Today's Teamster News 11.03.13

<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/31/cnrailway-labor-idUSL1N0IL0LV20131031" rel="nofollow">Canada's CN Rail reaches tentative deal with Teamsters union</a>  Reuters   ...Canadian National Railway Co , the country's largest rail operator, agreed to a new labor contract for some 3,300 conductors, trainmen, yardmen and traffic coordinators represented by the Teamsters union, the railway said Thursday...<br /><a href="http://thecabin.net/interact/opinion/columns/2013-11-02/brock-arkansas-best-teamsters-ok-five-year-contract#.UnY0_5TF36k" rel="nofollow">Arkansas Best, teamsters ok five-year contract</a>  Log Cabin Democrat   ... The contract will take effect on Nov. 3, 2013 and run through March 31, 2018...<br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/02/nsa-portrait-total-surveillance" rel="nofollow">Portrait of the NSA: no detail too small in quest for total surveillance</a>  The Guardian   ... It is indiscriminate in the information it is collecting. Nothing appears to be too small for the NSA. Nothing too trivial. Rivals, enemies, allies and friends – US citizens and 'non-Americans' – are all scooped up...<br /><a href="http://www.policymic.com/articles/71255/10-corporations-control-almost-everything-you-buy-this-chart-shows-how" rel="nofollow">10 Corporations Control Almost Everything You Buy — This Chart Shows How</a>  PolicyMic   ...It's not just the products you buy and consume, either. In recent decades, the very news and information that you get has bundled together: 90% of the media is now controlled by just six companies...<br /><a href="http://www.policymic.com/articles/70605/one-thing-major-media-hid-from-you-during-the-debate-on-syria" rel="nofollow">One Thing Major Media Hid From You During the Debate on Syria</a>  PolicyMic   ...at least 22 of the commentators and seven of the think tanks that advocated for military action in Syria had ties to companies that would profit from such a strike...<br /><a href="http://angrybearblog.com/2013/11/more-on-secrets-in-trade-tpp.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Hzoh+%28angrybearblog.com%29" rel="nofollow">More on secrets in trade…TPP </a> Angry Bear   ...“This really is a deal that’s being negotiated by corporations for corporations and any benefit it provides to the bulk of the population of this country will be purely incidental.” ... “There would be no reason to keep it so secret if it was in the interest of the public...<br /><a href="http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/11/the-global-corporatocracy-is-almost-fully-operational.html" rel="nofollow">The Global Corporatocracy Is Almost Fully Operational</a>  naked capitalism   ..."...we are witnessing the advancement of a new and unprecedented global project of transatlantic corporate colonization.“... as a recent leak of part of the TPP document has shown, the new rules would limit how governments regulate such public services as utilities, transportation, healthcare and education, including restricting policies meant to ensure broad or universal access to those essential needs...<br /><a href="http://www.teamster.org/content/now-time-end-trade-deal-job-growth-lie" rel="nofollow">Now Is Time To End Trade Deal Job Growth Lie</a>  teamster.org   ...The recently implemented U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement was supposed to create 70,000 new jobs, yet in the 18 months it’s been in place it has cost this country 40,000...<br /><a href="http://consumerist.com/2013/11/01/you-can-go-to-jail-for-an-overdue-library-book/" rel="nofollow">You Can Go To Jail For An Overdue Library Book</a>  Consumerist   ...A Texas man was arrested this week for failing to return a GED study guide he simply spent too long studying — three years — and was sent to jail to mull over his actions, or lack thereof...<br /><a href="http://prospect.org/article/daily-meme-congress-hits-americas-poorest-while-theyre-down" rel="nofollow">Daily Meme: Congress Hits America's Poorest While They're Down</a>  American Prospect   ...Nearly 1 million military vets use food stamps and will see cuts...<br /><a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/10/31/3329326/gop-extremist-movement-prompts.html" rel="nofollow">GOP 'extremist movement' prompts NC candidate to switch to Democrat </a> Charlotte Observer   ..."The government shutdown was simply the straw that broke the camels back. I guess being an American just isn’t good enough anymore and I refuse to be part of an extremist movement in the GOP that only appears to thrive on fear and hate mongering of anyone and everyone who doesn’t walk their line.”<br /><br />

ABF corporate power debtors prisons food stamps government shutdown Moral Monday Syria tea party TPP trade veterans Today's Teamster News 11.03.13

Canada's CN Rail reaches tentative deal with Teamsters union  Reuters   ...Canadian National Railway Co , the country's largest rail operator, agreed to a new labor contract for some 3,300 conductors, trainmen, yardmen and traffic coordinators repres…

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Why outsourcing sucks: Xerox food stamp debacle

If you thought government runs the food stamp program, you would be wrong. Government outsources the management of the electronic benefit transfer systems to <a href="http://www.rbj.net/article.asp?aID=194582" rel="nofollow">Xerox Corp., a company that paid its CEO $13 million last year</a>.<br /><br />Xerox apparently didn't invest its profit in redundant technology. Some sort of technology failure on Saturday -- nobody has really explained what it was -- caused the EBT system to shut down in 17 states. Millions of poor Americans were unable to buy groceries.<br /><br />This is why we shouldn't cede control of essential government services to corporations.<br /><br />The <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/food-stamp-debit-cards-working-states-20553954" rel="nofollow">Associated Press</a> reported on the chaos that erupted:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Shoppers left carts of groceries behind at a packed Market Basket grocery store in Biddeford, Maine, because they couldn't get their benefits, said shopper Barbara Colman, of Saco, Maine. The manager put up a sign saying the EBT system was not in use. Colman, who receives the benefits, called an 800 telephone line for the program and it said the system was down due to maintenance, she said.</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">"That's a problem. There are a lot of families who are not going to be able to feed children because the system is being maintenanced," Colman said. She planned to reach out to local officials. "You don't want children going hungry tonight because of stupidity," she said... </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">...states affected by the temporary outage also included Alabama, California, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia...</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">In Clarksdale, Miss. — one of the poorest parts of one of the poorest states in the nation — cashier Eliza Shook said dozens of customers at Corner Grocery had to put back groceries when the cards failed Saturday because they couldn't afford to pay for the food. After several hours, she put a sign on the front door to tell people about the problem. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">"It's been terrible," Shook said in a phone interview. "It's just been some angry folks. That's what a lot of folks depend on." </blockquote>The whole debacle suggests Xerox was cutting corners somewhere to increase its profit, and poor people paid the price. Unfortunately, American citizens can't vote Xerox out of office. That's the real downside of outsourcing.<br /><br />And if you think poor people shouldn't get food stamps because taxpayers can't afford to pay for them, perhaps you agree that taxpayers also can't afford Xerox CEO's $13 million pay package.<br /><br />On a brighter note, the same glitch that caused the food stamp system to shut down also eliminated spending limits on some EBT cards in Louisiana. Here's what happened, according to the <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Latest-News-Wires/2013/1015/Walmart-Food-stamps-spree-caused-by-Xerox" rel="nofollow">Christian Science Monitor</a>:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">When word got out Saturday that the EBT cards were showing no limits, card holders rushed to area Walmarts to take advantage. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">"Some people had eight or 10 shopping carts full of groceries," Springhill Police Chief Will Lynd said on Monday.</blockquote>Now Xerox and Walmart are pointing fingers at each other. Heh-heh. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br />

food stamps outsourcing Why outsourcing sucks: Xerox food stamp debacle

If you thought government runs the food stamp program, you would be wrong. Government outsources the management of the electronic benefit transfer systems to Xerox Corp., a company that paid its CEO $13 million last year.Xerox apparently didn't inves…

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Hammergren's high pay may explain workers' low pay

At last an explanation for how<a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/09/McKesson-CEO-jaw-dropping-pay.html" rel="nofollow"> McKesson's CEO John Hammergren</a> can rake in $51.7 million and pay workers so little they can't afford health care and pension contributions. <br /><br />He just doesn't care.<br /><br />A recent New York Times op-ed, <a href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/05/rich-people-just-care-less/?_r=0" rel="nofollow">Rich People Just Care Less</a>, describes how people with greater power ignore people with less power:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Turning a blind eye. Giving someone the cold shoulder. Looking down on people. Seeing right through them.</blockquote>The Times cites a growing body of research proving the phenomenon.<br /><br />The Times op-ed is making a point about politics. The author, Daniel Goleman, argues the Republican Party is more sensitive to the rich and powerful (though Democrats are certainly guilty too). He believes the GOP dismisses the truth about the ordinary people they rarely interact with. That empathy gap allows them to do things like <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/09/28/the-houses-food-stamps-cuts-arent-just-cruel-theyre-dumb/" rel="nofollow">cutting food stamps</a>.<br /><br />It may also explain why Hammergren can care so little about his own employees.

CEO Pay food stamps inequality McKesson Hammergren's high pay may explain workers' low pay

At last an explanation for how McKesson's CEO John Hammergren can rake in $51.7 million and pay workers so little they can't afford health care and pension contributions. He just doesn't care.A recent New York Times op-ed, Rich People Just Care Less,…

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