Saturday, November 9, 2013

Today's Teamster News 11.09.13

New Three-Year Contract For Teamsters At Hershey Medical Center  teamster.org   ...Hershey Medical Center members of Teamsters Local 776 concluded voting on a new three-year contract today. The proposed agreement was approved by a majority of those who cast ballots and covers more than 900 workers employed as clinical, supportive services and skilled trade workers at the medical facility...
Wegman's, Teamsters Announce Deal  WHAM News   ...The Teamsters Local 118 union announced Friday it reached a collective bargaining agreement with Wegmans, ending nine months of negotiations...
Calif. workers get $516M in bonus pay  Associated Press   ...A $1,000 bonus for parking attendants at the state Department of Food and Agriculture, a perk negotiated by the Teamsters Union...
Elected officials, union call for incoming NYC Controller to audit the city Housing Authority  New York Daily News   ...“We’re calling for a forensic audit of this agency so we can get things right,” Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (D-Brooklyn) said at a meeting convened by Teamsters Local 237, the union representing 8,000 NYCHA workers...
Threat of a workers' strike looms at Shoreway Recycling Center in San Carlos  San Jose Mercury News   ...Almost all of South Bay Recycling's 100 workers -- including drivers, equipment operators, mechanics and clerks -- are represented by the Teamsters Local 350 under three collective bargaining agreements...
Global Labour Leaders Vow Action in Richmond Ikea Fight  The Tyee   ...The two international labour leaders are members of a fact-finding panel invited to investigate the strike/lockout by the B.C. Federation of Labour and the Teamsters Union, which represents the IKEA workers...
Dominick's warns of 5,600 layoffs as stores prepare to close  Chicago Tribune   ...Some 4,000 Dominick's workers are represented by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1546, with another 2,000 or so in UFCW Local 881. Teamsters Local 703 represents 65 drivers and 220 workers out of Dominick's Northlake warehouse...
D.C. Mayor: Apologize to City’s Taxi Drivers For Demeaning Remark  teamster.org   ...The Teamster-affiliated Washington, D.C. Taxi Operators Association is calling on Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray to publicly apologize for the shameful and callous comment made by his spokesman in an article about the lawsuit filed by the association...
Mayor's Spokesperson Is Sorry If Anyone Thought His 'Third-World Taxicab System' Comment Was Offensive  DCist   ...“For the past few years the drivers have been their own worst enemy,” Pedro Ribeiro told Washingtonian. “We barely have a third-world taxicab system in this city.” The Teamsters then sent out a release, saying Ribeiro's statement is "offensive and it demeans the more than 6,000 taxicab drivers in the District, many of whom are from developing countries in Africa and the Middle East..."
Boston Parking Workers Ratify Historic Contract  teamster.org   ...The contract is the first Teamster contract for parking workers in the Boston area. It provides workers with a pension and wage increases of up to 11.2 percent over the life of the contract...
October Unemployment Report Shows Almost a Million Drop Out of Labor Force  Economic Populist   ...There were 932,000 more people considered not in the labor force for October 2013 according to the BLS employment report.  The labor participation rate plummeted to a new low of 62.8%...
In Los Angeles, 50 Workers Arrested in Biggest Civil Disobedience against Walmart -- Ever!  Alternet   ...Hundreds protested against Walmart’s “poverty wages” outside L.A’s Chinatown Walmart...
OSHA plans online reports  Associated Press   ...Safety data would be public; industry groups opposed...
Oil Train Derails and Explodes in Alabama  Alternet   ...A 90-car crude oil train derailed and exploded in Alabama early Friday morning, spilling oil and causing flames that shot 300 feet into the sky...
Boeing says options open as workers protest 777X offer  Reuters   ...The 777X program would secure thousands of jobs in the Seattle area, which is competing with non-unionized workers in southern U.S. states where wages are lower...
State House for Sale: Big businesses pay off in jobs, political contributions  The State   ...There is good reason for S.C. politicians to feel an affinity for Boeing, Michelin and BMW. The three companies and tire maker Bridgestone have created – or promised to create – almost 8,000 jobs in work-starved South Carolina since 2008. In return, the four also have received – or stand to get – more than $800 million in state incentives and tax breaks. But that’s not all. Since 2008, the four companies also have contributed almost $600,000 to the campaign coffers of S.C. politicians, political action committees, political parties and caucuses, S.C. Ethics Commission records show...
Why Does JPMorgan Still Have A Banking License?  The Automatic Earth   ...JPMorgan's total assets amount to $2.509 trillion, its derivatives exposure is $70-$80 trillion, and it's certainly too big to fail and systemically important. But seeing a list like this, how can anyone not wonder that if this is what the system depends on, the system itself is so rotten we need to get rid of it?...
New York Fed Chief Levels Explosive Charge Against Big Banks  Huffington Post   ...The head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Thursday that some of America’s largest financial institutions appear to lack respect for the law, a potentially explosive charge against an industry already roiling from numerous government investigations into alleged wrongdoing...
Spire, Beacon of 1 World Trade Light Up NYC  Associated Press   ...The beacon and spire together stand 408 feet tall and bring the building, formerly called the Freedom Tower, to its symbolic height of 1,776 feet...
Mexican Mayor Who Denounced Extortion Found Dead  Associated Press   ...Officials said Friday that a crusading small-town Mexican mayor who denounced cartel extortion has been found dead on a roadside, a killing that has drawn national attention...
Senate Republicans Take Aim At Working Americans  teamster.org   ...The war on workers went national this week, led by the Senate’s GOP leader...
Gov. Scott Walker says typical Wisconsin homeowner will save $680 in property taxes over four years  Politifact   ...We rate his claim Pants on Fire...
California was sterilizing its female prisoners as late as 2010  The Guardian   ...Doctors under contract with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation sterilized nearly 150 female inmates from 2006 to 2010 without required state approvals – and there were perhaps 100 more dating back to the late 1990s...
Homelessness a growing challenge for Illinois schools  Chicago Tribune   ...more than 600 schools — about 15 percent of Illinois schools — report homeless student populations of at least double the state average of 2 percent...