Tuesday, February 3, 2015

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...