Pension Rights Center 07, 2012 View the original piece H.R. 4348, the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) Act, was signed into law on July 6, 2012. Although the Act is primarily known for authorizing funding for the nation’s highways and for extending low interest rates for federal student loans, it also includes a package of pension provisions, which were largely included in the bill as revenue-raisers. The following is a summary...

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor The Journal of Commerce 03, 2012 View the original piece Trucking giant YRC Worldwide reported an operating profit of $15.5 million in the second quarter while cutting its net loss 47 percent to $22.6 million. The $15.5 million gain is the $4.9 billion less-than-truckload operator’s first operating profit attributable to freight operations since the third quarter of 2008. “We are producing results slightly ahead of our forecast, despite the recently...

Alexa Vaughn The Seattle Times 02, 2012 View the original piece Waste Management and Teamsters Local 117 have reached a tentative agreement on a new six-year contract that will have garbage drivers back on their regular collection routes by Thursday morning, Waste Management said. The company said that teamster leadership and the bargaining committee will recommend members approve the new contract during a vote scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday at Union Hall in Tukwila. “We...

Hazel Bradford Pensions & Investments July 31, 2012 View the original piece Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, unveiled two proposals Friday to address what he calls “disappearing pensions,” including a new type of private retirement system offering universal coverage through automatic payroll deductions with professional money management. To augment existing employer-provided defined benefit and defined contribution retirement plans, Mr. Harkin is proposing a new employment-based retirement plan — Universal,...

Komo News July 31, 2012 View the original piece BURLINGTON, Wash -- Waste Management drivers at the Burlington facility in Skagit County are honoring the picket lines of their striking coworkers from the Seattle-area this morning. The Burlington facility serves customers in North Snohomish and Skagit Counties.  Drivers at that facility established a picket line at 5:00 a.m. Waste Management is publishing the latest list of service delays on its website. Striking Teamsters said Monday...

Mark Miller SeattlePI July 29, 2012 View the original piece Striking Waste Management truck drivers are bracing for a high-pressure face-off as their employer brings in more non-union replacements to pick up trash. Caught in the middle of it all are the customers, who are starting to complain about their garbage piling up. Meanwhile, at Teamsters union headquarters in Tukwila on Sunday, striking workers were making new batches of signs to hand out on the...

Mike Elk Working In These Times July 25, 2012 View the original piece During President Barack Obama's first year in office, the number of workers killed on the job increased by 3.1%, an alarming rise that has workplace safety advocates demanding broader changes to OSHA. The Center for Progressive Reform has issued a report entitled "The Next OSHA: Progressive Reforms to Empower a New OSHA", which outlines the various ways in which OSHA should be...

Pension Rights Center July 27, 2012 View the original piece Today the Pension Rights Center applauded Senator Tom Harkin, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, for his new report, The Retirement Crisis and a Plan to Solve It.  “Senator Harkin’s bold report identifies the causes of the retirement crisis and proposes imaginative and realistic solutions to the address the crisis,” said Karen Friedman, the Center’s executive vice president and policy director. “The...

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor The Journal of Commerce July 26, 2012 View the original piece The latest truck driver hours of service rule is not only arbitrary and capricious, but unwarranted, the American Trucking Associations said in a court filing. The trucking group filed its first shot in a court battle over the federal rule, which governs how many hours a driver can work each day and week. The latest version of the rule,...

Levi Pulkkinen SeattlePI July 25, 2012 View the original piece Recycling and yard waste drivers for Waste Management went on strike Wednesday morning, accusing the company of bargaining in bad faith during ongoing contract negotiations. Picket lines went up at 10 a.m. as drivers in King and Snohomish counties went on strike. The action by Teamsters Local 117 is expected to disrupt services to area residents; the extent of that disruption was not immediately clear....