Friday, September 5, 2014

Today's Teamster News 09.05.14

Teamster News
'My Horse For A Kingdom:' Mayor de Blasio And The Tyranny Of Denial  Huffington Post   ...After 10 months of filming New York's Greatest Living Icons, the gentle carriage horses, those who love them... and those who hate them, I can say, without equivocation, there is no abuse, no cruelty of any kind, only love...and lots of carrots...
Public Works Employees in Florida Join Teamsters Local 385  teamster.org   ...Casselberry, Florida Public Works employees have unanimously voted to join Teamsters Local 385 in Orlando…. Thirty-one ballots were returned and the vote was 31-0 to join Local 385. There are 44 workers in the bargaining unit...
Trade
Trade deficit with China sets new record  Trade Reform   ...Our deficit with China — People’s Republic of China/Chinese Communist Party/People’s Liberation Army — is an all-time record...
State Battles
Indiana Supreme Court To Hear Right-To-Work Arguments Today  Indianapolis Star   ...The Indiana Supreme Court will hear oral arguments this morning on the state’s right-to-work law that brought thousands of union protesters to the Statehouse in 2012 when it was passed...
Minimum wage debate returns to Indianapolis  WISHTV.com   ...A nationwide push to raise the minimum wage returns to Indianapolis Thursday with more local protests. It’s a hot button issue from the nation’s capital to the fast food counter. Fast food workers have protested a handful of times over the last year...
Pension Tax Bites Michigan’s Snyder in Re-Election Bid  Bloomberg   ...Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s 2011 tax increase on retirement income from pensions is haunting the Republican as he runs for a second term in a graying state still recovering from the recession...
Tax The Big Businesses That Won’t Pay Connecticut Workers A Living Wage (opinion)  The CT Mirror   ...If companies with 500 or more employees decide they don’t want to pay a fair wage, then they must repay Connecticut taxpayers for supporting their corporate bottom line...
Alabama's Voter ID Law Blamed For At Least 282 Ballots Uncounted In Primary  Birmingham News   ...The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund is alleging that at least 282 ballots in the state's June 3 primary election were not counted due to Alabama's law requiring voters to show a valid photo identification card...
Husted’s suppression efforts have costs taxpayers over $400,000  Ohio Democratic Party   ...In 2013, the State of Ohio paid the Wiley Rein law firm $285,902.50 to unsuccessfully defend Jon Husted’s attempt to cut early voting in Ohio before the 2012 general election alone...
Bad Labor News for Wisconsin  Center for Media and Democracy   ... the state still falls 21,900 jobs short of where it was seven years ago--and about 58,000 jobs short of where it would be if it had kept pace with the national recovery rate...
Former Va. Gov. Bob McDonnell Found Guilty In Corruption Case  DCist   ...Former Va. Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen were found guilty today on several charges in the corruption case stemming from gifts, including an engraved Rolex and lavish vacations, and thousands of dollars in loans they accepted from a businessman in exchange for political favor...
War On Workers
Fast Food Strikes Hit 150 US Cities  MSNBC   ...Police arrested at least 19 people outside of a McDonald’s in New York City early Thursday morning as thousands of fast food workers across the country walked off the job...
Congresswoman Gwen Moore arrested during minimum wage protest  CBS News   ...U.S. Congresswoman Gwen Moore was arrested by West Milwaukee police during a minimum wage protest on Miller Park Way...
The United States Leads in Low-Wage Work and the Lowest Wages for Low-Wage Workers  Economic Policy Institute   ...the wages of low-wage workers (the 10th percentile of wage earners) declined by five percent over the 1979-2013 period, despite a generation of productivity gains (64.9 percent)...
Groups Accuse Apple Supplier in China of Labor Violations  New York Times   ...The employees are made to work excessive overtime and handle toxic chemicals without proper protective clothing, according to a report released Thursday by Green America, an environmental nonprofit group, and China Labor Watch, a workers’ rights group based in New York...
Voting Restrictions Are Key Variable In Midterm Elections  New York Times   ...Voting in midterm elections, which will determine control of Congress, ends this fall. But it starts in North Carolina this week...
Worker Killed on the Job: Four Wheeler Accident  News4JAX   ...A man was killed on the job after the four wheeler he was riding flipped and landed in a near by lake. The vehicle pinned the man beneath the water...
McMansions not only survive, they’re getting bigger  Washington Post   ...In 1973, the median newly-completed single-family house was 1,525 square feet; forty years later, in 2013, it was 2,384 square feet. That is a record high...
The Koch Brothers have funded 44,000 ads in the 2014 election  Washington Post   ...Americans for Prosperity alone has run more than 27,000 ads, which is significantly more than groups like American Crossroads/Crossroads GPS -- groups with close ties to former Bush White House political svengali Karl Rove...
Miscellaneous
Large US Tech Firms Plan 'Go Slow' Day In Protest Over Net Neutrality Rules  The Guardian   ...Some of the world’s largest tech firms are planning a “go slow” day next week in protest of proposals that could create fast lanes on the internet for some companies...