Friday, November 21, 2014

Today's Teamster News 11.21.14

Teamster News
Los Angeles, Long Beach Port Truck Drivers Urge Long Beach Harbor Leaders To Help  Long Beach Press Telegram   ...Truck drivers who move goods through the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports urged Long Beach harbor leaders Wednesday to do what they can to support their fight for fair wages and safer working conditions...
50 Walmart workers join striking port truck drivers on picket line in Los Angeles  TeamsterNation   ...Continuous picket lines held in Los Angeles by striking port drivers and Teamsters got a shot of energy today from 50 Walmart workers, even as Walmart workers in Ohio struck stores in Dayton and Cincinnati...
Brockton Public Schools Workers Choose Teamsters Local 653 Representation  teamster.org   ...Custodians, craftsmen and truck drivers who work for Brockton Public Schools in Brockton, Mass., have voted by an overwhelming 5-1 margin in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 653 in South Easton, Mass...
Charles "Chuck" R. Schumacher, Janesville, WI (1940-2014)  WCLO   ...He was a longtime member of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Loyal Order of Moose, and the Teamsters Union #579, where he served on the Teamster’s Credit Union Board...
Statement In Opposition To Proposed New York City Bag Tax From Teamsters Local 237 President Greg Floyd  teamster.org   ..."We stand in opposition to Intro 209, that would charge a fee on plastic and paper retail bags distributed to consumers in New York City stores. We believe this legislation would lead to irreparable harm to the unionized plastic bag manufacturing industry in New York City in favor of reusable bags that are made overseas...
Trade
Commission Launches Transparency Initiative For TTIP And Lobbying  EurActiv   ...From 1 December 2014, the European Commission plans to post all contacts of Commissioners, those of their cabinet employees and their directors-general with lobbyists and interest representatives on the institution’s register...
Leaked documents on TTIP and Banking regulations  Pressenza   ...We have already heard a lot about the TTIP toxic effects for the economy, lowering of standards for regulations about the environment, health and safety as well as the looming privatisation of public services, in particular Health Services, with governments being unable to develop their own policies as they will be sued in specially established courts to defend private companies’ interests...
State Battles
Maine Minimum Wage Hike Supporters Keep Pressing, Eye Statewide Vote In 2016  Bangor Daily News   ...Also in the works is a Portland City Council vote that will contemplate setting a new minimum wage for the state’s largest city. An advisory committee has recommended the city increase the minimum wage to $9.50 per hour by 2015 and to $10.68 by 2017...
Voter ID Laws Reduce Indiana’s Election Turnout (opinion)  Lafayette Journal Courier   ...Pretending to eradicate fraud, the ID laws in reality made it harder for two Democratic-leaning segments of the population, the poor and elderly, to vote. Voter ID laws, on average, decrease turnouts by 4 to 5 percentage points...
Atlantic City Casino Workers Protest Trump Taj Mahal Shutdown On Boardwalk  NJ.com   ...Hundreds of casino workers filled the frigid boardwalk Wednesday to protest the impending shutdown of Trump Taj Mahal following a painful summer season that saw four casinos close. Shouting “shame on you!” as they passed the shuttered Trump Plaza, which closed in September, the local union workers said they shouldn’t have to make concessions on health care benefits for the casino to stay solvent...
War on Workers
Walmart Workers Strike Today As Report Says Wages So Low Many Can't Feed Families  Cleveland Plain Dealer   ...Many Walmart workers serve as poster children for food insecurity because their low pay doesn't allow them to adequately feed their families, according to a new report...
Kmart To Employee: ‘If You Do Not Come To Work On Thanksgiving, You Will Automatically Be Fired’  ThinkProgress   ... Twelve retail chains will be open, requiring millions of people to leave home. Erratic and last-minute schedules are rampant in the industry, so others may also be in limbo waiting to find out whether they will miss out on time with friends and family...
AFL-CIO questions Wall Street's 'revolving door' compensation practices  The Hill   ...The AFL-CIO is questioning whether major financial institutions incentivize top executives to leave for government work with hefty bonuses...
New York Fed, Goldman in Criminal Investigation for Sharing Confidential Information  naked capitalism   ...this sharing of confidential information can be a crime and the authorities are giving a serious look into that very question...
Americans of All Stripes Agree: The System Is Stacked Against Them  Wall Street Journal   ...The last time disenchantment hit the same level was in July 1992, amid economic jitters and the heat of the Clinton vs. Bush campaign, but that was a brief spike. This time, alienation has built steadily since 2002, when just over a third of Americans felt the system was stacked against them...
An Uber Battle  The Progressive   ...The business model of these so-called transportation network companies is based on exploiting the labor and capital investments of people who use their personal cars as unlicensed taxis..
Noblesville foundry worker killed on the job  Indianapolis Star   ...A 21-year-old worker at a Noblesville foundry was killed on the job today...
Workers who died at Dupont Texas plant lacked respirators: lawyer  Reuters   ... Four workers killed at a DuPont and Co’s chemical plant in Texas on Saturday did not have access to safety equipment like respirators when there was a deadly release of a hazardous chemical...
Worker Dies at Salt Facility  New England Cable News   ...Capt. Michael McCabe says emergency personnel were called to the Cargill Salt facility just before 11 a.m. Wednesday for a report of a person "seen in an awkward position on a conveyor belt."...
Worker dies in Alcoa plant accident near Port Lavaca  Associated Press   ... the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration says the contract supervisor was hit by a door that was being installed on a tank by a crane...
Worker dies after fall through skylight in Decatur  Associated Press   ... Police in Decatur say a worker on the roof of the Aquadome Recreation Center was killed when he stepped through a skylight and fell about 25 feet onto basketball courts inside the facility...
Miscellaneous
FAA can regulate drones   CNN Money   ...The Federal Aviation Administration won a key ruling this week allowing it to regulate drone flights. The decision by the National Transportation Safety Board was a setback for those who had argued drones should be allowed to fly without all the regulations that apply to more typical manned aircraft...