Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Today's Teamster News 07.09.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Local Union No. 340 inks deal in Eliot  seacoastonline.com   ...The Board of Selectmen recently signed a contract between the town and a new union. The contract is with Teamsters Local Union No. 340, representing employees of the Public Works Department and the transfer station. Contract negotiations with a second new union of town office employees are ongoing, also with Local 340...
Teamster Statement on Horse Carriage Heat Regulations  Teamsters Joint Council 16   ..."Those who are in favor of banning the trade have a long history of harassing our members and
using sensational statements to the press and derogatory language to carriage drivers while they
are working. This situation is no exception..."
Longshoremen Ordered Back To Work After Joining Trucker Strike Backed By Teamsters  International Business Times   ...Amid delicate negotiations that will determine the flow of a third of all U.S. cargo container traffic for the coming months, dozens of longshore workers at two of the country’s busiest ports were ordered back to work Tuesday after they walked off the job in solidarity with a group of fed-up truck drivers...
Teamster Walkout Could Disrupt Economy 'Far And Wide'  CNN Money   ...A Teamster strike that disrupt the U.S. economy "far and wide" is underway on the West Coast. About 120 truck drivers for three transport companies have walked off the job at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The drivers claim the companies are treating them unfairly and have intimidated them...
Port Drivers Begin Strike  Orange County Register   ...“We are prepared to go a long time, and do this for however long it takes,” said Fred Potter, director of the Port Division of the Teamsters and an executive vice president...
Los Angeles Port Truckers Strike To Join Union, Spokeswoman Says  Transport Topics   ...The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the busiest U.S. trade complex, were struck by about 120 truck drivers protesting low wages and their employers’ refusal to let them join a union, a spokeswoman said...
Port Of Savannah Truck Drivers Plan Protest For Better Working Conditions  GPB News   ...Truck drivers who haul goods in and out of the Port of Savannah are planning their second protest in several months for Tuesday morning. This time, they’re calling on Georgia Ports Authority officials to meet with drivers to discuss their requests for better working conditions, including better pay and benefits...
Trade
Citizens’ Group Concerned About Secrecy Around Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Talks In Ottawa  Ottawa Citizen   ...Like most trade talks, the meetings are not open to the public, but the Council of Canadians says the government has barely even acknowledged the talks are being held in Ottawa. The council is questioning why there is so much secrecy around the latest round of negotiations...
Mainstream Monopoly Keeps Us From Finding Out the Truth  Economy in Crisis   ...Why aren’t we hearing about the TPP from the mainstream media? These large corporations want this deal, even though it will have a major negative impact. ..
State Battles
Evidence piling up against "Wrong-Way Walker" (opinion)  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...Published and authoritative data collected in the very manner Gov. Wrong-Way previously praised show job growth here trails the rest of the Midwest and two-thirds of the country...
Missouri lawmakers didn't even read this ALEC bill they passed  TeamsterNation   ...Missouri lawmakers didn't even bother to read an ALEC bill they passed, so blindly did they follow the group's anti-worker, vote-suppressing, corporate-empowering agenda...
Mistrust In North Carolina Over Plan To Reduce Precincts  New York Times   ...Voting rights advocates fear that these local changes — combined with a number of new state laws restricting ballot access and requiring voters to show picture IDs — amount to a concerted effort to reduce voting by minority groups...
War On Workers
No Job Loss in Most States That Raised Minimum Wage  Fiscal Times   ...Of the 13 states that raised their minimum wages, all but one saw job growth in the first five months of 2014...
Statistical Analysis Shows that Violence, Not Deferred Action, Is Behind the Surge of Unaccompanied Children Crossing the Border  Center for American Progress   ...Whereas Central American countries that are experiencing high levels of violence have seen thousands of children flee, others with lower levels of violence are not facing the same outflow...
Uber Kindly Agrees to Stop Price Gouging During Emergencies  Valley Wag   ...in case of nuclear bombs falling across Brooklyn or a heavy blizzard, it will no longer cost you $300 to get a ride home...
Luxury Rolls-Royce car sales soar worldwide  Economic Times   ...The Britain-based manufacturer said Tuesday that global sales in the first half of the year were up 33 percent compared with the same period in 2013...
Miscellaneous
NASCAR And Unions: A Tumultuous History  Fox Sports   ...In 1961, Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa and star NASCAR driver Curtis Turner tried to create the Federation of Professional Athletes, a union that would prominently feature NASCAR drivers. The Teamsters offered loans to save Charlotte Motor Speedway, which was on the verge of failure because of massive cost overruns incurred in building the track...
Like His Dad, Charles Koch Was a Bircher (New Documents)   The Progressive   ...Charles Koch was not simply a rank and file member of the John Birch Society in name only who paid nominal dues. He purchased and held a "lifetime membership" until he resigned in 1968. He also lent his name and his wealth to the operations of the John Birch Society in Wichita, aiding its "American Opinion" bookstore -- which was stocked with attacks on the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King, and Earl Warren as elements of the communist conspiracy...