Sunday, February 16, 2014

Today's Teamster News 02.16.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Celebrate, Remember James R. Hoffa  teamster.org   ... He was the man who introduced himself as “I’m Jimmy Hoffa and I stand up for the American workers...”
Republic Airways reaches tentative deal with pilots union for its three airlines  Dallas Morning News   ...According to a Teamsters press release, "The tentative agreement includes increases in pay that will place Republic pilots at or near the top of its regional airline peers. It also includes improvements in work rules, quality of life enhancements and more flexibility in scheduling as well as a significant signing bonus if ratified...
State Battles
Historic election brings outside interference in the vote of Chattanooga Volkswagen workers  UAW   ...Volkswagen workers voted against joining the union in a vote of 712 to 626. The decision follows three days of voting during an election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board and comes amid a firestorm of interference and threats from special interest groups...
FitzGerald vows to fight for unions if elected  Toledo Blade   ...Ed FitzGerald, the leading Democratic candidate to run against Republican Gov. John Kasich this November, told supporters Thursday at the United Auto Workers headquarters in Maumee that if elected, he would veto any right-to-work bill that gets passed...
County Commissioners get into 'Paycheck Protection' fight: Friday Morning Coffee  The Patriot-News   ...The proxy fight over "Paycheck Protection" being waged by national labor unions and astrotuf groups such as FreedomWorks and the Koch Brothers-funded American Legislative Exchange Council is playing out in the state Legislature with bills in the state House and Senate...
House repeals 2013 election law that angered many  Associated Press   ...The Arizona House voted Thursday to repeal a sweeping 2013 Arizona election law that included trimming the state's permanent early voting list and a host of other provisions that incensed voter-rights advocates...
Estimated Gross State Product for Wisconsin and Minnesota  Econbrowser   ...Since 2011, Minnesota’s per capita GSP has grown a cumulative 2.1 percentage points (log terms) more than Wisconsin’s...
Trade
Spying by N.S.A. Ally Entangled U.S. Law Firm  New York Times   ...A top-secret document, obtained by the former N.S.A. contractor Edward J. Snowden, shows that an American law firm was monitored while representing a foreign government in trade disputes with the United States...
Momentum Builds to Stop Fast Track Trade Deals, Thanks to You  Trade Reform   ...Thanks to the efforts of tens of thousands of people—including people like you—more and more congressional leaders, including Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, are joining the chorus of voices standing up for us—America’s 99%—and saying that Fast Track is wrong...
The War on Workers
Foreclosure Filings Jump as Investors Eye Exits  truthout   ...The reason prices have been rising is because of the Fed’s loosy-goosey monetary policy (fake rates and QE), inventory suppression, bogus gov mortgage modification programs, and unprecedented speculation. (mainly Private Equity and investors groups) Those are the four legs of the stool propping up housing. Only now it looks like a couple of those legs are in the process of being sawed off which is going to put downward pressure on sales and prices...
Brazil's World Cup courts disaster as delays, protests and deaths mount  The Guardian   ...Another week, another storm of teargas and rubber bullets at a World Cup host city in Brazil. This time, the clashes were in the capital, Brasília, where 15,000 protesters from the Landless Workers Movement marched from the Mané Garrincha football stadium to the Palácio do Planalto state office of the president, Dilma Rousseff...
California's New 'Dust Bowl': "It's Gonna Be a Slow, Painful, Agonizing Death" For Farmers  zero hedge   ...For the state that produces one-third of the nation's fruits and vegetables, the driest spell in 500 years has prompted President Obama to make $100 million in livestock-disaster aid available within 60 days to help the state rebound from what he describes is " going to be a very challenging situation this year... and potentially some time to come..."
Rising Inequality – Recovery Occurring Almost Exclusively Among the Wealthy  naked capitalism   ...America’s income inequality has grown so wide that the current “recovery” is driven primarily by the upper fifth of income earners, as revealed by the latest consumer spending data. Right now, more than 60% of all consumer spending is done by just the top 20% of income earners...
AOL's CEO Proves Women and Children Make Easy Scapegoats in the Workplace  Next New Deal   ...AOL CEO Tim Armstrong recently ignited a firestorm of criticism when he announced the company would be restructuring its retirement benefits. Armstrong explained that the financial burden of Obamacare and the deliveries of two “distressed babies”, which cost the company $1 million each, had forced the company to reduce 401(k) matching contributions...