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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Today's Teamster News 10.14.13

<a href="http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1241573/negotiations-between-teamsters-and-cn-derail" rel="nofollow">Negotiations between Teamsters and CN derail</a>  Teamsters Canada   ...The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), which represents some 3,300 conductors, trainmen, yardmen and traffic coordinators at Canadian National (CN), are gearing up for a fight with the railway company...<br /><a href="http://dobetternissan.org/2013/10/compa-report" rel="nofollow">Report outlines how Nissan in Canton, Miss., is violating international human rights standards of workers who want to organize and bargain collectively</a>  Do Better Nissan   ...in the Canton plant, according to the report, Nissan has launched a campaign of fear and intimidation to nullify these rights...<br /><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-11/federal-workers-stretch-last-paycheck-until-shutdown-ends.html" rel="nofollow">Federal Workers Stretch Last Paycheck Until Shutdown Ends</a>  Bloomberg   ...The average federal employee earned an annual salary of $76,353 in 2012, and the lost income is exerting a drag on the economy as well as forcing employees who live paycheck-to-paycheck to figure out how to cover their bills until the shutdown ends...<br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/oct/09/worlds-wealthy-where-russia-rich-list?CMP=twt_gu" rel="nofollow">The world's wealthy: where on earth are the richest 1%?</a>  The Guardian   ...Amid a record high for average global wealth its figures reveal striking inequalities – such as 35% of Russia's riches in the hands of 110 people...<br /><a href="http://www.economicpopulist.org/" rel="nofollow">Don't Count on a 1.5% Social Security Increase, the Figures Have not Been Released Yet</a>  Economic Populist   ...The problem with this headline announcement by the press is the social security cost of living increase has not been announced yet and is highly dependent on government inflation statistics for September...<br /><a href="http://truth-out.org/news/item/19334-the-tragedy-of-greece-as-a-case-study-of-neo-imperial-pillage-and-the-demise-of-social-europe" rel="nofollow">The Tragedy of Greece as a Case Study of Neo-Imperial Pillage and the Demise of Social Europe</a>  Truthout   ...A public debt crisis has been used as an opportunity to dismantle a rudimentary social state, to sell off profitable public enterprises and state assets at bargain prices, to deprive labor of even its most basic rights after decades of hard-fought struggles against capital, and to substantially reduce wages, salaries and pensions, creating a de facto banana republic...<br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/opinion/sunday/the-end-of-the-nation-state.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0" rel="nofollow">The End of the Nation-State?</a> (opinion)  New York Times   ... though most of us might not realize it, “nonstate world” describes much of how global society already operates. This isn’t to say that states have disappeared, or will. But they are becoming just one form of governance among many...<br /><a href="http://electionlawblog.org/?p=55927&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electionlawblog%2FuqCP+%28Election+Law%29" rel="nofollow">Breaking: Judge Posner Admits He Was Wrong in Crawford Voter ID Case</a>  Election Law Blog   ..."we…. weren’t really given strong indications that requiring additional voter identification would actually disfranchise people entitled to vote..."<br /><a href="http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/10/why-ceo-pay-will-keep-rising-to-even-more-insanely-unjustified-levels-while-ordinary-workers-fare-worse.html" rel="nofollow">Why CEO Pay Will Keep Rising to Even More Insanely Unjustified Levels While Ordinary Workers Get Squeezed</a>  naked capitalism   ...Even casual scrutiny will tell you that the current ridiculous levels of CEO pay bear no relationship to anything other than their highly developed rent extraction skills...<br /><br /><br />

CEO Pay European debt crisis government shutdown Greece negotiations rail social security trade union busting voter suppression Today's Teamster News 10.14.13

Negotiations between Teamsters and CN derail  Teamsters Canada   ...The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), which represents some 3,300 conductors, trainmen, yardmen and traffic coordinators at Canadian National (CN), are gearing up for a fight …

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Today's Teamster News 09.28.13

<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-27/regulator-said-to-look-other-way-on-unsafe-mexican-trucks.html" rel="nofollow">Regulator Said to Look Other Way on Unsafe Mexican Trucks</a>  Bloomberg   ...“They need these companies, they need the numbers,” said Fred McLuckie, director of federal legislation and regulation for the Teamsters, which unsuccessfully sued to stop regulators from allowing Mexican trucks. “They’re looking the other way...”<br /><a href="http://www.suntimes.com/news/cityhall/22827341-418/chicago-teamsters-reject-rahm-emanuels-bid-for-contract-concessions-on-461-11-vote.html" rel="nofollow">Chicago Teamsters reject Rahm Emanuel’s bid for contract concessions on 461-11 vote</a>  Chicago Sun-Times   ...Already feuding with police, firefighters, teachers and other public employees, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration sought but failed to win concessions this week from the only major labor group that had supported Emanuel’s election...<br /><a href="http://www.teamster.org/content/funeral-industry-giant-sci-committed-unfair-labor-practices-labor-board-says" rel="nofollow">Funeral Industry Giant SCI Committed Unfair Labor Practices, Labor Board Says</a>  teamster.org   ...Region 13 of the National Labor Relations Board has found merit in several unfair labor practice charges filed against funeral industry giant Service Corporation International (SCI), which has locked out 59 funeral directors and drivers at 16 Chicago-area funeral homes...<br /><a href="http://www.teamster.org/content/teamsters-vote-wegmans-offer" rel="nofollow">Teamsters To Vote Wegmans' Offer</a>  teamster.org   ...Workers will cast ballots on the company’s proposal that would eliminate the pensions of more than 900 of its Rochester employees and dramatically reduce their compensation package...<br /><a href="http://citizen.typepad.com/eyesontrade/2013/09/beware-of-outlandish-claims-about-economic-benefits-of-us-eu-free-trade-deal.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+eyesontrade+%28Eyes+on+Trade%29" rel="nofollow">Beware of Outlandish Claims About Economic Benefits of U.S.-EU ‘Free Trade’ Deal</a>  Public Citizen   ...The study ignored the predictable social and economic costs that would result from such extreme regulatory rollback, such as an increase in the incidence of foodborne illness and a rise in financial instability...<br /><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/09/federal-ruling-domestic-workers-protection-charts" rel="nofollow">4 Reasons Why the White House's Domestic-Worker Protections Matter </a> Mother Jones   ...Starting in January 2015, the federal labor laws that currently ensure minimum wage and overtime protections will be extended to the nation's direct-care workers—some 2 million people who perform jobs like caring for the elderly and the disabled. And yesterday, Gov. Jerry Brown signed the California Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights into law, expanding the legal protections for its estimated <a href="http://nelp.3cdn.net/6568360c9c5188e6d6_4hm6ibsc7.pdf">360,000</a> (PDF) domestic workers...<br /><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/10/how-the-nfl-fleeces-taxpayers/309448/" rel="nofollow">How the NFL Fleeces Taxpayers</a>  The Atlantic   ...Taxpayers fund the stadiums, antitrust law doesn't apply to broadcast deals, the league enjoys nonprofit status, and Commissioner Roger Goodell makes $30 million a year. It's time to stop the public giveaways to America's richest sports league—and to the feudal lords who own its teams...<br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/27/ron-wyden-nsa-systematically-deceived" rel="nofollow">Sen. Ron Wyden: NSA 'repeatedly deceived the American people'</a>  The Guardian   ..."the leadership of NSA built an intelligence collection system that repeatedly deceived the American people..."<br /><a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/09/27/nsa-employees-used-surveillance-system-to-spy-on-spouses-lovers/" rel="nofollow">NSA employees used surveillance system to spy on spouses, lovers</a>  Raw Story   ... a woman told the NSA that she’d recorded a conversation between her husband and a foreign telephone number because she suspected he’d been unfaithful...<br /><a href="http://laborpress.org/sectors/green-initiatives/2778-school-bus-companies-ordered-to-restore-lost-wages-to-atu-1181-workers" rel="nofollow">School Bus Companies Ordered to Restore Lost Wages to ATU 1181 Workers</a>  LaaborPress   ...Judge Matsumoto ordered the companies to return to the bargaining table they abandoned in March; bargain in good faith with the union; rescind the wage and benefit cuts and all other terms and working conditions previously imposed by the companies; and restore the wages, benefits and working conditions in effect at the time the companies imposed their cuts...<br /><a href="http://www.salon.com/2013/09/27/i_worked_all_week_for_free_the_horrifying_true_story_of_0_paychecks/" rel="nofollow">I worked all week for free?!: The horrifying, true story of $0 paychecks</a>  Salon   ...Photos provided to Salon by the National Guestworker Alliance, the group behind the work stoppage, show checks reading “No Dollars and No Cents,” and a page dated June 25 warning guest workers on H-2B visas that, “Any worker who does not show up for your assignment will be immediately removed from Mister Clean Housing and will be reported as AWOL (Absent Without Leave) to ICE (Immigration Custom Enforcement)...”<br /><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/09/27/american-workers-hanging-on-by-the-skin-of-their-teeth/" rel="nofollow">American Workers: Hanging on by the Skin of Their Teeth</a>  Counterpunch   ...Americans are losing faith in the nation’s economic recovery.” Because they don’t see any recovery...<br /><br /><br />

Chicago funeral directors contract negotiations economy FLSA Mexican trucks NFL school bus slavery spying trade Today's Teamster News 09.28.13

Regulator Said to Look Other Way on Unsafe Mexican Trucks  Bloomberg   ...“They need these companies, they need the numbers,” said Fred McLuckie, director of federal legislation and regulation for the Teamsters, which unsuccessfully sued to stop regu…

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200K strike against trade in Colombia as TPP fears mount

<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/zq3ujEx9r5I" width="420"></iframe><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal">An astonishing <a href="http://ourfuture.org/20130826/big-columbia-strike-hilites-free-trade-fail">200,000 Colombian workers</a> have been on <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-23862007" rel="nofollow">strike for the past 10 days</a> against unfair trade, privatization and poverty. It's the latest sign that the world is awakening to the dangers of the latest job-killing trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).<br /><br />In Colombia, farmers, dairy workers, miners, health care workers and students are striking to protest falling living standards caused by trade. At the forefront are farmers, who warn that competition from subsidized U.S. agribusiness is plunging them into extreme poverty.<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/19/3573362/colombias-summer-of-discontent.html" rel="nofollow">Miami Herald</a> reported: </div><blockquote class="tr_bq">The agrarian strike, as it’s known, is broad-based and far-flung. Coffee, cacao, potato and rice farmers have joined ranks with cargo truckers, gold miners and others. Teachers and labor unions are also joining in. Their demands are equally ample, calling for reduced fuel and fertilizer prices, the cancellation of free trade agreements, increased subsidies and the end of a crackdown on informal mining operations, among others.</blockquote>Dave Johnson, writing for the <a href="http://ourfuture.org/20130826/big-columbia-strike-hilites-free-trade-fail" rel="nofollow">Campaign for America’s Future</a>, notes the strike highlights the failure of the Colombian trade deal -- and serves as a warning about the TPP:<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><blockquote class="tr_bq">A huge new trade deal is coming up soon. This is the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), called by some the “mother of all free-trade deals” and by others the “Corporate Deathstar.” It is a job-loss runaway train that is coming straight at us.</blockquote><a href="http://www.nationofchange.org/congress-public-waking-trans-pacific-partnership-threat-1377322701">Congress and the public are waking up</a> to the threat posed by the TPP, where talks are getting underway in Brunei with the U.S. and about a dozen Pacific Rim nations, including Vietnam. Earlier this week, <a href="http://teamster.org/" rel="nofollow">Teamsters</a>General President James P. Hoffa wrote to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman saying he wants to discuss Vietnam’s tolerance of worker abuse, including child slavery.<br /><br />Hoffa asked how the United States plans to proceed with trade talks in light of a recent Department of Labor finding that showed <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/08/vietnam-allows-forced-child-labor.html">solid evidence of child slavery</a> in Vietnam's garment factories, as well as <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/07/US-should-terminate-Vietnam-TPP-talks.html">a report that detailed abhorrent working conditions</a>. Hoffa wrote that a letter sent by <a href="http://georgemiller.house.gov/" rel="nofollow">Rep. GeorgeMiller</a> to Froman last month raised many issues that need to be answered:<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><blockquote class="tr_bq">I take this opportunity to echo [Miller’s] good questions and support his request for you to describe what specific steps the Administration is prepared to take to ensure that Vietnam can comply with the basic labor rights that we take for granted in the U.S.</blockquote>Hoffa also noted reports that showed the U.S. trade deficit during the first half of 2013 fell from $227 billion to $225 billion, a good sign for working Americans. But he added that the Teamsters and others are concerned that enactment of the TPP could reverse that trend.<br /><br />Maybe the message is starting to sink in. Froman said late last week that <a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11113806">the U.S. would not be pushed into completing the trade pact</a> until it is satisfied with the deal:<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><blockquote class="tr_bq">We are not rushing into an agreement to meet any particular deadline.</blockquote>An <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ExposeTPPCanada" rel="nofollow">anti-TPP rally is planned in Montreal</a> tomorrow, and American labor unions are urging their members to write their representative in Congress to oppose the deal. The TPP will pass unless YOU act now. Just click <a href="http://salsa4.salsalabs.com/o/50740/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=8906" rel="nofollow">here</a> to send an email.<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>

Colombia Hoffa TPP trade 200K strike against trade in Colombia as TPP fears mount

An astonishing 200,000 Colombian workers have been on strike for the past 10 days against unfair trade, privatization and poverty. It's the latest sign that the world is awakening to the dangers of the latest job-killing trade deal, the Trans-Pacific…

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Korea trade deal cost 40K good US jobs already

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8oi80GXvNP-CuyfH21u6kDCCG6XdNChq82dM1-YS-ZRU2bj6hlDhtxYP-b-BAac1TzGVN-ke8Od4FahKML1pfwPzr8hjvJ2iRBM90Q2E1-DLyjMZw4UxN1TG19xjI8ARzwhm9MWSVCKtb/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-07-18+at+12.23.42+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8oi80GXvNP-CuyfH21u6kDCCG6XdNChq82dM1-YS-ZRU2bj6hlDhtxYP-b-BAac1TzGVN-ke8Od4FahKML1pfwPzr8hjvJ2iRBM90Q2E1-DLyjMZw4UxN1TG19xjI8ARzwhm9MWSVCKtb/s200/Screen+Shot+2013-07-18+at+12.23.42+PM.png" width="200" /></a></div>America is losing tens of thousands of good manufacturing jobs to South Korea because of the trade deal that took effect March 15, 2012.<br /><br />Our friend Rob Scott at the <a href="http://epi.org/">Economic Policy Institute</a> just put out a <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/trade-pacts-korus-trans-pacific-partnership/">report</a> demonstrating the deal increased the trade deficit with South Korea by $5.8 billion, reduced U.S. exports by $3.5 billion and cost 40,000 jobs, most of them goods ones in manufacturing.<br /><br />Before the deal was signed it was hyped as a good thing for American workers. It was supposed to increase exports and create jobs. Scott politely describes those lies as based on "flawed trade models, and on distorted and one-sided interpretations of the findings of those models."<br /><br />We got the same crap with NAFTA. It was supposed to create 200,000 jobs. It cost 682,900 U.S. jobs by 2010, with job losses in every U.S. state and congressional district.<br /><br />We'll be hit with more "flawed trade models" as corporations and their stooges the <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/05/fast-tracking-trade-deals-is-last-thing.html">U.S. Chamber of Commerce </a> lobby for the latest job-killing trade deals, the <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/07/corporations-want-to-hide-dangers-of-tpp.html">Trans-Pacific Partnership</a> (TPP) and the<a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/07/tafta-delay-good-for-workers.html"> Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement</a> (TAFTA).<br /><br />Scott isn't a fan of TPP or TAFTA:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">FTAs and other trade agreements make it enormously profitable to outsource production to countries such as South Korea and China that use currency manipulation, dumping, and other unfair trade practices to undercut production and wages in the United States. U.S. MNCs (multinational corporations), including Apple, Boeing, Dell, Ford, GE, GM, and Intel have also profited enormously from outsourcing to Mexico, China, and other low-wage trade partners under the protection of FTAs and the WTO. The end result is a race to the bottom in wages and working conditions for most members of these agreements (Inequality.is 2013). The United States should stop negotiating FTAs and trade deals and fix the ones we have.</blockquote>Read the whole thing <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/trade-pacts-korus-trans-pacific-partnership/">here</a>.

Jobs TAFTA TPP trade Korea trade deal cost 40K good US jobs already

America is losing tens of thousands of good manufacturing jobs to South Korea because of the trade deal that took effect March 15, 2012.Our friend Rob Scott at the Economic Policy Institute just put out a report demonstrating the deal increased the t…

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