Today's Teamster News 11.02.13

<a href="http://www.teamster.org/content/george-miranda-named-board-global-gateway-alliance" rel="nofollow">George Miranda Named to Board of the Global Gateway Alliance </a> teamster.org   ...George Miranda, International Vice President and Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 210, is joining the Board of Directors of the Global Gateway Alliance, an industry coalition dedicated to improving airports in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area...<br /><a href="http://www.alternet.org/mcdonalds-scam-america" rel="nofollow">McDonald's Scam on America</a>  Alternet   ...We're subsidizing the wages and benefits of employees of highly profitable fast food chains. It costs the American taxpayer nearly $7 billion per year...<br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/01/us/as-cuts-to-food-stamps-take-effect-more-trims-to-benefits-are-expected.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0" rel="nofollow">As Cuts to Food Stamps Take Effect, More Trims to Benefits Are Expected</a>  New York Times   ...millions of Americans receiving food stamps will be required to get by with less government assistance every month, a move that not only will cost them money they use to feed their families but is expected to slightly dampen economic growth as well...<br /><a href="http://www.epi.org/blog/transatlantic-free-trade-agreement-job-claims/" rel="nofollow">Transatlantic Free Trade Agreement: Job Claims Are Pure Baloney</a>  Economic Policy Institute   ...U.S. trade with Mexico after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has cost the United States nearly 700,000 jobs through 2010. U.S. trade with China has certainly failed to deliver on the promised benefits of growing exports. Since that country entered the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, the U.S. has lost 2.7 million jobs through 2011 due to growing trade deficits with China. And the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) has also resulted in growing trade deficits with that country and the loss of more than 40,000 U.S. jobs...<br /><a href="http://www.salon.com/2013/11/01/how_the_1_percent_always_wins_liberal_washing_is_the_rights_new_favorite_tactic/" rel="nofollow">How the 1 percent always wins: Liberal washing is the right’s new favorite tactic</a>  Salon   ...The famous examples of liberal washing come from the White House. A few decades ago, Democratic President Bill Clinton liberal-washed corporatist schemes like NAFTA and financial deregulation. Today, it is Democratic President Barack Obama liberal-washing the <a href="http://www.salon.com/2013/10/31/single_payer_health_care_vs_obamacare/singleton/">insurance industry’s healthcare initiatives</a> and now <a href="http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2011-07-06/business/35267423_1_debt-talks-obama-plans-congressional-leaders">joining</a> with a handful of <a href="http://www.salon.com/2013/10/26/sell_out_alert_9_democrats_already_caving_to_gop_on_social_security_cuts_partner/singleton/">Democratic legislators</a> to liberalwash – and legitimize – the right-wing crusade to slash Social Security benefits...<br /><a href="http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=10946" rel="nofollow">House Passes Deregulation Bill Written by Citigroup </a> The Real News   ...the one that was driven by Citibank that would allow a wide range of financial derivatives to be done directly by the bank, which is to say, the insured entity, which is to say, the government would be on the hook if there were losses. And Dodd-Frank was designed to prevent or at least dramatically minimize that. So this is a truly awful bill...<br /><a href="http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/UK-Energy-Firms-Guilty-of-Market-Manipulation-to-Face-Criminal-Charges.html" rel="nofollow">UK Energy Firms Guilty of Market Manipulation to Face Criminal Charges </a> Oil Price   ...Ed Davey, the Energy Minister, has now stated that the government may charge energy firms that are found guilty of manipulating the markets, with criminal sanctions...<br /><a href="http://fannie%20mae%20sues%20banks%20for%20%24800%20million%20over%20libor%20rigging/" rel="nofollow">Fannie Mae Sues Banks for $800 Million Over Libor Rigging</a>  Bloomberg   ...<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/FNMA:US">Fannie Mae (FNMA)</a> sued nine banks, alleging that their manipulation of the benchmark London interbank offered rate, which four of them have admitted, cost the mortgage-financing company about $800 million...<br /><a href="http://www.salon.com/2013/10/23/wall_streets_favorite_democrat_wants_your_pension/" rel="nofollow">Wall Street’s favorite Democrat wants your pension</a>  Salon   ...The financial services industry hopes to gain even more control over workers' retirement savings...<br /><a href="http://portside.org/2013-11-01/north-carolina-come-and-rise" rel="nofollow">North Carolina, Come On and Rise Up</a>  Portside   ...This past summer, "Moral Mondays" in North Carolina emerged as the locus of one of the country's most insistent state-level movements against extremist efforts to slash the social safety net and roll back civil rights...<br /><a href="http://www.vindy.com/news/2013/oct/24/union-lawyer-says-top-court-ruling-uphol/" rel="nofollow">Top court ruling upholds free speech, union lawyer says </a> Youngstown Vindicator   ...The Ohio Supreme Court delivered a major victory for labor unions when it ruled in a Mahoning County case. The court ruled that a state law requiring a union to give a public employer and the State Employment Relations Board 10 days’ advance notice of strike picketing does not apply to informational picketing...<br /><br /><br />

financial deregulation hunger job-killing trade dals LIBOR scandal mcdonald's corporate criminality Moral Monday Nafta social security TAFTA Today's Teamster News 11.02.13

George Miranda Named to Board of the Global Gateway Alliance  teamster.org   ...George Miranda, International Vice President and Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 210, is joining the Board of Directors of the Global Gateway Alliance, an industry…

Read more »

Workers getting paid like its 1989

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0h_dGLMurMP4xjAAQj0karoMUOl4wh1xSKmQjij1iKjIlQg5kGdVQdvjSJRxotdzsOuZ0gl8uzlPMW7NiMsJReB0n9JsivDzCYPRVFautp0X9h_sMBwY7hZtbHzXxAfJCZea7c_zxMdpC/s1600/middle-class_I7bsn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0h_dGLMurMP4xjAAQj0karoMUOl4wh1xSKmQjij1iKjIlQg5kGdVQdvjSJRxotdzsOuZ0gl8uzlPMW7NiMsJReB0n9JsivDzCYPRVFautp0X9h_sMBwY7hZtbHzXxAfJCZea7c_zxMdpC/s320/middle-class_I7bsn.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Employment might be up slightly, but salaries aren’t. Despite more people going back to work, American families are continuing to struggle and, according to a </span><a href="http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/income_wealth/cb13-165.html" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">new U.S. Census Bureau report</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><u><span style="color: blue;">,</span></u></span> are now making less than they did in 1989 when adjusted for inflation.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As Neil Irwin of The Washington Post pointed out, 24 years ago the median U.S. household made $51,681 in current dollars, compared to $51,017 in 2012. So despite employment gains, the situation remains dire. And </span><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/09/17/the-typical-american-family-makes-less-than-it-did-in-1989/?print=1" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">the drop in salary can’t just be blamed on the last recession</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, he said:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div><blockquote class="tr_bq"> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This isn’t a lost decade for economic gains for Americans. It is a lost generation.</span></blockquote></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Why has that happened? Well one would have to be blind not to see that a </span><a href="http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/union2.pdf" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">drop in union membership</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> has had a major impact. In 1983, 20.1 percent of workers belonged to union. That number fell to 11.3 percent last year. </span><a href="http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2013/ted_20130513.htm" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Union jobs bring higher salaries</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. It’s not hard to understand.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Of course, the desire to pay lower wages is why groups such as the </span><a href="http://www.alecexposed.org/" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">American Legislative Exchange Council</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> (ALEC) and their corporate buddies have pushed for the implementation of no-rights-at-work laws in many states across the country. They know a good deal (for them) when they see it. So they wine-and-dine state lawmakers and spend millions to pass laws that hinder worker’s organizing efforts.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another big reason is the enactment of the </span><a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/search?q=NAFTA&max-results=20&by-date=true"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">North American Free Trade Agreement and other so-called “free” trade deals</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. While American workers were promised more jobs and improved wages, they didn’t get either. All the benefits went to big business.<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> The result is while corporate profits continue to soar, nothing is trickling down to average workers. Three years into an economic recovery, they haven’t recovered a thing. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jared-bernstein/2012-poverty-income-health-insurance-data_b_3943458.html?view=screen" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Former Obama administration economist Jared Bernstein</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> said:</span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yes, the economy has expanded over these past few years, but to use a seasonal analogy, today’s report is yet another piece of evidence that this growth has once again done an end run around middle and lower income households on the way to the top of the scale.<o:p></o:p></span></blockquote></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> So where do workers go from here? Just follow what thousands of them have been doing in recent months at America’s ports, fast food chains and big-box retailers. They are saying enough is enough and walking off the job. They are taking a stand for fair wages, better working conditions and the right to organize. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That’s the path for a good job and more money in their pocket.</span></div>

ALEC Nafta union busting wage stagnation Workers getting paid like its 1989

Employment might be up slightly, but salaries aren’t. Despite more people going back to work, American families are continuing to struggle and, according to a new U.S. Census Bureau report, are now making less than they did in 1989 when adjusted fo…

Read more »

Surprise! TPP won’t help American workers

<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) have one thing in common – American workers get screwed. Jim Hoffa says it best, “Corporations got NAFTA and CAFTA and workers got the Shafta.” If you don’t think the TPP holds the same fate, a new </span><a href="http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/TPP-2013-09.pdf"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Center for Economic and Policy Research (CERP) report confirms that average Americans stand to gain little</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> from the deal.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRG-OXyxkan4akUMr2jTDnnnS7QVe-Wndwj-PKuzMA3_z_jhFuPGIsa175_KK_zWyi3B1FV_Ag6n4q3xV2evln2i3VKlMRc8KQii3_qKvzkyWpGJUs094Ez0tbjgypKLUgRnNxqI_Y5Ivh/s1600/tpp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRG-OXyxkan4akUMr2jTDnnnS7QVe-Wndwj-PKuzMA3_z_jhFuPGIsa175_KK_zWyi3B1FV_Ag6n4q3xV2evln2i3VKlMRc8KQii3_qKvzkyWpGJUs094Ez0tbjgypKLUgRnNxqI_Y5Ivh/s1600/tpp.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Economist David Rosnick writes median wage earners would actually see a drop in salary due to implementation of the TPP once its effect on wage inequality is considered. Overall, the U.S. would only receive a 0.13 percent boost in gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025. <o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Longer term, the negatives are even greater. The document finds that wage losses from a failure to restore full employment in the U.S. by 2025 due to the TPP are 25 times more than the potential gains from the trade agreement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Mark Weisbrot, CEPR’s co-director, says:</span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Most U.S. workers are likely to lose out from the TPP. This may come as no surprise after 20 years of NAFTA and an even-longer period of trade policy designed to put lower- and middle-class workers in direct competition with low-paid workers in the developing world, but it’s still important to examine the economic projections.<o:p></o:p></span></blockquote></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> One doesn’t have to go back to NAFTA to see the negative effects of so-called “free” trade deals. A </span><a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/trade-pacts-korus-trans-pacific-partnership/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">July report by the Economic Policy Institute</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> showed U.S. exports to South Korea fell by $3.5 billion during the first year of that trade agreement, resulting in the loss of 40,000 American jobs.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It doesn’t take a mathematician to figure it out -- these trade pacts suck for U.S. workers. While corporations tout economic gains, the only ones profiting are big business. It’s time to stop shipping American jobs overseas and dumping wages and benefits overboard with them.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When the U.S. negotiates a trade agreement, every provision should benefit working families, not big corporations. And the TPP doesn't pass the smell test.</span></div>

job-killing trade deals Nafta TPP Surprise! TPP won’t help American workers

Trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) have one thing in common – American workers get screwed. Jim Hoffa says it best, “Corporations got NAFTA and CAFTA and workers got the Shafta.” If you don’t think the TPP holds the same fate…

Read more »

TPP would only worsen service industry wages

<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Low-wage workers across the U.S. </span><a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/08/low-wage-workers-in-Chicago-Milwaukee-Seattle-walk-off-jobs.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">stood up last week to restaurant and retail giants</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> to demand better pay and the right to organize. But the problem would only get worse if Congress approves the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBepGvaY0IG9L7TDlMZnb4Bz_AEPnvdqgodxIglB84gabLeBdduTxqsbLt1eTKXFIAFndGh0GUCGF4gmPRYXrXhdMyKQ2mWDi6LTs8Nf-8Nb8DcfhbRXWqU0FOj-ZAB_Y9d1NQB99i-UaE/s1600/tpp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBepGvaY0IG9L7TDlMZnb4Bz_AEPnvdqgodxIglB84gabLeBdduTxqsbLt1eTKXFIAFndGh0GUCGF4gmPRYXrXhdMyKQ2mWDi6LTs8Nf-8Nb8DcfhbRXWqU0FOj-ZAB_Y9d1NQB99i-UaE/s1600/tpp.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So-called “free trade” deals like the TPP have devastated the American workforce. In the wake of NAFTA and other job-killing trade deals, </span><a href="http://www.mintpressnews.com/where-did-the-good-jobs-go-globalization-free-trade-and-the-demise-of-americas-middle-class/166167/" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">multinational corporations have increasingly taken what were once good-paying jobs overseas</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. NAFTA alone has </span><a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/trade-pacts-korus-trans-pacific-partnership/" rel="nofollow"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">eliminated nearly 700,000 U.S. jobs</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> since it took effect in 1994. In all, U.S.-based multinational corporations cut 3.3 million American workers from their rolls between 1989 and 2011.<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Those jobs were replaced by lower-paying service industry jobs in the fast food and retail industries. These, of course, are jobs that can’t be moved overseas. But companies have taken advantage of their employees by paying them as little as possible, often with no guarantee of set hours or benefits. These are not entry-level jobs for teenagers, as more and more fast-food employees are college-educated adults trying to raise families:</span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All the evidence is seen in an aging service-sector workforce. Data shows that the workforce at McDonald’s and other chains is attracting more middle-age employees, supplanting the youth workforce that once made up the bulk of the fast food jobs. Using U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, NBC News reports that only 16 percent of fast food jobs now go to teens, down from 25 percent a decade ago.</span></blockquote></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">… Many of the older fast food workers are well-educated, with 42 percent of employees over the age of 25 having at least some college education, including 753,000 with a bachelor’s degree or higher.</span></blockquote></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The real fear, however, is that workers will continue to slide into economic oblivion due to U.S. trade policy. The U.S. is one of 12 nations currently negotiating TPP and it could be the most dangerous trade deal to date due to its shear size. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Part of the problem is that Congress has ignored how trade agreements hurt U.S. the workforce. Celeste Drake, a trade and globalization policy specialist with the AFL-CIO, </span><a href="http://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA18/20130801/101233/HHRG-113-FA18-Wstate-DrakeC-20130801.pdf" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">told House lawmakers</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Aug. 1 that needs to change:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If working families’ preferences play little or no role in shaping trade and globalization agreements, then it should surprise no one that such agreements harm instead of benefitting workers and their families.</span></blockquote></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The first step to protecting U.S. jobs<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>is to make sure Capitol Hill doesn’t approve “fast-track” authority. That would allow the TPP to come before lawmakers for just a quick up-or-down vote, with no amendments and limited debate. You can sign onto a petition that demands </span><a href="http://action.citizen.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=12263" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Congress fulfill its constitutionally mandated duty to review trade deals here</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p>It's time to stop letting big corporations ship American jobs overseas and dump good wages and benefits overboard!</o:p></span></div>

fast food strikes low wage workers Nafta TPP TPP would only worsen service industry wages

Low-wage workers across the U.S. stood up last week to restaurant and retail giants to demand better pay and the right to organize. But the problem would only get worse if Congress approves the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). So-called “free trade…

Read more »