House GOP tries to end effort to ‘End Black Lung’
We’ve heard House Republicans talk quite a bit about how much they care about coal miners’ jobs … but what about those coal miners’ lives? You have to wonder, when you see the GOP leadership sticking riders into appropriations bills like this one, described in a summary of a funding bill for the Department of Labor: A prohibition on the implementation or enforcement of DOL’s “coal dust” rule until an independent assessment of the integrity of the data and methodology behind the rule is conducted.
http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2011/12/15/house-gop-tries-to-end-effort-to-end-black-lung/
Unemployment benefits: Democratic governors call on Congress to keep benefits
A coalition of Democratic governors called on lawmakers in a Thursday letter to reauthorize long-term unemployment benefits, a move that’s been tangled up in a debate now threatening to shut down the government at the end of the week.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/15/unemployment-benefits-extension_n_1150965.html?1323968467
Obama nominates two to NLRB. Will GOP block them and grind agency to halt?
Yesterday, President Barack Obama nominated two people to serve as members of the National Labor Relations Board: Sharon Block and Richard Griffin. Without at least one of the two nominations to the independent federal agency being confirmed, the board will lack the quorum that is required to issue decisions. Current Board Member Craig Becker’s term expires at the end of December.
http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/12432/obama_nominates_two_to_nlrb_but_will_gop_block_them
Obama administration plan would raise wages of home health care workers
The Obama administration is seeking to extend minimum wage and overtime protections to cover home health care workers, a move that would boost living standards for nearly 2 million domestic employees but could mean higher costs for the elderly and disabled.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/15/home-health-care-workers-obama_n_1150710.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000008
EPA allowed unsafe handling of asbestos, IG says
The Environmental Protection Agency has allowed the use of unapproved methods to demolish buildings containing asbestos, threatening public health and possibly violating worker safety rules, the EPA’s inspector general has concluded.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-center-for-public-integrity/epa-allowed-unsafe-handli_b_1151476.html
Experts compare erionite to asbestos, warn about health effects
Little is known about the health effects of erionite. Nevertheless, “airborne occupational erionite fiber exposures should be considered at least as hazardous as asbestos fiber exposures,” according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
http://www.riskandinsurance.com/story.jsp?storyId=533344039&topic=Main
Industry sees no reason for new mine safety laws, despite MSHA report
The Robert C. Byrd Mine and Workplace Safety and Health Act failed to pass the House as critics called it ‘premature.’ More than 20 months after the UBB explosion, the National Mining Association wants to wait for more completed studies.
http://www.wvpubcast.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=23189
Victoria’s Secret revealed in child labor
This harvest is Clarisse’s second. Cotton from her first went from her hands onto the trucks of a Burkina Faso program that deals in cotton certified as fair trade. The fiber from that harvest then went to factories in India and Sri Lanka, where it was fashioned into Victoria’s Secret underwear — like the pair of zebra-print, hip-hugger panties sold for $8.50 at the lingerie retailer’s Water Tower Place store on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-15/victoria-s-secret-revealed-in-child-picking-burkina-faso-cotton.html
