Some drivers described a variety of alleged abuses, including lack of overtime pay, missing wages, intimidation, and favoritism.
Many drivers also described a physically demanding work environment in which, under strict time constraints, they felt pressured to drive at dangerously high speeds, blow stop signs, and urinate in bottles on their trucks.
The drivers are managed by third-party courier companies that work out of Amazon facilities.
North Carolina is one of the nation’s top livestock producers, ranking third in poultry production and second in hog production, with more than 2,000 permitted swine farms and 9.3 million pigs. Sampson and Duplin counties are the two biggest producers and, as of Tuesday afternoon, both were within the projected path of Florence.
Most hog farms manage their waste by depositing it in earthen pits, known as lagoons, and spraying it on nearby fields. During big storms, uncovered lagoons — especially those that haven’t been drawn down — can fill up with rain and overflow.
More dead pigs? Hurricane threatens hog farms, sewage plants and people downstream McClatchy
As nearly a million people hit the road before Hurricane Florence nears the coast, 934 inmates and as many as 119 prison staff were ordered to stay behind despite a mandatory evacuation.
Despite an evacuation order encompassing the prison’s location in Jasper County issued Monday, S.C. Department of Corrections officials decided not to remove inmates at the Ridgeland Correctional Institution as of that afternoon
SC officials won’t evacuate prison ahead of hurricane The State
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) on Tuesday night released documents appearing to show the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) diverted nearly $10 million from the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The documents, first reported by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, detail the agency’s funding redirections for fiscal year 2018 and show that millions of dollars were diverted to ICE from several agencies.
DHS diverted $10M from FEMA to ICE The Hill
President Donald Trump on Tuesday claimed his administration’s response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico last year was an “unsung success” and “incredibly successful.”
Trump calls response to hurricane in Puerto Rico an ‘unsung success,’ despite thousands of deaths Business Insider
See the International Tribunal on U.S. Colonial Crimes in Puerto Rico
US Steel workers are fired up and ready to strike if a new contract isn’t reached soon, the Times of Northwest Indiana reports. Workers for the Pittsburgh-based company voted nationwide this week to approve a strike if talks involving health care costs, retiree benefits, and wage increases don’t work out—at a time when their employer is apparently rolling in money. “Angry USW members conducted strike authorization meetings at each US Steel local over the past week,” the United Steelworkers said in a statement to workers, adding that there was “an overwhelming ‘yes’ vote in every local. Many locals reported that their results were unanimous.” A three-year US Steel contract for roughly 16,000 USW workers ran out Saturday.
Don Furko, president of USW Local 1557 in Clairton, Pa., says workers are pushing back at a time when President Trump’s policies are benefitting US Steel: “Between the tariffs and the tax break for corporations, they stand to make $2 billion this year,” he tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. US Steel says it’s offering workers profit-sharing of at least $6,000, a signing bonus of $4,000, wage increases starting at 4%, a 15-cent hourly increase to 401(k) retirement plans, and a one-time $5,000 health-care bonus. But Farko says workers still have too many out-of-pocket health care costs for family coverage. The pro-strike vote surprised steel-industry sources, says the Post-Gazette. There hasn’t been a US Steel work stoppage since the company locked out workers for six months in 1986.
‘Angry’ U.S. Steel workers nationally overwhelmingly back a strike as talks resume Times of Northwest Indiana
The Governments of Syria and Russia claim to have proofs that the U.S. coalition that has invaded and now occupies Syria has prepared chlorine and sarin gas attacks for Idlib and other areas where Syria and Russia are trying to destroy all jihadists — prepared attacks designed to be blamed against Syria’s Government.
Syria & Russia Accuse U.S. Coalition, ‘White Helmets’, of Preparing Chemical Weapons Attacks in Idlib OffGuardian
U.S. rejects claim by Venezuela’s Maduro that U.S. envoys engaged in conspiracy – Reuters – May 22 2018
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday it rejected accusations by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro that two top U.S. diplomats were engaged in what Maduro called a “military conspiracy” or had been meddling in the country’s economic and political issues.
Maduro earlier on Tuesday ordered the expulsion of U.S. charge d’affaires Todd Robinson and another senior diplomat, Brian Naranjo, ordering them to leave Venezuela within 48 hours.
As the saying goes: “Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied.” The above denial confirmed Nicolas Maduro’s claim of U.S. coup attempts against the Venezuelan government. A new report reconfirms the plot and reveals some new details of the still unwritten larger story.
NYT Reconfirms U.S. Coup Plot In Venezuela – Adds Pro-Coup Propaganda Moon of Alabama
A resounding, unanimous “Yes” roared through the United Steelworkers Local 1066 hall in Gary Wednesday night, giving union leaders the authority to call a strike against U.S. Steel if they deem it’s needed.
The same unanimous votes were made at two earlier meetings of Local 1066, and by members of Local 1014 and some members of Local 6103, all of whom work for U.S. Steel locally, according to Rick Bucher, assistant director of USW District 7, which covers Indiana and Illinois.
“Every plant in Northwest Indiana that has voted has been unanimous. Not one member has said no (to a possible strike),” Bucher said Thursday.
United Steelworkers members vote to authorize strike Chicago Tribune
This week, the Department of Homeland Security proposed a new regulation that would allow U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain migrant children and their parents indefinitely, upending 20 years of legal precedent. Critics have decried the sadism of such a proposal, but few have acknowledged how multiple Democratic administrations helped pave the way for the Trump administration’s violence and cruelty. Immigration attorney Helen Sklar reminds us that it was President Bill Clinton who first branded immigrants without the necessary documentation an “unlawful presence in the U.S.”
How Bill Clinton Paved the Way for Trump’s War on Immigrants Truthdig
The Old Mole 