MSHA head accused of illegal undermining of mine safety rules; Farm Bill provision could create a huge safety loophole for chemical facilities; hourly workers face hard choices in hurricane evacuations; and labor unions see big bump in millennial membership.
The Trump administration is pulling back worker safety efforts at nuclear weapons facilities; employers indicted in 2015 railcar explosion in Nebraska that killed two workers; a federal judge rebukes Trump’s efforts to make it easier to fire federal workers; and Bernie Sanders calls on Amazon warehouse workers to share their stories of low pay and harmful working conditions.
Earlier this summer, Boston residents began cashing in new coupons at local auto shops and beauty salons that go the extra mile to reduce dangerous chemical exposures in the workplace.
Over the last seven years, in response to high rates of worker deaths and injuries, OSHA launched two localized efforts to improve working conditions on dairy farms. Today, a new study finds the efforts made a positive difference, with farmers describing the intervention as a catalyst for reducing workplace dangers.
A new Kentucky law will likely make it harder for miners to access black lung benefits; hundreds of organizations and individuals petition OSHA to develop a heat exposure standard; one of the world’s largest asbestos sellers starts stamping its products with Donald Trump’s face; and a new study finds corporate tax cuts don’t boost worker wages.
Recommended heat exposure standards are effective in protecting most workers from serious illness and death, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
U.S. flight attendants experience a higher risk of several forms of cancer, leading researchers to call for more study on how to minimize the occupational exposures and conditions they suspect are contributing to the disparity.
Tesla’s big promises create safety problems for workers; North Carolina becomes the first state to guarantee a $15 minimum wage for most state workers; Australia launches national workplace sexual harassment inquiry; and Washington, D.C., voters approve measure to raise wages for tipped workers.
The Black Lung Disability Trust Fund faces the risk of insolvency; Trump signs executive order making it easier to fire civil servants; farmworker advocates call on Wendy’s to join the Fair Food Program; and thousands of activists call on Amazon to eliminate forced arbitration for contractors.
Don Blankenship’s Senate run is a heartbreaking ordeal for families of the Upper Big Branch mining disaster; California Supreme Court ruling will make it much harder to misclassify workers as independent contractors; farmworker families struggle with respiratory health problems; and workers around the world take to the streets for May Day.