Thursday, November 20, 2014

Today's Teamster News 11.20.14

Teamster News
FedEx Freight Workers In Charlotte Vote To Join Teamsters Local 71  teamster.org   ... A group of 222 drivers at FedEx Freight’s Charlotte, N.C., terminal voted today to join Teamsters Local 71...
Sysco And Us Foods Teamsters Protest Sysco Shareholders Meeting  teamster.org   ...Teamsters employed at Sysco and US Foods protested outside Sysco’s shareholders meeting today to demand answers to tough questions from the company’s Board of Directors about its proposed purchase of US Foods and the impact on thousands of jobs...
Facebook Drivers Vote To Join Teamsters  teamster.org   ... Drivers who shuttle Facebook employees to and from the company headquarters in Menlo Park., Calif., have voted in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif...
Yonkers, Teamsters employees agree to new 10-year contract  MidHudson News   ...The City of Yonkers and Teamsters Local 456 have agreed to a new 10-year contract for city employees. The pack, supported by 80 percent of the union’s membership, is retroactive to 2009 and will expire in 2018, Mayor Michael Spano announced Wednesday...
Trade
Conservatives and Liberals Agree, TPP Hates Your Freedom (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...This supposed trade deal has far-reaching legal implications for our nation and beyond but it has been negotiated in secret without oversight from Congress or the American People...
Obama Is Pushing Two Giant Trade Deals — Here’s What You Need to Know  Campaign for America's Future   ...only eight House Democrats are on record as favoring fast-track. On the other side of the aisle, as I noted in January, the tea party wing of the Republican Party has dubbed the TPP “Obamatrade,” and is warning, in the words of one “analyst” on the Tea Party News Network, that TPP is a “weapon aimed straight at our Constitution, straight at our sovereignty and straight at Christians around the world.”...
State Battles
S.F. Supervisors Vote 10-0 To Approve "Bill Of Rights" For Formula Retail Workers  San Francisco Business Journal   ...San Francisco restaurant and retail workers will have more predictable schedules and more opportunities for full-time work under two ordinances passed unanimously by the Board of Supervisors Tuesday...
Voter ID Laws Scrutinized For Impact On Midterms  New York Times   ...In North Carolina, early voting was cut by seven days. In Kansas, 22,000 people were stopped from registering to vote because they lacked proof of citizenship. And in Texas, Democrats say the country’s toughest voter ID law contributed to a one-term congressman’s losing a tight race to his Republican rival....
Unions Aren't The Problem For Alabama Workers (opinion)  Montgomery Advertiser   ...union workers earn nearly $4 more per hour than non-union workers for the same work. They have significantly better benefits and retirement plans. And they receive raises and bonuses more frequently. Additionally, unions keep the gap between worker pay and CEO pay closer and they reduce the amount of tax dollars spent on employee training and re-training, because the unions usually ensure its members are properly trained...
Report That Poverty Declined Under Brownback Was Misleading  WIBW   ...A state agency acknowledges it sent out a news release shortly before November's election that incorrectly claimed poverty in Kansas had declined under Gov. Sam Brownback's administration...
UC tuition-hike plan advances, but debate just beginning  San Jose Mercury News   ...University of California regents voted Wednesday to raise tuition annually for the next five years if the state doesn't give the system more funding, making an aggressive -- if wildly unpopular -- first move in a high-stakes state-funding fight...
War on Workers
Push To Protect Immigrant Farm Workers  Wall Street Journal   ...Farm workers and some agriculture industry officials are making a last-minute push for President Barack Obama to include protections for undocumented agricultural workers in his new immigration policy, worried that the pending executive action may be the last opportunity to change immigration rules for a while...
Amazon Worker Forces Changes As Labor Board Settles Claim  Bloomberg Businessweek   ...the settlement requires the online retailer to post notices at its fulfillment centers notifying employees that they have the right to form unions and work with each other for collective benefits...
Senate Report Criticizes Goldman and JPMorgan Over Their Influence in Commodities Market  New York Times   ...A two-year Senate-led investigation is throwing back the curtain on the outsize and sometimes hidden sway that Wall Street banks have gained over the markets for essential commodities like oil, aluminum and coal...
Walmart Workers Rally in "Global Day of Action for Decent Work"  truthout   ...On November 19, Walmart workers in 10 countries are holding demonstrations to highlight the company's poor labor practices from its retail stores throughout the entire supply chain, and to call for a living wage for Walmart's global workforce and countless supply chain workers...
Tracy Morgan Fighting To Recover From ‘Severe Brain Injury,’ Lawyer Says  New York Times   ...A Walmart truck slammed into a limo van that was carrying Mr. Morgan and several friends on their way back from a show in Delaware. One person was killed, and three others were injured, two seriously. Mr. Morgan, 46, spent several weeks in a hospital and in rehabilitation...
Chesapeake police ID worker killed in accident  Associated Press   ...Chesapeake police have identified a worker who died after he was run over by truck. Officer Kelly O'Sullivan tells media outlets that 47-year-old Nouel Fallejo of Virginia Beach was working on the truck...
Lawsuit settlement in death of film worker in Ga.  Associated Press   ... The family of a film worker killed when she was hit along train tracks while shooting a biographical movie about singer Gregg Allman announced a settlement Wednesday with several defendants...
West Texas worker killed under semitrailer  Associated Press   ...Authorities in West Texas say a worker has died after being crushed under a semitrailer that he was working on...
Miscellaneous
Bill To Restrict N.S.A. Data Collection Blocked In Vote By Senate Republicans  New York Times   ...Tuesday’s vote only put off until next year a debate over security and personal liberties. While a Republican-controlled Senate is less likely to go along with the kinds of reforms that were in the bill, which sponsors had named the U.S.A. Freedom Act, the debate could further expose rifts between the party’s interventionist and more libertarian-leaning wings...