The Pump Handle
The Pump Handle
Wage theft in South Florida: Nation’s first county with wage theft protections reports on progress and perils
Posted by The Pump Handle on May 14, 2013 Earlier this month, Florida lawmakers wrapped up their latest legislative session. And nearly 500 miles south of Tallahassee in Miami-Dade County, workers’ rights advocates breathed yet another sigh of relief.
“Enough is enough” – Asian labor rights advocates call for change as death toll mounts in Bangladesh
Posted by The Pump Handle on May 10, 2013 The Asia Network for the Rights of Occupational and Environmental Victims (ANROEV), meeting in Bangkok this week, called for changes in the system that has led to disasters that have killed more than 1300 workers in the past eight months.
Newborn screening: One of public health’s greatest achievements celebrates 50 years and thousands of lives saved
Posted by The Pump Handle on May 3, 2013 On Feb. 13, 2012, Honey Stecken gave birth to her daughter Maren. Everything appeared perfectly fine — she ate and slept and did all the things a baby does. Even after a couple weeks at home in South Fork. Colo., with her newborn little girl, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
“Fight for 15” takes to the streets in Chicago: Fast-food and retail workers demonstrate for raise beyond their lower-than $10 average wage
Posted by The Pump Handle on April 29, 2013 Hundreds of workers at fast-food restaurants in Chicago staged a one-day walk-out last week calling for a $15 an hour wage.
Study: Banning smoking in subsidized housing could save millions in health care costs
Posted by The Pump Handle on April 26, 2013 Another day, another study that shows investing in public health interventions can make a serious dent in health care spending. A new study has found that banning smoking in all U.S. subsidized housing could yield cost savings of about $521 million every year.
Study: Peer-to-peer training can improve safety, knowledge among Hispanic construction workers
Posted by The Pump Handle on April 19, 2013 Eric Rodriguez and his colleagues at the Latino Union of Chicago quite literally meet workers where they’re at — on the city’s street corners. Many of the day laborers who gather there are hired to work construction at residential housing sites. Work arrangements are hardly formal and day laborers are frequently subjected to unnecessary and illegal dangers on the job. Unfortunately, worker safety is often kicked to the curb in the street corner marketplace.
US industrial sand production increases dramatically, yet industry says worker protection too costly
Posted by The Pump Handle on April 18, 2013 Since the White House Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) began reviewing the Labor Department’s proposed rule to reduce by one-half the permissible workplace exposure to respirable crystalline silica more than two year ago, the US has seen a dramatic increase in industrial sand mining, a major route of workers’ exposure to silica dust. Industry groups claim the more-protective standard would be too expensive.
Cracking down on deadbeat bosses: Wage theft victory a milestone in Chicago’s worker center movement
Posted by The Pump Handle on April 15, 2013 For Angel Nava, Chicago’s newly adopted wage theft ordinance is particularly personal. Until recently, Nava had worked at the same car wash business in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood for 14 years. The 55-year-old employee did it all — washing, detailing, buffing — for about 50 hours each week. Then, his boss decided to stop paying overtime.
Trying to make the unacceptable acceptable: New books by Dan Fagin and Sarah Vogel illuminate our flawed history of controlling chemical hazards
Posted by The Pump Handle on April 8, 2013 Two new books illustrate how and why the US system for regulating chemicals often fails to adequately protect human health.
New report: Kids will eat their veggies…if you give them the chance
Posted by The Pump Handle on April 5, 2013 If you serve it, they will eat it. That’s one of the many lessons gleaned from a new report on the national Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program.