A top-to-bottom review ordered by Gov. Charlie Baker of the state's maze of regulations continues to generate pushback from a number of outside groups despite the administration's attempts to ease their concerns. In an effort that the governor has likened to "cleaning the attic," Baker in late March signed an…
StateHouse News Service
By Justine Hofherr @Jhofherr29 Boston.com Staff | 04.10.15 | 2:37 PMSylbert Stewart lives in a state of constant pain. If he were asked to rate his agony on a scale of one to 10, he says it would be well past 11. “Day-to-day life is very hard,” Stewart said.
Boston.com
As federal inspectors investigate an elevator fall at an Assembly Square construction project that killed one worker and injured another last week, construction officials say they met all safety standards at the site. Ronald “Moose” Morse, an ironworker from Hookset, NH, died on June 11 after the external elevator he…
Somerville Journal
Why Workers Won’t Unite GLOBALIZATION AND TECHNOLOGY HAVE GUTTED THE LABOR MOVEMENT, AND PART-TIME WORK IS SABOTAGING SOLIDARITY. IS THERE A NEW WAY TO CHALLENGE THE POLITICS OF INEQUALITY? By Kim Phillips-Fein On a gusty April morning in 1914, a gun battle broke out between Colorado National Guardsmen and a group of striking…
The Atlantic
A Broken Compensation System Is Leaving the Most Vulnerable Workers in Pain By Michelle Chen In the toughest industries, the cardinal rule of prevention, “safety first,” often gets papered over by an unspoken law of the workplace: the most dangerous jobs are done by those who can’t afford safety. The…
The Nation
DAVID GREENE, HOST: Some call it a grand bargain in the American workplace – if you're injured on the job, you're supposed to get guaranteed medical care and money to live on. Employers and their insurance companies pay for that and in return employers don't get sued for workplace accidents.
NPR
At the time of their accidents, Jeremy Lewis was 27, Josh Potter 25. The men lived within 75 miles of each other. Both were married with two children about the same age. Both even had tattoos of their children's names. Their injuries, suffered on the job at Southern industrial plants,…
NPR
In “Baker names Democrat as secretary of labor” (Metro, Dec. 13), the Globe highlights the pressing need for a well-run workforce development program within the Baker administration and the strong experience that Ronald L. Walker II brings as incoming secretary of labor and workforce development. What’s missing from the article…
Boston Globe
BOSTON — A new WBUR poll finds strong support for a ballot question that would allow every employee in Massachusetts — part- and full-time — to accrue and use sick time. The weekly tracking survey, conducted by The MassINC Polling Group, finds 56 percent of respondents said they would…
WBUR
I WAS saddened to read about the Vermont floor worker who suffered severe burns when the solvent he was using on a laundromat floor burst into flames, reportedly heated by a nearby dryer (“Worker hurt in dryer-sparked blaze,” New England in brief, June 9). A few years ago such tragedies…
The Boston Globe
Federal officials are investigating the violent death of a man caught in machinery Thursday while working the night shift at a seafood-processing plant in New Bedford. Victor Gerena, 35, was cleaning a shellfish-shucking machine at Sea Watch International around 1:30 a.m. when he “became entangled in a rotary turbine engine,”…
The Boston Globe
NEW BEDFORD — The death of seafood worker Victor Gerena could have been prevented had Sea Watch International followed safety protocol, according to his mother Ada Garcia. And now, she said, five kids are without a father. "It saddens me because this could have been avoided"¦ and his kids could…
The Standard-Times