|
April 28, 2009 |
|
|
|
RSS
2.0 feed
|
Updated DAILY... Almost
Every Day!™ by 9 a.m. Pacific
Links are
functional at date of posting, but sometimes expire.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
A fitting end to anti-worker session
If
there was any doubt remaining about whether corporate interests superseded
those of working families in the 2009 Legislature, it evaporated in the
session's final weekend. In the last hours, state legislators removed
benefit improvements from the unemployment bill, cut health care
funding (again) for state employees, and passed more new special-interest tax breaks. Read more.
Dangerous worksites lack proper
enforcement
The nation’s workplace safety laws and penalties are too weak to
effectively protect workers, according to the new AFL-CIO annual report
released Monday: Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect. There were a
total of 5,657 fatal workplace injuries in 2007, a slight decrease from the
year before, according to the AFL-CIO’s analysis of the newly available
data. In 2007, employers reported more than 4 million workers having a
work-related injury or illness, more than 10,950 each day. Due to the impact
of under reporting of injuries and illness, the true toll may be as high as
12 million workers experiencing an injury or illness in 2007. Read
more.
TODAY is Worker Memorial Day, a day for organized labor and other advocates for safe and healthy workplaces to rededicate themselves to "Mourn the Dead and Fight for the Living." A commemoration was already held on Saturday in Spokane. Events are planned for Tuesday in Bellingham, Everett, Olympia and Tacoma. Get the details on today's events.
►
Today from Sen. Murray -- Murray
pushes forward on increased penalties for worker deaths -- As a
subcommittee works to crafts legislation to increase worker safety and fines
for bad actors, Sen. Patty Murray chairs a Worker Memorial Day hearing that
included testimony from victims' families and policy experts.
BREAKING NEWS:
►
From AP -- U.S.
Sen. Specter to switch from
Republican to Democrat -- Specter, who has a
lifelong record of independence, told reporters, "I will not be an
automatic 60th vote." As evidence, he pointed out he opposes "card
check" legislation to make it easier for workers to form unions,
a bill that is organized labor's top priority this year. (NOTE: In previous
years, Sen. Specter was a co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act.)
► At AFL-CIO Now -- AFL-CIO statement on Specter joining Democratic Party -- "This is a new day for the Employee Free Choice Act and labor law reform. Sen. Specter has said all along that he recognizes the need to reform our broken labor law system and we will continue to work with Congress to give workers back the freedom to form and join unions and pass legislation that stays true to the principals of the Employee free Choice Act."
Legislative news:
► In today's Seattle Times -- Gregoire wants special session, with limits -- She expects to call a special legislative session soon -- but only if lawmakers agree to limit the agenda. She is only interested in bringing back bills necessary to complete the budget. Any bill that failed during the regular session can be brought back in a special session. Lawmakers can't change those rules, but they can agree to restrict the session's scope and duration.
► In today's Olympian -- Special session likely -- “I am dumbfounded at the mismanagement that brought us to this point,” says Senate Republican Leader Mike Hewitt. “A special session will cost taxpayers at least $20,000 a day. Democrats had 105 days to finish their business. They wasted time, then tried to jam everything through in the final two days and failed.”
► In today's News Tribune -- Bethel gives layoff notices to 220 teachers -- Bethel’s is just the first wave of teacher cuts expected in the next three weeks as school districts reckon with a state budget adopted by the Legislature over the weekend.
► In today's Spokesman-Review -- City workers' pay ought not be immune to recession (editorial) -- The pain has to be shared. Hats off to the public employees who understand that difficult truth.
► In today's Tri-City Herald -- Hanford B&O tax bill sent to Gregoire -- After years of failed attempts, a law is on its way to Gregoire that would clarify how much Hanford contractors must pay for the business and occupation tax. The bill bundled with several environmental tax exemptions.
► In today's Everett Herald -- Gregoire to OK tax break for newspapers -- The 43% B&O tax cut will cost the state an estimated $1.2 million in revenues the first year and $1.3 million in ensuing years. The Senate and House passed it 46-2 and 91-5, respectively.
► In today's Seattle Times -- The state's patchwork budget (editorial) -- Nothing was easy this session. Numerous deep and painful cuts were made. Services will diminish in many areas of government. The budget is unsustainable, but for now it will have to do. (Times editors forget to mention -- in the context of listing all of the devastating cuts to state services -- that the Times successfully lobbied for a nice tax cut! Guess that woulda been unseemly.)
► In today's Seattle Times -- Huskies' AD says "psychological disconnect" doomed stadium bill -- "How do you lay off teachers and cut back on programs and then build a stadium? That was the psychological disconnect that a lot of people had a hard time getting around and I understand that wholeheartedly." But he says the WSU campaign to kill the bill was "irritating."
Local news:
►
In today's Daily World -- Sorting
yard will go quiet -- After
more than a century of log and lumber exports, the last ship load of logs
may have left Aberdeen, without fanfare, a couple of weeks ago. Weyerhaeuser
says it will close its Bay City log export facility, affecting 54 employees.
► From AP -- Boeing CEO calls slump: "Once-in-a-lifetime" event -- Under questioning from a shareholder, McNerney says outsourcing on the 787 "didn't turn out as well as we thought."
► In today's Seattle Times -- Times circulation gets boost from P-I print shutdown -- Daily circulation has grown by nearly 50% in the initial period since the P-I stopped publishing a newspaper. But the average paid circulation of the printed Sunday Seattle Times fell nearly 8%.
National news:
► In today's Washington Post -- GM's new road map: Partial nationalization -- Once a symbol of capitalist might and U.S. industrial prowess, General Motors would be half owned by the Treasury under a new sweeping plan that would also shut down GM's Pontiac operations, lay off 21,000 workers and impose harsh terms on the company's bondholders.
► Today from AP -- UAW leaders recommend approval of Chrysler deal -- The United Auto Workers will own 55% of a restructured Chrysler LLC and its retiree health care trust will get a seat on the board if union members vote to approve contract concessions this week.
► At AFL-CIO Now -- Maxwell, new NLRB appointments: Change we can believe in -- Three new appointments over the weekend show Obama’s commitment to improving workers’ lives and protecting their freedom on the job. Mary Beth Maxwell will head to the U.S. DOL ot be a senior adviser to Secretary Solis, while two experienced worker advocates -- Craig Becker and Mark Pearce -- have been nominated to the National Labor Relations Board.
► From AP -- Gender pay gap shrinks among federal government workers -- The difference between average annual salary for men and women in the federal work force declined from 19 cents to 11 cents on the dollar between 1998 and 2007, according to a draft GAO report.
► In today's NY Times -- Keeping jobless rules in tact, Florida refuses federal money -- Legislators are refusing to expand unemployment eligibility in order to accept $444 million in federal aid.
► In today's Philadelphia Inquirer -- Americans must take back gains (op-ed by NAACP president) -- Most people agree that we need to restore some balance of economic power between working people and corporations. And our country's leaders are finally ready to consider changes in our broken labor laws. But some are counseling workers to sit down with business and find something agreeable to everyone. They ignore the lessons of history.
► In today's NY Times -- Workers walk the plan (Bob Herbert column) -- With profits on the rebound, Wall Street big shots are on track to make as much money this year as they hauled in before the recession. The growing legions of the unemployed are forgiven for not shouting hallelujah. It’s like watching the drunk driver who plowed into your family car and caused untold havoc and heartache, suddenly pulling up one morning, no worse for the wear, in a sparkling new vehicle.
TUESDAY,
APRIL 28, 2009
Dangerous worksites lack proper enforcement
AFL-CIO releases new national data
in "Death on the Job" report
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The nation’s
workplace safety laws and penalties are too weak to effectively protect
workers, according to the new AFL-CIO annual report released Monday: Death
on the Job: The Toll of Neglect. There were a total of 5,657 fatal
workplace injuries in 2007, a slight decrease from the year before,
according to the AFL-CIO’s analysis of the newly available data. In 2007,
employers reported more than 4 million workers having a work-related injury
or illness, more than 10,950 each day. Due to the impact of under reporting
of injuries and illness, the true toll may be as high as 12 million workers
experiencing an injury or illness in 2007.
On average, 15 workers were fatally injured each day in 2007. This statistic does not include deaths from occupational diseases, which claim the lives of an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 more workers each year.
This year’s report also examined job safety enforcement in cases of worker deaths, finding that the average national total penalty in fatality investigations was just $11,311. Utah had the lowest average penalty in fatality cases, with an average $1,106 penalty assessed, followed by South Carolina, with an average penalty of $1,383 per fatality case, and Louisiana with an average penalty of $1,453.
"After eight years of neglect from the Bush administration, workers are in dire need of a change in our nation’s workplace safety and health laws," said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. "Our nation’s inadequate workplace safety net has left far too many workers in danger of death, injury or disease that could otherwise be prevented. Working people are looking to the new President to strengthen the OSHAct with tougher civil and criminal penalties, increase funding for OSHA to provide greater oversight, and fully implement the provisions of the MINER Act."
Also in conjunction with Workers Memorial Day, on Tuesday, April 28, the House Committee on Education and Labor will hold a hearing to investigate whether OSHA’s penalties are adequate to deter health and safety violations. The average nationwide penalty for a serious OSHA violation is currently only $921. Peg Seminario, Director of Safety and Health at the AFL-CIO, will testify before the committee, arguing that the OSHAct is too weak to protect workers and to deter employers from violating the law. The hearing will take place in Room 2175 at the Rayburn House Office Building at 10:00 a.m.
The Senate Subcommittee on Employment and Worker Safety will hold a hearing on “Introducing Meaningful Incentives for Safe Workplaces and Meaningful Roles for Victims and Their Families” at the same time in Room 430 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building on April 28.
Newly appointed Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis, will attend the National Labor College’s Workers Memorial Day ceremony at 2:30 p.m. on April 28 for a formal groundbreaking and bricklaying for a new Workers Memorial to be constructed at the center of the campus. She will be joined by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka, NLC President William E. Scheuerman, elected officials, union leaders, workers and the general public. For more information, call 301-431-5406.
In 2007, more than four million workers were injured and 5,657 workers were killed due to job hazards. Another 50,000-60,000 died due to occupational diseases. On an average day, 15 workers lose their lives as a result of workplace injuries and disease, and another 10,959 are injured.
The report also shows that Latino and Hispanic workers continue to face much higher risks of death on the job. In 2007, 937 Hispanic or Latino workers were killed on the job. The fatality rate among these workers was 4.6 per 100,000 workers, 21 percent higher than the fatal injury rate for all U.S. workers. Since 1992, the number of fatalities among Latino workers has increased by 76 percent from 533 fatal injuries in 1992. Among foreign-born workers, job fatalities have increased by 59 percent, from 635 to 1,009 deaths in 2007.
The Death on the Job report also reveals problems with the “safety net” of regulatory and oversight bodies such as OSHA. There are only 2,043 OSHA inspectors (799 federal and 1,244 state inspectors) for the approximately 130 million workers in the United States today. At this rate, federal OSHA inspectors are only able to inspect workplaces, on average, once every 137 years, and state OSHA inspectors on average once every 66 years. OSHA’s capacity to oversee and inspect the nation’s workplaces is at the lowest level in the agency’s history.
Click here for a copy of the AFL-CIO Death on the Job report.
TUESDAY,
APRIL 28, 2009
Worker
Memorial Day events today
Today is Worker Memorial Day, a day for organized labor and other advocates for safe and healthy workplaces to rededicate themselves to "Mourn the Dead and Fight for the Living." A commemoration was already held on Saturday in Spokane. The following events are planned for Tuesday:
BELLINGHAM -- On TUESDAY, APRIL 28 at noon, the Northwest Washington Central Labor Council will have a remembrance ceremony at the Worker Memorial Monument on the Bellingham Library lawn across the street from city hall. For more information, e-mail Charlie Warren or call her at 360-733-7890.
EVERETT -- On TUESDAY, APRIL 28 at 12:15 p.m., the Snohomish County Labor Council will gather to "remember the men and women of Washington state who went to work but never returned home." The commemoration will be at the Worker Safety Memorial at the County Courthouse, Pacific & Wetmore. Please RSVP if you plan to attend.
OLYMPIA -- On TUESDAY, APRIL 28 at 2 p.m., the Department of Labor and Industries will host its Worker Memorial Day ceremony at the L&I headquarters auditorium, 7273 Linderson Way SW in Tumwater. Family members of Washington workers who died last year as a result of workplace injury or illness have been invited. Gov. Chris Gregoire will speak along with representatives from labor and business. The centerpiece of the ceremony is a reading of the names of the fallen workers, accompanied by bell ringing. For more information, e-mail L&I's Elaine Fischer or call her at 360-902-5413.
TACOMA -- On TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., the Pierce County Central Labor Council will host its Worker Memorial Day commemoration at the IBEW 76 Hall, 3049 S. 36th St. For more information, e-mail Judy Sharnes or call her at 253-473-3810.
Copyright © 2009 -- Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO