Voices At Work

We’ve known this for decades and now the journal Science has empirical proof that workplace safety and health inspections by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) save lives, reduce employers’ costs for workers’ compensation and do not have any negative economic effect on the inspected businesses.

The authors of the study—three professors from the University of California, Harvard Business School and Boston University—say they set out to answer a simple question: Do government regulations kill jobs—as business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Republican lawmakers claim—or protect the public?  

A new report reveals the “extraordinary influence” the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has had in the Wisconsin legislature during the past 16 months—the same 16 months since Gov. Scott Walker (R) took power. The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), which released the report, says ALEC's influence:

undermines the rights of Wisconsin families while advancing the agenda of huge corporations.

China has been dumping solar cells on the U.S. market at artificially low prices, the U.S. Commerce Department ruled today, imposing stiff new tariffs of about 31 percent on 60 Chinese firms to provide U.S. manufacturers a fair playing field.

House Republicans have blocked efforts to maintain strong workplace health safety rules for workers at the nation’s nuclear weapons facilities. Republicans leaders rejected even a vote on an amendment to the Defense Authorization bill that would have preserved the current standards.They are pushing an extreme proposal to deregulate worker safety and allow employer self–regulation and self-oversight.

Tomorrow in Chicago, nurses from across the United States and U.S. and global activists will rally and call on world leaders to adopt a Robin Hood tax on financial speculation by banks and financial institution to create jobs and rebuild the economy that Wall Street broke. The Day of Action is sponsored by National Nurses United (NNU).

In an almost clandestine operation at the state Capitol in Jefferson City, Missouri Republicans this week inducted radio hate-talk host Rush Limbaugh into the Hall of Famous Missourians. The ceremony was closed to the public and, behind closed doors, guarded by Missouri Highway Patrol officers.

The House vote to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) is not a bill the majority of Americans can support. It is a badly watered-down version that eliminates protections for millions of women, produced after intense lobbying by a coalition of social conservative groups upon Republican members of Congress.

House Republicans continued their attacks on working women, and last night voted to pass a shameful version of the bill to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, filled with restrictions that undermine the very intent of a law (originally written by then-Sen. Joe Biden) designed to help victims of domestic violence. The House version, which passed 222 to 205, leaves working immigrant women, same-sex couples and even Native American women vulnerable and makes it harder to keep these women safe.

In Raleigh, N.C., state lawmakers returned to a cacophonous chorus of pots and spoons, clanging and ringing.

This was no serenade. North Carolinians, fed up with the General Assembly’s agenda of pursuing giveaways for the rich at the expense of everyone else, greeted lawmakers with a first-of-its-kind, 15-minute non-stop clamorous protest of politicians’ reckless ways.

Earlier this year, state and federal law enforcement officials negotiated a historic legal settlement with the Big Banks that had abused the rights of homeowners during the foreclosure crisis. As part of this settlement, the Big Banks agreed to pay $2.5 billion in penalties to the states for programs to help prevent foreclosures.

Sadly, in many states these funds are now at risk of being diverted away from helping struggling homeowners.

San Francisco public health nurses are in negotiations over the city's proposed financial and working conditions concessions.  Sasha Cuttler writes:  "Nurse’s Week is over and we have a lot to do, let’s start with a fair deal for DPH nurses. It's not to much to ask for and we will all benefit."

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This piece originally appeared in SEIU Healthcare's Nurse Alliance RoundUp.  No matter where you work or what you do, the issue of workplace violence is hugely important.  What is it, what causes it, why is it under-reported, and what does OSHA have to do with it?

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Berry Craig writes about what's wrong with GOP presidential-hopeful Mitt Romney's statement that the Employee Free Choice Act would strip "workers of the right to vote by secret ballot on whether to unionize."   

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The U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement is set to go into effect on May 15, despite increased violence and threats against workers' rights and human rights advocates.  This piece is cross-posted from the AFL-CIO Now Blog.

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The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has kicked off a national outreach initiative to educate workers and their employers about the hazards of working outdoors in hot weather.  Every year, thousands of workers across the country suffer from serious heat-related illnesses. If not quickly addressed, heat exhaustion can become heat stroke, which has killed — on average — more than 30 workers annually since 2003. 

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