Friday, August 3, 2012

Today's Teamster News 08.03.12

Rail May Hold Its Own Against Pipelines  zero hedge   ...the number of rail tankers carrying crude oil and petroleum products in the United States increased more than 35 percent during the first six months of the year when compared with 2011. After the U.S. Energy Department, in its report, noted the lack of pipeline infrastructure in North Dakota, British supermajor BP announced it was considering rail to bring oil from the Bakken formation there to its refinery in Washington state...
Passenger rail getting faster, creating jobs in the Midwest  U.S. Department of Transportation   ...Earlier this year, for example, Amtrak introduced 110 miles-per-hour service on an 80-mile stretch between Porter, Indiana, and Kalamazoo, Michigan. These are now America’s fastest trains outside of the Northeast Corridor...
Beyond Foxconn: More Dirt on the Factories Making Your iPhone  Mother Jones   ...Troubling new findings from a labor watchdog group are casting doubt on Apple's highly publicized promise to improve working conditions in its overseas factories...
USTR Ron Kirk touts tour of foreign textile factory  Trade Reform   ... U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk’s job isn’t to promote imports to supply Wal-Mart.  His job should be to make the U.S. a successful trading nation. i.e we should be a net exporter and that should be his goal...
Ann Romney's horse fails to win dressage but avoids offending British  The Guardian   ...Rafalca, owned by Mrs Mitt Romney, was impeccably behaved and well received by Olympic equestrians in Greenwich...
Teamsters credit local mayors for helping end trash strike  The Seattle Times   ...Exhausted but happy after their week-long garbage strike against Waste Management, Teamsters Local 117 credited local mayors — especially Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn — for bringing Waste Management back to the bargaining table by vowing to collect fines for missed collections...