Monday, July 21, 2014

Today's Teamster News 07.21.14

Trade
TPP risks weaker world trade system - ex WTO boss  New Zealand Herald   ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a step backwards to the days before the World Trade Organisation when the US and Europe controlled the global trading system to the detriment of developing economies, says a former director-general of the WTO, Supachai Panitchpakdi of Thailand...
Milk Group Wants EU To Move On GI Issue In TTIP  WNAX   ...European Union negotiators appear to be holding firm on their insistence for having geographical indicators imposed in the Trans Atlantic Trade And Investment Partnership agreement. G-I’s are common food names such as feta, parmesan or munster that the E.U. wants to have exclusive control of...
State Battles
In N.C., conservative donor Art Pope sits at heart of government he helped transform  Washington Post   ...From the outside, Pope’s family foundation has put more than $55 million into a robust network of conservative think tanks and advocacy groups, building a state version of what his friends Charles and David Koch have helped create on a national level...
Corporate Welfare State: Taxpayers now on the hook for Job Training, while state pushes importing cheaper "Skills Gap" labor!  WisDemCurmudgeon   ...the President of the Wisconsin Technology Council Tom Still ... (defended) importing cheap foreign labor to fill that mythical "skills gap," but he also bragged those same workers have a "propensity" to start their own businesses. If we lag in jobs created, Still said, it's because we don't have enough foreign workers in Wisconsin...
Senate Candidate Gary Peters To Kochs: Come At Me, Bros  Huffington Post   ..."I feel like l'm not really running against Terri Lynn Land. I feel like I'm running against the Koch brothers," Peters said at a campaign rally in Detroit on Friday...
War on Workers
Worker killed after being hit by truck near Sahara and Valley View  KTNV   ...A 57-year-old man who was working in the road was killed Sunday morning near West Sahara Avenue and Valley View Boulevard (in Las Vegas). The incident happened around 9:44 a.m. Police say the man, who was a subcontractor, was in the bus lane in the 3900 block of Sahara, cutting asphalt with a wet saw...
In a Subprime Bubble for Used Cars, Borrowers Pay Sky-High Rates  New York Times   ...Mr. Durham is one of millions of Americans with shoddy credit who are easily obtaining auto loans from used-car dealers, including some who fabricate or ignore borrowers’ abilities to repay. The loans often come with terms that take advantage of the most desperate, least financially sophisticated customers. The surge in lending and the lack of caution resemble the frenzied subprime mortgage market before its implosion set off the 2008 financial crisis...
NYC gives the green light to the building of apartments with a 'poor door' for tenants living in affordable housing  Daily Mail   ...The City approved a proposal from Extell, a prominent NYC developer, to install a separate door for tenants living in affordable housing units to enter the building...
Miscellaneous
Train Derailment Prompts Evacuation in Washington County  Associated Press   ...A fire official says two people are injured and several thousand gallons of diesel fuel have spilled after a train derailment in the town of Slinger, (Wisc.). Slinger Fire Department Chief Rick Hanke says three engines and 10 railcars derailed Sunday, forcing the evacuation of more than 100 nearby homes...