A newsletter of workplace safety and labor issues
The budget is not just a collection of numbers, but an expression of our values and aspirations. — Jacob Lew We previewed the budget late last week and that preview was pretty accurate. OSHA’s budget is essentially the same as the recently passed FY 2017 budget — flat except for the proposed elimination of the…
“Don’t tell me what you value, show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.” ― Joe Biden If a President or Congress want to dismantle worker protections or other government programs, they don’t have to repeal or change legislation; they can work their damage through the budget process. Slashthe budget of a…
The FY 2017 Omnibus Budget bill that was released by Congress today provides a flat overall budget for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and a $2 million cut in the budget of the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). The standards programs of both agencies were cut, while compliance assistance was increased. Occupational Safety…
Read this article in The Nation by Terri Gerstein. Gerstein was formerly Labor Bureau Chief in the New York State Attorney General’s Office, and a Deputy Commissioner in the New York State Department of Labor. Her article vividly describes why the Trump administration’s war on immigrants hurts all workers and helps bad bosses. And without mentioning health…
Making Recess Fun Again: One more week left of Congressional recess. Anyone talked to their Senator or Representative about not cutting OSHA’s budget or rolling back protections? If not, here is a schedule of Congressional Town Hall Meetings in your areas. Get out there, or give them a call. Let me know how it went…
Home Sweet Home: Congress is home for two weeks. Hopefully all of you are planning on talking to your Senators and Congresspersons at their office or doing district meetings about how cutting OSHA’s budget will mean that more workers will get hurt and die. Blood on the Steering Wheel: The discussion about the carnage in…
The New York Times points out how much everyone will love the Trump administration’s drastic 31 percent cuts to the budget of the Environmental Protection Administration . Unless you’re one of those selfish people who still expects clean drinking clean water to come out of your faucet, or if you happen to live near (or enjoy…
Now is the time for all good activists to come to the aid of working people.
Alexander Acosta, the President’s nominee for Secretary of Labor testified today before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee. If you’re interested, you can watch the entire hearing here, although that would be two and a half hours you will never get back. I’m going to review the parts of the hearing that addressed workplace…
The Chemical Safety Board (CSB), the troubled little agency with the giant mission of preventing chemical plant disasters, has been sentenced to death by the Trump budget proposal. And the unanimous response of the chemical safety community — industry and labor — has been a collective “What the hell are they smoking over at the White House?”…