Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Today's Teamster News 07.30.14

Teamster News
Fired McKesson Worker Fights CEO Hammergren's Potential Exit Pay  Bloomberg   ...McKesson, which distributes pharmaceuticals and medical products, has agreed to pay Hammergren $292 million in severance if the San Francisco-based company were sold and he lost his job in the process. About $114 million of that is pension pay while $140.6 million is unvested restricted stock and options that would become immediately payable in the event of a change in control and Hammergren’s termination...
Port Of Poulsbo Employees Unionize, Begin Contract Negotiation  North Kitsap Herald   ...Port of Poulsbo employees have unionized and are in labor-contract negotiations with the port district. Port employees voted to unionize and join Teamsters Local 589 on June 2...
Massachusetts Charter School Teachers Join Teamsters Local 170  teamster.org   ...Teachers in Massachusetts made history recently when they became the first group of charter school teachers to join the Teamsters Union...
Wheels On Sun Tran To Keep Going Around, At Least For Another Week  Tucson Sentinel   ...Tucson's municipal bus system will continue normal operations until at least Aug. 6, as officials with Sun Tran and Teamsters Local 104 agreed to extend the current labor contract for a week. The agreement was set to expire on Thursday, but drivers will avoid a strike — at least for the moment...
Trade
The TTIP Threat To Locally-Sourced Food  The London Economic   ...when deliberations are completed, the controversial TTIP is expected to bypass national judiciaries, encourage deregulation, liberalise almost every public service and get rid of supposed ‘barriers to investment’, which the World Development Movement (WDM) describes as “environmental protection, workers’ rights legislation and food safety standards”...
USTR Tells Press that TPP Negotiators Are Down to “A Dozen Issues,” While House Republicans Threaten to Withhold Support  infojustice.org   ...Inside US Trade reports that U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman told reporters Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiators are “down to a dozen issues” in the intellectual property chapter.  However, these are among the most difficult issues remaining...
State Battles
Florida Republicans Are Taking Secret Trips On Big Sugar And No One Will Talk About It  Huffington Post   ...(Florida Gov. Rick) Scott, along with several other prominent Florida Republicans over the past three years, have traveled to a hunting lodge in Texas owned by industry giant U.S. Sugar. The lodge is located at King Ranch, one of the largest ranches in Texas and itself a stakeholder in several sugar-related businesses...
Pence stands by right-to-work law  NWI Times   ...Gov. Mike Pence is not giving up on the state's right-to-work law, even though two Lake County judges have ruled it incompatible with the Indiana Constitution...
August Primary Will Be First Wisconsin Election With Limited Early Voting  Wisconsin Public Radio   ...Early in-person absentee voting begins on Monday for Wisconsin's Aug. 12 partisan primary, but for the first time it won't be available on the weekend. This will be the state's first election since Gov. Scott Walker signed a law that ended weekend voting and restricted early voting to weekdays between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m...
Judge: Mercedes-Benz violated organizing rights in Alabama  Detroit News   ...An administrative judge said Mercedes-Benz USA violated the rights of workers at its Vance, Ala., plant who were seeking to convince other employees to form a union during off-time, but ruled in the company’s favor in other points of contention and imposed no fines...
NC Budget Hole Grows Based On New Tax Cut Analysis  WPTF   ...North Carolina income tax collections for 2014 are expected to fall $205 million short of earlier projections following Republican-backed tax cuts approved last year...
S.F. Supervisor Wants 'Bill Of Rights' For Chain Store Retail Workers  San Francisco Business Times   ...San Francisco Supervisor Eric Mar will introduce legislation tomorrow to mandate more predictable work schedules for retail workers and require chain stores to offer additional work hours to part-time employees before hiring new or temporary workers...
San Diego Approves $11.50 Minimum Wage  Huffington Post   ...The San Diego City Council gave formal approval on Monday to an ordinance that would incrementally raise the minimum wage in California's second-largest city to $11.50 an hour by January 2017, mostly for workers in the restaurant and retail sectors...
War On Workers
McDonald's Could Be Liable for Labor Practices  Associated Press   ...The National Labor Relations Board said Tuesday that the world's biggest hamburger chain could be named as a joint employer in several complaints regarding worker rights at franchise-owned restaurants. The decision is pivotal because it could expose McDonald's Corp. to liability for management practices in those locations...
Delinquent Debt in America  Urban Institute   ...Roughly 77 million Americans, or 35 percent of adults with a credit file, have a report of debt in collections. These adults owe an average of $5,178 (median $1,349)...
Miscellaneous
Reshad Chakari, Uber Driver, Arrested For D.C. Sexual Assault Charge  WJLA   ...District of Columbia police say detectives have arrested a man after a woman reported an Uber car service driver had sexually assaulted her...