With 800,000 Unemployed Set to Lose Benefits, Congress Leaves Town
While Congress managed to pass a $700 billion financial-industry bailout before breaking for over a month to campaign, legislation to extend unemployment aid for 800,000 laid-off workers did not make the cut. Their benefits will dry up as soon as this Sunday.
Negotiations late yesterday in the Senate for streamlined passage of a bill to extend emergency jobless relief by at least seven weeks failed when Republicans balked. By evening, most senators had left town on election recess. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said the … more…
Will Congress Bail Out the Jobless?
While the bailout bill has been stuffed to the gills with tax breaks, one group not included in the list is nearly 800,000 laid-off U.S. … more…
OSHA: The Incredible Shrinking Fines
What good is a big fine if it's never collected? That's what we asked the Occupational Safety and Health Administration after we looked … more…
Acting Tough: When Cameras Leave, OSHA Penalties Wither
Editor's note: A shorter version of this story was originally published Tuesday on Salon.
After an explosion tore through a sugar … more…
The N.Y. Reporter Who Exposed Abuses at Kosher Plant
On May 26, 2006, the venerable New York-based Jewish weekly The Forward published a hard-hitting story by reporter Nathaniel Popper that … more…
Controversial Workplace Toxins Rule Moves Forward
Remember that "secret rule" the Labor Department was trying to push through that would have made it harder to regulate toxins in the … more…
Fun With Numbers: Critiques Question the Government’s Boasts About Workplace Safety
It's been a rough year for Edwin Foulke.
The assistant secretary of labor in charge of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration … more…
Congress Battles Labor Dept. Over Workplace Toxin Rules
We've been following a Department of Labor proposed rule (PDF) that would make it harder to pass regulations for workplace toxins and … more…
Full Draft of Admin. Proposal to Relax Toxin Rules
We've been following a Department of Labor proposed rule that would make it harder to pass regulations regarding workplace toxins and … more…
Excerpts of Administration’s Proposal to Relax Toxin Rules
Yesterday, we reported about a proposed Department of Labor rule that would make it harder to regulate toxins and chemicals in the … more…
Bush Administration Tries To Slow Workplace Toxin Rules
As the Washington Post reported this morning, the Department of Labor is trying to push through a rule that, health and safety experts … more…
October 31, 2008
Federal Charges for Ex-CEO at Iowa Meatpacker Julia Preston, New York Times, October 31, 2008
October 20, 2008
Workers: L.A. Labor Leader Used Charity for Politics Paul Pringle, Los Angeles Times, October 20, 2008
October 03, 2008
Jobs Report Underlines Economic Decline David Leonhardt, The New York Times, October 03, 2008
September 26, 2008
Union Paid Millions to Companies With Family Ties Paul Pringle, Los Angeles Times, September 26, 2008
Nevada Tells Federal OSHA to Back Off Alexandra Berzon, Las Vegas Sun, September 26, 2008
September 22, 2008
North Carolina Labor Law Fails to Help Fired Workers Ames Alexander, Charlotte Observer, September 22, 2008
A Disability Epidemic Among A Railroad’s Retirees Walt Bogdanich, New York Times, September 22, 2008
September 18, 2008
Union Accuses Calif. Leader of Misusing Funds Paul Pringle, Los Angeles Times, September 18, 2008
September 11, 2008
U.S. Oilfield Deaths Rise Sharply Betsy Blaney, AP, September 11, 2008
Colorado Meatpacking Plant Fires 100 Muslim Workers Nicholas Riccardi, Los Angeles Times, September 11, 2008