Friday, August 22, 2014

Today's Teamster News 08.22.14

Teamster News
What the Hell Went on Between Boston’s Teamsters and the ‘Top Chef’ Crew?  Boston Globe   ...Teamsters Local 25 have released a statement about the Deadline Hollywood story and vehemently disagree with the details offered by the unnamed “Top Chef” crew members...
Teamsters Ratify Contracts At Stroehmann, Grocery Haulers Inc.  teamster.org   ...Teamsters Local 264 members at Stroehmann Bakeries and Grocery Haulers Inc. (GHI) in Olean, N.Y., have voted overwhelmingly to ratify contracts providing for significant workplace improvements...
Local 135 Strikes Against Trucking Company  Kokomo Tribune   ...Members of Teamsters Local Union 135 went on strike Wednesday morning against Diamond Trucking Inc. after new contract negotiations broke down Tuesday night...
Carpenters Locked Out Of Pa. Convention Center Since May Seek End To Dispute  CBS News   ...Carpenters who claim they’ve been locked out of the Pennsylvania Convention Center were back out on the street on Wednesday protesting management’s refusal to put them back to work...
Protest-Stalled Ship At Port Of Oakland Finally Unloaded, Sails Away  Contra Costa Times   ...During the protest, the Teamsters had issued a statement calling on longshore workers to "immediately unload the ship" and said their issue was not the Gaza conflict, but the impact the protests have on local jobs...
Sodexo Workers Overwhelmingly Ratify First Teamster Contract With Local 633  IBT   ...Seventy (70) Teamster members employed by Sodexo, Inc., who provide cafeteria services, have overwhelmingly ratified their first ever Teamster contract...
Trade
TPP: The “Trade” Deal that Could Inflate Your Healthcare Bill  Public Citizen   ...Leaked draft TPP texts… contain expansive rules that would constrain the ability of the U.S. government to reduce medicine prices...
Trade Data Pours Cold Water on "Rising Star" Outlook for American Manufacturing  manufacture this   ...The U.S. trade deficit in manufactures surged by $21.6 billion, or 19%, in the second quarter, compared with 2013, following an 8% increase in the first quarter. In the opposite direction, the Chinese surplus increased in the second quarter by $20.0 billion, or 9%...
State Battles
Scott Walker’s Offshoring Flip-Flop  In These Times   ...Mr. Right-to-Work is trying to divert attention from his administration’s abysmal record on jobs and labor in a state still mired in the effects of the Great Recession...
War On Workers
Prayers For Atlantic City As Closings, Layoffs Loom  Philadelphia Inquirer   ...Gaming analysts and industry experts have said Atlantic City has too many casinos and not enough gambling demand to sustain them all. After the three casinos fold, the resort will be left with eight...
Microsoft Leaves ALEC: Horsetrading & The Price to Pay  firedoglake   ...President Obama may soon decide on executive action regarding “a rule allowing spouses of H-1B visa holders, now barred from working in the U.S., to get jobs.” The H-1B high skill guestworker visa allows employers to hire non-citizens for skilled work often in fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics...
One Paragraph Cuts Through The Hype Of Robots Taking Your Job  Business Insider   ...people have tended to overestimate, historically, the effect of technology on labor. And while robots are good at performing some repetitive tasks, jobs that require judgment are not so easily replaced by robots (these include jobs at the low and high end)...
How the Largest Worker Owned Co-op in the US Lifts People Out of Poverty  YES! Magazine   ...New York City is going—in a big way—for worker-owned cooperatives. Inspired by the model of CHCA and prodded by a new network of co-op members and enthusiasts, Mayor Bill de Blasio and the New York City Council allocated $1.2 million to support worker cooperatives in 2015’s budget...
There Are Zero States Where The Percentage Of People Employed Has Gone Up Since The Recession  Washington Post   ...From 2007 to 2014, the employment rate among 25- to 54-year-olds has declined in the United States by 3.5 percent, and no state reported employment gains during that time, according to data released by the Pew Charitable Trust on Tuesday...
Miscellaneous
Health Care Data Breaches Have Hit 30M Patients And Counting  Washington Post   ...the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' database of major breach reports (those affecting 500 people or more) has tracked 944 incidents affecting personal information from about 30.1 million people...
Home and Jobs Data Suggests Momentum  Reuters   ...Sales of existing homes in the United States rose in July to a 10-month high, and the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, signaling strength in the economy early in the third quarter...