Today's Teamster News 04.16.15

Teamsters
Big San Bernardino County union now Teamsters Local 1932   San Bernardino Sun   ...The San Bernardino Public Employees Association, which for more than 75 years has independently represented county, city and state employees across the Inland Empire, is now a chapter affiliate of Teamsters Local 1932. Results of the vote were announced Tuesday by SBPEA General Manager Deidre Rodriguez, with 3,143 members voting for Teamsters affiliation...
UPS driver saves choking woman  Fox Atlanta   ...Bryant got out of his delivery truck and performed the Heimlich maneuver while the woman's daughter called 911. Luckily, the 83-year-old victim was able to dislodge that piece of food. Paramedics then took her to a local hospital...
Teamsters take stand against fast track  Teamster Nation  ...The Teamsters joined some 1,200 fellow union members and fair trade advocates at a Capitol Hill rally today to call on Congress to stop pushing for fast track trade promotion authority that would allow a quick up-or-down vote on bad trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...

Global Labor & Trade
The populists capture the Democratic Party  Washington Post   ...A quartet of senators and a dozen members of the House took the stage in a park across from the Capitol midday Wednesday to join hundreds of steelworkers, union faithful and environmentalists in denouncing President Obama’s bid for fast-track approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal...
‘Fast track’ trade authority is a mistake for most businesses  The Hill  ...When it comes to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the devil is in the details. As we understand it, the TPP will be terrible for the majority of U.S. businesses, and could prove devastating for American innovation...
Why President Obama's trade agenda just turned into a food fight Vox  ...UFCW hasn’t opposed all trade deals in the past. As the group’s chief, Marc Perrone, points out in the op-ed, the union supported the US-Korea free-trade agreement — at a time when major labor groups were divided on it. So UFCW’s defection signals an erosion of Obama’s trade coalition...
Progressives Take Stand as Fast Track Fight Kicks into High Gear on Capitol Hill  Common Dreams ...With legislation to speed up congressional approval of the Trans Pacific Partnership and other corporate-friendly trade deals on the verge of being introduced in Congress, a coalition of elected officials, labor unions, and environmental groups gathered outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday to voice their vehement opposition to such a bill...
AFL-CIO seeks to turn Dems against Obama on trade  CNN  ...Labor unions are launching a new advertising campaign prodding Democratic lawmakers to break with President Barack Obama on free trade. The AFL-CIO will meet the introduction of a bill to fast-track Pacific Rim and European pacts with a six-figure online and radio advertising campaign targeting 16 Democrats in the Senate and 36 in the House, the group told CNN...
Special courts for foreign investors  The Hill  ...On the precipice of the biggest congressional trade debate in decades, a once-arcane investment provision has become a lightning rod of controversy in the intensifying battle over whether Congress should revive Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), also known as “fast track,” for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) calls this provision a system of “rigged, pseudo-courts”...
MEPs Want Health Excluded From TTIP Talks  EurActiv   ...Members of the Parliament's Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) on Tuesday (14 April) voted in favour of an opinion which calls for five health-related areas to be excluded from the Transatlantic Trade and Investment partnership (TTIP) negotiations between the EU and the United States...

State & Living Wage Battles
Largest-Ever Strike Hits Fast Food Industry In 230 Cities  Think Progress   ...On Wednesday, fast food workers walked off the job in 230 cities, staging the largest-ever strike in their movement aimed at a $15 minimum wage and the right to form a union. The movement began with a single strike in New York City at the end of 2012 but has grown increasingly larger as the Fight for 15 movement has staged nine other days of coordinated strikes since then...
Hotel Industry Spins Wage Hikes as Extreme While CEOs Rake in Millions  Truthout.org  ...Omni Hotel CEO Robert Rowling is one of the richest people in the world, says Forbes, with a net worth of some $5.8 billion. Rowling has given huge contributions to Karl Rove’s American Crossroads and the Koch Brother’s Freedom Partners, which contribute to politicians across the nation working to block higher wages, paid sick days and union representation...
Fight for $15: Tens of Thousands Rally as Labor, Civil Rights & Social Justice Movements Join Forces  Democracy Now   ...Low-wage workers in the United States have staged their largest action to date to demand a $15-an-hour minimum wage, with some 60,000 workers walking off the job in more than 200 cities. The "Fight for $15" campaign brought together fast-food workers, home-care aides, child-care providers, Wal-Mart clerks, adjunct professors, airport workers and other low-wage workers...

Emanuel calls for City Council hearings on Rauner's 'right-to-work' zones  Chicago Sun Times   ...The public rift between Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his pal, Gov. Bruce Rauner, got wider Wednesday over Rauner’s provocative proposal to create local “right-to-work” zones. At a City Council meeting, Emanuel introduced a resolution declaring opposition to the governor’s plan...
Taxation Without Representation  Huffington Post   ...For the vast majority of Americans, "taxation without representation" isn't just a relic of high school social studies -- it's a perfect description of their relationship with a political system that's been thoroughly corrupted by money. A 2014 Princeton University study comparing 1,779 policy outcomes to more than 20 years of public opinion data found that "the preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy"...
FEMA Is Preparing For The “Very Real Possibility” Of Urban Oil Train Disasters  Salon.com   ...The Federal Emergency Management Agency has begun to take on the task of sketching out scenarios for oil train derailments in densely populated urban areas, the Wall Street Journal reports. Last month, this took the form of an exercise involving New Jersey firefighters and emergency workers...
Repeal Of Estate Tax Rewards Billionaires, Punishes Working Americans  Huffington Post   ...Who deserves a break more these days: a struggling working family, or the heir to a billion-dollar fortune? According to the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, it's the billion-dollar baby. Recently, the House voted for a budget that would end tax credits for many working families that put $1,000 a year in their pockets, on average...
Wage Gains Won’t Last, Unless Fight for 15 Builds Worker Power (opinion) Counterpunch   ...Fight for 15 has been remarkably successful on wages, but unless it is trying to increase worker’s power on the job, any wage and benefit improvements won through public pressure, negative publicity, and community-based protest activity will be hard to sustain in the absence of ongoing workplace organization or networks of some sort...

U.S. Labor
Alabama Whistleblower Fired and Sued After Protesting Conditions NBC News   ...Selma, Alabama, factory worker who was fired, sued and slapped with a restraining order after leading a protest march is in court Wednesday to demand she be allowed to continue her fight for safer working conditions at the auto parts plant...
USW Rejects LyondellBasell's 'Last, Best and Final' Offer  Houston Press  ...After two days of voting, the final count came in late Tuesday night. Despite the fact that USW 227 members have been on strike since February 1, walking away from their jobs, paychecks and health insurance, the union members voted to continue the local strike...
Today’s Personality Tests Raise The Bar For Job Seekers  Wall Street Journal   ...In 2001, 26% of large U.S. employers used pre-hire assessments. By 2013, the number had climbed to 57%, reflecting a sea change in hiring practices that some economists suspect is making it tougher for people, especially young adults and the long-term unemployed, to get on the payroll...
The Insidious Way Corporate Thieves Are Stealing Workman's Comp Alternet   ...The infamous anti-labor bully, Wal-Mart, is among the leaders, but so are such prestigious chains as Macy's and Nordstrom, along with Lowe's, Kohl's and Safeway. Their goal is to gut our nation's workers compensation program, freeing corporate giants to injure or even kill employees in the workplace without having to cover all (or, in many cases, any) of the lost wages, medical care or burial expenses of those harmed...

Miscellaneous
Warren Blasts Government for Ignoring 'Blatantly Criminal Activity' on Wall Street   Common Dreams  ...In remarks on Wednesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren criticized the failure of both federal regulators and Justice Department officials to prosecute or otherwise hold to account Wall Street banks and financial institutions despite their long and steady pattern of "blatantly criminal activity"...
U.S. Consumers Open Their Wallets, Cautiously  Wall Street Journal ...Sales at retailers and restaurants increased 0.9% last month to a seasonally adjusted $441.4 billion, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. That was the biggest monthly gain in a year, but it was still down from November, when retail sales reached their highest level since the end of the recession...
Don’t Be So Happy About That Tax Refund  FiveThirtyEight   ...Most Americans don’t seem to have much problem with lending their money to the Treasury interest-free. The Bankrate survey found that 57 percent of respondents wanted to receive a refund, versus 27 percent who hoped to neither owe money nor get any back. That isn’t too surprising. Getting a government check in the mail (or direct-deposited into your bank account) feels like a windfall...

Today's Teamster News 03.23.15

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

Today's Teamster News 03.19.15

Teamsters
Ryder Drivers At Three Locations In California Join Teamsters Union  insurancenewsnet.com   ... Drivers with Ryder Integrated Logistics at three California locations have voted to join the Teamsters Union, gaining representation for 105 workers in one week (see also International Brotherhood of Teamsters)...
SBPEA Losing 840 Members  San Bernardino Sun   ...“Many members, as well as all of us, are excited about the affiliation, and we will spend the next few weeks educating the members on all of the benefits of affiliating with the Teamsters Union,” Rodriguez said....
Middletown Supervisors Approve Contract With Teamsters Union Employees  Bucks County Courier Tribune   ...Middletown employees belonging to Teamsters Local 107 will get 3 percent pay increases in each of the next three years under a new contract unanimously approved by the township supervisors at Monday night’s meeting....
Eurest Workers Use Pressure Tactics At Halifax Airport  NewsWire   ...Eurest's 26 workers responsible for maintenance at Robert Stanfield Airport (YHZ) are resorting to pressure tactics 11 months after their collective agreement expired. The points at issue are both various and troubling: no benefits, low pay, unfair treatment by the employer, and others. "These workers clean toilets and don't even have group insurance. So if they get sick, they can't get reimbursed for any prescription drugs they may have to take," said Local Union 927 president Rob Beairsto....
Sysco Merger With US Foods A Step Too Far (opinion)  Houston Chronicle   ...Management's responsibility at a public company is to maximize shareholder value by grabbing as much market power and profit as possible....
Trade
Facing Dem anger, White House eases restrictions on classified trade files  The Hill   ...The loudest protests have come from liberal House Democrats who said the rules to view the text were too stringent. They have argued that the White House didn't want them to know the TPP details because they say any deal is likely to be bad for U.S. workers and their wages...
Pelosi Embraces Tough Questions About Obama's Trade Agenda  Associated Press   ...President Barack Obama's bid for a new trade deal didn't get easier Tuesday when the House's top Democrat said her caucus embraces a dozen demands that may be tough to meet...
Why the TPP will have a devastating impact on unions  The Ed Show   ...Closed door, classified meetings about the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership raises questions about transparency from the Obama Administration. Ed Schultz and Leo Gerard discuss...
Trumka Takes Opposition to a TPP Fast-Track to the Peterson Institute  Campaign for America's Future   ...One of the most troubling aspects of TPP is how few people have seen the entire treaty, Trumka said. So far only leaked portions have been released that clearly favor a race to the bottom, putting corporate interests over investment in human and environmental rights...
State Battles
Missouri Senate Panel Advances 1 Republican Labor Priority  Southeast Missourian   ...Right-to-work legislation, which would ban contracts that force all workers to pay union fees, was sent on Tuesday to the full Senate. But the Senate Small Business, Insurance and Industry Committee failed to move forward with what supporters call a "paycheck protection" measure that would require annual written authorization from public employee union members before paying union dues...
'Right To Work' Fight Over Public Employee Unions Heats Up In Oregon, May Go To 2016 Ballot  The Oregonian   ...Oregon may be one of the next big battlegrounds over "right to work" restrictions on unions that have now spread to 25 states. Washington County attorney Jill Gibson, who has been supported by some of the state's major conservative political donors, is moving toward putting a measure on the 2016 ballot that would allow public employees to opt out of financially supporting a union...
Kansas Panel Considers Limits On Public Workers' Collective Bargaining  Topeka Capital Journal   ...A legislative committee in Kansas is considering a proposal to restrict collective bargaining between public employees and state and local government agencies. Chairwoman Julia Lynn said the Senate Commerce Committee will debate the measure during its meeting Wednesday. Lynn is an Olathe Republican and has said she believes the GOP-dominated panel supports the bill...
Federal Judge Won’t Block Seattle’s $15 Minimum Wage  Seattle Post-Intelligencer   ...U.S. District Judge Richard Jones has refused to issue an injunction to halt Seattle’s nationally watched $15-an-hour minimum wage, slated to take effect in the Emerald City on April 1. “Great news! This ruling ensures that on April 1, the minimum wage will go up for all Seattle workers,” Mayor Ed Murray said in a statement...
War on Workers
Manufacturing Jobs Are Back, But Wages Are Not  Engineering.com   ...In 2007, the wage gap between the average manufacturing worker and all private-sector workers was barely noticeable ($19.40 and $19.57 respectively). However, by 2013 the average manufacturing wage had fallen by 85 cents, or 7.7 percent below the median average for all occupations. Today, approximately 1.5 million manufacturing workers – one in four – earn $11.91 or less per hour. Meanwhile, 600,000 workers make just $9.60 an hour...
Report: Energy companies, big banks reap big federal assistance  McClatchy   ...Big banks and Wall Street firms that took advantage of the bailout following the 2008 economic crash have reaped hundreds of billions, and even trillions, of dollars in assistance, according to Good Jobs First, a nonprofit organization that tracks government subsidies to corporations...
Target to Increase Wages to Minimum $9/Hour for All Workers in April  Wall Street Journal   ...Target Corp. plans to boost pay of all its workers to at least $9 an hour starting next month, following similar moves by rivals Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and TJX Cos. as competition for lower wage workers heats up...
Higher minimum wages are associated with greater financial well-being  London School of Economics   ... Even if some low-wage jobs disappear as minimum wages rise, the end result is greater economic security and prosperity overall for people who live and work in countries with higher minimums...
Senate Democrats Consider Raising Their Minimum Wage Proposal To $12  Huffington Post   ...Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), ranking member of the Senate's labor committee, has been reaching out to her Democratic colleagues to rally support for a more ambitious minimum wage proposal, according to a Senate source familiar with the conversations. Murray's idea: hike the federal minimum wage to $12 by 2020, rather than the current $10.10 proposal languishing in Congress. The wage floor would then be tied to an inflation index so that it rose with the cost of living...
Worker dies after 11-foot fall in Arkansas  Equipment World   ...29-year-old Erik Rivera Pontilla fell from a beam he was bolting into place. The Little Rock Police Department told the site that Pontilla lost his footing and fell directly onto a slab below. No one was nearby when he fell and no mention is made of harnesses or nets in the report...
Miscellaneous
IRS may broaden rule to police political nonprofits  Politico   ...IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said the agency may expand a yet-to-be-released rule governing 501(c)(4), “social welfare” groups, to include political groups known as 527s, which focus on elections. It could require them both — as well as other types of tax-exempt groups — to operate under the same definition of “political activity.”...
U.S. Sets New Record For Denying, Censoring Government Files  Huffington Post   ...The Obama administration set a new record again for more often than ever censoring government files or outright denying access to them last year under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, according to a new analysis of federal data by The Associated Press...

Today's Teamster News 03.16.15

Teamsters
County public employees to vote for Teamsters affiliation  Daily Press   ... Ballots have been mailed out to more than 15,000 San Bernardino County, city and agency employees to vote on whether they want to join Teamsters, officials said...
Trade
Ron Wyden's internet freedom allies fret he'll abandon them on trade pact  The Oregonian   ...Sen. Ron Wyden was greeted Friday morning at his Umatilla town hall meeting by a 30-foot-long blimp urging him to oppose an upcoming trade pack that critics say could curb internet freedom...
Wyden faces wide scope of question  East Oregonian   ...Education and international trade were on the minds of citizens who showed up to a town hall meeting hosted by Sen. Ron Wyden in Umatilla Friday...
TPP clock ticks as Congress dallies on trade authority  Japan Times   ... Negotiations on a contested Pacific free trade pact have apparently hit a new snag — a U.S. legislative delay in bringing forward a bill viewed as crucial to concluding the deal. Dashing earlier expectations, the U.S. Congress has yet to submit a bill that would grant what is called Trade Promotion Authority to President Barack Obama so he can sign trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership without deep legislative scrutiny...
Getting It Wrong on Trade: TPP Is Not Good for Workers  Beat the Press   ...What part of getting kicked in the face do you not understand?...
State Battles
'Right to work' laws aren't about jobs or rights. They're about power.  The Week   ... If you're an average worker who just wants to make more money, should you oppose "Right to Work" statutes? Absolutely...
Prevailing Wage Laws: Why Are They An Increasingly Popular Target For Republican State Legislators?  International Business Times   ... This session, Nevada has already repealed prevailing wages for school construction projects. A bill that scales back West Virginia’s system awaits the signature of the governor. Indiana nears a repeal. Michigan mulls a similar proposal. Some Wisconsin Republicans see it as the next step after right-to-work...
War on Workers
Working Minority Families Are Twice As Likely To Be Low-Income As Whites  Wall Street Journal   ... Racial and ethnic minorities made up 40% of all working families, but accounted for 58% of working families that are low-income...
NYU Graduate Students Win Historic Victory  The American Prospect   ...the Graduate Students Organizing Committee of the United Autoworkers, or GSOC, reached a historic, tentative agreement with administrators at New York University, averting a strike that was scheduled to begin just hours later...
Worker killed after being thrown from machine  Equipment World   ...Law enforcement and Occupational Safety and Health Administration officials are investigating the death of a construction worker on a jobsite in Rutherford County, North Carolina...
Miscellaneous
The rise of luxury toilet paper  Washington Post   ...Sales in the United States of what the industry calls "luxury" rolls — anything quilted, lotioned, perfumed or ultra-soft, from two- to four-ply — climbed to $1.4 billion last year, outpacing all other kinds of toilet paper for the first time in nearly a decade...

Today's Teamster News 02.24.15

Teamsters
Teamsters Protest Labatt Beer At Buffalo Pond Hockey Tournament  teamster.org   ...At the Labatt Blue Pond Hockey tournament this weekend, Teamster members distributed information to fans about Heidelberg Distributing’s abusive behavior towards its drivers and warehouse workers. Heidelberg distributes Labatt Beer products in Ohio...
Unionized UC Berkeley Workers Rally Against New Pay Calculations  Daily Californian   ...Teamsters Local 2010 said in a press release that the goals of this rally were not only to educate the public on the employees’ grievances with the UC system but also to highlight the pay that UC employees receive. According to a recent Economic Policy Institute study cited in the press release, 80 percent of the union’s members are not paid enough to live in the cities in which their campuses reside...
Sysco Not In Talks To Settle U.S. Lawsuit To Stop Merger  Reuters   ...Sysco Corp is not holding settlement talks with the U.S. government to resolve a lawsuit aimed at stopping a $3.5 billion merger of the food distributor and its largest rival, a lawyer for Sysco said on Friday...
Trade
Medicines forecast to cost taxpayers millions more in secret TPP trade deal  Guardian   ...Medicines will cost Australian taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars more each year if measures in a leaked draft of the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement are implemented, a new report says...
Japan's Amari: Japan-U.S. TPP talks are behind schedule  Reuters   …Chief negotiators for the TPP deal will meet in Hawaii for talks in the second week of March, the U.S. trade office said on Friday, a move which could delay a final agreement on the pact…
Froman asks county officials to back Obama trade policies  AgriPulse   ...U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman today called on county government officials from across the country to support President Obama's request for trade promotion authority and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal...
State Battles
Scott Walker Pushes ALEC 'Right to Work' Bill, Divide and Conquer Comes Full Circle  Huffington Post   ...Wisconsin GOP leaders announced they would have an "extraordinary session" to ram through union-busting "right to work" legislation. CMD/PRwatch quickly noted that the bill is taken almost word-for-word from the Koch corporate bill mill known as the American Legislative Exchange Council known as "ALEC."...
Bell Right-To-Work Amendment Passes Senate  Augusta Free Press   ...Current law provides that a citizen cannot be denied the employment or continuation of employment for failing to join a union or other labor organization. This amendment, sponsored by Delegate Dickie Bell, R-Staunton, would make Virginia’s Right to Work law more permanent by adding it to the constitution...
Walker’s Anti-Union Law Has Labor Reeling In Wisconsin  Washington Post   ...Walker had vowed that union power would shrink, workers would be judged on their merits, and local governments would save money. Unions had warned that workers would lose benefits and be forced to take on second jobs or find new careers. Many of those changes came to pass, but the once-thriving ­public-sector unions were not just shrunken — they were crippled...
House set to vote on liquor privatization bill despite concerns that members may not know what's in it  PennLive   ...In its first significant piece of business in the 2015-16 legislative session, the state House of Representatives is poised to vote this week on a bill that would get the state out of the liquor business. But some wonder how many legislators casting votes really know what the bill would do...
Indiana State AFL-CIO President Reacts to House Approval of Common Construction Wage Repeal  Indiana State AFL-CIO   ..."With today’s vote in the House of Representatives, the Republican supermajority has attacked the wages of working Hoosiers, a successful private sector business model and the autonomy of local governments...."
War on Workers
Oil, Ethanol Trains Will Derail 10 Times A Year For 2 Decades, Federal Government Estimates  The Oregonian   ...The federal government predicts trains hauling crude oil or ethanol will derail an average of 10 times a year during the next two decades, causing more than $4 billion in damage and possibly killing hundreds of people if an accident happens in a densely populated part of the U.S...
In service sector, no rest for the working  New York Times   ...Employees are literally losing sleep as restaurants, retailers and many other businesses shrink the intervals between shifts and rely on smaller, leaner staffs to shave costs. These scheduling practices can take a toll on employees who have to squeeze commuting, family duties and sleep into fewer hours between shifts. The growing practice of the same workers closing the doors at night and returning to open them in the morning even has its own name: "clopening."...
Seattle, Tacoma, other ports busy again after tentative labor deal  Associated Press   ...Nearly all West Coast seaports began the work week with crews hustling to load and unload cargo ships that were held up amid a months-long dispute over a new contract for dockworkers...
Look who's living on the financial edge  CNBC   …24 percent of Americans have more credit card debt than emergency savings, and 13 percent are not much better off—they don't have credit card debt but they don't have emergency savings either. Put another way, more than a third of Americans are living at risk of a financial crisis…
Worker killed in accident at Alcoa plant  Associated Press   … An Alcoa plant employee was killed about 6:30 p.m. Monday in what's being termed an "accident" at the Tennessee Operations North Plant, according to an Alcoa spokeswoman...
Why We're All Becoming Independent Contractors (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...The rise of "independent contractors" is the most significant legal trend in the American workforce -- contributing directly to low pay, irregular hours, and job insecurity...
Knowledge Isn’t Power (opinion)  New York Times   ...We could levy higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy, and invest the proceeds in programs that help working families. We could raise the minimum wage and make it easier for workers to organize. It’s not hard to imagine a truly serious effort to make America less unequal...
Drones Are The New Buzz In Ag Business  Yakima Herald Republic   ...Farmers already are using drones in the area and throughout the nation, albeit by stretching the limits of rapidly changing regulations. They purchase the planes online. Some allow users to control them with a smartphone application, turning their screen into a virtual cockpit...
Miscellaneous
Crackdown On Drones Goes Local  USA Today   ...Since 2012, 15 states have enacted laws restricting drones in some way, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), which tracks state laws. And if New York City Council Member Dan Garodnick gets his way, drones will be banned in the Big Apple, except for police with a warrant, as soon as this year...

Today's Teamster News 02.23.15

Teamsters
Facebook shuttle drivers ratify new Teamsters contract: WSJ  Reuters   … Loop Transportation, the contractor that employs the drivers and negotiated with Teamsters Local 853, cautioned that the agreement was not finalized and must be approved by Facebook...
Canadian Pacific and Teamsters Canada Rail Conference agree to binding arbitration   Transport Intelligence   …Canadian Pacific and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference have agreed to enter into binding arbitration to put an end to the work stoppage by CP's locomotive engineers and conductors...
Trade
Obama to make TPP free trade sales pitch to American people  Big News Network   …US President Barack Obama on Saturday began a major sales pitch to the US public to bring them round to the merits of free trade deals, an area in which he faces stiff resistance from many in his own Democratic party...
Europeans Want TTIP Trade-Deal, though Obama Blocks Making Its Terms Public  RINF Alternative News   …TTIP is a secretly negotiated trade deal between the U.S. and the EU, and all indications are that it will replace each nation’s drug-safety, product-safety, food-safety, environmental, and worker-protection, regulations and laws, placing them into the hands of panels composed of appointees of large international corporations, no longer in the hands of publicly elected officials, no longer in the hands of elected politicians, who need to face voters periodically in order to stay in power...
State Battles
Wisconsin Could Be Right-To-Work In A Matter Of Days  Huffington Post   …It's been more than two decades since Gov. Scott Walker (R) first pushed right-to-work legislation as a state lawmaker in Wisconsin. Now, all these years later, the famously anti-union governor may finally be getting his wish -- whether he likes it or not...
Second fight over union rights comes to Wisconsin as right-to-work debate looms  Associated Press   …The first step is a public hearing Tuesday before the state Senate's Labor Committee before the Senate takes it up for debate on Wednesday...
War on Workers
Trend in Temp Workers may not be Temporary  Economic Populist   …America's third largest job creator is a temp agency called Kelly Services, which provided employment to 555,000 employees in 2014...
Ex-Im critics pounce after bank yanks data  The Hill   …Critics of the Export-Import Bank are seething over the removal from a government Web site of previously public data earlier they say helps them detect cronyism…
Amid controversy, oil trains quietly rerouted through Virginia towns  Reuters   …CSX Corp is temporarily rerouting up to five oil trains through this small riverside town to bypass the site of an explosive oil train derailment that occurred 90 miles north in Mount Carbon, West Virginia, on Monday...
Rent walkouts point to strains in U.S. farm economy  Reuters   …Across the U.S. Midwest, the plunge in grain prices to near four-year lows is pitting landowners determined to sustain rental incomes against farmer tenants worried about making rent payments because their revenues are squeezed...
Will America's Shale Boomtowns Bust? A Report From the Heart of North Dakota's Fracking Country  Fortune   …After reaching a 12-month high of $108 last summer, U.S. benchmark petroleum prices have dramatically declined, to a price now hovering near $50 per barrel. That has shaken global markets and energy companies alike, causing oil producers to slash their capital expenditure budgets and announce layoffs...
Worker dies in Canton's second fatal snow-related fall in 5 days  WCVB   …A worker fell 40 feet to his death Sunday while checking the roof of a building for snow removal...

Today's Teamster News 02.22.15

Teamsters
Union and company reach contract for Facebook shuttle drivers  USA Today   …Facebook shuttle bus drivers can expect higher wages and better working conditions as part of a new contract agreement reached today. More than two-thirds of about 90 drivers voted unanimously Saturday to accept a contract negotiated by the Teamsters and South San Francisco-based Loop Transportation…
Trade
TPP accord no longer expected before April  Japan Times   …Japan and the United States had hoped the 12-member TPP talks would conclude as early as March, assuming the two countries could clinch an accord at a bilateral meeting in late February or early March. The delay reflects slow progress in U.S. congressional procedures to grant President Barack Obama trade promotion authority...
State Battles
Right-to-work effort winds around Great Lakes into Wisconsin  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   …This week, the right-to-work debate moves front and center in Wisconsin...
NEW INFORMATION: Wisconsin Senate leader lays out timeline for right-to-work  Associated Press   …Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said Friday that a public hearing will be held Tuesday on the measure by the Senate Labor Committee. Debate will begin Wednesday in the Senate and continue until there's a vote...
Can Labor Survive Nevada's Republican Party?  The Atlantic   …For the first time in decades, the GOP controls the state's assembly, the senate, and the governor's mansion—and they're targeting unions...
Udall speaks against right-to-work, urges more funds for early ed  Santa Fe New Mexican   …U.S. Sen. Tom Udall used his pulpit during a joint session of the New Mexico Legislature on Friday to weigh in on two of the most divisive issues facing state lawmakers this session...
War on Workers
America, Land of Low Pay -- The Numbers Will Surprise You  Alternet   …Each American produced an average of $140,000 in goods in 2013, but median wages were less than $28,000. Who's getting that money?...
U.S. Oil Workers' Union Expands Biggest Plant Strike Since 1980  Bloomberg News   …The United Steelworkers, which represents 30,000 U.S. oil workers, called on four more plants to join the biggest strike since 1980 as talks dragged on with Royal Dutch Shell Plc, negotiating a labor contract for oil companies...
This is the scariest chart in the American economy today  Vox   …The unemployment rate has come down a lot, but the share of unemployed workers who've been unemployed a long time is still at historic levels...
Inmates riot at Willacy County prison  Valley Star   …Complaints over medical service led about 2,000 prisoners to riot Friday at the so-called tent-city prison here, setting fire to a tent-like dome while guards fired tear gas to try to control what Willacy County Sheriff Larry Spence called the prison’s worst disturbance since it opened nearly 10 years ago.Two officers and a prisoner suffered minor injuries before officials tried to settle the uprising late Friday afternoon at the Willacy County Correctional Center, said Issa Arnita, spokesman for Management & Training Corp., the Utah company that operates the low security-level prison for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons…
The Rich Benefit the Most From Tax Breaks Designed to Help People Build Wealth  Bloomberg   …The federal government spent $384 billion in 2013 on tax incentives that encourage savings, linked mainly to home ownership and retirement plans. Most of that money went to the rich...
Investment Charges When Mexico Privatized Social Security  Conversable Economist   …"Fund managers charged an average load (a fee taken as a share of account contributions at the time of contribution) of 23 percent and an annual fee on assets under management of 0.63 percent, implying that a 100-peso deposit earning a 5 percent annual real return would only be worth 95.4 pesos after five years."...
Big tech companies cause income inequality — but not in the ways you think  Pando Daily   … these companies invest huge portions of their annual revenues into buying back stock to line the pockets of shareholders, not to mention keep the bulk of global profits safely offshore and out of the reach of US tax collectors. And because stock performance is often used as a key factor in determining executive compensation, buyback schemes may also boost a CEO’s take-home pay...
Coroner: Worker dies when rock falls in Pennsylvania mine  WPXI   …ndiana County Coroner Jerry L. Overman Jr. says in a news release that the man — 29-year-old Todd Trimble of Gallitzin — was installing roof bolts at Rosebud Heilwood mine on Friday afternoon when the rock fell and he was trapped underneath...

Today's Teamster News 02.18.15

Teamsters
Teamsters Call on CEOs Of Six Companies To Denounce Anti-Union Tactics Used By Compass Trans.  teamster.org   …In a letter to the CEOs of six East Bay-area companies, Rome Aloise, International Vice President and President of Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif., called on the executives to denounce alleged assertions made by management at Compass Transportation to its drivers that the six companies would likely end their service agreement with them if they voted for a union...
Judge Approves Agreement Ending Government Oversight Of Teamsters Union  teamster.org   …Today, Chief Judge Loretta Preska of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York approved an agreement that ends more than 25 years of government oversight of the Teamsters Union...
Trade
Let's Roll! February 17, speak out for Good-Paying Jobs & a Healthy Environment by Saying NO to "Fast Track"  Washington Fair Trade Coalition   …To voice opposition against the disastrous impacts Fast Track would have on the Pacific Northwest’s economy, environment and public health, the Washington Fair Trade Coalition, the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign, and their partners from the labor, environmental, public health and human rights movements are getting on a bus called the “Blue-Green Machine” for two action-packed days of rallies, press events and briefings that need your support...
Our Opinion: Skepticism about TPP, and no to its fast-tracking  Berkshire Eagle   …There is ample reason for doubt about the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), although its tenets have not been fully determined. There is more than enough reason to oppose its fast-tracking. Demonstrators in Pittsfield, Springfield and Washington, D.C. will lobby First District Congressman Richard Neal, a Springfield Democrat, to oppose both the agreement and its fast-tracking today. The senior member of the Massachusetts delegation, Mr. Neal anticipates taking part in talks on the TPP and wants to reserve judgment…
Letter: Polis should vote no on TPP, Fast Track  Coloradoan   …Our representative, Congressman Jared Polis, has not publicly voiced his opposition to TPP, which is a shame...
State Battles
Missouri Senate leader skeptical ‘right-to-work’ will make it to governor  PoliticMO   … Senate Majority Leader Ron Richard said despite last week’s vote by the House of Representatives to pass “right-to-work,” he sees a tough road ahead in the upper chamber...
Right-To-Work debated again  New Hampshire Union Leader   …The House could vote to approve the bill, but the Senate is currently tied 12-12 on the right-to-work issue.Whatever the Legislature does, Gov. Maggie Hassan has vowed to veto the bill and neither the House nor the Senate has the two-thirds majority needed to override...
West Virginia workers rally on statehouse steps  West Virginia Metro News   …The snow and bone-chilling temperatures didn’t stop state-wide union workers from rallying against the prevailing wage law change at the State Capitol Monday afternoon in Charleston...
War on Workers
Student-Loan Delinquencies Rise in U.S.  Bloomberg News   …Data from the New York Fed released Tuesday showed 11.3 percent of student loans were delinquent in the final three months of 2014, up from 11.1 percent in the prior quarter. The share of auto loans at least 90 days overdue also rose…
How rich conservatives bilk the rank and file into making them richer  Washington Post   … I like to call [it] the circle of scam. Organizations like the Heritage Foundation and FreedomWorks pay radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity big money to offer on-air endorsements that are the radio equivalent of “native advertising.” Future presidential candidate Mike Huckabee sells his email list on “miracle cancer cures” hidden in the Bible. Conservative media figures like Dick Morris solicit contributions that somehow are never turned to the political ends they claim. Nobody wants to upend the system, because too many people are getting a taste...
Worker dies at Shelbyville Tyson plant  WSMV   …A worker with a contract cleaning company was killed at the Tyson Food plant in Shelbyville early Tuesday morning...

Today's Teamster News 02.17.15

Teamsters
CP Rail, Teamsters union agree to arbitration  CBC News   …Labour Minister Kellie Leitch says the government is withdrawing its back-to-work legislation now that Canadian Pacific Railway and the Teamsters union have agreed to arbitration...
Labor Supports a Fair Trash Plan (opinion)   Gotham Gazette   …Forcing a few neighborhoods to take almost all of the city's trash is just plain wrong…
Freight railroads watched Canadian Pacific strike closely  Associated Press   …Railroad officials say the brief strike by roughly 3,300 Canadian Pacific workers didn’t have a significant impact on U.S. rail traffic. The strike by members of the Teamsters union that began eary Sunday was closely monitored by other railroads…
British Members Of Parliament Join Teamster School Bus Workers At Community Forum  teamster.org   …Teamster school bus drivers and monitors were joined by members of the British Parliament, parents, community, political and faith leaders, as well as representatives from Teamsters Local 509 at tonight’s Community Forum on School Bus Transportation, hosted by S.C. state representatives Wendell Gilliard and David Mack...
Trade
Currency Battle Is Tethered to Obama Trade Agenda  New York Times   …a growing bipartisan majority in Congress is coalescing around a demand that could derail President Obama’s ambitious trade agenda before it really gets moving: include a robust attack on international currency manipulation or no deal...
As free trade pacts expand, U.S. trade deficit soars. Why add one more?  Reuters   …Since the pacts were implemented, U.S. trade deficits, which drag down economic growth, have soared more than 430 percent with our free-trade partners. In the same period, they’ve declined 11 percent with countries that are not free-trade partners. Since fast-track trade authority was used to pass NAFTA and the U.S. entrance into the World Trade Organization, the overall annual U.S. trade deficit in goods has more than quadrupled, from $218 billion to $912 billion…
State Battles
Hundreds attend rally against prevailing wage, right-to-work bills  Charlestown Gazette   …Union workers and supporters showed up in force at the state Capitol for a rally Monday afternoon. The rally, called by Senate Minority Leader Jeff Kessler, D-Marshall, was to protest several bills in the Legislature, including those to make West Virginia a “right to work” state and to cut the state’s prevailing wage…
5 Of The Biggest Right-To-Work Battles  Daily Caller   …Lawmakers in several states are considering their own right-to-work legislation, but opponents warn such proposals will hurt the middle class…
Construction company voices concerns over plans to scrap common wage law  WTHR.com   …The construction industry is abuzz after House Speaker Brian Bosma revealed the Indiana GOP plans to scrap the the state's 80-year-old common wage law for construction workers. It could mean a loss of higher wages for union and non-union workers alike...
War on Workers
Fires from W. Va. derailment could burn 2-3 days  CBS News   …A train carrying more than 100 tankers of crude oil derailed during a snowstorm in southern West Virginia on Monday, sending at least one tanker into a river, igniting at least 14 in all and sending a fireball hundreds of feet into the sky, officials and residents said…
Labor secretary to help reach West Coast port deal  Reuters   …Labor Secretary Tom Perez will travel to California to help broker an agreement between shipping companies and dockworkers in a dispute that has led to a partial shutdown of ports along the U.S. West Coast...
Construction worker killed after falling into sand silo  Atlanta Business Chronicle   …A construction worker was killed after falling into a sand silo at Thomas Concrete Co. on Canton Road in Marietta. Two subcontractors from Texas were cleaning the inside of a silo when one worker fell in...
EMS workers killed in line of duty remembered 2 years after crash  FOX 59   …A vigil was held Monday morning at 3 a.m. to honor two Indianapolis Emergency Medical Service workers who lost their lives in a tragic accident on Feb. 16, 2013...
Miscellaneous 
Economists Say Millennials Should Consider Careers In Trades  National Public Radio   …millions of good-paying jobs are opening up in the trades. And some pay better than what the average college graduate makes...
Are Submarines About to Become Obsolete?  National Interest   … If advances in big data and new detection methods fuse with the anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) ambitions of nations like China and Russia, naval planners around the world might have to go back to the drawing board...

Today's Teamster News 02.16.15

Teamsters
Striking Teamsters picket CP Rail offices in Thunder Bay  CBC News   …Striking Canadian Pacific Railway employees braved the bitter cold in Thunder Bay Sunday to picket the CP offices on Syndicate Avenue in what is expected to be a short-lived labour action. The federal government is expected to introduce legislation on Monday to end the strike by more than 3,000 unionized CP workers…
Canadian Pacific Railway blasted for intimidating employees  Spyghana   …Dennis Pierce, National President of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and President of the Teamsters Rail Conference (U.S.), blasted Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) today for its growing culture of threats and intimidation toward its employees in the U.S. and Canada...
Teamsters: State Reps. To Host Community Forum On School Bus Transportation  istockanalyst   …On Monday, Feb. 16, at 3:30 p.m., State Reps. Wendell Gilliard, David Mack and Seth Whipper will be joined by Charleston NAACP President Dot Scott, Members of the British Parliament, Charleston school bus drivers, parents and concerned community members at a press conference and public forum on school bus transportation. The forum will cover the ongoing serious safety, service and working condition concerns with Durham School Services, the transportation contractor for Charleston City Schools...
Trade
Trading US Democracy for Corporate Profits with TPP  Counterpunch   …The key point to notice about TPP, as with earlier trade deals, is that it is being negotiated in secret. The reason for this is that there are so many outrages in it which undermine US sovereignty and democratic control, and so many things in the deal that benefit multinational corporations at the expense of the American worker and the broader American public that there would be almost universal outrage if they were known…
Opinion: Progressives and Tea Party find common ground as they oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership  NJ.com   ...So, you think the idea of progressives and the Tea Party working together or achieving a common purpose is some woolly-headed, academic fantasy without the proverbial snowball's chance -- that it cannot happen because the gulf separating these two factions is unbridgeable? Well, think again...
War on Workers
Tax Cuts Didn’t Lead to Faster Growth  Economic Policy Institute   …The figure below shows average top tax rates and average productivity growth (how much output is produced in the average hour of work in the economy) for two periods: 1948-1979 and 1979-2007. The earlier period saw significantly higher average top tax rates and significantly faster productivity growth...

Latino workers dying at higher rates in job accidents, report shows  Reflejos   …of the 4,405 U.S. workers killed on the job in 2013, 797 were Latinos. That equates to 3.8 of every 100,000 full-time Latino employees in the U.S. dying in workplace accidents during the year...
Miscellaneous
Feds unveil commercial drone rules  The Hill   …The Federal Aviation Administration is moving to allow commercial drones that weigh less than 55 pounds to be flown in the U.S. under new regulations that were released on Sunday morning...
The Richest Cities for Young People: 1980 vs. Today  The Atlantic   …Five of the ten richest cities for young Boomers have since seen median wages for young people fall by at least 15 percent...

Today's Teamster News 02.03.15

Teamsters
Dutchess County LOOP Strike Averted As Negotiations Continue  Daily Freeman   ...The potential strike by the union representing Dutchess County LOOP bus drivers, mechanics, office employees and bus washers has apparently been averted. Teamsters Local 445 Business Agent Jerry Ebert said ... the company said it would resume negotiations, resulting in the union calling off its threat to strike.....
City Of Monroe Reports On Feb. 1 Snow Removal Efforts  Monroe News   ..."I am proud to report that all 15 Teamster personnel, both of our 2 supervisors, and our Superintendent of Public Services, Bill Walters, have all already been involved in our efforts today to combat the winter storm...
Leslie Marshall Show Features Teamsters Fight At Allegiant Air  teamster.org   …Teamsters Local 1224 President Daniel Wells talks with Leslie Marshall about the more than 500 Teamster Allegiant Air pilots and their fight for a fair contract...
Sysco Offers To Sell 11 Facilities To Win Merger Approval  New York Times   ...Sysco said on Monday that it had agreed to divest 11 distribution centers in a bid to obtain the blessing of regulators including the Federal Trade Commission. Sysco will sell the centers for an undisclosed sum to Performance Food Group, which will be its nearest rival after the deal for US Foods closes...
Trade
TPP negotiators agree on copyrights protection  NHK World News   …Negotiators of the Trans Pacific Partnership free trade pact say they are a step closer to reaching a deal on copyright duration in principle. The plan is for copyrights to last for 70 years...
Let's Take Apart The Corporate Case For Fast Track Trade Authority  Economy In Crisis   …an argument that TPP and similar agreements will “expand trade” masks what the bulk of these agreements are really about, which is getting governments off the backs of the giant corporations and protecting their profits from competition and democratic regulation...
Syriza-Led Greek Parliament ‘Will Never Ratify TTIP’  EurActiv   ...After making its voice heard in the debate over sanctions on Russia, the new government in Athens is now making its opposition known to the EU-US trade deal, TTIP...
State Battles
Legislation is detrimental to Missouri workers (opinion)  St. Louis Post Dispatch   …Missouri House Speaker John Diehl wants to make so-called worker freedom a key emphasis for the Legislature by passing right-to-work and “paycheck protection” bills. This legislation has nothing to do with workers’ rights or workers’ protection. Actually, these bills attack both. They undermine the ability of workers to have a voice and to organize opposition to the out-of-state, well-heeled efforts of extremists and the 1 percent...
Right To Work bill introduced in Senate  The InterMountain.com   …Proposed legislation would make West Virginia a Right To Work state...
Scott Walker To Cut $300 Million From Universities, Spend $500 Million On A Pro Basketball Stadium  Think Progress   ...Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) will unveil a budget Tuesday night that aims to slash hundreds of millions of dollars from the state’s public universities over the next two years....
War on Workers
U.S. workers strike for second day at nine refineries; one to shut  Reuters   …Union workers were on strike for a second day on Monday at nine U.S. refineries and chemical plants as they sought a new national contract with oil companies covering laborers at 63 plants...
Croatia just canceled the debts of its poorest citizens  Washington Post   …the government scheme aims to help some of the 317,000 Croatians whose bank accounts have been blocked due to their debts. Given that Croatia is a relatively small Mediterranean country of only 4.4 million inhabitants, the number of indebted citizens is significant and has become a major economic burden for the country…
World Bank Declines Child Labor Investigation World Bulletin   ...The World Banks internal watchdog has decided to pursue and investiage the link between the banks' loans and the Uzbek government-organised forced labour. The request by human rights campaigners to investigate the use of forced labour and child labour was declined, even though it has acknowledged that farms benfitting from its assistance might be forcing both adults and children against their will...
The Mental And Physical Toll Of Student Loans  The Atlantic   ...“Cumulative student loans were significantly and inversely associated with better psychological functioning,” according to the results. That means, generally speaking, student-loan debt was not great for the mental health of study participants...
Portland strippers head to Salem to lobby for better work conditions  Associated Press  …Tired of watching well-meaning strangers impose their own visions for improving the plight of the dancer, some of Portland's seasoned strippers are working directly with state lawmakers and professional lobbyists...
Uber Opening Robotics Research Facility In Pittsburgh To Build Self-Driving Cars  Tech Crunch   …Driver-on-demand service Uber is building a robotics research lab in Pittsburgh, PA to “kickstart autonomous taxi fleet development,” sources close to the decision have confirmed to TechCrunch. They say the company has hired talent from Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute, including lead engineering and commercialization experts...
The New Face of the Koch Campaign  The Daily Beast   …A father of two was sentenced to 55 years in jail for selling pot. The Koch brothers want to help set him free and make him the face of their new campaign for criminal justice reform...
Worker Dies On The Job At Chattanooga's Wrigley Plant  News Channel 9   …A worker died while on the job at Chattanooga's Wrigley Plant in Tuesday's early morning hours…This is the second time someone has died on site of the Wrigley Plant…
Cops: Social Worker Killed to Cover Up Embezzlement  Newser   …In a case that Philadelphia police say has left them "angry and confounded," a social worker allegedly gunned down a colleague in broad daylight after she discovered that he had embezzled tens of thousands of dollars from an after-school outreach program...
Miscellaneous
Keystone XL Pipeline Bill House Vote Eyed For Next Week  International Business Times   ...The House can either vote on the Senate version of the bill as is or write its own bill, pass that and then go into a conference committee with Senate leaders to hash out compromise legislation. A compromise bill might take too long, especially because eight agencies have a Monday deadline to weigh in on Keystone, according to Politico...

Today's Teamster News 01.27.15

Teamsters
Hoffa: No Time To Waste In Letting Public, Lawmakers Know About Fast Track  Huffington Post   ...congressional leaders want to move on fast track, and soon. That means those standing up for the interests of hardworking Americans must step up their efforts. After all, not everyone is aware of the consequences that a quick up-or-down vote on the 12-nation Pacific Rim trade deal will bring. It will devastate not only wage earners, but their families as well...
Teamsters Score Second Drayage Victory  Journal of Commerce   ...The Teamsters are gaining more traction in their attempt to unionize Southern California drayage truckers after drivers at an SSA Marine subsidiary chose a union local as their exclusive bargaining representative...
Open For Business  Journal of Commerce   ...The U.S. Department of Transportation’s decision to finally open the border to Mexican trucking companies — a stipulation of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement stymied by opponents for two decades — resolves none of the political controversy over allowing Mexican trucks on U.S. highways and still faces severe political backlash from critics, including the Teamsters union...
Trade
Protests As Trans-Pacific Partnership Talks Resume In New York Today  Crooks & Liars   ...Negotiators working on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) convened today in New York City. Even the location was kept secret until the last possible minute, but hundreds of trade, labor, environmental, health, communities of color, anti-GMO and food justice, anti-fracking, animal and other activists still showed up in the big blizzard to protest the secret trade agreement and "fast track" trade promotion authority (TPA)...
U.S. says final contours of Pacific trade pact coming into focus  Reuters   …The final form of an ambitious Pacific trade pact is coming into focus, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said on Tuesday as he urged Congress get behind the U.S. trade agenda...
The TPP Will Sink the Middle Class  Thom Hartmann   …we now know that the TPP would give big pharmaceutical companies virtual monopoly patent power, let corporations sue countries in international courts over regulations that those corporations don’t like, and gut environmental and financial rules.
The One Power Democrats Don’t Want Obama To Have  The Hill   ...Democrats and some Republicans are adamant that trade promotion authority (TPA) would give Obama’s trade team too much control over negotiations, and are making their opposition known in a barrage of press conferences on Capitol Hill...
State Battles
Gov. Mike Pence's state-run news outlet will compete with media  Indianapolis Star   …Gov. Mike Pence is starting a state-run taxpayer-funded news outlet that will make pre-written news stories available to Indiana media, as well as sometimes break news about his administration, according to documents obtained by The Indianapolis Star...
Right To Work Support In Legislature Backing Down  Badger Herald   ...Right-to-work legislation, which looks to limit unions’ governing power, is losing pull as a priority issue in Wisconsin’s Legislature this session. Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said in a statement this month he no longer expects right-to-work legislation to be brought up any time soon, a dramatic shift from his earlier statements that he intended to make the movement a priority this session...
Dropkick Murphys ‘literally hate' Scott Walker for using their song at Iowa convention  New York Daily News   ...The Dropkick Murphys have no problem dropping the hate word when it comes to politicians using their music at events especially when Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker entered the Iowa Freedom Summit to the song ‘I’m Shipping Up to Boston.’...
Kentucky: A New Frontier for Right-to-Work Laws?  The National Law Review   ... this appears to be the first time efforts by smaller units of “state government” (i.e., counties) have been undertaken on this front. While the NLRA allows “states” to pass and implement right-to-work laws, it is not clear if smaller units of local government can pass these laws or not...
Michigan Union Membership Dropped Significantly In 2014, First Full Year Under Right-To-Work Law  MLive   ...Overall, 14.5 percent of wage and salary workers in Michigan were members of a union in 2014, down from 16.3 percent in 2013, according to federal statistics released Friday...
Wage theft rampant in Colorado  The Durango Herald   ...From telemarketers to tortilla manufacturers, workers in myriad industries have suffered from employers failing to pay them wages they are owed, a Rocky Mountain PBS I-News investigation has found...
Oregon Strippers Prepare to Fight For Workplace Protection Laws  Willamette Week   ...Nude dancers who want more rights and better workplace protections are pushing forward with bills to create new rules for Oregon strip clubs.  A coalition of dancers, social workers and other advocates have drafted two bills they hope will get a hearing in Salem when lawmakers reconvene in February...
Will Sandoval Use The Bill To Achieve Collective Bargaining Reform?  Las Vegas Review Journal   ...Assemblyman Randy Kirner, R-Reno, is requesting the most comprehensive measure ...It would clarify the rules that exclude supervisors from collective bargaining, prohibit using government funds to pay employees engaged in union activities, require employees to seek union deductions before they would be collected by a government entity and make agreements retroactive to the date of the expiration of the previous contract. It also would require a final contract offer to be made public...
Possible Ballot Measure Could Be Bargaining Chip In Minimum-Wage Debate  Seattle Times   ...Democrats in Olympia are making one thing clear about a new proposal to raise the minimum wage: If it doesn’t pass this year, be ready for a ballot initiative...
War on Workers
Koch Brothers’ Budget of $889 Million for 2016 Is on Par With Both Parties’ Spending  New York Times   …The political network overseen by the conservative billionaires Charles G. and David H. Koch plans to spend close to $900 million on the 2016 campaign, an unparalleled effort by coordinated outside groups to shape a presidential election that is already on track to be the most expensive in history...
The State Of The Unions: Membership Is Up, But Density Still Drops  Washington Post   ...What's interesting about this is that union membership actually went up last year, with 41,000 new union members in the private sector and 8,000 in public. But the number of people working increased much more than that. The long-term trend has been that union membership in the public sector -- meaning government employees -- has grown, while private sector membership has dropped...
As inequality soars, the nervous super rich are already planning their escapes  Guardian   ...“I know hedge fund managers all over the world who are buying airstrips and farms in places like New Zealand because they think they need a getaway,” he said...
Woman, age 30, killed during robbery at Sunhouse store Sunday night  myhorrynews.com   ...On Sunday night at around 10 p.m., a female clerk was shot and killed at the Sunhouse on Cultra Road between Highway 701 and Highway 501 in Conway, Horry County Deputy Coroner Tony Hendrick has confirmed...
State Patrol: Army veteran, ER worker killed when a driver ran a stop sign  BringMeTheNews   …A 47-year-old emergency room manager and Gulf War veteran was killed after police say he was broadsided by a car that ran through a stop sign...
Miscellaneous
Regulators Advance Plans For Truck Driver Training  Journal of Commerce   ...The amount of time future truck drivers must spend in training and how rigorous a program they must complete will be determined not by federal fiat but through negotiations. Federal regulators are proceeding with a negotiated rule-making on minimum national truck driver training standards, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said in December...
FOIA Documents Reveal Massive DEA Program to Record American’s Whereabouts With License Plate Readers  ACLU   …The Drug Enforcement Administration has initiated a massive national license plate reader program with major civil liberties concerns but disclosed very few details, according to new DEA documents obtained by the ACLU through the Freedom of Information Act...

Today's Teamster News 01.25.15

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