health and safety

  • Week-Long Strikes Push Hyatt for Contracts, Right to Solidarity
    Jenny Brown
    Sep 12 2011 - 1:42pm

    Hotel workers escalated their efforts against Hyatt, launching a week-long strike in four cities Thursday. They want contracts, and the right to strike or boycott in support of Hyatt workers elsewhere.

  • Verizon Strike: As Billions Roll In, Workers Walk Out
    Mischa Gaus
    Aug 8 2011 - 6:12pm

    At Verizon locations throughout the Northeast, 45,000 workers started walking picket lines Sunday. “We’re on strike for our bargaining rights, just like Wisconsin or Ohio,” said CWA President Larry Cohen.

  • Paid Sick Leave at a Stand-Off in Philly
    Warren Davis
    Jul 5 2011 - 11:30am

    A Democratic mayor’s veto last week will not be enough to stop a three-year-old push for paid sick leave in Philadelphia. With 71 percent of residents in support, and positive results in other cities to point to, supporters vow to find the votes to override the veto.

  • Mine Agency: Disaster 'Could and Should' Have Been Prevented

    Profits over people: Call it the silent killer. The investigation into the death of 29 miners at the Massey Upper Big Branch coal mine in April 2010 has revealed that the company maintained two sets of safety records. The practice kept hazardous conditions secret so Massey could keep digging for coal.

  • Rite Aid Warehouse Workers Win Contract after National Push
    Jenny Brown
    May 6 2011 - 2:00pm

    Winning a union is half the battle: the other half is securing a first contract. After three years, a union at Rite Aid’s huge California warehouse won an agreement with a campaign that spread to other unions and states.

  • How Do We Stop Workplace Fatalities? Eliminate the Hazards
    Ron Kaminkow
    Apr 28 2011 - 10:51am

    As unions mark Workers Memorial Day, a fatal rail tragedy last month serves as a reminder that "behavior-based" safety programs, which blame workers for their own injuries, aren't fixing the root causes of deadly accidents on the job.

  • On Its Own, Obama's OSHA Falling Short
    Jenny Brown
    Mar 28 2011 - 6:27pm

    OSHA's head comes from a union background, as does his right-hand man. The Labor Department's Hilda Solis was hailed as the “next Frances Perkins.” How can so many good appointees apparently display so little power over worker health and safety?

  • From Triangle to Today, Big Business Is the Same

    Industry’s persistent efforts to stem the wave of reform following the Triangle fire should sound awfully familiar to modern ears.

  • Triangle’s Fire Still Burns
    Andy Griggs
    Mar 24 2011 - 6:06pm

    As workers were preparing to go home late in the afternoon of March 25, 1911, fire struck the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City. A hundred years later, an eerily similar fire killed garment workers in Bangladesh.

  • Union Blows Whistle, Honeywell Fined $12 Million

    Honeywell International pleaded guilty in federal court March 11 to knowingly storing hazardous waste without a permit at its southern Illinois facility, a felony. For locked-out Steelworkers at the plant, the episode reinforced their belief that the best defense they and their communities have is a vigilant union.