A newsletter of workplace safety and labor issues
Yesterday was that bi-annual event that all red-blooded Americans celebrate: the release of the new federal Regulatory Agenda; in this case the Fall 2017 version. President Trump took the occasion to participate in a photo op: cutting a ribbon of red tape in front of a humongous stack of paper representing the Code of Federal…
Cable news and newspapers across the country are headlining the continuing explosions at the Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, Texas, that was flooded by Hurricane Harvey. The plant was evacuated after power failed and several containers full of volatile chemicals that required cooling threatened to explode when power was lost and the generators failed. At…
Donald Trump is on his way to Springfield, Missouri today to deliver a major speech about tax cuts reform at the Loren Cook company. Loren Cook, one of Springfield’s largest companies, manufactures fans, blowers, gravity vents and laboratory exhaust systems and employees 1,000 workers. And the company’s executives are big Trump supporters: Loren Cook II, vice-president…
“We need to be protecting our workers as much as protecting our shores.” So says former OSHA head Dr. David Michaels in response to a report by Reveal and PBS about fatalities and injuries at shipyards that receive billions in contracts from the US government. The reporters point out intentional, knowing violations of the law,…
But as the ….government has promoted the [chemical] sector’s rapid growth, it has struggled with its impact on the environment. The chemical industry has quashed calls to strengthen oversight and force companies to publicly disclose what substances they produce. Local environmental bureaus are often politically feeble and understaffed. — New York Times, June 13, 2017…
Just got word that President Trump (yes, that President Trump) will be visiting the Department of Labor Next Wednesday, where he “will announce policy initiatives that this Administration will pursue to narrow the skills gap and to ensure that all Americans have good, safe jobs.” Secretary of Labor Acosta sent a memo to Department staff stating that:…
The New York Times takes another look at Obama administration worker protections that are being “revisited” in the early months of the Trump administration. Most of these stories — the Administration’s attempt to roll back the Beryllium rule’s coverage of construction and maritime industries, the delay in enforcement of the silica standard and proposed elimination…
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…
Today is Workers Memorial Day, a day set aside around the world to remember those killed on the job — and commit ourselves to fighting to protect workers from preventable death injury and illness on the job. As the AFL-CIO summed up in its Death on the Job report, 4,836 workers were killed on the job…
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…