Workers suffering the ‘lethal legacy’ of a General Electric plant in Canada fight for compensation; OSHA looks into an Arizona commission that routinely reduces penalties for safety violations; advocates ponder the future of OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program; and millions of workers get a raise in the new year.
Government
In the fight for a rest break, Dallas construction workers find their voice: ‘This is not the end, but a stepping stone to something bigger’ (rerun)
While The Pump Handle is on holiday break, we are republishing some of our favorite posts from the past year. This one is from May 2016: Last summer, 25-year-old Roendy Granillo died of heat stroke while he installed flooring in a house in Melissa, Texas, just north of Dallas. His tragic and entirely preventable death marked a turning point in advocacy efforts to pass a rest break ordinance for local construction workers.
While The Pump Handle is on holiday break, we are republishing some of our favorite posts from the past year. This one is from August 2016: Two decades ago, President Bill Clinton signed the “Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act” (PRWORA) and heralded the end of “welfare as we know it.” The law lived up to that promise, but the outcomes for families who depend on it have been problematic.
Child Labor
Hansae Vietnam: Case study of hazardous working conditions and the failure of corporate social responsibility audits to fix the hazards
New investigations by the Workers Rights Consortium and the Fair Labor Association reveal sweatshop operations in Vietnam by a major Korean factory operator. The garments produced are sold by dozens of international clothing brands. The sweatshops exist despite “audits” by the $80 billion global “corporate responsibility industry.”
If the ACA is repealed, miners could lose out on critical compensation for workplace illness; New York farm owner indicted in death of teen worker; possible contender for U.S. labor secretary opposes minimum wage hike; and in good news, Ikea expands paid parental leave for its U.S. workers.
Global Supply Chain
Free on-line course on “decent work in global supply chains” offered by the Global Labour University
A free, two-month course on global supply chains is being offered on-line by the Global Labour University starting on January 12, 2017. The course is being taught in English by Penn State University Professor Mark Anner, one the leading labor-oriented researchers on the global economy.
Global Supply Chain
Even after the Rana Plaza disaster it is hard to get international clothing brands to do the right thing
A new report by four leading workers’ rights group shows just how hard it is to get international clothing brands to fix problems in their global supply chains despite the fact that 1,100 workers were killed in an instant in an unsafe garment factory in Bangladesh. Three and a half years after the Rana Plaza building collapsed in Dhaka, Bangladesh, five major clothing brands – Walmart, Gap, VF, Target and Hudson’s Bay – were found to have continuing hazards and dangerous delays in fixing them.
Advocates sound off on whether worker safety will survive under Trump; an intimate interview with a waitress highlights inconsistent income and sexual harassment; a court blocks Obama’s overtime rule from taking effect; and United Food and Commercial Workers pushes for health and safety training for California’s marijuana workers.
Writing for Slate, Gabriel Thompson spent time in northwest Arkansas investigating working conditions in a Butterball turkey plant. You would be wise to disregard the poultry industry’s claims about record-low injury rates.
Oxfam’s “Women on the Line” and the Food Chain Workers’ Alliance’s “No Piece of the Pie” provide more evidence of the low wages, harsh conditions, and disrespect experienced by millions of workers in the U.S. food industry.