TEAMSTERS
Shuttle Bus Drivers For Apple, Ebay, Yahoo, Silicon Valley Giants Approve Labor Contract, Winning Pay Raises And Benefits IBTimes ...Shuttle bus drivers for some of the biggest companies in Silicon Valley have scored a boost in working standards. Nearly 100 workers at Compass Transportation, a firm that provides bus service for companies like Apple, eBay and Yahoo, approved a labor agreement Sunday that includes significant pay raises and new benefits. It comes months after the drivers voted to join the Teamsters union...
Silicon Valley’s Bus Drivers Are Fighting Their Way Into The Region’s Uneven Economic Boom Think Progress ...Private bus routes that inspired rowdy protests around Silicon Valley in recent years will now deliver some shared prosperity in that booming but divided region. Drivers on the routes are seeing their wages and benefits increase dramatically thanks to unionization and contract negotiations. Drivers joined the Teamsters as protests and media scrutiny put pressure on tech firms and bus vendors alike over the past few years...
Coca-Cola Offers Insulting Economics Package, Ignores Vast Majority of Teamster Proposals Local 727 ...With only one more day of contract negotiations on the calendar, management for Coca-Cola returned to the bargaining table with Local 727 on Monday admitting they “didn’t know where to begin.” Cola-Cola management offered no explanation for what they’ve been doing with their time throughout the previous eight bargaining sessions. Instead, when negotiations came to a close on Nov. 23, the company ignored nearly all of the union’s outstanding proposals...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
New police raids, more arrests in attacks on Korean trade union rights IUF.org ...The increasingly authoritarian government of Korean President Park Geun-hye is stepping up its attacks on trade unions and their rights. Two-hundred police raided the office of the KCTU Korean Public Service and Transport Workers' Union (KPTU) on November 6, seizing documents of the union's Cargo Truckers Solidarity Division (KPTU-TruckSol), whose members transporting products for the food company Pulmone are fighting for union recognition and safe working conditions...
Indonesian workers strike against new pay regulations Bangkok Post ...Thousands of Indonesian workers rallied in several cities on Tuesday to demand the government repeal a new rule that they say limits pay increases. Labour unions say the rule only allows a maximum 10% increase per year in monthly salaries and puts them in a weak position in negotiations with employers...
Obama Talks TPP Abroad While Concerns Persist for Voters At Home, New Polling Shows American Manufacturing ...President Obama is attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit this week where 19 world leaders gather annually to discuss growth and trade. The hot topic at this year’s meeting: The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The president will be selling its benefits to his counterparts, but Americans back home are far from convinced...
China and U.S. Say They’ve Made Strides in Trade Talks New York Times ...In their first top-level trade talks since President Obama hosted China’s leader in September, the United States and China said on Monday that they had made progress on sticking points, including preventing the theft of trade secrets and opening the Chinese market more broadly to American multinationals...
TPP allows Internet censorship to favour big corporations, say Pakatan MPs Malaysian Insider ...The Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) will protect the interests of big corporations more than the rights of Internet users, opening the door to wider censorship, Pakatan Harapan lawmakers said today. Internet service providers (ISP) would be given the role of "internet police" in the new trade pact when it comes to copyrighted content...
TPP: Massive giveaway to corporate interests (opinion) The Hill ...What does it take to bring Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump together? One terrible trade deal - the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The reasoning behind this diverse opposition is simple – the TPP is a massive giveaway to corporate special interests that will give hardworking Americans two things they can’t afford – lost jobs and lower wages...
Pacific Trade and Worker Rights (editorial) New York Times ...Obama administration officials say the T.P.P. goes further on labor standards than those earlier pacts. For example, the T.P.P.’s labor chapter requires all 12 countries to adopt minimum wage, working hour and occupational safety regulations. That is an improvement, but it could turn out to be mostly symbolic because the agreement does not specify how countries should set minimum wages. Nor does it establish any minimum standard for safety regulations...
Five years into austerity, Britain prepares for more cuts Reuters ...After laying off nearly half its staff over the last five years, scaling back street cleaning and relying on volunteers to work at some of its libraries, the London borough of Lewisham is getting ready for what could be much more painful spending cuts. Officials in Lewisham's town hall, like those across the country, know they will have to shoulder much of Chancellor George Osborne's renewed push to fix Britain's budget...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Constitutional amendment for higher minimum wage sought Review Journal ...Backers of raising Nevada's minimum wage filed a proposed constitutional amendment Monday that would abolish the state's existing two-tiered system and gradually increase the rate to $13 an hour. The initiative filed with the secretary of state's office by the Committee to Raise the Minimum Wage in Nevada would set a rate of $9.25 an hour beginning in late 2018...
Thanksgiving Is Almost Here, and Over a Million New Yorkers Might Go Hungry The Nation ...This Thanksgiving, New Yorkers will be asked to “Remember the Needy.” But for millions of households, that starts with thinking about themselves. The latest statistics on hunger in the city tells the proverbial Tale of Two Cities as a Tale of Two Pantries. New York’s abysmal wealth gap is evident in many indicators: unemployment rates, rent hikes, surveys showing heavy economic anxiety...
Right-to-Work Whack-a-Mole American Prospect ...Right-to-work legislation continues to bubble up in states that have been successful in staving off such laws. Call it a never-ending game of right-to-work whack-a-mole. Last week, West Virginia Senate President Bill Cole called for lawmakers to pass right-to-work legislation in what he—and conservatives invariably—characterize as an attempt to attract businesses to the economically downtrodden region...
Who Turned My Blue State Red? (opinion) New York Times ...In eastern Kentucky and other former Democratic bastions that have swung Republican in the past several decades, the people who most rely on the safety-net programs secured by Democrats are, by and large, not voting against their own interests by electing Republicans. Rather, they are not voting, period. They have, as voting data, surveys and my own reporting suggest, become profoundly disconnected from the political process...
Pittsburgh paid sick leave law effective date delayed Lexology ...While the City of Pittsburgh previously announced that its Paid Sick Days Act (“PSDA”) would become effective on January 11, 2016, a Court order, as part of a lawsuit against the City challenging the validity of the PSDA, has extended this date by 60 days, to March 11, 2016. The one-page order from the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas broadly covers “implementation, application and enforcement” of the PSDA...
U.S. LABOR
SEIU-UHW Revives Ballot Measure To Cap Hospital Executives' Pay California Healthline ...On Friday, Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West revived a ballot measure that would cap hospital executives' pay after dropping a similar initiative 18 months ago, the Sacramento Business Journal reports. In November 2013, SEIU-UHW filed two proposed ballot initiatives with the state Attorney General's Office...
A holiday boost for UAW workers The Detroit News ...An estimated 142,000 American autoworkers, including 60,000 in Michigan, will receive retroactive pay and $3,000-$10,000 signing bonuses before Christmas, following contract ratifications between Detroit’s Big Three and the United Auto Workers. Collectively, contract bonuses from General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV are estimated to put more than $400 million, before taxes, into the pockets of hourly union members...
Disney workers mount H-1B challenge Politico ...Disney caught some bad press in June after the New York Times and other outlets reported that the company planned to lay off about 250 workers and replace them with guest workers. Now those workers are filing complaints against Disney. At least 23 of them petitioned the EEOC to hear their case...
Wage Gap Between Men and Women Closing For Wrong Reason: Male Wages Are Falling Alternet ...The wage gap between men and women is finally starting to close—but only because male wages are falling, according to a new briefing paper released Tuesday by the Economic Policy Institute. “No one in this country should work full-time and live in poverty,” said Massachsetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren at a Capitol Hill press conference to release the report...
The faces of the new food revolution Al Jazeera ...The “food movement” is complex and often misunderstood. Read snarky Slate articles and you might be led to believe the movement is a white, elitist phenomenon whose poster child is a Lululemon-wearing, latte-sipping Whole Foods shopper and whose de facto guru is Michael Pollan. In other words: out of touch with working Americans. But the people on the frontlines of the struggle to make healthy, sustainable, local food accessible to all Americans defy this stereotype...
How Delusional Nostalgia Is Killing the White Working Class Alternet ...A new poll from the Public Religion Research Institute finds there are a few things you can count on about those who believe America’s best days are behind us. They are overwhelmingly white, and if you dig a bit deeper and examine the socioeconomics, often working class. Despite all evidence to the contrary, they stubbornly believe white people are subject to the same levels of racism as black and other people of color. They think the U.S. was a better place in the 1950s, when Jim Crow was law, immigrants were overwhelmingly European, women knew their place, and gay people were essentially invisible...
SOCIAL JUSTICE &OTHER NEWS
In Biggest Tax Evasion Scheme of Its Kind, Big Pharma Becomes Behemoth Common Dreams ...Big Pharma just became Huge Pharma. Creating the world's largest drugmaker—and paving the way for higher pharmaceutical prices—Viagra-maker Pfizer Inc. and Allergan PLC, which manufactures Botox, said Monday that they would merge in a so-called inversion deal worth up to about $155 billion...
Texas wants immigration case delay that could push Supreme Court decision beyond Obama's term US News & World Report ...Texas asked the Supreme Court Monday for more time to answer the Obama administration's immigration appeal, a delay that probably would prevent the plan to shield millions of immigrants from deportation from taking effect during Barack Obama's presidency. The plan that Obama unveiled a year ago mainly affects people who are living in the country illegally, but who have children who are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents...
'Now More Than Ever': In Paris and Beyond, Climate Movement Will Be Heard Common Dreams ...The march may be cancelled, security may be strengthened, but the global climate movement is vowing that its voice will still be heard as world leaders convene in Paris for international negotiations over the future of the planet. Citing security concerns in the wake of the attacks in Paris, the city's Prefecture of Police on Wednesday cancelled a massive climate justice march planned for November 29...
Black Lives Matter Protesters Shot in Minneapolis Slate ...Police in Minneapolis were looking for three white male suspects Tuesday morning after gunmen opened fire and injured five people at a Black Lives Matter protest around 10:45 p.m. on Monday night, reported the Star Tribune. The protests where the shooting took place have been going on for more than a week, with demonstrators calling for answers in the death of 24-year-old Jamar Clark, a black man who was shot in the head by a police officer. Witnesses said Clark was in handcuffs when he was shot...
Chicago officer who shot black teen 16 times to face murder charge, reports say The Guardian ...A charge of murder is expected to be filed against a white Chicago police officer accused of shooting a black teenager 16 times, just one day before a deadline by which a judge has ordered the city to release a squad-car video of the incident. Veteran officer Jason Van Dyke is expected to be indicted on Tuesday on a murder charge in the killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald...
Why Trump's Race-Baiting Works Slate ...Donald Trump has spent most of his campaign indulging and encouraging nativism and anti-immigrant sentiment. When it came to other racial and ethnic groups, however, Trump was silent, even telling crowds that he had a “great relationship with the blacks.” This past weekend, that changed. While Trump has been explicit with his nativist, and now racist, rhetoric, he’s not an innovator. If large numbers of Republicans are responsive to Trump’s vitriol, it’s because he echoes—in less coded terms—the discourse of much of right-wing media...
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Elected After Popular Uprising, Defends Local Control of Schools Democracy Now ...The education system of Newark, New Jersey has faced years of crisis, with high dropout rates, low-performing schools and a state takeover dating back two decades. In 2010, Republican Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, former Democratic Mayor Cory Booker of Newark and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg joined forces to revamp Newark schools. But despite trumpeting their plan as a model for national school reform, millions of dollars flowed not to schools but to outside consultants...
Showing posts with label wage gap. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wage gap. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Today's Teamster News 10.07.15
TEAMSTERS
Teamsters At Sysco Back in Negotiations Today After Unanimous Strike Vote Local 117 ...Teamster warehouse workers and drivers who are employed at the major food service conglomerate Sysco have voted unanimously to authorize a strike. Union members voted 150-0 in favor of authorizing a strike after the Company allegedly committed a series of Unfair Labor Practices. The National Labor Relations Board is investigating Sysco for charges of bad-faith bargaining, unilateral changes in working conditions, and worker intimidation...
LA-based port truck driver to join President Obama at White House Summit on Worker Voice AJOT ...On Wed., October 7, a port truck driver who was misclassified for years as an “independent contractor” but fought for – and won – the right to be classified as an employee and is now a member of Teamsters Local 848, will be a panelist at the first ever “White House Summit on Worker Voice.” The professional driver, a husband and father to two young children, who was fired for filing a claim for Wage Theft with the California Labor Commissioner, now works for Eco Flow Transportation...
County to consider contract that includes raise for jail staff Merced Sun Star ...A group of Merced County jail and detention center employees would see their first pay raise in six years under an agreement to be considered Tuesday by the Merced County Board of Supervisors. The county has been in negotiations since May with Unit 12 of Teamsters Local Union 856, which represents more than a dozen unarmed and nonsworn employees of jails and juvenile detention centers...
A Strike May Park San Francisco's Tech Buses Gizmodo ...San Francisco’s tech workers may be looking for a new ride to work if their shuttle bus drivers go on strike over contract negotiations. At a meeting yesterday in San Leandro, leaders of the Teamsters Local 853 advised members to be prepared for a strike if there’s no progress on the contract proposal that the union approved and sent to Compass Transportation back in August. The proposal would increase pay and improve benefits for drivers...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Obama’s trade deal faces stiff headwinds The Hill ...The White House’s announcement Monday of an international trade deal covering 40 percent of the world’s economy sets the stage for a bruising, months-long congressional battle that is already spilling into the 2016 presidential race. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), an agreement between the U.S. and 11 other nations from Asia to Latin America, faces stiff headwinds in both parties...
Vilsack: TPP text available in next 30 days Capital Press ...U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership will be made available in the next 30 days. Farmers and members of Congress will be able to read the final text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership in the next 30 days, the head of the USDA says. Lawyers are “scrubbing the text” of the trade deal between the United States and 11 other countries, making sure it is accurate...
China Responds Cautiously To TPP Deal, Which Analysts Say Will Bring Pressure For Faster Reforms IBTimes ...China has reacted cautiously to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal (TPP), which U.S. President Barack Obama said explicitly was designed to prevent “countries like China” from writing "the rules of the global economy." China’s Ministry of Commerce said it took an “open-minded attitude” to the deal, though Chinese analysts said it would increase pressure on Beijing to introduce further economic reforms...
The Meat Industry Is Licking Its Chops Over Obama's Massive Trade Deal Mother Jones ...The US meat industry scored a big victory this week when world leaders hammered out an agreement that would reduce trade barriers across the Pacific: from the United Sates, Canada, Mexico, Peru, and Chile on this side to Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, and Singapore on the other. So how would the TPP affect Big Meat in the United States? The industry is currently facing stagnant domestic demand for its product as Americans eat less meat. The TPP would open markets...
Breast Cancer Patient Arrested for Protesting TPP: "This is Price Gouging at the Cost of Lives" Democracy Now ...The United States and drug companies had pressed for longer monopolies on new biotech drugs, while multiple countries opposed the push, saying it could deny life-saving medicines to patients who cannot afford high prices. The compromise reportedly includes monopolies of between five and eight years. Last week in Atlanta, Zahara Heckscher, a cancer patient, disrupted TPP negotiations and was arrested...
The Trans-Pacific Pact Would Kill Jobs and Consumer Protection (opinion) New York Times ...The TPP includes investor protections also found in NAFTA that incentivize American job offshoring by eliminating risks otherwise associated with producing in low-wage countries. It would drive down our wages by putting Americans in competition with Vietnamese workers who make less than 65 cents per hour...
Three million #noTTIP signatures delivered to EU Commission in London The Economic Voice ...Over three million signatures from across Europe calling for TTIP to be scrapped were submitted to representatives of the European Commission in London at 11.30 am this morning, in the shadow of a 6 metre high inflatable TTIP Trojan Horse. The Trojan Horse symbolised that while TTIP is presented as a 'trade deal,' critics argue that it actually constitutes an unprecedented corporate power grab...
IMF warns of stagnation threat to G7 economies The Guardian ...The International Monetary Fund is warning that the weak recovery in the west risks turning into near stagnation after cutting its global economic growth forecast for the fourth successive year. In its half-yearly update on the health of the world economy, the Washington-based fund predicted expansion of 3.1% in 2015, 0.2 points lower than it was expecting three months ago...
Tens of thousands protest government free-market measures for biggest demo in a year US News & World Report ...Tens of thousands of workers are demonstrating through Brussels to protest the free-market regulations and austerity measures that the center-right government has been pushing through during its first year in office. Belgium's three main unions joined hands Wednesday behind a common platform arguing that the government of Prime Minister Charles Michel is promoting big companies at the expense of the workforce...
IndustriALL Union files ILO complaint against Thailand Reuters ...IndustriALL, a global labor union with 50 million members, has filed a complaint against Thailand at the International Labour Organization in Geneva, the union said on Wednesday. The complaint, sent to the ILO's committee on freedom of association, details 18 cases of worker and labor abuses, IndustriALL said in a statement...
Cambodian Garment Workers Rally for Minimum Wage Raise Solidarity Center ...Some 21,000 garment workers from six unions at more than 60 factories across Cambodia dedicated their 30-minute lunch breaks to rallies calling for a higher minimum wage. The monthly minimum wage for garment and footwear workers is $128. Last year, Cambodia’s garment exports totaled $5.7 billion...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
W.Va. Gov. Tomblin Announces $100 Million Statewide Budget Cut WSAZ ...West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin on Monday announced a plan to save the state nearly $100 million. Tomblin said it is needed to curb the loss from declining coal and natural gas revenue. The governor said most state agency spending will be cut by 4 percent. Tomblin said the fiscal year deficit currently exceeds more than $250 million...
Gov. Brown signs bill aimed at eliminating gender wage gap LA Times ...California took a major step Tuesday toward closing the lingering wage gap between men and women, as Gov. Jerry Brown signed one of the toughest pay equity laws in the nation. Women in California who work full time are paid substantially less — a median 84 cents for every dollar — than men, according to a U.S Census Bureau report this year...
California minimum wage measure seeks to tap into income inequality worries SacBee ...Proponents of a statewide ballot measure to raise California’s minimum wage signaled Tuesday that their effort will seize on unrest over income distribution and frame the wage debate as one of fairness. In the first major event in support of the proposed initiative, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said they would lead the union-funded endeavor to hike the state’s base wage to $11...
Little Rock Workers Convene City's First Wage Board NPR ...As part of a national movement to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, some Little Rock workers plan to convene the city’s first wage board Tuesday. Little Rock’s four-member board is made up of Democratic State Representatives Charles Blake and Vivian Flowers, the chair of Arkansas Community Organizations Donna Massey, and Revered Stephen Copley, who led the recent voter-approved effort to gradually raise the minimum wage in Arkansas to $8.50 by 2017...
U.S. LABOR
Al Jazeera America becomes the latest new media organization to unionize The Guardian ...Al Jazeera America’s digital newsroom became the latest new media organization to unionize on Tuesday. Staff voted in favour 32 to 5, the National Labor Relations Board declared after counting the ballots cast by eligible employees. Al Jazeera America is the latest of a number of newsrooms to unionize this year...
Pot growers at Maryland company get union representation Business Journal ...Bethesda Biomedical Inc., awaiting state approval for a license to grow marijuana and operate a medical marijuana dispensary, has reached an agreement with the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400 to represent its employees. The agreement covers wages, health care, a retirement pension and other benefits for Bethesda Biomedical’s future employees...
UAW threatens strike at Fiat Chrysler U.S. operations Reuters ...United Auto Workers members are planning to strike at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV U.S. plants as soon as Wednesday evening, the first work stoppage since 2007, threatening to bring manufacturing to a halt. A strike at its U.S. operations could cost the automaker $40 million a week in operating profit, said Sean McAlinden, chief economist with the Center for Automotive Research...
With Sanders at the Helm, Lawmakers Lobby for Labor Common Dreams ...With organized labor increasingly under attack in the U.S., a handful of lawmakers is pushing to make it easier for workers to join unions, allowing them to pool their collective power to bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) on Tuesday unveiled new legislation, dubbed the Workplace Democracy Act, which would expedite the process for forming labor unions and penalize companies that delay negotiations...
Neoliberalism is crushing your mailman: The myth of the postal service’s financial ruin Salon ...The truth is that almost all of the postal service’s losses can be traced back to a single change in the law made by the Republican Congress in 2006. That year, the Congress passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA). Under the terms of PAEA, the USPS was forced to “prefund its future health care benefit payments to retirees for the next 75 years...
This Is What The World's Largest Companies Are Making Off Their Employees Huffington Post ...You’re going to want a raise after reading this. Marketing firm MVF Global has calculated the “true value” of employees around the world, and maybe not surprisingly there is a pretty large gap between what workers at the world’s largest companies are paid and what they're actually worth to the company...
The US Tells Other Countries to Respect Unions—Shouldn’t the US Do the Same? The Nation ... While the just-announced Trans-Pacific Partnership deal is flawed on many levels, it includes language that requires countries such as Vietnam to recognize and respect the right to form independent trade unions. Yet, while the US government tells other countries to respect the right to organize unions and collectively bargain, those rights have been under assault here...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Immigrant Rights Groups Will Start Protesting Obama Again Huffington Post ...Several immigrant rights groups announced Tuesday that they will spend a week protesting the deportation and detention policies of President Barack Obama, timed to mark the one-year anniversary of his announcement of executive actions to expand deportation relief. Obama, who has presided over more deportations than any other president, has long faced protests from immigrant rights activists...
Freedom for 6,000 Federal Prisoners The Atlantic ...About 6,000 federal inmates whose long sentences were reduced last year will be released at the end of October, marking the start of the most substantial effort yet to reduce America’s gargantuan prison population. The U.S. Sentencing Commission, an independent judicial agency that oversees federal sentencing guidelines, first voted in April 2014 to reduce federal drug guideline sentences in an effort to curb prison overcrowding and excessive punishments...
Teamsters At Sysco Back in Negotiations Today After Unanimous Strike Vote Local 117 ...Teamster warehouse workers and drivers who are employed at the major food service conglomerate Sysco have voted unanimously to authorize a strike. Union members voted 150-0 in favor of authorizing a strike after the Company allegedly committed a series of Unfair Labor Practices. The National Labor Relations Board is investigating Sysco for charges of bad-faith bargaining, unilateral changes in working conditions, and worker intimidation...
LA-based port truck driver to join President Obama at White House Summit on Worker Voice AJOT ...On Wed., October 7, a port truck driver who was misclassified for years as an “independent contractor” but fought for – and won – the right to be classified as an employee and is now a member of Teamsters Local 848, will be a panelist at the first ever “White House Summit on Worker Voice.” The professional driver, a husband and father to two young children, who was fired for filing a claim for Wage Theft with the California Labor Commissioner, now works for Eco Flow Transportation...
County to consider contract that includes raise for jail staff Merced Sun Star ...A group of Merced County jail and detention center employees would see their first pay raise in six years under an agreement to be considered Tuesday by the Merced County Board of Supervisors. The county has been in negotiations since May with Unit 12 of Teamsters Local Union 856, which represents more than a dozen unarmed and nonsworn employees of jails and juvenile detention centers...
A Strike May Park San Francisco's Tech Buses Gizmodo ...San Francisco’s tech workers may be looking for a new ride to work if their shuttle bus drivers go on strike over contract negotiations. At a meeting yesterday in San Leandro, leaders of the Teamsters Local 853 advised members to be prepared for a strike if there’s no progress on the contract proposal that the union approved and sent to Compass Transportation back in August. The proposal would increase pay and improve benefits for drivers...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Obama’s trade deal faces stiff headwinds The Hill ...The White House’s announcement Monday of an international trade deal covering 40 percent of the world’s economy sets the stage for a bruising, months-long congressional battle that is already spilling into the 2016 presidential race. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), an agreement between the U.S. and 11 other nations from Asia to Latin America, faces stiff headwinds in both parties...
Vilsack: TPP text available in next 30 days Capital Press ...U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership will be made available in the next 30 days. Farmers and members of Congress will be able to read the final text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership in the next 30 days, the head of the USDA says. Lawyers are “scrubbing the text” of the trade deal between the United States and 11 other countries, making sure it is accurate...
China Responds Cautiously To TPP Deal, Which Analysts Say Will Bring Pressure For Faster Reforms IBTimes ...China has reacted cautiously to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal (TPP), which U.S. President Barack Obama said explicitly was designed to prevent “countries like China” from writing "the rules of the global economy." China’s Ministry of Commerce said it took an “open-minded attitude” to the deal, though Chinese analysts said it would increase pressure on Beijing to introduce further economic reforms...
The Meat Industry Is Licking Its Chops Over Obama's Massive Trade Deal Mother Jones ...The US meat industry scored a big victory this week when world leaders hammered out an agreement that would reduce trade barriers across the Pacific: from the United Sates, Canada, Mexico, Peru, and Chile on this side to Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, and Singapore on the other. So how would the TPP affect Big Meat in the United States? The industry is currently facing stagnant domestic demand for its product as Americans eat less meat. The TPP would open markets...
Breast Cancer Patient Arrested for Protesting TPP: "This is Price Gouging at the Cost of Lives" Democracy Now ...The United States and drug companies had pressed for longer monopolies on new biotech drugs, while multiple countries opposed the push, saying it could deny life-saving medicines to patients who cannot afford high prices. The compromise reportedly includes monopolies of between five and eight years. Last week in Atlanta, Zahara Heckscher, a cancer patient, disrupted TPP negotiations and was arrested...
The Trans-Pacific Pact Would Kill Jobs and Consumer Protection (opinion) New York Times ...The TPP includes investor protections also found in NAFTA that incentivize American job offshoring by eliminating risks otherwise associated with producing in low-wage countries. It would drive down our wages by putting Americans in competition with Vietnamese workers who make less than 65 cents per hour...
Three million #noTTIP signatures delivered to EU Commission in London The Economic Voice ...Over three million signatures from across Europe calling for TTIP to be scrapped were submitted to representatives of the European Commission in London at 11.30 am this morning, in the shadow of a 6 metre high inflatable TTIP Trojan Horse. The Trojan Horse symbolised that while TTIP is presented as a 'trade deal,' critics argue that it actually constitutes an unprecedented corporate power grab...
IMF warns of stagnation threat to G7 economies The Guardian ...The International Monetary Fund is warning that the weak recovery in the west risks turning into near stagnation after cutting its global economic growth forecast for the fourth successive year. In its half-yearly update on the health of the world economy, the Washington-based fund predicted expansion of 3.1% in 2015, 0.2 points lower than it was expecting three months ago...
Tens of thousands protest government free-market measures for biggest demo in a year US News & World Report ...Tens of thousands of workers are demonstrating through Brussels to protest the free-market regulations and austerity measures that the center-right government has been pushing through during its first year in office. Belgium's three main unions joined hands Wednesday behind a common platform arguing that the government of Prime Minister Charles Michel is promoting big companies at the expense of the workforce...
IndustriALL Union files ILO complaint against Thailand Reuters ...IndustriALL, a global labor union with 50 million members, has filed a complaint against Thailand at the International Labour Organization in Geneva, the union said on Wednesday. The complaint, sent to the ILO's committee on freedom of association, details 18 cases of worker and labor abuses, IndustriALL said in a statement...
Cambodian Garment Workers Rally for Minimum Wage Raise Solidarity Center ...Some 21,000 garment workers from six unions at more than 60 factories across Cambodia dedicated their 30-minute lunch breaks to rallies calling for a higher minimum wage. The monthly minimum wage for garment and footwear workers is $128. Last year, Cambodia’s garment exports totaled $5.7 billion...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
W.Va. Gov. Tomblin Announces $100 Million Statewide Budget Cut WSAZ ...West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin on Monday announced a plan to save the state nearly $100 million. Tomblin said it is needed to curb the loss from declining coal and natural gas revenue. The governor said most state agency spending will be cut by 4 percent. Tomblin said the fiscal year deficit currently exceeds more than $250 million...
Gov. Brown signs bill aimed at eliminating gender wage gap LA Times ...California took a major step Tuesday toward closing the lingering wage gap between men and women, as Gov. Jerry Brown signed one of the toughest pay equity laws in the nation. Women in California who work full time are paid substantially less — a median 84 cents for every dollar — than men, according to a U.S Census Bureau report this year...
California minimum wage measure seeks to tap into income inequality worries SacBee ...Proponents of a statewide ballot measure to raise California’s minimum wage signaled Tuesday that their effort will seize on unrest over income distribution and frame the wage debate as one of fairness. In the first major event in support of the proposed initiative, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said they would lead the union-funded endeavor to hike the state’s base wage to $11...
Little Rock Workers Convene City's First Wage Board NPR ...As part of a national movement to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, some Little Rock workers plan to convene the city’s first wage board Tuesday. Little Rock’s four-member board is made up of Democratic State Representatives Charles Blake and Vivian Flowers, the chair of Arkansas Community Organizations Donna Massey, and Revered Stephen Copley, who led the recent voter-approved effort to gradually raise the minimum wage in Arkansas to $8.50 by 2017...
U.S. LABOR
Al Jazeera America becomes the latest new media organization to unionize The Guardian ...Al Jazeera America’s digital newsroom became the latest new media organization to unionize on Tuesday. Staff voted in favour 32 to 5, the National Labor Relations Board declared after counting the ballots cast by eligible employees. Al Jazeera America is the latest of a number of newsrooms to unionize this year...
Pot growers at Maryland company get union representation Business Journal ...Bethesda Biomedical Inc., awaiting state approval for a license to grow marijuana and operate a medical marijuana dispensary, has reached an agreement with the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400 to represent its employees. The agreement covers wages, health care, a retirement pension and other benefits for Bethesda Biomedical’s future employees...
UAW threatens strike at Fiat Chrysler U.S. operations Reuters ...United Auto Workers members are planning to strike at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV U.S. plants as soon as Wednesday evening, the first work stoppage since 2007, threatening to bring manufacturing to a halt. A strike at its U.S. operations could cost the automaker $40 million a week in operating profit, said Sean McAlinden, chief economist with the Center for Automotive Research...
With Sanders at the Helm, Lawmakers Lobby for Labor Common Dreams ...With organized labor increasingly under attack in the U.S., a handful of lawmakers is pushing to make it easier for workers to join unions, allowing them to pool their collective power to bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) on Tuesday unveiled new legislation, dubbed the Workplace Democracy Act, which would expedite the process for forming labor unions and penalize companies that delay negotiations...
Neoliberalism is crushing your mailman: The myth of the postal service’s financial ruin Salon ...The truth is that almost all of the postal service’s losses can be traced back to a single change in the law made by the Republican Congress in 2006. That year, the Congress passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA). Under the terms of PAEA, the USPS was forced to “prefund its future health care benefit payments to retirees for the next 75 years...
This Is What The World's Largest Companies Are Making Off Their Employees Huffington Post ...You’re going to want a raise after reading this. Marketing firm MVF Global has calculated the “true value” of employees around the world, and maybe not surprisingly there is a pretty large gap between what workers at the world’s largest companies are paid and what they're actually worth to the company...
The US Tells Other Countries to Respect Unions—Shouldn’t the US Do the Same? The Nation ... While the just-announced Trans-Pacific Partnership deal is flawed on many levels, it includes language that requires countries such as Vietnam to recognize and respect the right to form independent trade unions. Yet, while the US government tells other countries to respect the right to organize unions and collectively bargain, those rights have been under assault here...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Immigrant Rights Groups Will Start Protesting Obama Again Huffington Post ...Several immigrant rights groups announced Tuesday that they will spend a week protesting the deportation and detention policies of President Barack Obama, timed to mark the one-year anniversary of his announcement of executive actions to expand deportation relief. Obama, who has presided over more deportations than any other president, has long faced protests from immigrant rights activists...
Freedom for 6,000 Federal Prisoners The Atlantic ...About 6,000 federal inmates whose long sentences were reduced last year will be released at the end of October, marking the start of the most substantial effort yet to reduce America’s gargantuan prison population. The U.S. Sentencing Commission, an independent judicial agency that oversees federal sentencing guidelines, first voted in April 2014 to reduce federal drug guideline sentences in an effort to curb prison overcrowding and excessive punishments...
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Teamsters still pressing for rule to make companies disclose gap between CEO and worker pay
CEOs who loot their companies are actually capable of being ashamed that they make hundreds of times the average salary of their workers. That's why the Teamsters want the Securities and Exchange Commission to do what Congress told it to do. The SEC is supposed to issue a rule requiring companies to disclose the gap between the pay of their CEOs and their average worker. The SEC hasn't done it yet.
And CEOs are continuing to plunder their companies and consign their workers to poverty wages.
Take McKesson CEO John Hammergren, for example. He took home $51.7 million last year and his pension is worth an estimated $114 million. Hammergren isn't anxious to talk about his warehouse workers in Lakeland, Fla., who make so little money they can't afford health care. (They voted to become Teamsters, but McKesson doesn't want to bargain.) When Glenn Gray, a Teamster, spoke out publicly about his meager wages, McKesson fired him. (Fortunately, the NLRB ordered McKesson to give Brother Gray his job back.)
Sen. Robert Mendendez, a New Jersey Democrat, is pressuring the SEC to obey the law Congress passed four years ago. He's had help from Public Citizen and the Teamsters, who helped him gather signatures for a letter to the SEC.
Public Citizen issued a statement today supporting Menendez:
Take McKesson CEO John Hammergren, for example. He took home $51.7 million last year and his pension is worth an estimated $114 million. Hammergren isn't anxious to talk about his warehouse workers in Lakeland, Fla., who make so little money they can't afford health care. (They voted to become Teamsters, but McKesson doesn't want to bargain.) When Glenn Gray, a Teamster, spoke out publicly about his meager wages, McKesson fired him. (Fortunately, the NLRB ordered McKesson to give Brother Gray his job back.)
Sen. Robert Mendendez, a New Jersey Democrat, is pressuring the SEC to obey the law Congress passed four years ago. He's had help from Public Citizen and the Teamsters, who helped him gather signatures for a letter to the SEC.
Public Citizen issued a statement today supporting Menendez:
Public Citizen lauds the effort of 15 U.S. senators led by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) to promote the implementation of a four-year-old law that requires publicly traded companies to disclose the ratio of CEO pay to that of the median-paid employee at the firm.
In a letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which must implement the law, the senators ask for immediate attention to this provision of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
“This is the simplest of the 400 rules mandated by the Wall Street reform law,” said Bartlett Naylor, financial policy advocate for Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division.
“The rule is prepared and has the public support of two of the five SEC commissioners. SEC Chair Mary Jo White need only schedule a vote.”
“This rule will help investors better understand if CEOs and average workers receive appropriate compensation,” added Naylor. “That’s important in a day when too many CEOs siphon off extraordinary investor wealth while leaving the employees who generate the revenue from products and services underpaid. This is an unsustainable recipe both for the economy and for individual firms.”
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Today's Teamster News 06.04.14
Teamster News
Union Workers Approve Close Out Agreement With Rite-Aid West Virginia Metro News ...The Rite-Aid distribution center in Poca is going to stay open about 18 months longer than originally announced following a new deal between the company and Teamsters union...
Teamsters push to oust Rob Walton as Walmart board chairman, support Walmart strikers TeamsterNation ...The Teamsters Union is calling for an independent board chairmanat Walmart because of the company's labor violations and theongoing investigation into corruption and bribery in Mexico, China, Brazil and India...
Nearly 99 percent of BLET members authorize strike Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen ...An overwhelming 98.84 percent majority of BLET members working for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) have voted to authorize a strike when a mandatory 30-day cooling off period under the Railway Labor Act comes to an end in less than two weeks...
UPS In Wyoming Valley To Add Jobs, Convert Vehicles To Natural Gas Wilkes-Barre Times Leader ...Cartwright was at the facility off Armstrong Road to meet with UPS officials and employees to talk about several issues, including the company's "labor friendly" relationship with the Teamsters Union. More than 400,000 UPS workers nationwide are union members...
OnTrac Line Haul Drivers Ratify First-Ever Teamster Contract teamster.org ...line haul drivers ratified the first-ever Teamster contract at OnTrac, the largest regional package delivery company in America. The drivers are members of Teamsters Local Union 63 in Covina, Calif. and had been negotiating a first contract for more than a year...
Trade
NMPF, USDEC Threaten To Withdraw Support For Trans-Pacific Partnership Ag Web ...The majority of U.S. dairy farmer cooperatives and dairy processing companies, all of which are members of the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) or the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC), today threatened to withdraw support from the pending Trans-Pacific trade agreement...
Walmart's 'Made in USA' push exposes strains of manufacturing rebirth Reuters ...When Walmart pledged last year to buy an extra $250 billion in U.S.-made goods over the next decade, it appeared to be just what was needed to help move America's putative manufacturing renaissance from rhetoric to reality. But suppliers trying to reshore production as part of the initiative by the world's largest retailer are running into practical problems as they try to restart long-idled corners of U.S. manufacturing...
State Battles
Seattle To Enact $15 Minimum Wage Washington Post ...The Seattle City Council voted unanimously Monday to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, equaling the highest minimum wage in the nation...
Scott Walker's Dark Money Troubles The Progressive ...The week after Governor Scott Walker's opponent Mary Burke pulled even with Walker in the polls, the Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity dumped $900,000 into a major TV ad buy in Wisconsin, aimed at persuading Wisconsinites that things are going better in the state than they may think...
War On Workers
After Crash Killing 47, Oil-by-Rail on Trial in Canada, Maine truthout ...The explosive growth of oil by rail traffic in the United States and Canada and the failure to do anything about safety except tinker around the edges of the matter all but guarantee that the string of oil train crashes that followed the Lac Mégantic tragedy will continue...
Allure of Homeownership Slumps Amid Worries of Continued Crisis Wall Street Journal ...While home prices have stopped falling, the vast majority of Americans still believe the housing crisis isn’t over, according to a wide-ranging survey on housing attitudes released Tuesday...
Walmart Workers Are Going On Strike To Speak Out. Why Walmart Should Listen Christian Science Monitor ...The current struggle of low-wage workers across America echoes the civil rights struggle of the 1960s. Today, as then, a group of Americans is denied the dignity of decent wages and working conditions...
1 in 5 Children Live in Poverty in U.S. CNS News ...One in five children under age 18, or 21.3%, are living in poverty in the United States, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau...
Low Retail Wages Disproportionately Hurt Women MSNBC ...Women earn disproportionately low wages across the entire retail industry, according to a new report from the left-leaning think tank Demos...
D.C. Council To Vote On Wage Theft Bill Tuesday ABC News ...The D.C. Council is set to vote on a bill that would enhance penalties for employers who pay their employees illegal wages or less than what they've agreed to pay...
Miscellaneous
Income From Work Is Shrinking. Here Is Where Most Americans Are Getting More Of Their Income Now Vox ...Americans' income from work is substantially smaller than it used to be. The Washington Post's Lydia DePillis today highlights a Wells Fargo report that Americans' non-labor income is growing while their income from jobs is diminishing...
Could A 6-Cent Tax Sour Us On Soda And Sugary Drinks? PBS ...A new study published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics concludes that a tax on sodas and other sugary beverages could be the way to go. Specifically, the authors argue that taxing by the calorie would prompt consumers to cut back...
Union Workers Approve Close Out Agreement With Rite-Aid West Virginia Metro News ...The Rite-Aid distribution center in Poca is going to stay open about 18 months longer than originally announced following a new deal between the company and Teamsters union...
Teamsters push to oust Rob Walton as Walmart board chairman, support Walmart strikers TeamsterNation ...The Teamsters Union is calling for an independent board chairmanat Walmart because of the company's labor violations and theongoing investigation into corruption and bribery in Mexico, China, Brazil and India...
Nearly 99 percent of BLET members authorize strike Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen ...An overwhelming 98.84 percent majority of BLET members working for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) have voted to authorize a strike when a mandatory 30-day cooling off period under the Railway Labor Act comes to an end in less than two weeks...
UPS In Wyoming Valley To Add Jobs, Convert Vehicles To Natural Gas Wilkes-Barre Times Leader ...Cartwright was at the facility off Armstrong Road to meet with UPS officials and employees to talk about several issues, including the company's "labor friendly" relationship with the Teamsters Union. More than 400,000 UPS workers nationwide are union members...
OnTrac Line Haul Drivers Ratify First-Ever Teamster Contract teamster.org ...line haul drivers ratified the first-ever Teamster contract at OnTrac, the largest regional package delivery company in America. The drivers are members of Teamsters Local Union 63 in Covina, Calif. and had been negotiating a first contract for more than a year...
Trade
NMPF, USDEC Threaten To Withdraw Support For Trans-Pacific Partnership Ag Web ...The majority of U.S. dairy farmer cooperatives and dairy processing companies, all of which are members of the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) or the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC), today threatened to withdraw support from the pending Trans-Pacific trade agreement...
Walmart's 'Made in USA' push exposes strains of manufacturing rebirth Reuters ...When Walmart pledged last year to buy an extra $250 billion in U.S.-made goods over the next decade, it appeared to be just what was needed to help move America's putative manufacturing renaissance from rhetoric to reality. But suppliers trying to reshore production as part of the initiative by the world's largest retailer are running into practical problems as they try to restart long-idled corners of U.S. manufacturing...
State Battles
Seattle To Enact $15 Minimum Wage Washington Post ...The Seattle City Council voted unanimously Monday to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, equaling the highest minimum wage in the nation...
Scott Walker's Dark Money Troubles The Progressive ...The week after Governor Scott Walker's opponent Mary Burke pulled even with Walker in the polls, the Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity dumped $900,000 into a major TV ad buy in Wisconsin, aimed at persuading Wisconsinites that things are going better in the state than they may think...
War On Workers
After Crash Killing 47, Oil-by-Rail on Trial in Canada, Maine truthout ...The explosive growth of oil by rail traffic in the United States and Canada and the failure to do anything about safety except tinker around the edges of the matter all but guarantee that the string of oil train crashes that followed the Lac Mégantic tragedy will continue...
Allure of Homeownership Slumps Amid Worries of Continued Crisis Wall Street Journal ...While home prices have stopped falling, the vast majority of Americans still believe the housing crisis isn’t over, according to a wide-ranging survey on housing attitudes released Tuesday...
Walmart Workers Are Going On Strike To Speak Out. Why Walmart Should Listen Christian Science Monitor ...The current struggle of low-wage workers across America echoes the civil rights struggle of the 1960s. Today, as then, a group of Americans is denied the dignity of decent wages and working conditions...
1 in 5 Children Live in Poverty in U.S. CNS News ...One in five children under age 18, or 21.3%, are living in poverty in the United States, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau...
Low Retail Wages Disproportionately Hurt Women MSNBC ...Women earn disproportionately low wages across the entire retail industry, according to a new report from the left-leaning think tank Demos...
D.C. Council To Vote On Wage Theft Bill Tuesday ABC News ...The D.C. Council is set to vote on a bill that would enhance penalties for employers who pay their employees illegal wages or less than what they've agreed to pay...
Miscellaneous
Income From Work Is Shrinking. Here Is Where Most Americans Are Getting More Of Their Income Now Vox ...Americans' income from work is substantially smaller than it used to be. The Washington Post's Lydia DePillis today highlights a Wells Fargo report that Americans' non-labor income is growing while their income from jobs is diminishing...
Could A 6-Cent Tax Sour Us On Soda And Sugary Drinks? PBS ...A new study published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics concludes that a tax on sodas and other sugary beverages could be the way to go. Specifically, the authors argue that taxing by the calorie would prompt consumers to cut back...
Friday, May 2, 2014
The SEC is letting the market stay rigged
A congressman from Massachusetts criticized the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair, Mary Jo White, yesterday for failing to do her job. She's a former Wall Street lawyer (no shock there, right?)
The Teamsters are trying to put some backbone in the agency. We want the SEC to set some rules that require corporations to tell shareholders how much money they're spending on political campaigns. We think it's important to let investors know if a corporate CEO is directing money to politicians who don't act in the best interest of the country or the company. Even though Congress ordered the SEC to make that rule, we're still waiting for it.
We also want the SEC to set a rule requiring companies to disclose the gap between CEO pay and worker pay. We're waiting for the agency to follow Congress's orders on that one, too.
The SEC is supposed to regulate the stock market. It isn't really. Here's U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano on the SEC's fail, thanks to the Wall Street on Parade blog:
The Teamsters are trying to put some backbone in the agency. We want the SEC to set some rules that require corporations to tell shareholders how much money they're spending on political campaigns. We think it's important to let investors know if a corporate CEO is directing money to politicians who don't act in the best interest of the country or the company. Even though Congress ordered the SEC to make that rule, we're still waiting for it.
We also want the SEC to set a rule requiring companies to disclose the gap between CEO pay and worker pay. We're waiting for the agency to follow Congress's orders on that one, too.
The SEC is supposed to regulate the stock market. It isn't really. Here's U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano on the SEC's fail, thanks to the Wall Street on Parade blog:
“Six years ago we had a humongous financial crisis — greatest in my lifetime, hopefully the last in my lifetime, we’ll see. Five years ago we passed a significant law to try to address some of the things that caused that crisis. Three years ago the SEC passed some proposed regulations, adopted proposed regulations, relative to credit rating agencies that came out of that Dodd-Frank bill – three years later those rules are still not finalized.
“A few years ago Supreme Court made a ruling that corporations are people and they can spend money any where they want…many of us asked the SEC to address that issue — to simply require corporations who make political donations to simply publicize them — and the SEC has now taken a walk on that request after several years of being asked.
“Recently you had one of your long term attorneys, who I understand is well respected within the agency, retire. At his retirement party, he basically criticized the SEC’s approach over the last several years as being too timid relative to enforcement actions against some of the biggest names on Wall Street, therefore leading to an attitude on Wall Street that what’s the big deal, we can get away with it; maybe pay a small fine relative to the rewards we reap.
“And now recently we’ve had a book that’s come out by a well respected author, whether you agree with all the details or not, certainly raises questions, serious questions, as to whether the whole market is rigged against especially small investors…After all these things — that the SEC really hasn’t done much about.”
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Today's Teamster News 12.05.13
Teamsters, firefighters drop proposals to help Leamington Windsor Star ...Unionized employees with the Town of Leamington have overwhelmingly ratified new collective agreements after withdrawing virtually all of their proposals in the wake of last month’s announcement that the town’s Heinz plant would close next summer...
Allegheny court employees union files unfair labor practice lawsuit Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ...Teamsters Local 249, which represents more than 550 court employees, filed an unfair labor practice charge on Tuesday alleging Allegheny County withheld annual payments that act as Christmas bonuses to some of the county's lowest paid workers...
Conservative group ALEC pushes stealth tax on homeowners who install solar panels The Guardian ...An alliance of corporations and conservative activists is mobilising to penalise homeowners who install their own solar panels – casting them as “freeriders” – in a sweeping new offensive against renewable energy, the Guardian has learned...
It’s not just fast-food workers who are underpaid Reuters ...While conventional fast-food companies like McDonald’s are receiving the bulk of public opprobrium for paying their workers a less-than-living wage, the reality is that what are perceived as more upscale businesses are not doing much better by many of their employees...
Austerity is Americanizing European labor markets Salon ...Workers throughout Europe are losing their rights as their nations race to reduce the costs of labor...
Thousands of children unvaccinated, aid organisation warns EnetEnglish ...Thousands of children in Greece have been left unvaccinated because they and their parents have no health insurance, the Greek section of an international humanitarian aid organisation has said....
Austerity has eroded human rights, Council of Europe study says Enet English ..."Many governments in Europe imposing austerity measures have forgotten about their human rights obligations, especially the social and economic rights of the most vulnerable, the need to ensure access to justice, and the right to equal treatment," said the Council of Europe's human rights commissioner, at the launch of the research paper, entitled Safeguarding human rights in times of economic crisis...
Right-to-work battle brewing Canadian HR Reporter ...The right-to-work movement that started south of the border is trying to march north. Whether it successfully clears customs and establishes a foothold could hinge, in large part, on the outcome of the next Ontario election…
12 Corporate Espionage Tactics Used Against Leading Progressive Groups, Activists and Whistleblowers AlterNet ...Corporate spies for Dow, Kraft and others have tried to discredit, shame and infiltrate civic groups using an array of dirty tricks...
Tax breaks for CEOs pay for million-dollar salaries The Guardian ...CEOs' salaries are ballooning thanks to tax breaks that turn bonuses into government subsidies for corporate America...
Wal-Mart pays legal fees in bribery probe Reuters ...Wal-Mart Stores is paying for lawyers to represent more than 30 of its executives involved in a foreign corruption investigation, according to people familiar with the matter...
NSA tracking cellphone locations worldwide, Snowden documents show Washington Post ...The National Security Agency is gathering nearly 5 billion records a day on the whereabouts of cellphones around the world, according to top-secret documents and interviews with U.S. intelligence officials, enabling the agency to track the movements of individuals — and map their relationships — in ways that would have been previously unimaginable...
2 Million Stolen Facebook, Yahoo And Google Passwords Posted Online Huffington Post ...More than 2 million passwords for sites including Facebook, Yahoo, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google have been stolen and posted online, BCC reports...
Whistle-blower tries to shed light on private-equity transaction fees Crain's New York Business ...In the past 10 years, private-equity firms have collected $2 billion in transaction fees, which essentially are bonuses the firms take for conducting their business of buying, managing and selling companies...
Exclusive: Corporate cronyism under fire, faces existential threat Salon ...In Indiana, a private toll road operator refused to let state troopers shut down a toll road due to a snowstorm. In Florida, the Palm Beach Post found that three out of six private prisons saved taxpayers no money. In Chicago, a 75-year contract signed in 2009 restricts the government from adding bicycle lanes or sidewalk space because of the potential impact on private parking meter profits...
Truck with radioactive load stolen Associated Press ...A cargo truck hauling used medical equipment with extremely dangerous radioactive material was stolen from a gas station in central Mexico, and authorities have put out an alert in six central states and the capital to find it...
Allegheny court employees union files unfair labor practice lawsuit Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ...Teamsters Local 249, which represents more than 550 court employees, filed an unfair labor practice charge on Tuesday alleging Allegheny County withheld annual payments that act as Christmas bonuses to some of the county's lowest paid workers...
Conservative group ALEC pushes stealth tax on homeowners who install solar panels The Guardian ...An alliance of corporations and conservative activists is mobilising to penalise homeowners who install their own solar panels – casting them as “freeriders” – in a sweeping new offensive against renewable energy, the Guardian has learned...
It’s not just fast-food workers who are underpaid Reuters ...While conventional fast-food companies like McDonald’s are receiving the bulk of public opprobrium for paying their workers a less-than-living wage, the reality is that what are perceived as more upscale businesses are not doing much better by many of their employees...
Austerity is Americanizing European labor markets Salon ...Workers throughout Europe are losing their rights as their nations race to reduce the costs of labor...
Thousands of children unvaccinated, aid organisation warns EnetEnglish ...Thousands of children in Greece have been left unvaccinated because they and their parents have no health insurance, the Greek section of an international humanitarian aid organisation has said....
Austerity has eroded human rights, Council of Europe study says Enet English ..."Many governments in Europe imposing austerity measures have forgotten about their human rights obligations, especially the social and economic rights of the most vulnerable, the need to ensure access to justice, and the right to equal treatment," said the Council of Europe's human rights commissioner, at the launch of the research paper, entitled Safeguarding human rights in times of economic crisis...
Right-to-work battle brewing Canadian HR Reporter ...The right-to-work movement that started south of the border is trying to march north. Whether it successfully clears customs and establishes a foothold could hinge, in large part, on the outcome of the next Ontario election…
12 Corporate Espionage Tactics Used Against Leading Progressive Groups, Activists and Whistleblowers AlterNet ...Corporate spies for Dow, Kraft and others have tried to discredit, shame and infiltrate civic groups using an array of dirty tricks...
Tax breaks for CEOs pay for million-dollar salaries The Guardian ...CEOs' salaries are ballooning thanks to tax breaks that turn bonuses into government subsidies for corporate America...
Wal-Mart pays legal fees in bribery probe Reuters ...Wal-Mart Stores is paying for lawyers to represent more than 30 of its executives involved in a foreign corruption investigation, according to people familiar with the matter...
NSA tracking cellphone locations worldwide, Snowden documents show Washington Post ...The National Security Agency is gathering nearly 5 billion records a day on the whereabouts of cellphones around the world, according to top-secret documents and interviews with U.S. intelligence officials, enabling the agency to track the movements of individuals — and map their relationships — in ways that would have been previously unimaginable...
2 Million Stolen Facebook, Yahoo And Google Passwords Posted Online Huffington Post ...More than 2 million passwords for sites including Facebook, Yahoo, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google have been stolen and posted online, BCC reports...
Whistle-blower tries to shed light on private-equity transaction fees Crain's New York Business ...In the past 10 years, private-equity firms have collected $2 billion in transaction fees, which essentially are bonuses the firms take for conducting their business of buying, managing and selling companies...
Exclusive: Corporate cronyism under fire, faces existential threat Salon ...In Indiana, a private toll road operator refused to let state troopers shut down a toll road due to a snowstorm. In Florida, the Palm Beach Post found that three out of six private prisons saved taxpayers no money. In Chicago, a 75-year contract signed in 2009 restricts the government from adding bicycle lanes or sidewalk space because of the potential impact on private parking meter profits...
Truck with radioactive load stolen Associated Press ...A cargo truck hauling used medical equipment with extremely dangerous radioactive material was stolen from a gas station in central Mexico, and authorities have put out an alert in six central states and the capital to find it...
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Today's Teamster News 09.26.13
(UPDATES with items about federal contract worker pay)
Hoffa Calls On Cruz, Right-Wing Extremists To Stop ACA Misrepresentations teamster.org ...Here's an official statement by Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa...
Hundreds of Manufacturing Workers Ratify First Teamster Contract Joint Council 25 ...Approximately 340 manufacturing employees at Senior Flexonics ratified their first contract with Teamsters Local 330 by a 3-to-1 margin...
Teamsters: Private Prison Quotas Rob Taxpayers teamster.org ...The Teamsters Union is denouncing the findings of a new study revealing that private prison management firms have contracts that directly link profits to inmate capacity. The Teamsters Union represents 30,000 correctional officers in 20 states across the country...
Teamsters Capital Strategies Speaks Out On Wage Disparity The Leslie Marshall Show ...A proposed rule for the Security and Exchange Commission would shed light on the ratio of media worker pay versus that of a company’s CEO...
BASIS TLA Scheduled October 7-11 teamster.org ...The IBT Training and Development Department will conduct a Teamsters Leadership Academy for new local union business agents, October 7-11, 2013, at the union's headquarters in Washington, D.C...
Organizational Skills for Office Managers Scheduled for November 6-8 teamster.org ...The IBT Training and Development Department will conduct a TLA for Teamster Office Managers and key administrative staff, November 6-8, 2013, at the union's headquarters in Washington, D.C...
Federal Contracts Send Billions Of Dollars To CEOs But Pay Workers A Poverty Wage ThinkProgress ...The contracting practices that make the federal government the largest low-wage employer in the country are also paying top corporate executives nearly $24 billion per year according to new research from the think tank Demos...
Federal workers to strike, march on White House Wednesday Salon ...Cleaning and concessions workers in federal buildings will protest their taxpayer-funded poverty jobs...
How Bad Data Warped Everything We Thought We Knew About the Jobs Recovery The Atlantic ... the jobs report's real margin of error has been about as big as the average jobs report itself the past few years...
Wal-Mart Cutting Orders as Unsold Merchandise Piles Up Bloomberg News ...Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) is cutting orders it places with suppliers this quarter and next to address rising inventories the company flagged in last month’s earnings report...
Steelmakers rally against China Pittsburgh Business Times ...Steel manufacturers in the U.S. have been filing complaints with U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission against a number of countries, including China, charging that unregulated imports are causing material injury to the domestic steel industry...
Austerity measures push Greek universities to point of collapse The Guardian ...Internationally mandated austerity measures have pushed universities in Greece to the point of collapse with many of the debt-stricken country's pre-eminent higher education institutions being forced to suspend operations...
Revealed: Qatar's World Cup 'slaves' The Guardian ...thousands of Nepalese, who make up the single largest group of labourers in Qatar, face exploitation and abuses that amount to modern-day slavery, as defined by the International Labour Organisation, during a building binge paving the way for 2022...
Union to Protest Staffing Levels at Iowa Prisons Associated Press ...The union that represents correctional officers at Iowa prisons is planning an informational picket to raise awareness about what it calls dangerously low staffing levels...
CFPB Takes Aim At Sallie Mae For Student Loan Servicing Huffington Post ...A federal consumer regulator has taken aim at the Department of Education’s preferred companies for servicing the agency’s $1 trillion in student loans, highlighting potentially poor customer service and raising the specter of increased government scrutiny...
Is President Obama In Denial About the National Threat Wall Street Poses (opinion) Wall Street on Parade ...This is not a banking system – this is an institutionalized, legalized, mechanized, wealth transfer system bearing the imprimatur of the President of the United States and the U.S. Congress through their refusal to take the simple measure that can stop the looting in its tracks – the restoration of the Glass-Steagall Act...
The Republican Vote to Cut Food Stamps is Really a Decision to Kill the "Useless Eaters" (opinion) AlterNet ...15 million Americans were “food insecure” in the United States during 2012. The Great Recession has increased the number of Americans who do not have sufficient food by 30 percent. The fastest growing group of people who need some assistance is the elderly...
Some public companies are divulging more details about their political contributions Washington Post ...Some of the nation’s largest publicly traded companies are divulging more details about their political contributions, in part to ward off lawsuits and mounting pressure from shareholders, who increasingly have thrust the issue before boards of directors...
City workers protest Emanuel over contract talks Chicago Tribune ...Scores of union workers protested outside city buildings during lunch Tuesday, taking aim at Mayor Rahm Emanuel for what they contend is an attempt to retroactively freeze their wages after privatizing hundreds of jobs in the past couple of years...
Exposing The Pay Gap New York Times ...Of all the provisions in the vast and complex Dodd-Frank financial reform law, one of the most far-reaching is also the most direct and easily understood. It requires public companies to compute and disclose the ratio of a chief executive’s pay to that of a typical employee...
For-Hire Trucking Tonnage Index Rose in August Journal of Commerce ...The American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Trucking Tonnage Index increased 1.4 percent in August from July, to 126.9, after slipping 0.6 percent in July...
How A New Job Application Form Could Save Hundreds Of Californians From Returning To Prison Think Progress ...In an attempt to cut down on employment discrimination against felons and reduce recidivism rates, a bill waiting for California Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature would remove a question on local and state job applications asking applicants about their criminal record...
Hoffa Calls On Cruz, Right-Wing Extremists To Stop ACA Misrepresentations teamster.org ...Here's an official statement by Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa...
Hundreds of Manufacturing Workers Ratify First Teamster Contract Joint Council 25 ...Approximately 340 manufacturing employees at Senior Flexonics ratified their first contract with Teamsters Local 330 by a 3-to-1 margin...
Teamsters: Private Prison Quotas Rob Taxpayers teamster.org ...The Teamsters Union is denouncing the findings of a new study revealing that private prison management firms have contracts that directly link profits to inmate capacity. The Teamsters Union represents 30,000 correctional officers in 20 states across the country...
Teamsters Capital Strategies Speaks Out On Wage Disparity The Leslie Marshall Show ...A proposed rule for the Security and Exchange Commission would shed light on the ratio of media worker pay versus that of a company’s CEO...
BASIS TLA Scheduled October 7-11 teamster.org ...The IBT Training and Development Department will conduct a Teamsters Leadership Academy for new local union business agents, October 7-11, 2013, at the union's headquarters in Washington, D.C...
Organizational Skills for Office Managers Scheduled for November 6-8 teamster.org ...The IBT Training and Development Department will conduct a TLA for Teamster Office Managers and key administrative staff, November 6-8, 2013, at the union's headquarters in Washington, D.C...
Federal Contracts Send Billions Of Dollars To CEOs But Pay Workers A Poverty Wage ThinkProgress ...The contracting practices that make the federal government the largest low-wage employer in the country are also paying top corporate executives nearly $24 billion per year according to new research from the think tank Demos...
Federal workers to strike, march on White House Wednesday Salon ...Cleaning and concessions workers in federal buildings will protest their taxpayer-funded poverty jobs...
How Bad Data Warped Everything We Thought We Knew About the Jobs Recovery The Atlantic ... the jobs report's real margin of error has been about as big as the average jobs report itself the past few years...
Wal-Mart Cutting Orders as Unsold Merchandise Piles Up Bloomberg News ...Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) is cutting orders it places with suppliers this quarter and next to address rising inventories the company flagged in last month’s earnings report...
Steelmakers rally against China Pittsburgh Business Times ...Steel manufacturers in the U.S. have been filing complaints with U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission against a number of countries, including China, charging that unregulated imports are causing material injury to the domestic steel industry...
Austerity measures push Greek universities to point of collapse The Guardian ...Internationally mandated austerity measures have pushed universities in Greece to the point of collapse with many of the debt-stricken country's pre-eminent higher education institutions being forced to suspend operations...
Revealed: Qatar's World Cup 'slaves' The Guardian ...thousands of Nepalese, who make up the single largest group of labourers in Qatar, face exploitation and abuses that amount to modern-day slavery, as defined by the International Labour Organisation, during a building binge paving the way for 2022...
Union to Protest Staffing Levels at Iowa Prisons Associated Press ...The union that represents correctional officers at Iowa prisons is planning an informational picket to raise awareness about what it calls dangerously low staffing levels...
CFPB Takes Aim At Sallie Mae For Student Loan Servicing Huffington Post ...A federal consumer regulator has taken aim at the Department of Education’s preferred companies for servicing the agency’s $1 trillion in student loans, highlighting potentially poor customer service and raising the specter of increased government scrutiny...
Is President Obama In Denial About the National Threat Wall Street Poses (opinion) Wall Street on Parade ...This is not a banking system – this is an institutionalized, legalized, mechanized, wealth transfer system bearing the imprimatur of the President of the United States and the U.S. Congress through their refusal to take the simple measure that can stop the looting in its tracks – the restoration of the Glass-Steagall Act...
The Republican Vote to Cut Food Stamps is Really a Decision to Kill the "Useless Eaters" (opinion) AlterNet ...15 million Americans were “food insecure” in the United States during 2012. The Great Recession has increased the number of Americans who do not have sufficient food by 30 percent. The fastest growing group of people who need some assistance is the elderly...
Some public companies are divulging more details about their political contributions Washington Post ...Some of the nation’s largest publicly traded companies are divulging more details about their political contributions, in part to ward off lawsuits and mounting pressure from shareholders, who increasingly have thrust the issue before boards of directors...
City workers protest Emanuel over contract talks Chicago Tribune ...Scores of union workers protested outside city buildings during lunch Tuesday, taking aim at Mayor Rahm Emanuel for what they contend is an attempt to retroactively freeze their wages after privatizing hundreds of jobs in the past couple of years...
Exposing The Pay Gap New York Times ...Of all the provisions in the vast and complex Dodd-Frank financial reform law, one of the most far-reaching is also the most direct and easily understood. It requires public companies to compute and disclose the ratio of a chief executive’s pay to that of a typical employee...
For-Hire Trucking Tonnage Index Rose in August Journal of Commerce ...The American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Trucking Tonnage Index increased 1.4 percent in August from July, to 126.9, after slipping 0.6 percent in July...
How A New Job Application Form Could Save Hundreds Of Californians From Returning To Prison Think Progress ...In an attempt to cut down on employment discrimination against felons and reduce recidivism rates, a bill waiting for California Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature would remove a question on local and state job applications asking applicants about their criminal record...
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Today's Teamster News 09.17.13
Lincare Drivers Join the Teamsters Union teamster.org ...Drivers with Lincare Inc. in Marlborough, Mass., voted unanimously on Sept. 16 to join Teamsters Local 170 in Worcester, Mass...
Legislation would prevent shortcuts in setting sleep apnea regulations Fleet Owner ...Trucking interests, including the Teamsters Union, are applauding legislation introduced late last week that would prevent the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration from taking shortcuts in the process if they intend to set standards for screening and testing professional drivers for sleep apnea...
Culinary Union warns of citywide strike in Vegas Associated Press ...The Culinary Union has issued a written warning to Wall Street investors, saying a citywide strike by Las Vegas hotel workers is possible if contracts aren't inked soon with two major companies...
Rich-Poor Employment Gap Now Widest On Record Associated Press ...The gap in employment rates between America's highest- and lowest-income families has stretched to its widest levels since officials began tracking the data a decade ago, according to an analysis of government data conducted for The Associated Press...
Amid slow economic recovery, more Americans identify as 'lower class' Los Angeles Times ...A small but surging share of Americans consider themselves 'lower class,' a surprise to some researchers and activists despite the bruising economy...
House GOP moves forward with $40 billion cut to food stamps The Hill ...House Republicans on Monday introduced a food stamp reform bill that they say will cut $40 billion from the program over 10 years....
CFPB Warns Employers About Payroll Card Abuse AFL-CIO Now ... The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) warned employers yesterday about the misuse of prepaid payroll cards and that they cannot require workers receive their wages via prepaid cards. ..
Larry Summers Withdraws From Fed Chair Race Fire Dog Lake ...In a stinging rebuke to the forces of financial deregulation in general, and the Robert Rubin clique in particular, Larry Summers withdrew his name from consideration for Chairman of the Federal Reserve after it became clear he could not be confirmed...
American Fugitive Used Big Banks To Shuffle More Than $1 Million Offshore, Records Show ICIJ ...An American wanted on organized crime charges in New Jersey and New York shuffled more than $1 million around the world through accounts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Australia’s ANZ Bank, confidential records show...
The US Federal Deficit Continues to Shrink truthout ...The federal budget deficit has been plummeting in size over the last few years; however, judging from polls, most Americans do not know that – indeed, their concern over the deficit has grown even as the annual deficit has shrunk significantly...
Third World Watch: Deadly Brain Amoeba Found in US Tap Water Naked Capitalism ...The US now ranks 27th in life expectancy among 34 advanced economies, down from 20 in 1990.But in addition to the considerable health dangers of stress and weak social bonds, more obvious public health risks may be coming to the fore. Strained municipal budgets means reduced public services...
POSITIVE TRAIN CONTROL: Additional Authorities Could Benefit Implementation GAO ...To install positive train control (PTC)--a communications-based system designed to prevent certain types of train accidents caused by human factors-- almost all railroads are overlaying their existing infrastructure with PTC components; nonetheless, most railroads report they will miss the December 31, 2015, implementation deadline...
Week-long strikes against austerity, reform begin in Greece Xinhuanet ...Greece's labor unions launched on Monday a new week of strike action, the most extensive this autumn, against austerity and reform measures introduced to tackle Greece's crippling debt problems...
Phoenix pension ‘spiking’ rules vary for city employees Arizona Republic ...While retiring Phoenix City Manager David Cavazos considers converting roughly $200,000 in unused sick leave to enhance his pension, the city is fighting rank-and-file municipal employees in court to keep them from doing the same thing...
Groups may seek privatized liquor sales in Oregon Statesman Journal ...Grocery stores and convenience stores may get behind a ballot initiative to privatize state-run liquor stores now that the Oregon Liquor Control Commission has decided to let liquor stores sell wine and beer...
Right-to-work ruling faces rough road Post-Tribune ...They couldn’t stop it in the General Assembly, and they failed in federal court. But last week, opponents of Indiana’s right-to-work law finally had reason to celebrate, when Lake Superior Court Judge John Sedia ruled the law unconstitutional...
Wisconsin DOT provides grant, loans for four freight-rail projects Progressive Railroading ...Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Friday announced the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) will provide grants and loans totaling nearly $11 million for four freight-rail improvement projects...
Legislation would prevent shortcuts in setting sleep apnea regulations Fleet Owner ...Trucking interests, including the Teamsters Union, are applauding legislation introduced late last week that would prevent the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration from taking shortcuts in the process if they intend to set standards for screening and testing professional drivers for sleep apnea...
Culinary Union warns of citywide strike in Vegas Associated Press ...The Culinary Union has issued a written warning to Wall Street investors, saying a citywide strike by Las Vegas hotel workers is possible if contracts aren't inked soon with two major companies...
Rich-Poor Employment Gap Now Widest On Record Associated Press ...The gap in employment rates between America's highest- and lowest-income families has stretched to its widest levels since officials began tracking the data a decade ago, according to an analysis of government data conducted for The Associated Press...
Amid slow economic recovery, more Americans identify as 'lower class' Los Angeles Times ...A small but surging share of Americans consider themselves 'lower class,' a surprise to some researchers and activists despite the bruising economy...
House GOP moves forward with $40 billion cut to food stamps The Hill ...House Republicans on Monday introduced a food stamp reform bill that they say will cut $40 billion from the program over 10 years....
CFPB Warns Employers About Payroll Card Abuse AFL-CIO Now ... The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) warned employers yesterday about the misuse of prepaid payroll cards and that they cannot require workers receive their wages via prepaid cards. ..
Larry Summers Withdraws From Fed Chair Race Fire Dog Lake ...In a stinging rebuke to the forces of financial deregulation in general, and the Robert Rubin clique in particular, Larry Summers withdrew his name from consideration for Chairman of the Federal Reserve after it became clear he could not be confirmed...
American Fugitive Used Big Banks To Shuffle More Than $1 Million Offshore, Records Show ICIJ ...An American wanted on organized crime charges in New Jersey and New York shuffled more than $1 million around the world through accounts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Australia’s ANZ Bank, confidential records show...
The US Federal Deficit Continues to Shrink truthout ...The federal budget deficit has been plummeting in size over the last few years; however, judging from polls, most Americans do not know that – indeed, their concern over the deficit has grown even as the annual deficit has shrunk significantly...
Third World Watch: Deadly Brain Amoeba Found in US Tap Water Naked Capitalism ...The US now ranks 27th in life expectancy among 34 advanced economies, down from 20 in 1990.But in addition to the considerable health dangers of stress and weak social bonds, more obvious public health risks may be coming to the fore. Strained municipal budgets means reduced public services...
POSITIVE TRAIN CONTROL: Additional Authorities Could Benefit Implementation GAO ...To install positive train control (PTC)--a communications-based system designed to prevent certain types of train accidents caused by human factors-- almost all railroads are overlaying their existing infrastructure with PTC components; nonetheless, most railroads report they will miss the December 31, 2015, implementation deadline...
Week-long strikes against austerity, reform begin in Greece Xinhuanet ...Greece's labor unions launched on Monday a new week of strike action, the most extensive this autumn, against austerity and reform measures introduced to tackle Greece's crippling debt problems...
Phoenix pension ‘spiking’ rules vary for city employees Arizona Republic ...While retiring Phoenix City Manager David Cavazos considers converting roughly $200,000 in unused sick leave to enhance his pension, the city is fighting rank-and-file municipal employees in court to keep them from doing the same thing...
Groups may seek privatized liquor sales in Oregon Statesman Journal ...Grocery stores and convenience stores may get behind a ballot initiative to privatize state-run liquor stores now that the Oregon Liquor Control Commission has decided to let liquor stores sell wine and beer...
Right-to-work ruling faces rough road Post-Tribune ...They couldn’t stop it in the General Assembly, and they failed in federal court. But last week, opponents of Indiana’s right-to-work law finally had reason to celebrate, when Lake Superior Court Judge John Sedia ruled the law unconstitutional...
Wisconsin DOT provides grant, loans for four freight-rail projects Progressive Railroading ...Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Friday announced the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) will provide grants and loans totaling nearly $11 million for four freight-rail improvement projects...
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Today's Teamster News 08.08.13
Federal Mediator Arrive To Teamsters Strike Against Gold Cross Ambulance Imperial Valley Press ...Federal mediators arrived Tuesday to assist with negotiations between Gold Cross Ambulance employees on strike and the company...
Teamsters Local 2010 Signs Up 333 New Members Teamsters Local 2010 ...Employees at the University of California’s state-wide campuses stepped up and joined Local 2010 as a result of a union-building blitz recently...
MM&A files for creditor protection after Lac-Mégantic rail disaster Globe and Mail ...The U.S.-based railway whose train crashed in Lac-Mégantic, Que., last month has filed for creditor protection in Canada and the United States, saying it is unable to deal with mounting bills arising from the disaster...
What's on ALEC's Agenda for its 40th Anniversary Meeting in Chicago? Center for Media and Democracy ...The "Employee Secret Ballot Protection Act" will be amended "to call for [union certification by] a majority of members in the bargaining unit, rather than a majority of those voting." This was the same certification policy pushed by Scott Walker in Wisconsin, and creates an almost insurmountable burden...
Worker wages: Wendy's vs. Wal-Mart vs. Costco CNNMoney ...Hundreds of dissatisfied workers at major companies like Wal-Mart, McDonald's and Wendy's have joined protests nationwide, demanding higher wages and better benefits. One company hasn't had to deal with such strikes. Costco pays its hourly workers an average of just over $20 an hour, compared to just under $13 at competitor Wal-Mart. Even President Obama praised Costco in a recent speech about helping the middle class...
Wage Gap Between CEOs, Workers Shows Costly Disregard (opinion) The Reporter …U.S. workers are tired of being the last ones considered when wealth is being made in America. While the average CEO pay has climbed to over 300 times the average worker’s, those making the legal minimum of $7.25—only $15,000 a year—have gone without a legally required raise for four years...
Fast food worker: 'We go hungry' MSNBC ...In a major speech on the economy Wednesday, President Obama declared that it is “time for the minimum wage to go up.” While more people are employed as the country continues to climb out of a deep recession, many full-time workers making the minimum wage are still living in poverty…
A hard landing for the middle class (opinion) Washington Post ...It’s August, and Americans by the millions are cramming themselves into coach-class seats as they embark on their summer vacations. Airline seating may be the best concrete expression of what’s happened to the economy. The joys of air travel have been redistributed upward and are now reserved for the well-heeled few...
Michigan's auto companies, workers pay price when economic rivals rig the market Michigan Live ...U.S. automakers, only a few years out of their deathbeds, are back in the black, despite their prewritten obituaries in 2009. But despite their turnaround, the Big Three still face significant hurdles in getting their goods into Japan, and face import competition subsidized by currency manipulation...
Free-trade deal with Korea is costing American jobs, report says Denver Post ...Although the Korea-US FTA has been in effect for little more than a year, it is already drawing vehement condemnation. It wasn't supposed to be this way. The International Trade Commission estimated the pact would kick-start some $10 billion in US exports to Korea. But it's not clear that the agreement is living up to its promise...
The Three Biggest Lies About Why Corporate Taxes Should Be Lowered (opinion) Huffington Post ...Instead of spending August on the beach, corporate lobbyists are readying arguments for when Congress returns in September about why corporate taxes should be lowered. But they're lies. You need to know why so you can spread the truth...
Cameron the worst PM for living standards in history Liberal Conspiracy ...An analysis of figures from the Office for National Statistics out today show that David Cameron has been in Downing Street for 36 months of falling real wages – more than any Prime Minister on record...
JPMorgan Sued With Goldman in Aluminum Antitrust Case Bloomberg ...JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), the biggest U.S. bank, was sued with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Glencore Xstrata Plc (GLEN) over claims they restrained aluminum supplies and drove up prices...
Perry Vetoed Texas Equal Pay Bill Under Pressure From Macy's, Kroger Huffington Post ...Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) vetoed a bill to help prevent wage discrimination after receiving letters against the measure from retailers like Macy's and Kroger Food Stores, according to newly obtained documents. The bill would have brought Texas state law in line with the federal Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which makes it easier for women to sue employers over wage discrimination...
Eminent domain proposal for mortgages gains traction in California Los Angeles Times ...Cities in the Golden State are once again testing a controversial mortgage relief plan that could use local eminent domain powers to help residents stung by the last housing crisis...
Cuomo administration cracks down on illegal payday lenders Legislative Gazette ...Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced his administration is actively issuing cease and desist orders to online loan companies providing illegal payday loans to New York residents following an investigation that revealed that some lenders were offering online loans with interest rates as high as 1,095 percent...
Veto Decision Looms for DC Retail Living Wage Bill The Nation ...Four weeks after the Washington, D.C. City Council passed a bill to hike some retail workers’ wages, D.C. Mayor Vince Gray has not yet indicated whether he will let it become law...
Teamsters Local 2010 Signs Up 333 New Members Teamsters Local 2010 ...Employees at the University of California’s state-wide campuses stepped up and joined Local 2010 as a result of a union-building blitz recently...
MM&A files for creditor protection after Lac-Mégantic rail disaster Globe and Mail ...The U.S.-based railway whose train crashed in Lac-Mégantic, Que., last month has filed for creditor protection in Canada and the United States, saying it is unable to deal with mounting bills arising from the disaster...
What's on ALEC's Agenda for its 40th Anniversary Meeting in Chicago? Center for Media and Democracy ...The "Employee Secret Ballot Protection Act" will be amended "to call for [union certification by] a majority of members in the bargaining unit, rather than a majority of those voting." This was the same certification policy pushed by Scott Walker in Wisconsin, and creates an almost insurmountable burden...
Worker wages: Wendy's vs. Wal-Mart vs. Costco CNNMoney ...Hundreds of dissatisfied workers at major companies like Wal-Mart, McDonald's and Wendy's have joined protests nationwide, demanding higher wages and better benefits. One company hasn't had to deal with such strikes. Costco pays its hourly workers an average of just over $20 an hour, compared to just under $13 at competitor Wal-Mart. Even President Obama praised Costco in a recent speech about helping the middle class...
Wage Gap Between CEOs, Workers Shows Costly Disregard (opinion) The Reporter …U.S. workers are tired of being the last ones considered when wealth is being made in America. While the average CEO pay has climbed to over 300 times the average worker’s, those making the legal minimum of $7.25—only $15,000 a year—have gone without a legally required raise for four years...
Fast food worker: 'We go hungry' MSNBC ...In a major speech on the economy Wednesday, President Obama declared that it is “time for the minimum wage to go up.” While more people are employed as the country continues to climb out of a deep recession, many full-time workers making the minimum wage are still living in poverty…
A hard landing for the middle class (opinion) Washington Post ...It’s August, and Americans by the millions are cramming themselves into coach-class seats as they embark on their summer vacations. Airline seating may be the best concrete expression of what’s happened to the economy. The joys of air travel have been redistributed upward and are now reserved for the well-heeled few...
Michigan's auto companies, workers pay price when economic rivals rig the market Michigan Live ...U.S. automakers, only a few years out of their deathbeds, are back in the black, despite their prewritten obituaries in 2009. But despite their turnaround, the Big Three still face significant hurdles in getting their goods into Japan, and face import competition subsidized by currency manipulation...
Free-trade deal with Korea is costing American jobs, report says Denver Post ...Although the Korea-US FTA has been in effect for little more than a year, it is already drawing vehement condemnation. It wasn't supposed to be this way. The International Trade Commission estimated the pact would kick-start some $10 billion in US exports to Korea. But it's not clear that the agreement is living up to its promise...
The Three Biggest Lies About Why Corporate Taxes Should Be Lowered (opinion) Huffington Post ...Instead of spending August on the beach, corporate lobbyists are readying arguments for when Congress returns in September about why corporate taxes should be lowered. But they're lies. You need to know why so you can spread the truth...
Cameron the worst PM for living standards in history Liberal Conspiracy ...An analysis of figures from the Office for National Statistics out today show that David Cameron has been in Downing Street for 36 months of falling real wages – more than any Prime Minister on record...
JPMorgan Sued With Goldman in Aluminum Antitrust Case Bloomberg ...JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), the biggest U.S. bank, was sued with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Glencore Xstrata Plc (GLEN) over claims they restrained aluminum supplies and drove up prices...
Perry Vetoed Texas Equal Pay Bill Under Pressure From Macy's, Kroger Huffington Post ...Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) vetoed a bill to help prevent wage discrimination after receiving letters against the measure from retailers like Macy's and Kroger Food Stores, according to newly obtained documents. The bill would have brought Texas state law in line with the federal Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which makes it easier for women to sue employers over wage discrimination...
Eminent domain proposal for mortgages gains traction in California Los Angeles Times ...Cities in the Golden State are once again testing a controversial mortgage relief plan that could use local eminent domain powers to help residents stung by the last housing crisis...
Cuomo administration cracks down on illegal payday lenders Legislative Gazette ...Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced his administration is actively issuing cease and desist orders to online loan companies providing illegal payday loans to New York residents following an investigation that revealed that some lenders were offering online loans with interest rates as high as 1,095 percent...
Veto Decision Looms for DC Retail Living Wage Bill The Nation ...Four weeks after the Washington, D.C. City Council passed a bill to hike some retail workers’ wages, D.C. Mayor Vince Gray has not yet indicated whether he will let it become law...
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Today's Teamster News 07.30.13
Waste Drivers In Michigan Join Teamsters Local 337 IBT ...On July 26, drivers who transport trash in their tractor-trailer rigs voted overwhelmingly to join Local 337 in Detroit/Port Huron...
Teamsters Still Question Mexican Truck Safety Despite Court Decision IBT ...The Teamsters today questioned the safety of Mexican trucks after a federal court refused to rehear the union’s challenge to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s cross-border truck pilot program...
Teamster horse-and-carriage drivers lash out on ASPCA’s alleged anti-Christine Quinn moves New York Daily News ...Teamsters Local 533 says the ASPCA violated its nonprofit status by giving $450,000 over the past several years to New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets, or NYCLASS, which wants to end the horse-carriage industry and runs a website called QuinnHatesAnimals.com...
Latest UPS Update IBT ...As you are aware, the national agreement was approved by a majority of Teamsters who voted. However, 17 supplements and riders were not approved...
Teamster Lake Transit workers vote to strike indefinitely Lake County News ...On Sunday, Lake Transit Authority workers, who are members of Teamsters Local 665, voted to strike until they settle their new contract--a move that's expected to result in curtailed services for the county's transit riders...
Massive Cuts Looming for MTD Bus Riders Santa Barbara Independent ...Four Lines Face Outright Elimination, Another 13 Threatened With Reduced Service. Unless funding is restored, 50 MTD bus drivers, who are represented by Teamsters Local 186, would be affected by the cuts...
BART And Unions Still Far Apart Before Strike Deadline KCBS5 News ...While Bay Area Rapid Transit worker contract talks were scheduled to continue this week, the transit agency’s management and labor unions remain as far apart as ever, offering little hope that an agreement will be made before the strike deadline August 4th...
Misclassification of employees carries penalties (opinion) ABQ Journal …This practice of misclassification has created substantial problems for affected employees and for the United States Treasury, the Social Security and Medicare...
Fast food strikes intensify in seven cities Salon ...The biggest walkout yet began yesterday morning -- and the strikes could have far-reaching implications for labor…
Teachers crowd final Raleigh 'Moral Monday' protest Associated Press ...Thousands of North Carolina teachers and other protesters on Monday staged one of the largest of the almost-weekly demonstrations opposing Republican policy decisions...
Michigan attorney general backs pensioners in Detroit bankruptcy Global Post ...Michigan's Attorney General Bill Schuette, a Republican, said on Saturday he would defend retirees who risk losing public pensions because of Detroit's bankruptcy, putting him at odds with the city's emergency manager appointed by fellow Republican Governor Rick Snyder...
Labor playing field needs to be leveled with ideas from both sides of the aisle (opinion) Oakland Press ...A recent guest opinion asserted that the passage of so-called Right-to-Work legislation in Michigan led to the state's mild economic recovery. To the contrary, it is highly doubtful that Michigan gained a single high-wage job as a result of Right-to-Work or any other piece of anti-labor legislation...
Quinn signs bill allowing online voter registration in Illinois Chicago Tribune ...Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn signed a measure into law Saturday that will make Illinois the 18th state to allow voters to register online...
Landmark California regulations under federal fire Los Angeles Times ...Companies are going through Congress to fight California's stricter workplace, consumer and environmental laws. Gridlock and sympathetic Republicans in the House could work in their favor...
State agencies crack down on local temp worker abuse Burlington County Times ...The Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor in South Jersey has some advice for employers who think they are not responsible for making sure temporary workers are getting paid minimum wage: Don’t...
Openness lost in privatization Muskogee Phoenix ...A push toward the privatization of Oklahoma state services is spawning criticism from those who see the trend as the decline of government transparency and accountability...
Teamsters Still Question Mexican Truck Safety Despite Court Decision IBT ...The Teamsters today questioned the safety of Mexican trucks after a federal court refused to rehear the union’s challenge to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s cross-border truck pilot program...
Teamster horse-and-carriage drivers lash out on ASPCA’s alleged anti-Christine Quinn moves New York Daily News ...Teamsters Local 533 says the ASPCA violated its nonprofit status by giving $450,000 over the past several years to New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets, or NYCLASS, which wants to end the horse-carriage industry and runs a website called QuinnHatesAnimals.com...
Latest UPS Update IBT ...As you are aware, the national agreement was approved by a majority of Teamsters who voted. However, 17 supplements and riders were not approved...
Teamster Lake Transit workers vote to strike indefinitely Lake County News ...On Sunday, Lake Transit Authority workers, who are members of Teamsters Local 665, voted to strike until they settle their new contract--a move that's expected to result in curtailed services for the county's transit riders...
Massive Cuts Looming for MTD Bus Riders Santa Barbara Independent ...Four Lines Face Outright Elimination, Another 13 Threatened With Reduced Service. Unless funding is restored, 50 MTD bus drivers, who are represented by Teamsters Local 186, would be affected by the cuts...
BART And Unions Still Far Apart Before Strike Deadline KCBS5 News ...While Bay Area Rapid Transit worker contract talks were scheduled to continue this week, the transit agency’s management and labor unions remain as far apart as ever, offering little hope that an agreement will be made before the strike deadline August 4th...
Misclassification of employees carries penalties (opinion) ABQ Journal …This practice of misclassification has created substantial problems for affected employees and for the United States Treasury, the Social Security and Medicare...
Fast food strikes intensify in seven cities Salon ...The biggest walkout yet began yesterday morning -- and the strikes could have far-reaching implications for labor…
Teachers crowd final Raleigh 'Moral Monday' protest Associated Press ...Thousands of North Carolina teachers and other protesters on Monday staged one of the largest of the almost-weekly demonstrations opposing Republican policy decisions...
Michigan attorney general backs pensioners in Detroit bankruptcy Global Post ...Michigan's Attorney General Bill Schuette, a Republican, said on Saturday he would defend retirees who risk losing public pensions because of Detroit's bankruptcy, putting him at odds with the city's emergency manager appointed by fellow Republican Governor Rick Snyder...
Labor playing field needs to be leveled with ideas from both sides of the aisle (opinion) Oakland Press ...A recent guest opinion asserted that the passage of so-called Right-to-Work legislation in Michigan led to the state's mild economic recovery. To the contrary, it is highly doubtful that Michigan gained a single high-wage job as a result of Right-to-Work or any other piece of anti-labor legislation...
Quinn signs bill allowing online voter registration in Illinois Chicago Tribune ...Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn signed a measure into law Saturday that will make Illinois the 18th state to allow voters to register online...
Landmark California regulations under federal fire Los Angeles Times ...Companies are going through Congress to fight California's stricter workplace, consumer and environmental laws. Gridlock and sympathetic Republicans in the House could work in their favor...
State agencies crack down on local temp worker abuse Burlington County Times ...The Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor in South Jersey has some advice for employers who think they are not responsible for making sure temporary workers are getting paid minimum wage: Don’t...
Openness lost in privatization Muskogee Phoenix ...A push toward the privatization of Oklahoma state services is spawning criticism from those who see the trend as the decline of government transparency and accountability...
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Today's Teamster News 07.09.13
Temporary jobs becoming a permanent fixture in US Associated Press ...companies are increasingly turning to temps and to a much larger universe of freelancers, contract workers and consultants. Combined, these workers number nearly 17 million people...
The State of the Unions American Prospect ...While 51 percent of all Americans have favorable views of unions, 61 percent of Americans under 30 hold that view...
European Trade Deal Could Undermine Important Regulations Here At Home ThinkProgress ...Forthcoming trade negotiations between the U.S. and the European Commission threaten to undermine environmental, workplace, and financial regulations, according to a July 8 letter from a slew of American and European public interest groups sent to President Barack Obama and his European counterparts...
Clothiers Act to Inspect Bangladeshi Factories New York Times ...A mostly European consortium of 70 retailers and apparel brands has agreed to inspect within nine months all Bangladeshi garment factories that supply the companies in the wake of 1,300 factory workers who have lost their lives since November…
40 still missing in deadly Canada rail crash, fire Associated Press ...About 40 people were still missing a day after a runaway train derailed in Quebec, igniting explosions and fires that destroyed a busy downtown district and killed five people...
Eight injured in West Virginia gas well explosion Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...A natural gas well in West Virginia exploded early Sunday, injuring eight people. The well, about an hour southwest of Morgantown in New Milton, ignited about 4 a.m...
Civilians on unpaid leave in Pentagon austerity move Reuters ...Civilian defense workers across the United States began taking unpaid leave on Monday in a Pentagon-imposed austerity move expected to save $1.8 billion through September 30 by effectively cutting the pay of about 650,000 workers by nearly 20 percent...
Letter: Women Unite (opinion) Salt Lake City Tribune ...There has been a lot of talk recently about the minimum wage and the fact that 40 percent of heads of households are women. Some want to move the minimum wage to $15 an hour. There is a solution to this problem…
Feds: FedEx may face charges on illegal drug shipments Long Island Newsday ...Federal authorities are considering filing criminal charges against FedEx, which is under investigation for shipping powerful prescription pills for illegal online pharmacies -- including some packages sent to Long Island, according to federal law enforcement sources...
Pennsylvania 4th in U.S. for breaking hotel wage-and-hour laws Erie Times-News ...If you've stayed at the Heritage Hills Resort in York while touring Amish country, toasted newlyweds at the Avalon Hotel in Erie, or settled in for a weekend of pampering at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in the Laurel Highlands, chances are the person who made your bed, poured your champagne or washed your towels wasn't being paid minimum wage...
Iowa court to reconsider ruling on woman's firing Associated Press ...The Iowa Supreme Court will reconsider a controversial ruling in which the court said it was legal for a dentist to fire his assistant for being too attractive. A new decision could come as early as Friday...
OK Tax Commission asks state high court to overturn ruling that could cost state $450 million Tulsa World ...The state of Oklahoma stands to lose as much as $450 million if a Court of Civil Appeals ruling on how a capital-gains tax deduction is figured is allowed to stand…
NJ employers scaling back the most on health insurance contributions: ADP study Star-Ledger ...Large companies across the country have been scaling back on what they contribute to their workers’ health care plans, and the sharpest decline has been in New Jersey, according to new data from the ADP Research Institute...
Newborn died because of mother’s labor-intensive job during pregnancy: suit NY Daily News ...Reyna Garcia, of Atascadero, Calif., alleges that despite three doctor's notes showing she had a high-risk pregnancy, her employer, Albertsons, refused her requests for work that didn't involve heavy lifting. She gave birth to a baby girl in November who died 10 minutes after being born...
Union Secures First Contract For Marriott O'Hare Shuttle Drivers Teamsters Local 727 ...Shuttle bus drivers at Marriott Chicago O’Hare on June 21 ratified their first Teamster contract, which yields annual raises and job protections...
Finding the Perfect Spot to Shoot New York Times ...A member of the Teamsters Union and the Directors Guild of America, Kevin Breslin is a filmmaker and a location scout for commercials. Over 20 years, he has maneuvered crews through the city and arranged thousands of shoots, including the New York Lottery’s “If I Had a Million Dollars” and Verizon’s “Can You Hear Me Now?” spots. Read the interview...
Union says Florida is taking away workers’ holidays Pensacola News Journal ...The state of Florida is trying to illegally take away time off from corrections officers, according to a complaint filed Wednesday by the Teamsters Union...
CSA Training Offered at Local 541 IBT ...The Teamsters National Pipeline Training Fund will conduct training for drivers on Compliance, Safety and Accountability (CSA) on July 28, 2013 at 9:00 am at Local 541 in Kansas City. CSA is the new FMCSA’s regulation to reduce commercial motor vehicle (CMV) crashes...
TNBC Annual Conference Slated for August 14-18 TNBC ...The Teamsters National Black Caucus will hold its 38tth annual educational conference and banquet in Atlanta on August 14-18. Click here for hotel and conference information...
The State of the Unions American Prospect ...While 51 percent of all Americans have favorable views of unions, 61 percent of Americans under 30 hold that view...
European Trade Deal Could Undermine Important Regulations Here At Home ThinkProgress ...Forthcoming trade negotiations between the U.S. and the European Commission threaten to undermine environmental, workplace, and financial regulations, according to a July 8 letter from a slew of American and European public interest groups sent to President Barack Obama and his European counterparts...
Clothiers Act to Inspect Bangladeshi Factories New York Times ...A mostly European consortium of 70 retailers and apparel brands has agreed to inspect within nine months all Bangladeshi garment factories that supply the companies in the wake of 1,300 factory workers who have lost their lives since November…
40 still missing in deadly Canada rail crash, fire Associated Press ...About 40 people were still missing a day after a runaway train derailed in Quebec, igniting explosions and fires that destroyed a busy downtown district and killed five people...
Eight injured in West Virginia gas well explosion Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...A natural gas well in West Virginia exploded early Sunday, injuring eight people. The well, about an hour southwest of Morgantown in New Milton, ignited about 4 a.m...
Civilians on unpaid leave in Pentagon austerity move Reuters ...Civilian defense workers across the United States began taking unpaid leave on Monday in a Pentagon-imposed austerity move expected to save $1.8 billion through September 30 by effectively cutting the pay of about 650,000 workers by nearly 20 percent...
Letter: Women Unite (opinion) Salt Lake City Tribune ...There has been a lot of talk recently about the minimum wage and the fact that 40 percent of heads of households are women. Some want to move the minimum wage to $15 an hour. There is a solution to this problem…
Feds: FedEx may face charges on illegal drug shipments Long Island Newsday ...Federal authorities are considering filing criminal charges against FedEx, which is under investigation for shipping powerful prescription pills for illegal online pharmacies -- including some packages sent to Long Island, according to federal law enforcement sources...
Pennsylvania 4th in U.S. for breaking hotel wage-and-hour laws Erie Times-News ...If you've stayed at the Heritage Hills Resort in York while touring Amish country, toasted newlyweds at the Avalon Hotel in Erie, or settled in for a weekend of pampering at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in the Laurel Highlands, chances are the person who made your bed, poured your champagne or washed your towels wasn't being paid minimum wage...
Iowa court to reconsider ruling on woman's firing Associated Press ...The Iowa Supreme Court will reconsider a controversial ruling in which the court said it was legal for a dentist to fire his assistant for being too attractive. A new decision could come as early as Friday...
OK Tax Commission asks state high court to overturn ruling that could cost state $450 million Tulsa World ...The state of Oklahoma stands to lose as much as $450 million if a Court of Civil Appeals ruling on how a capital-gains tax deduction is figured is allowed to stand…
NJ employers scaling back the most on health insurance contributions: ADP study Star-Ledger ...Large companies across the country have been scaling back on what they contribute to their workers’ health care plans, and the sharpest decline has been in New Jersey, according to new data from the ADP Research Institute...
Newborn died because of mother’s labor-intensive job during pregnancy: suit NY Daily News ...Reyna Garcia, of Atascadero, Calif., alleges that despite three doctor's notes showing she had a high-risk pregnancy, her employer, Albertsons, refused her requests for work that didn't involve heavy lifting. She gave birth to a baby girl in November who died 10 minutes after being born...
Union Secures First Contract For Marriott O'Hare Shuttle Drivers Teamsters Local 727 ...Shuttle bus drivers at Marriott Chicago O’Hare on June 21 ratified their first Teamster contract, which yields annual raises and job protections...
Finding the Perfect Spot to Shoot New York Times ...A member of the Teamsters Union and the Directors Guild of America, Kevin Breslin is a filmmaker and a location scout for commercials. Over 20 years, he has maneuvered crews through the city and arranged thousands of shoots, including the New York Lottery’s “If I Had a Million Dollars” and Verizon’s “Can You Hear Me Now?” spots. Read the interview...
Union says Florida is taking away workers’ holidays Pensacola News Journal ...The state of Florida is trying to illegally take away time off from corrections officers, according to a complaint filed Wednesday by the Teamsters Union...
CSA Training Offered at Local 541 IBT ...The Teamsters National Pipeline Training Fund will conduct training for drivers on Compliance, Safety and Accountability (CSA) on July 28, 2013 at 9:00 am at Local 541 in Kansas City. CSA is the new FMCSA’s regulation to reduce commercial motor vehicle (CMV) crashes...
TNBC Annual Conference Slated for August 14-18 TNBC ...The Teamsters National Black Caucus will hold its 38tth annual educational conference and banquet in Atlanta on August 14-18. Click here for hotel and conference information...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)