1.1 trillion the previous year...

Today's Teamster News 01.15.14

Teamsters Laud Rep. Miller's Dedication To Workers  teamster.org   ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters today issued its thanks to Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., for the work he's done on behalf of working Americans throughout his 40-year career in the House. Miller announced Monday that he will retire after his current term ends early next year...
Teamsters Support Military Veterans  teamster.org   ...the Teamsters Military Assistance Program (TMAP) provides disability assistance for all military veterans and job placement opportunities for veterans in the construction industry...
Teamsters Applaud California Governor's High Speed Rail Support  teamster.org   ...The Teamsters Union is praising the significant commitment to continued funding for high speed and local commuter rail systems in California that are part of the state budget recently proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown...
City settles with Teamsters; one "no" vote  GazetteXtra   ...Councilman Matt Kealy was the sole “no” vote when the Janesville City Council on Monday OK'd a labor agreement with Teamsters Local Number 695...
The Koch Boys set their sights on Pennsylvania to Break Labor & Democrats  dailykos   ...Word has just leaked out of the State Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa that the Koch Boys are talking to severely wounded Republican Governor Corbett to move legislation this winter and spring to outlaw union dues deduction for all state and local public employees...
Has the developed world hit 'peak car use'?  Macrobusiness   ...at the height of the housing bubble, there were just over two registered cars on the road per household, whereas as at 2011, there were just under two...
In 15 states, deeply underwater foreclosures still reign  Washington Post   ...The states with the highest percentage of deeply underwater foreclosures were: Nevada (65 percent of foreclosures were deeply underwater), Florida (61 percent), Illinois (61 percent), Michigan (55 percent), and Ohio (48 percent)...
Five Housing Headwinds; Mortgage Originations Lowest Since 2010; Refinancible Loan Percentage Collapses; Payment Shock  MISH's Global Economic Trend Analysis   ...Mortgage originations are at the lowest levels in almost four years...
Burns Lake families support NDP's call for probe of 'bungled' mill blast investigation  Vancouver Sun   ...The union representing workers at the Burns Lake mill also said Monday the province needs to bring a criminal lens to fatality investigations...
Chicago Horse Carriage Operator Slams Proposed NYC Ban  CBS Local   ...He says his horses are well treated, better than in the wild and actually seem to enjoy what they’re doing. He says they have occasionally left to go to work without the driver...
Senate blocks jobless aid  Politico   ...The Senate blocked two separate proposals to revive emergency unemployment benefits that expired in December, all but killing the prospects of reviving jobless aid for now...
Judge Reinstates Some Federal Oversight of Voting Practices for an Alabama City  New York Times   ...A federal judge in Alabama on Monday reinstated federal oversight over the voting practices of a city there, in what election law specialists said was the first such move since the Supreme Court struck down part of the Voting Rights Act in June...
The Coalition for a Prosperous America and Liberty Groups Petition Congress Against Fast Track  Coalition for a Prosperous America   ...The Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) and fifty seven liberty organizations have notified Congress that they oppose Fast Track trade authority...
Fast Track to Poverty  Huffington Post   ...trade reduced wages for workers without college educations by 5.5 percent in 2011, costing the average worker $1,800...

Today's Teamster News 12.24.13

Just a reminder we will resume posting Teamster News on Monday, Dec. 30.

U.S. Flouts Its Own Advice in Procuring Overseas Clothing  New York Times   ...One of the world’s biggest clothing buyers, the United States government spends more than $1.5 billion a year at factories overseas, acquiring everything from the royal blue shirts worn by airport security workers to the olive button-downs required for forest rangers and the camouflage pants sold to troops on military bases...
PBS Drops a Bombshell on the Federal Reserve’s 100th Birthday Party  Wall Street on Parade   ...two famous stock market historians made the same stunning announcement – that the Fed has decided its job is to push up the stock market...
Holiday sales down for third week  Associated Press   ...After a strong start to the holiday shopping season, sales at stores have fallen for the third consecutive week as Americans continue to hold back on spending during what is traditionally the busiest buying period of the year...
Retail Traffic Plunges By "Staggering" 21% In Week Before Christmas  zero hedge   ...the "eroding middle class can no longer drive activity as it has in the past"...
Charts: The Worst Long-Term Unemployment Crisis Since the Depression  Mother Jones   ...The economic downturn remains in full effect for millions of Americans, particularly the nearly 40 percent of the unemployed who have been looking for work for six months or more. In less than a week, emergency federal unemployment benefits for 1.3 million of these jobless Americans are set to run out...
Phoenix Becomes First City To End Chronic Homelessness Among Veterans  ThinkProgress   ...Three years ago, city officials identified 222 homeless veterans living in Phoenix. Using both state and federal funds, the city had successfully housed the last veterans who were living without homes. ..
FALSE: Gov. Scott Walker says protesters surrounded his car, blocked his exit and rocked the vehicle after a 2011 appearance in La Crosse  Politifact   ...Based on the available information, we think the book’s depiction of what happened -- an organized effort to prevent Walker from leaving that placed him in direct danger -- is False...
De Blasio Hires Goldman Sachs Exec To Make City More Affordable  gothamist   ...For all his campaign bluster against the two cities New York has become, Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio isn't exactly shying away from some of the people who helped make it that way...

Today's Teamster News 12.23.13

UPDATE: Adding S. Korea rail strike item.
Military pension cuts now unsure; changes likely  Washington Post   ...The Pentagon’s top civilian says it’s time to tame burgeoning military personnel costs, but he’s facing a test of wills with the nation’s powerful veterans groups, which want no cut in their benefits...
Diplomat's housekeeper kept 'like a slave'  New York Post   ...In India, Devyani Khobragade advocated for women’s rights. But in New York, she was a slave driver, says the family of Khobragade’s housekeeper...
50 educators sign letter to Catholic University protesting Koch Foundation’s $1 million gift  Washington Post   ...Fifty prominent Catholic educators have signed a letter protesting Catholic University of America’s recent acceptance of a $1 million grant from a foundation affiliated with the billionaire libertarian Koch brothers … It says the Koch brothers’ activism against unions and climate-change science, among other things, is in “stark contrast” to the church’s “traditional social justice teachings.”…
U.S. agriculture considering opposition to TPP trade deal  The Grand Island Independent   ...A coalition of agricultural organizations is likely to oppose a final Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement if Japan is included...
South Korean union vows all-out strike in sympathy with rail workers  Reuters   ...South Korea's militant labor federation announced a general strike from Saturday in sympathy with rail workers, after police hauled away scores of strikers in a two-week dispute that has hit President Park Geun-hye's popularity ratings...
Corporate Tribunals: A U.S. / EU Holiday Gift to Foreign Firms?  Public Citizen   ...A moratorium on fracking. A strong anti-smoking cigarette label. A requirement to clean up industrial pollution. A medicine patent policy that could tamp down health costs. A decision to phase out nuclear energy. Each of these has been attacked by a foreign corporation using "trade" and investment treaties that allow firms to circumvent domestic legal systems and directly challenge domestic public interest policies before private international tribunals...
This Chart Blows Up the Myth of the Welfare Queen  The Atlantic   ...On average, they spend $30,582 in a year, compared to $66,525 for families not on public assistance. Meanwhile, they spend a third less on food, half as much on housing, and 60 percent less on entertainment...
US Treasury signs anti-tax evasion pacts with six jurisdictions  Reuters   ...The agreements were completed this past week with Bermuda, Malta, the Netherlands and three UK Crown Dependencies: Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man...
The death of the American Dream in a single image  Hullabaloo   ... It is harder for the poor to get into the middle class, and for the middle class to become wealthy, in America than in almost any other industrialized country. Our income distribution is the most unequal of any industrialized country, and at the highest level since 1928...

Today's Teamster News 12.22.13

(Note: TeamsterNation will be publishing on a limited schedule for the next week. Today's Teamster News will appear in abbreviated form through Dec. 24 and cease publication through Dec. 30. Our full publishing schedule will resume on Jan. 2. Have a great holiday!)

Economists: Income gap holding back economy  Associated Press   ...The growing gap between the richest Americans and everyone else isn't bad just for individuals. It's hurting the U.S. economy...
Pension cut angers vets  Dayton Daily News   ...Military coalition groups have cried foul over a 1 percent reduction in military pensions that will hit working age retirees in 2015 under a two-year congressional budget deal...
WikiLeaks reveals why Asia should skip Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact (opinion)  Bloomberg   ...The draft of the intellectual-property rights chapter by Julian Assange’s outfit validated the worst fears — that TPP is a corporatist power grab. Rather than heed the outcry, the U.S. doubled down on secrecy, refusing to disclose more details...
All-Cash Home Sales Hit Record 42% of Sales  Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis   ...All-cash purchases accounted for 42% of all sales of residential property in November 2013, up from 39% during the previous month...
Exclusive: Secret contract tied NSA and security industry pioneer  Reuters   ...As a key part of a campaign to embed encryption software that it could crack into widely used computer products, the U.S. National Security Agency arranged a secret $10 million contract with RSA, one of the most influential firms in the computer security industry, Reuters has learned...
Jobs Growth Sluggish In Wisconsin Compared To Neighbors, Nation  Wisconsin Public Radio   ...the idea was that policy changes that Governor Walker proposed would change that trend,” says Johnston. “And from what I can see it hasn't had any effect at all. Wisconsin continues to lag the nation in terms of both job growth and income growth...

Today's Teamster News 11.11.13

Today is Veterans Day. Remember to thank the veterans you know for their service. And check out the Teamsters Facebook page, where photos of Teamster veterans are being posted.

Mayor's Spokesperson Is Sorry If Anyone Thought His 'Third-World Taxicab System' Comment Was Offensive  DCist   ..."Those words are hurtful to each and every driver who works long days—often up to 16 hours, seven days a week—and who earn about $25,000 to $30,000 per year providing a valuable service," the statement from the Teamsters-affiliated association continued...
Teamsters choose sides in Inquirer owners' dispute  philly.com   ...The union local representing more than 325 truck drivers and other employees for The Inquirer on Sunday declared its support for the two newspaper co-owners seeking to reinstate fired editor William K. Marimow. During its monthly meeting in Bridesburg, Teamsters Local 628 president John P. Laigaie said the owners, Lewis Katz and H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest, would preserve the editorial integrity of the paper...
Everyone In America Is Even More Broke Than You Think  Huffington Post   ...more than half of U.S. wage earners made less than $30,000 last year, according to an analysis released by the Social Security Administration on Tuesday. That's not far above the $27,010 that marked the federal poverty line for a family of five in 2012...
The Pension Theft Crime Wave Rages On  Alternet   ...Rhode Island ... handed more than $1 billion in pension funds over to hedge fund companies to manage—in exchange for an expected $2.1 billion in fees over 20 years, effectively taken straight out of the pockets of retirees, who would forego $2.3 billion in COLAs over the same period...
Wal-Mart: An economic cancer on our cities  Salon   ... the small businesses that occupied the old Penney’s building employed fourteen people, which doesn’t seem like many until you realize that this is actually seventy-four jobs per acre, compared with the fewer than six jobs per acre created on a sprawling Walmart site...
Children Locked Up For Life: 10 Shockers About America's Prison System  Alternet   ...Twice as many people rot in prison for crack use than for violent crimes. Children are being locked up for life. What's wrong with our criminal justice system?...
Chinese labor camp inmate tells of true horror of Halloween 'SOS'  CNN   ..."Making products turned out to be an escape from the horrible violence," he said. "We thought we could protect ourselves, and avoid verbal and physical assaults as long as we worked and did the job well..."
Seattle council race tightens; socialist Sawant has 49.5% of vote  The Seattle Times   ...Kshama Sawant has steadily gained ground on Councilmember Richard Conlin, giving her a chance to pull off a shocking turnaround victory and become the first socialist on the Seattle City Council in modern history...
Every Green vote was a conscious vote  Green Party   ...40% for a Green Party candidate (for Syracuse, N.Y., Council) where the Democratic Party threw everything it had into the race is nothing to be discouraged about. Our capacity in terms of volunteers, fundraising, and campaign skills exploded. We offered realistic and positive alternatives to a status quo that is failing...
Your daily jolt: A Chamber-sponsored alternative to ALEC  Atlanta Journal-Constitution   ...One of the main generators of model legislation in Georgia and other red states has been the American Legislative Exchange Council, an organization sometimes criticized for its conservative social agenda. An alternative has sprung up recently, and come January it will be chaired by Chris Clark, the president and CEO of the Georgia Chamber...
For the First Time Ever, a Prosecutor Will Go to Jail for Wrongfully Convicting an Innocent Man  Alternet   ...Today in Texas, former prosecutor and judge Ken Anderson pled guilty to  intentionally failing to disclose evidence in a case that sent an innocent man,  Michael Morton, to prison for the murder of his wife...
It’s possible to end homelessness for veterans. Here’s where Maine stands so far  Bangor Daily News   ...Veterans Housing Services has served 308 veterans — either preventing homelessness or securing safe, permanent housing for homeless veterans and their families as quickly as possible...