Staten Island worker death highlights risks facing Latino construction workers; fight continues to ban asbestos; Minnesota minimum wage increase in jeopardy for tipped workers; and researchers look for ways to protect respiratory health among dairy farm workers.
New Mexico dairy farm workers face dangerous workplace conditions and fears of retaliation; Chicago passes minimum wage increase; worker dies at Staten Island car dealership; and Philadelphia task force supports paid sick leave.
California
Study examines effects of San Francisco paid sick leave policy, finds low-wage workers especially benefited
As paid sick leave policies gain momentum across the country, a new study finds that such policies do indeed improve worker morale and have little overall effect on employer profitability.
Dangerous workplace speedups a hidden side of the economic recovery; California recycling workers vote to unionize; emergency responders in west Texas face new challenges during energy boom; and the U.S. lags in eliminating the gender pay gap.
In-depth series investigates worker misclassification; NIOSH observes N95 Day; fast food workers take to the streets; and California moves toward paid sick leave law.
Government
Massachusetts advocates optimistic about paid sick leave ballot: ‘We need public policies that lift people up and keep families healthy’
After nearly a decade of hoping state legislators would pass an earned paid sick time law, advocates in Massachusetts decided it was time to put the question to voters. Now, in November, voters will have the chance to help improve the lives of nearly 1 million workers who can’t earn one, single hour of sick leave and are often left to choose between caring for themselves or a loved one, paying the bills or losing a job.
Respirators have improved since the Ground Zero response and recovery effort exposed workers to airborne contaminants; the Government Accountability Office criticizes the data underlying USDA’s proposed poultry rule; and Jersey City will consider paid-sick-leave legislation.
Although Philadelphia’s City Council fell one vote short of overriding a veto of the city’s paid sick leave bill, paid sick leave efforts are gaining steam nationwide.
As the list of US jurisdictions with paid sick leave laws gets longer, members of Congress introduce a bill that would require paid sick leave nationwide.
The White House’s two-year delay of OSHA’s proposed silica rule attracted media attention; West Virginia’s Governor orders mines to undertake a “safety stand-down” after a series of mineworker deaths; and a warming climate will necessitate stricter limits on outdoor work.