Today's Teamster News 11.04.15

TEAMSTERS
Union Resubmits Proposals, Seeks Strong Comprehensive Agreement With Great Lakes Coca-Cola  Local 727  ...Bargaining continued for a third day on Monday, November 2, as the Teamsters Local 727 Bargaining Committee resubmitted its non-economic proposals to Great Lake Coca-Cola Distribution management. Although GLCCD representatives have not yet offered any substantive movement on initial proposals, the union is making significant organizational progress throughout negotiations...
Drivers at three Port of Long Beach, Los Angeles carriers end strike  Landline  ...A strike by port drivers working for three port motor carriers at the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach has ended. Labor organizers, however, say a dispute over the classification of drivers as independent contractors rolls on. A five-day driver strike and picket at XPO Logistics, Intermodal Bridge Transport and Gold Pint Transportation ended late last week according to Justice for Port Drivers organization, which is backed by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters...

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Indian capital a mess as sanitation workers strike  USA Today  ...Delhi is a mess, and a worse one than usual. Since late last month sanitation workers here have been on strike, refusing to pick up garbage and even dumping piles of trash in the streets. Sanitation workers have one key demand: their salaries...
Petrobras Oil Output Cut as Workers Protest Austerity  Bloomberg  ...Petroleo Brasileiro SA said its oil and natural-gas production has been cut because of a strike by workers protesting job losses, spending reductions and asset sales at Brazil’s state-controlled producer. The biggest output cuts came on Monday, the second day of the strike, when production fell 273,000 barrels a day...
Policy fights await release of trade deal  The Hill  ...The Obama administration is preparing to release the text of the sweeping Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement, setting the stage for a host of policy fights that could threaten congressional approval of the president’s prized trade deal. Obama has little margin for error as his administration and supporters of the deal press lawmakers to back a 12-nation pact...
TPPA deal will be made public in 2 weeks, says minister  Malaysian Insider  ...The contents of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) will be made public in two weeks' time, Second International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan said. He said as the government had concluded the TPP with the parties involved, the next step is to present the details to the people. It will then be brought before a special parliamentary session in January next year for debate and a vote by the 222 lawmakers...
Text Still Secret One Month After TPP Deal  (opinion) Huffington Post  ...Negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a 12 nation agreement seven years in the making, were finally concluded a month ago. Yet the Obama administration still has not released the text of the agreement. Not even to Congress, much less the public. But this has not stopped the United States Trade Representative (USTR), the office responsible for the negotiations, from making outlandish claims about how great the TPP is...
Political Expert Calls US-Initiated Trans-Pacific Partnership ‘Nonsense’  Sputnik  ...The US invited Russia and China to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). According to political expert Alexei Skopin, the United States pursues its own goals creating such partnerships and does not always declare them openly. The Agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which includes 12 countries so far, was reached on October 5 and is designed to create a free trade area (FTA) in the Asia-Pacific region...
An Urgent Warning Of What TTIP Has In Store  Morning Star  ...Canada is the most sued country in the “developed” world, and that should sound alarm bells in Britain. Several weeks ago hundreds of thousands of people across Europe and Britain marched to protest against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a massive planned new trade deal between Europe and the US...
Canada presses pause on austerity after Justin Trudeau’s election win  The Guardian  ...While Canada is hitting the pause button on austerity, the UK chancellor, is on fast-forward. George Osborne’s 2015 spending review will see a further £20bn cut from public spending to achieve balance by 2019, a move which follows a halving of the deficit over the course of the last parliament...

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Kentucky elects right-to-work governor  Politico  ...Tea Party Republican Matt Bevin beat Democrat Jack Conway for Kentucky’s governorship Tuesday night, an upset victory in one of the last strongholds for Democrats in the right-to-work South. Activists on both side of the right-to-work debate led aggressive outreach in the run-up to the election, and this loss surely stings for the AFL-CIO and its affiliate Working America...
GOP candidates for governor talk right-to-work, rural issues in first forum  Columbia Missourian  ...It didn't take Republican gubernatorial candidates long to hit their party's bread and butter Tuesday night. A full choir of supporters and GOP lawmakers at Missouri Farm Bureau headquarters applauded promises to ban mandatory union fees with a right-to-work law and resist Medicaid expansion...
Thanks To Virginia Reforms, These People Are Voting For The First Time In Decades  Think Progress  ...Before McAuliffe’s reforms, felons in Virginia had a particularly hard time becoming full citizens after their convictions. In most states, voting rights are automatically restored once a felon is released from prison. But in Virginia, felons were required to first get off parole or probation, then file a voting rights restoration application with the governor’s office, a process that was supposed to take 45 to 60 days but often took much longer...
Leading Fight Against Money in Politics, Maine Voters Back Clean Elections  Common Dreams  ...Maine voters on Tuesday reaffirmed their desire to keep the influence of big money out of politics by passing the Clean Elections Initiative, a move that campaigners say serves as a "flare to a nation" desperate to "reclaim control of our democracy" in the wake of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision. According to the Bangor Daily News, the Initiative passed 55 to 45 percent...
Scandal, Explicit Emails, Behind The Most Expensive Supreme Court Race In American History  Think Progress  ...$15,850,297. That’s how much candidates and interested groups have spent to influence the race for three seats on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, according to Justice At Stake, a watchdog group which tracks state judicial races. And that number is only likely to grow as it is based on records that have already been filed in this election...
SEIU starts competing effort to put minimum wage on California ballot  SacBee  ...California’s largest labor union on Tuesday unveiled its own bid to increase the statewide minimum wage, setting up dueling pay measures aimed for next year’s ballot amid persistent concerns over income inequality. The proposed initiative, supported by the Service Employees International Union’s state council, would boost the base wage to $15 per hour by 2020...
Portland, Maine, Rejects $15 Minimum Wage  Huffington Post  ...In a rare setback for living wage activists, voters in Portland, Maine, shot down a $15 minimum wage proposal on Tuesday, voting against a ballot measure that would have doubled the wage floor in just four years. Under the proposal, all employers with 500 or more workers would have had to pay at least $15 per hour by 2017...
The Puerto Rican Debt Crisis: Tax Breaks Offered to Rich While Austerity Measures Imposed on Poor  Democracy Now  ...The Obama administration recently warned Puerto Rico faces a humanitarian crisis unless Congress takes steps to address its crushing debt. The White House wants lawmakers to approve bankruptcy protection for the U.S. territory, expand Medicaid and impose a control board to oversee Puerto Rico’s finances...

U.S. LABOR
NLRB hearing to delay UAW election at Chattanooga's VW plant  Times Free Press ...A union election planned for later this week at Volkswagen's Chattanooga plant is expected to be delayed due to a hearing over whether the 164 maintenance workers slated to vote are too small of a unit. Attorneys for VW and the United Auto Workers argued today at a National Labor Relations Board hearing in Chattanooga that will continue into Wednesday...
Slight majority support GM-UAW deal so far  The Detroit News  ...With about one-third of ballots cast, voting on General Motors Co.’s tentative agreement with the UAW is close, with a slight majority of workers supporting the deal. Voting results at some larger facilities have been tight and roughly two-thirds of the 52,600 hourly workers have not had the opportunity to vote yet. The union is expected to release final results as early as this weekend...
USW files additional unfair labor charges against ATI  Business Times  ...The United Steelworkers have filed a total of 18 unfair labor practice charges against Allegheny Technologies Inc., the union said in an update to its members Monday. The pending charges cover ATI's decision to lock out more than 2,000 union employees in August as well as the company's conduct at the bargaining table, according to the union...
The Uphill Battle For Strippers’ Rights  Think Progress  ...Some dancers flock to the industry in part because of perceived scheduling flexibility, but they often end up just as binding as many other jobs. Most clubs require a dancer to come in a minimum number of days a week and assign them to either a day or night shift. Some also tell dancers what time to show up – even charging them a fine if they’re late...
Wages for top earners soared in 2014: Fly top 0.1 percent, fly  EPI  ...After dipping slightly in 2013, annual earnings of the top 1.0 percent of wages earners grew 4.9 percent in 2014, and the top 0.1 percent’s earnings grew 8.9 percent, according to our analysis of the latest Social Security Administration wage data. This analysis provides the first look at the likely trend of the household incomes of the top 1.0 percent...

SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS 
How Bathroom Fears Conquered Transgender Rights in Houston  The Atlantic  ...After a hard-fought campaign that drew national attention from Hollywood celebrities and presidential. candidates, voters rejected the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, or Proposition 1, handing a victory to conservative critics who argued that its expansive protections for transgender people could endanger women and children...
Republicans Demonize Disabled Social Security Recipients in Latest Budget  Alternet  ...Having failed in numerous frontal assaults on Social Security, the Republican congressional leadership several years ago adopted a new strategy for dismantling the program: attack and demonize Disability Insurance, which they consider to be its soft underbelly. With last week’s passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, they drew blood...
New Study Shows Antarctic Melting Approaching 'Unstoppable' Tipping Point  Common Dreams  ...A new study published Monday warns that "unstoppable" melting in West Antarctica could make a three-meter increase in sea level "unavoidable." According to researchers at Germany's Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, the vulnerable Amundsen Sea sector of West Antarctica "has most likely been destabilized." They point to recent studies indicating that this area of the ice continent is "the first element in the climate system about to tip"...
How GOP & HMOs Undercut Obamacare's Nonprofit Option, Leaving 500K Uninsured  Democracy Now  ...As the Obamacare open enrollment period begins, it’s the end for many healthcare co-ops, leaving hundreds of thousands of people scrambling to find coverage. The co-ops were founded to offer a cheaper alternative on insurance exchanges after Democrats stopped demanding a public option. But since going live three years ago, the co-ops have faced major cutbacks from the Republican-controlled Congress...

Ex-governor's petty corruption pales next to the legal scam -- privatizaton

The former governor of Virginia is now on trial for petty corruption after getting away with the much larger con of privatizing government services.

Former Gov. Bob McDonnell is accused of accepting $165,000 in loans and gifts in exchange for promoting the Star Scientific company's snake oil -- unapproved drugs marketed as nutritional supplements despite warnings from the FDA.

McDonnell would have been fine if he just stuck with the plutocrats who wanted to loot the state -- the defense contractor that screwed up Virginia's computer system or the disreputable on-line education company. His problem was that he grifted a Rolex watch and a ride in a Lear jet off of a small-time amateur, and he got caught.

McDonnell and his wife Maureen stand accused on 14 counts of federal corruption charges. They allegedly took from a Star Scientific salesman named JonnieWilliams Oscar de la Renta gowns, iPhones, golf clubs, home loans and the $15,000 catering bill for their daughter's wedding.

Now during a bizarre trial, the McDonnells claim Williams wasn't buying favors and access. They say the gifts were all about the crush that Maureen had on Williams. Unfortunately for the defense, that was news to Williams. According to the Washington Post,

Williams spoke of how his friendship with the McDonnells was just a transaction to benefit his company, Star Scientific. "I don't believe I would have been close friends with the governor and his family," he explained, "if not for all the money." The governor and his wife wanted even more, he said, but "I turned down a lot of requests." In return for the cash, he said, he was able to launch his product at the governor's mansion, was introduced to health care leaders for his business and had his product placed in gift bags at a National Governors Association meeting.

The pay-to-play scam of which the McDonnells are accused is not all that different from the massive privatization scandals that haven't been prosecuted. That's because they're legal, but that doesn't make them right.

McDonnell sold off government services to a defense contractor in exchange for a $75,000 campaign contribution. He peddled a phony nutritional supplement in the Governor's Mansion in exchange for a Rolex watch. Is there much difference? You could argue McDonnell didn't get anything personally from the defense contractor, but that's not how politics works in America. Political observers wonder why McDonnell didn't just serve out his four years and then get a lucrative lobbying job from the corporations he helped plunder the state treasury.

Here's an example:

McDonnell received $75,000 in campaign contributions from Northrop Grumman. As governor, he extended a contract to outsource the state's computer operations to the corporation. The privatized computer system broke down on Aug. 9, 2010 and then for a week starting on Aug. 25, leaving 45,000 undoubtedly furious Virginians unable to get drivers' licenses.

McDonnell was also in on the 'make-education-a-business scam.' According to Resist the Privatization of America,

Governor Bob McDonnell received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from virtual learning company K12 Inc., and promptly requested the introduction of ALEC model legislation to expand virtual education in 2010. 

It passed in the Virginia legislature, and K12 Inc. swung into action in Carroll County, one of the state’s most impoverished counties, to maximize the public money it would receive. Even when the school board voted to close K12 Inc. down because it did worse than traditional schools on 20 out of 22 measures, Virginia legislators with ALEC connections enacted a law in 2012 requiring high school students to take an online course to graduate.

McDonnell should have known the plutocrats know how to do it without getting caught. It's the small amateurs who get you in trouble.

Today's Teamster News 05.14.13

The 182 Percent Loan: How Installment Lenders Put Borrowers in a World of Hurt  ProPublica   ...Katrina Sutton stood at a gas pump and swiped her debit card. Insufficient funds. But that couldn't be. She'd been careful to wait until her $270 paycheck from Walmart had hit her account. The money wasn't there? It was all she had. And without gas, she couldn't get to work. She tried not to panic, but after she called her card company, she couldn't help it. Her funds had been frozen, she was told, by World Finance. Here’s how and why...
Bangladesh Garment Factories Shut Down Amid Worker Unrest, Minimum Wage Change  Huffington Post   ...Following worker protests and a decision by the Bangladeshi government to reevaluate the minimum wage, the lone national association of garment manufacturers on Monday shut down all factories in Ashulia, one of the country's major garment industry hubs...
Moms Working At Walmart Earn Less Than They Need To Feed Their Kids  Huffington Post   ...As Mother's Day approached, Charlene Fletcher, mother of two, found herself occupied with the needs of other families, attending to the crush of shoppers last week at the Walmart in Pasadena, Calif., where she works. But like many employees at Walmart, the largest private employer in the United States, she earns so little that she has to rely on government assistance to feed her kids...
IRS Set To Close Next Week  Forbes   ...A number of taxpayers will be taking next Friday off by choice. It is, after all, the day before the Memorial Day weekend begins – the perfect time to grab an extra day. But what if you were forced to take the day off as an unpaid furlough day?...
White House orders look at pay equity inside government  Washington Post   ...President Obama has called for creation of a government-wide strategy “to address any gender pay gap in the Federal workforce,” focusing on how salaries are set when employees are first hired and when they are promoted...
Early campaigns for Virginia governor toil on both the national and local stage   Washington Post
If Virginians weren’t foggy-headed enough from last year’s barrage of political ads and robo-calls, now comes a race that’s producing double vision — the two men running for governor this year are each running two campaigns featuring different issues, calendars and strategies...
Landmark $240M EEOC verdict to be slashed to $1.6M   Associated Press   ...A landmark $240 million verdict awarded to 32 mentally disabled Iowa plant workers who were subjected to years of abuse by their handlers will be reduced to just $1.6 million because of a federal cap, attorneys in the case agree...
Florida lawmakers pay peanuts for health insurance  Miami Herald   ...Florida House Republicans last month loudly and proudly rejected billions of dollars in federal money that would have provided health insurance to 1 million poor Floridians. Quietly, they kept their own health insurance premiums staggeringly low...
Rand Paul's Iowa visit triggers talk of 2016 White House bid  Mankato Free Press   ...Sen. Rand Paul brought his national ambitions to Iowa on Friday, ripping potential Democratic rival Hillary Clinton while urging his own Republican Party to broaden its appeal as he campaigned like it was already 2016...
N.J.'s plan to seize $142M in unspent COAH money from towns is 'a real slap in the face to property taxpayers'  Times of Trenton   ...Municipal officials are angrily criticizing the state’s plan to seize money from their unused affordable housing trust funds, saying the Christie administration is trying to balance the state budget by grabbing resources meant for those who need it the most...
Minnesota budget deal: Tax hikes on high earners, tobacco  Star Tribune   ...New revenue would boost school spending and fund a property tax relief plan. GOP responded with scorn...
Inspiring Stories Captivate Unity Conference Attendees  IBT …The war on workers and what the Teamsters Union is doing to fight back took center stage today at the 2013 Unity Conference, and the attendees were uplifted by powerful speeches by leaders, members and soon-to-be members...

ALERT! Expose ALEC in Virginia!

Virginians, you can help bring ALEC out of the shadows! Tomorrow, an ALEC accountability bill in the Virginia Legislature will be heard in committee at 9am. The bill, SB1143, would prohibit legislators from using taxpayer money to attend conferences (like the ones ALEC sponsors) if agendas and conference materials are not made available to the public. 

Anti-worker members of Virginia's General Assembly have spent more than $230,000 in recent years traveling to conferences hosted by ALEC. There they meet with wealthy political donors and corporate lobbyists behind closed doors to draft legislation. Though taxpayer dollars frequently pay for these meetings, they aren't open to the public. The bill would only allow public dollars to be spent when access is allowed to public meetings. Agenda and conference materials would be considered public documents and subject to Virginia's Freedom of Information Act.

Progress Virginia has a petition you can sign on to here.

The group is also asking that Virginia residents call or email the committee members. They are:  

Senator Ryan McDougle: district04@senate.virginia.gov, (804) 698-7504
Senator Walter Stosch: district12@senate.virginia.gov, (804) 698-7512
Senator Tommy Norment: district03@senate.virginia.gov, (804) 698-7503
Senator Steve Martin: district11@senate.virginia.gov, (804) 698-7503
Senator Emmett Hanger: district24@senate.virginia.gov, (804) 698-7524
Senator Steve Newman: district23@senate.virginia.gov, (804) 698-7523
Senator John Watkins: district10@senate.virginia.gov, (804) 698-7510
Senator Frank Ruff: district15@senate.virginia.gov, (804) 698-7515
Senator Frank Wagner: district07@senate.virginia.gov, (804) 698-7507
Senator Mark Obenshain: district26@senate.virginia.gov, (804) 698-7526
Senator Ralph Smith: district19@senate.virginia.gov, (804) 698-7519
Senator Chuck Colgan: district29@senate.virginia.gov, (804) 698-7529
Senator Dick Saslaw: district35@senate.virginia.gov, (804) 698-7535
Senator Janet Howell: district32@senate.virginia.gov, (804) 698-7532
Senator Louise Lucas: district18@senate.virginia.gov, (804) 698-7518
Senator Jill Vogel: district27@senate.virginia.gov, (804) 698-7527

We have less than 24 hours, so act now!

Today's Teamster News 01.29.13

Apple shelters almost $1bn a week from US tax man  The Telegraph   ...Apple's completely legal tax avoidance strategies bring the total the company has sheltered from the US tax authorities to $94bn...
Senators Reach Bipartisan Immigration Reform Deal  Talking Points Memo   ...the package would include an e-verify program to prevent employers from hiring undocumented workers in the future, an expanded visa and guest worker program to manage future immigration, and a seperate streamlined path towards citizenship for undocumented immigrants who were bought to America as children...
Report: Treasury approved excessive pay for executives at bailed-out AIG, GM and Ally  Associated Press   ...Treasury also allowed pay packages totaling $5 million or more for nearly a quarter of the executives at those firms...
The Rise of the Permanent Temp Economy  New York Times   ...one-third of adults who live in poverty are working but do not earn enough to support themselves and their families. A quarter of jobs in America pay below the federal poverty line for a family of four ($23,050)...
Study: Nearly half are overqualified for their jobs  USA Today   ...Nearly half of working Americans with college degrees are in jobs for which they're overqualified, a new study out Monday suggests...
Sen. Colbeck Tells Koch-Funded Group RTW Passed Because of DeVos Funding  Progress Michigan ...“This just confirms what we’ve long suspected, that Gov. Snyder’s so-called Right to Work billwas bought-and-paid for by billionaire CEO Dick DeVos. It’s time for politicians likeSnyder and Colbeck to start protecting middle class families, not the special interests..."
Va right-to-work measure dies on 20-20 Senate tie  Associated Press   ... On a party line vote, the Virginia Senate has killed a measure that would write the state's longstanding right-to-work law into its constitution...
Chris Christie Vetoes Minimum Wage Hike That 82 Percent Of New Jerseyans Support  Bold Progressives   ...This minimum wage increase would’ve brought the wage to $8.50 and then tie it to the consumer price index for the future. ..
Roxanne Rubin, Nevada Republican, Accepts Plea Deal After Committing Voter Fraud  Huffington Post   ...Roxanne Rubin, 56, a casino worker on the Las Vegas Strip, was arrested on Nov. 3, 2012 after trying to vote twice, once at her poling site in Henderson and then at a second site in Las Vegas...
Negotiations Continue Between Teamsters, Durham  WestAshleyPatch   ...“We had to take a strike vote to get Durham to get serious in negotiations. We’ve met over 39 times with the contractor and they hadn’t moved on the key issues of concern to the drivers and monitors,” President of Local 509 L.D. Fletcher said in a statement...