Sunday, September 21, 2014

Today's Teamster News 09.21.14

Teamsters
Carpenters, Teamsters protest 'unfair lockout' at Pa. Convention Center  Philly.com   ...Hundreds of workers staged a rally Saturday morning to protest what they claim is an “unfair lockout” barring members of two unions from working at the Pennsylvania Convention Center...
International Teamsters Union Announces Strike Support for Warehouse Workers at Fred Meyer  Teamsters Local 117   ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) has officially sanctioned strike benefits for 388 warehouse workers employed at the Fred Meyer distribution center in Puyallup and an additional 4,318 Teamsters who could become involved in connection with a potential work stoppage at the facility. Fred Meyer is a subsidiary of Kroger, Inc., a $100 billion company and the second-largest grocery retailer in the country...
BC Labour Relations Board: IKEA is bargaining in bad faith  All About Work   ...The negotiations between IKEA and the Teamsters have stalled because of disputes over a number of bargaining items, including the union’s demand that, when the dispute is resolved, the returning workers not have to work with employees who crossed the picket line during the lockout...
Trade
Japan, U.S. plan agenda for ministerial TPP talks  Japan Times   ...Working-level officials of Japan and the United States held a teleconference Saturday to narrow down trade topics for a bilateral ministerial meeting next week on the Trans-Pacific Partnership pact...
State Battles
'Wisconsin Poll Watcher Militia' plans to confront Scott Walker recall petition signers at polls  Chippewa FallS Herald   ...A self-described militia group claims to be checking names on the 2012 Scott Walker recall petition and plans to confront those found to have outstanding warrants or tax defaults at the polls on Nov. 4...
War on Workers
Wage Theft Is A Crime, Unions Are the Crime Busters  cognitive dissidence   ...In Seattle, one such contractor, Dathan Williams, was just convicted and sentenced to jail for wage theft.  Williams would hire undocumented people and pay them just a fraction of what he was supposed to pay them.  If they complained, he'd threaten to call ICE on them and have them deported…Williams was only caught because the unions gathered the information about Williams' crimes and presented them to the district attorney, as well as the crimes of other contractors…
Financial Criminals Have Been Fined Billions, but They Rarely Pay  The Atlantic   ...There’s still $97 billion out there in penalties that the Justice Department has failed to recover, and between September 2012 and September 2013, the department collected only 22 percent of penalties doled out. One particularly demoralizing figure was that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission had collected about a tenth of a percent of the $3.7 billion owed to wronged investors...
Walmart Fined For Fake 'Sugar Tax' On Coca-Cola Sales  Forbes   ...Walmart advertised a sale on Coca-Cola soft drinks but actually charged customers across New York State more than the advertised sale price...
Yes, Roosters Fought Inside a Walmart. No, the Company Says, It Wasn't a Cockfight  Bloomberg   ... a Mexican soft drink company staged the event at a store in the city of Boca del Rio on Sept. 15. Photos of brawling roosters in a store aisle—surrounded by shoppers—quickly made it on to social media...
In Checking Accounts, the Less You Have, the More You May Pay  New York Times   ...for someone who overdraws 12 times a year, uses an out-of-network A.T.M. once a month and averages an end-of-month balance of $50…the average annual cost of a checking account … was $499.02...the average annual cost for customers whose monthly balance never drops below $5,000 and who use only their own bank’s A.T.M. machines was just $17.85...
Ex-Employees Say Home Depot Left Data Vulnerable  New York Times   ... The biggest data breach in retailing history had compromised 56 million of its customers’ credit cards. The data has popped up on black markets and, by one estimate, could be used to make $3 billion in illegal purchases...
Worker dies in fall off roof on Long Island  Associated Press   ...Suffolk County police say 57-year-old Lech Chrostowski was working on the roof of a building when he fell 20 feet to the ground...
Oilfield Worker Lost in New Mexico Flooding Dies  Associated Press   ...One oil field worker was killed and 40 more were stranded in flood waters as the remnants of Hurricane Odile moved through southeastern New Mexico on Friday, authorities said...
Police Officer Dies in Bronx Crash  New York Times   ...A New York City police officer died early Sunday morning after the van in which he was riding crashed into a median on the Bruckner Expressway in the Bronx, the department said...