The image of the “Kelly Girl” taking on temp jobs for “pin money” helped build temp agencies during the 20th century; today, a woman in the contingent workforce is more likely to be cleaning 30 hotel rooms a day for low pay and no benefits.
Denying undocumented immigrants access to the ACA’s main avenues for the uninsured has implications for the hospitals and health centers that serve uninsured people.
Injury Control & Violence
This takes the cake: Kentucky company sues coal miner who complained about safety problems
HuffPo’s Dave Jamieson writes this week about a Kentucky worker who raised concerns about safety problems at Armstrong Coal, was fired for doing so and complained about it to the Labor Department, and is now being sued by his former employer for making his claim.
A new report by the European Environment Agency offers more than a dozen case studies for us to examine the question: could we have taken action earlier to prevent harm to human health or the environment?
Infectious Diseases & Vaccines
Report: Americans dying earlier, getting sicker than those in other high-income nations
When it comes to good health, America is far from top dog. A new report finds that although the nation has experienced improvements in life expectancy and survival in the last century, we’re falling behind our counterparts in other high-income countries.
Former superintendent of the Upper Big Branch mine, where 29 miners were killed in a 2010 explosion, is sentenced to 21 months in prison; 38 workers were killed in the Algeria gas field hostage-taking; and a new report explores how on-the-job safety and corporate accountability suffer when employers rely heavily on subcontracted temporary workers.
Injury Control & Violence
Repeat violators of mine safety rules targeted in new Labor Dept regulation
The Labor Department’s MSHA issued a new regulation this week targeting employers that have an egregious pattern of violating mine safety and health standards.
Women's Health
40 years after Roe v. Wade, what new research tells us about abortion and women’s health
For the past 40 years, first-trimester abortion has been legal in the US, but restrictions on these procedures have been mounting as the number of abortion providers has declined. Researchers examine the health implications when women can’t get legal abortions.
My favorite part of President Obama’s 2013 inaugural address.
Environmental Health
Demands for safer working conditions, fair wages drew Martin Luther King to Memphis
Today we commemorate the life of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. who was assassinated in Memphis, TN in April 1968. The civil rights leader was visiting Memphis to support hundreds of city sanitation workers in their demands for safer working conditions and dignity on the job.