Saturday, February 7, 2015

Today's Teamster News 02.07.15

Teamsters
JCPS School Bus Driver Taken To Hospital, Assaulted By Student, Official Says  WHAS   ...A representative from the Teamsters Local 783, the union that represents school bus drivers, tells WHAS the driver was transporting students from the Binet School which serves special needs children. That teamsters representative says a student tried to open the bus' rear door, when a bus monitor intervened. When the bus driver walked back to help, the student allegedly pulled her by the hair, dragging her to the floor. The bus driver was taken to the hospital for arm and shoulder injuries...
CP Rail, Teamsters union tensions near boiling point  CBC News   ...Now, the union alleges the railway is violating a recent ruling regarding the use of union workers to teach CP Rail managers and office workers to operate trains. The union claims managers are telling locomotive engineers to vacate the train seat or be disciplined. The workers are then told to remain on the train engine...
Credentialing The Military  Military.com   ...One program to help military truck drivers get civilian credentials was developed by the Teamsters Union; it provides additional training, through the Teamsters Military Assistance Program, that helps service members earn commercial drivers' licenses. James P. Hoffa, the union's general president, is a featured speaker at the summit...
Air Canada And International Brotherhood Of Teamsters Reach Tentative Agreement On New Contract  AviTrader   ...Air Canada has reached a tentative collective agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) for the airline’s U.S.-based workforce. The agreement is subject to ratification by the union membership...
Fashion Week Will Kick Off With City Horse Carriages Trotting Models Down Central Park South  New York Daily News   ...Fashion Week will kick off next week with a parade of horse-drawn carriages trotting models down Central Park South for the second year in a row, a four-legged tradition that organizers say will be a permanent part of the festivities...
Trade
The Need to Address Currency Manipulation in TPP, and Why U.S. Monetary Policy Is Not at Risk  Huffington Post   ...Over the past decade, currency manipulation by foreign governments has resulted in an increase in unfairly traded imports into the United States and has made it more difficult for U.S. exporters to compete in foreign markets. The practice has cost U.S. workers between one million and five million jobs -- and is responsible for as much as half of excess unemployment in the United States...
The Trans-Pacific Partnership Is a Huge Deal. So Why Is It Being Kept Secret?  In These Times   ...The trade rules of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership between the United States and 11 Asian nations would cover nearly 40 percent of the world economy—but don't ask what they are. Access to the text of the proposed deal is highly restricted...
‘Secret’ Trade Pact Stirs Up Suspicion  truthdig   ... “The public has a legitimate interest in knowing what has already been decided on its behalf, and what is now at stake with our various countries’ positions on these controversial regulatory issues.”...
Stop fast-track authority from removing the voice of the 100 percent (opinion)  The Hill   ...The morally responsible approach is to learn from damage caused by earlier trade deals and modify our approach. Just consider one example: last month, the Government Accountability Office reported that labor provisions, including the very terms sought by the Obama administration for TPP, have failed to improve working conditions internationally...
State Battles
Reality Check: Right To Work Hurts Working Families (opinion)  Ruidoso News   ... On average, workers who belong to a union and who have the power to bargain collectively with their employer take home nearly 20 percent more in earnings each week compared to workers who are not union members. The decline of union density over the past decades corresponds to the decline in income share for the vast majority, 60 percent, of middle class America....
Legislators Hear From Union Workers At Forum  Huntington Herald Leader   ...A major portion of attendees were union workers who spoke out against the prevailing wage and right to work bills, the first of which would eliminate the requirement of prevailing hourly rate wages for public improvement projects and the second of which would prohibit the requirement for workers to be in a union...
Gov. Rauner, Union Leaders Tangle During Mount Vernon Stop  The Southern   ...“He can call it as many ways as he can, but it’s right-to-work and it’s taking away from working class families in Southern Illinois, especially,” said Will Attig, a laborer from DeSoto. “We’re just out here to let him know, he’s not welcome here.” Bret Seferian, who works with the Illinois Education Association, based in Carterville, on behalf of SIU and John A. Logan employees’ unions, said it’s clear to him Rauner isn’t interested in “supporting employees.”...
Senate Democrats Pass $11-An-Hour State Minimum Wage In Rebuff To Rauner  Chicago Tribune   ...Senate Democrats on Thursday pushed through what could end up being a symbolic measure to raise the state's minimum wage to $11 an hour by 2019, bucking Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner's call a day earlier for a smaller increase that would be phased in over a longer period of time...
Kentucky Minimum Wage Bill Passed In House Labor And Industry Committee  WLKY   ...Kentucky House Speaker Greg Stumbo presented his minimum wage bill to the state Legislature Thursday. After discussion and voting, the bill passed in the House Labor and Industry Committee on a 13-to-3 vote...
Oh Sweet Irony: Walker Caught Lying About Removing "Search For Truth" from UW Mission Statement  Daily Kos   …He introduced a budget that removed several lines from the University of Wisconsin System's mission statement (aka a little thing known as "The Wisconsin Idea"), including the phrase, "basic to every purpose of the system is the search for truth."...
War on Workers
Only 20% are Middle-Class, Most Don't Come Close  Economic Populist   …The number of 18-29 year olds who consider themselves  lower-middle-class has doubled since 2008 reaching 49%...
How Nebraska Took Its Energy Out of Corporate Hands and Made It Affordable for Everyone  Alternet   ...In Nebraska, 121 publicly owned utilities, ten cooperatives, and 30 public power districts provide electricity to a population of around 1.8 million people. Public and cooperative ownership keeps costs low for the state’s consumers. Nebraskans pay one of the lowest rates for electricity in the nation and revenues are reinvested in infrastructure to ensure reliable and cheap service for years to come...
Gallup CEO Fears He Might “Suddenly Disappear” for Questioning U.S. Jobs Data  Wall Street on Parade   ... the percent of full time jobs in this country as a percent of the adult population “is the worst it’s been in 30 years.”...
Coke Settles Labor Dispute With Dismissed Employee  Atlanta Journal Constitution   ...Coca-Cola has settled a National Labor Relations Board complaint with a former employee who claimed the beverage giant fired him in retaliation for his role in trying to organize a union at a metro Atlanta bottling plant...
Comcast Employee Killed While Working On Utility Pole In Glen Ridge  NJ.com   ...A Comcast worker was killed while apparently working on a utility pole in Glen Ridge this morning...
Miscellaneous
What will passengers stand for?  The Economist   ...YET again a story has surfaced of an airline trying to get approval for a standing section on a plane. Previously the idea was mooted by Michael O’Leary, the boss of Ryanair—although that was probably more attention-seeking than serious proposal. Now reports suggest that Spring Airlines, a Chinese budget carrier, is trying to get approval for standing posts, to which passengers could be strapped, presumably in a similar fashion to a Wall of Death fairground ride, although the airline might want to think of a better name than that...