Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Today's Teamster News 01.21.14

Teamsters to review new agreement with YRC  RecordOnline   ...A committee of Teamsters local officials will meet Tuesday to decide whether workers will vote on a new proposed contract with YRC Worldwide...
Vogel: Galloping to ban NYC horse-drawn carriages (opinion)  AMNewYork   ...With so many urgent issues facing the city, why did Mayor Bill de Blasio make getting rid of New York's iconic horse-drawn carriages his first priority?...
People Pressure Is Making Fast Tracking the TPP Politically Toxic  TruthDig   ...After four years of secret negotiations with more than 600 corporate advisers, the once seemingly invincible largest trade bill in history, covering 40% of the world’s economy , looks very much like it can be defeated...
Supreme Court to hear 1st Amendment challenge to labor unions  Los Angeles Times   ...The Supreme Court will hear a 1st Amendment case this week involving Chicago-area in-home care providers that could end up dealing a major blow to public-sector labor unions...
Oxfam: 85 richest people as wealthy as poorest half of the world  The Guardian   ...The wealth of the 1% richest people in the world amounts to $110tn (£60.88tn), or 65 times as much as the poorest half of the world, added the development charity, which fears this concentration of economic resources is threatening political stability and driving up social tensions...
UN: More than 200 million jobless last year  Associated Press   ...an estimated 201.8 million people were unemployed in 2013. That's 4.9 million more than the previous year. An annual ILO report points to an uneven global economic recovery and says East and South Asia together accounted for more than 45 percent of last year's increase…
The Global Fight Against Corporate Rule  The Nation   ...Until three decades ago, governments could pass laws to protect consumers, workers, health, the environment and domestic firms with little threat of outside legal challenge from corporations. All that changed when corporations started acquiring the “right” to sue governments over actions—including public interest regulations—that reduce the value of their investments. These rights first appeared in little-known bilateral investment treaties...
Many Baby Boomers Reluctant to Retire  Gallup   ...While the average age at which U.S. retirees say they retired has risen steadily from 57 to 61 in the past two decades, boomers -- the youngest of whom will turn 50 this year -- will likely extend it even further. Nearly half (49%) of boomers still working say they don't expect to retire until they are 66 or older, including one in 10 who predict they will never retire...
2 dead, all others accounted for in Neb. explosion  Associated Press   ...Omaha officials say two people are dead and all other workers are accounted for in the animal feed plant that exploded. The explosion Monday morning brought down part of the International Nutrition plant. Two people were killed and 10 others seriously hurt…
Corporations Hoard Cash While Americans Go Without A Job  Economic Populist   ...corporate taxes are at a 60 year low...
New Accusations Against Freedom Industries in West Virginia Spill  Bloomberg   ... a local water utility has accused Freedom Industries, the chemical supplier blamed for the leak in Charleston, of trying to pull a fast one in its federal bankruptcy filing...
Real Supporters of the "Free Market" Do Not Believe that Companies Can Pollute Drinking Water With Impunity  Center for Economic and Policy Research   ...Freedom Industries, will largely escape responsibility for the damage it caused with its actions since it declared bankruptcy. This means that the victims of the spill were effectively forced to give money to Freedom Industries. This is antithetical to free market principles...
House bill an attack on unions (opinion)  Standard Speaker   ...There is a bill pending in the Pennsylvania Legislature that if passed, would destroy unions and the middle class as we know them. House Bill 1507 would prohibit unions from having dues collected by any public employer...