Legal
The Pump Handle
Category archives for Legal
This takes the cake: Kentucky company sues coal miner who complained about safety problems
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on January 29, 2013 HuffPo’s Dave Jamieson writes this week about a Kentucky worker who raised concerns about safety problems at Armstrong Coal, was fired for doing so and complained about it to the Labor Department, and is now being sued by his former employer for making his claim.
Austin’s Construction Career Center providing a path toward safer, better-paying jobs
Posted by The Pump Handle on January 18, 2013 In Austin, Texas, a growing movement to transform working conditions for construction workers is underway and the new Construction Career Center is playing a pivotal role.
New, first-of-its-kind Canadian study to chronicle the impact of occupational cancers
Posted by The Pump Handle on January 14, 2013 Dr. Paul Demers says he frequently finds himself having to make the case for why studying workplace exposures to carcinogens is important. Oftentimes, he says, people believe such occupational dangers are a thing of the past. But a new four-year study he’s leading could change all that.
Construction workers in central Texas successfully tie living wages to big business tax breaks
Posted by The Pump Handle on December 14, 2012 Workers in Travis County, Texas, are celebrating what advocates are calling a landmark victory, after local leaders voted to ensure that economic incentive deals benefit both big business and workers.
First-of-its-kind survey compiles the experience of domestic workers, highlights the grim nature of an unregulated industry
Posted by The Pump Handle on December 7, 2012 The collective experience of domestic workers — house cleaners, nannies and caregivers — often remains hidden from view. But a new survey has pulled back the curtain on the conditions and experiences domestic workers face, documenting issues such as wage exploitation, preventable on-the-job injuries and the little — if any — power domestic workers have in improving their work environments.
Physicians take lead role in confronting opioid misuse, but still face hurdles
Posted by The Pump Handle on November 16, 2012 Since 2000, overdose deaths due to prescription painkillers in Utah have increased by more than 400 percent. By 2006, more Utahans were losing their lives to prescription drug overdoses than to motor vehicle crashes. For Dr. Lynn Webster, a longtime pain management physician, the startling numbers were a call to action.
Texas family planning cuts dismantling the safety net for women’s preventive care; researchers chronicle early impacts
Posted by The Pump Handle on October 5, 2012 In the west Texas city of San Angelo, Planned Parenthood has been serving local women since 1938. It was one of the very first places in Texas to have a family planning clinic. Now, due to state policy and funding changes, the clinic’s ability to serve all those in need is on shaky ground.
A different kind of Texas-style justice: Two nights at Austin’s Workers Defense Project
Posted by The Pump Handle on August 31, 2012 It’s Tuesday evening and as usual, the small parking lot outside the Workers Defense Project on Austin’s eastside is packed. The dusty lot is strewn with cars and pick-up trucks parked wherever they can fit and get in off the road. I’ve arrived well before the night’s activities begin, so I easily secure a spot. But my gracious guide and translator, a college intern named Alan Garcia, warns me that I might get blocked in. It happens all the time, he says.
‘An issue that affects all of us’: Young workers center takes on wage theft in the Rio Grande Valley
Posted by The Pump Handle on August 27, 2012 For six months, Jorge Rubio worked at a local chain of tortilla bakeries and taquerias in the cities of Brownsville and San Benito, both in the very southern tip of Texas. Rubio, 42, prepared the food, cleaned equipment, served customers. Eventually, he decided to quit after being overworked for months. On his last day of work, his employer refused to pay him the usual $50 for an 11-hour workday.
If former Massey Energy is now “Running Right,” why keep secret its safety progress report?
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on July 3, 2012 Family members of the April 2010 Upper Big Branch mine disaster say they are still in the dark. The latest example is Alpha Natural Resources failure to make public a progress report required in its non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice.