Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Today's Teamster News 11.19.13

Teamsters Strike Leads to Skechers  The Press-Enterprise   ...The strike, which is on behalf of drivers who are not union members, was called because of alleged intimidation and retaliation by drivers who do want to unionize, according to a statement from Justice for Port Drivers, a group backed by the Teamsters...
BREAKING: Truckers who haul for Wal-Mart and Forever 21 plan surprise strikes today  Salon   ...The port truckers, backed by the Teamsters union, are the latest to take up tactics that have characterized a wave of low-wage, non-union strikes since 2012...
Council OKs raises for Teamsters, non-union workers  Billings Gazette   ...A two-year contract with the Teamsters Union was approved unanimously and is retroactive to July 1, the start of the fiscal year...
Wal-Mart faces warehouse horror allegations and federal Labor Board complaint  Salon   ...The world’s largest private employer faces escalations on multiple fronts Monday, including strikes by its employees in Ohio and workers who haul its goods in California; media scrutiny on an employee-to-employee charity initiative; and labor groups’ announcements that California Department of Occupational Safety and Health complaints have been filed against two Wal-Mart-contracted warehouses, and the National Labor Relations Board is prepared to issue a complaint against Wal-Mart...
Walmart Store Holding Thanksgiving Food Drive For Its Own Workers  Huffington Post   ...One Ohio Walmart is asking employees to donate food for other workers who are struggling so much they can't afford to buy a Thanksgiving meal for their families...
Walmart Workers on Strike  Fox 45 Now   ...(Butler Township, Ohio) Local Walmart workers are striking less than two weeks before the biggest shopping day of the year. The group rallied at the Walmart and were calling for higher pay and better working conditions...
Enormous, Humongous China Trade Deficit Breaks Record — Again  Trade Reform   ...September’s $30.5 billion monthly goods trade deficit with China sets a new record...
38 Million Retirees Join Workers and Consumers to Say No to "Trade" Deal Terms that Would Make Medicine More Expensive  Public Citizen   ...the largest U.S. nonprofit, nonpartisan group – the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), representing 38 million members – joined the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Consumers Union and other U.S. health and consumer advocacy groups in sending a letter to President Obama to express "deep concern" that TPP rules will thwart efforts to control escalating healthcare costs...
Obama’s Secrecy Is Hurting Free-Trade Talks (opinion)  Bloomberg News   ... even lawmakers who sit on committees with jurisdiction over trade complain about being in the dark. Some have been allowed to view portions of drafts of the text, but never the entire thing. The information blackout has led 151 Democrats and 30 Republicans to oppose giving Obama the fast-track authority he seeks to ratify the trade deals...
Private firms selling mass surveillance systems around world, documents show  The Guardian   ...
Private firms are selling spying tools and mass surveillance technologies to developing countries with promises that "off the shelf" equipment will allow them to snoop on millions of emails, text messages and phone calls...
Reality TV’s worker scandal: Shows accused of stealing millions in wages  Salon   ...A new union report alleges rampant lawlessness in the lucrative and growing reality TV industry. The Writers Guild of America, East, which authored the report based on a survey of current and former non-union workers, contends that it reveals an ugly reality behind top shows like “Pawn Stars” and “Fatal Encounters,” which have been supplanting unionized, scripted sitcoms and dramas...
Elizabeth Warren urges expansion of Social Security  Salon   ...Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren went against pro-austerity conventional wisdom and advocated for the expansion of Social Security benefits, joining a small but vocal group of economic liberals currently pushing the idea...
Republicans and Democrats to work together to gut Social Security, pass Chained CPI, without CALLING it a "grand bargain"  Corrente   ...McConnell warns Democrats, "The tax issue is over." But he suggests Republicans are open to preventing a second year of the sequester. "You want sequester relief? Then let’s talk about a reduction in entitlement spending," he says. "I think a place to talk is on things like chained CPI." Obama has already said he'd support chained CPI, which is a less generous way of calculating the cost-of-living adjustments to Social Security benefits...
New Jersey town vows to rescue foreclosed homeowners  Al-Jazeera America   ...Irvington Mayor Wayne Smith announced the township’s plan to “take” and revalue foreclosed homes at market rates for the public’s benefit, using the legal doctrine of “eminent domain.” Should the plan move forward, Irvington could become the first municipality to seize and re-mortgage foreclosed properties...
How Privatizers Are Killing Our Schools  Alternet   ...private schools serve 12 percent of the nation's elementary and secondary students, but only one percent of disabled students. Forty-three percent of public school students are from minority families, compared to 24% of private school students...
To Catch a Predator: The John Doe Episode Starring Walker and Koch  Uppity Wisconsin   ...in early 2012, David Koch bragged to Palm Beach Post reporter Stacey Singer that he not only intended to help Walker win the recall election, but that his group had, in fact, successfully won senate recall elections...
Scott Walker’s campaign hit with subpoena, says Club for Growth leader O’Keefe  blue cheddar   ...a slew of right wing groups based in Wisconsin (or linked with Wisconsin) got served subpoenas – - including Scott Walker’s campaign...