Workers concerned they were exposed to asbestos while renovating a town building have asked state Attorney General Martha Coakley to investigate whether Barnstable officials allowed the work to continue despite knowing the carcinogenic material may have been present.
Cape Cod Times
The Pump Handle Really? Industry group launches campaign against worker centers, low-wage workers Posted by Kim Krisberg on August 16, 2013 In their efforts to protect the most vulnerable workers from illegal workplace practices and conditions, worker centers have now attracted the million-dollar ire of formidable anti-union forces.
http://scienceblogs.com
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE Published: August 7, 2013 Wal-Mart Stores has agreed to a corporatewide settlement to improve safety conditions related to trash compactors and cleaning chemicals in more than 2,800 of its stores, the United States Department of Labor announced on Wednesday. Wal-Mart agreed to the settlement, which includes…
The New York Times
Letters to the editor REDUCE, REUSE, ETC. Barbara Moran’s article on the challenges Boston faces in raising recycling rates through a single-stream strategy (“Out of Sorts,” July 14) captures key factors as we weigh the cost, quantity, and quality of recycled materials. But it leaves out one important component: the…
Boston Globe Magazine
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is opening an investigation into the circumstances of the death of a postal worker who collapsed on the job in Medford Friday, a spokesmen for the Department of Labor said Monday. James Baldassarre, 45, collapsed near the Hyatt Place Hotel on Riverside Avenue about…
Boston.com
In the midst of the doctor shortage and burnout epidemic, occupational medicine is the best-kept secret in U.S. health care.
The Atlantic
America is now dotted with “temp towns” – places where it’s difficult to find blue-collar work except through a temp agency and where workers often suffer lost wages, no benefits and high injury rates. Rosa Ramirez waits to be called for a job at the temp agency Staffing Network in…
ProPublica
OSHA issues two very serious violation citations to a cement plant where a worker was killed.
Springfield News-Sun
Abusive bosses who target employees with ridicule not only have a bad effect on them but negatively impact the work environment for their co-workers, who suffer from "second-hand" or vicarious abusive supervision, a new study has claimed.
The Indian Express
Romulo de Oliveira Santos’s first night on a demolition job at a Walmart in Walpole was also his last. Santos’s death is now the subject of a lawsuit that seeks to hold Walmart Stores Inc. accountable. According to MassCOSH, “[Santos] death highlights a ‘gaping hole’ in a regulatory system that…
The Boston Globe
“Century later, issues still resonate,” (Jan. 11) highlights the parallels of “the haves and have nots” of 1912 and those of 2012. 100 years after the nation was captivated by horrific mill conditions and corporate greed, workers still come to our worker center, and others across the state, suffering from…
The Boston Globe - Letter to the Editor
An extraordinary delay in the development of federal protections against exposure to crystalline silica is harming American workers, more than 300 public health scientists, doctors and occupational safety experts told President Obama today.
Union of Concerned Scientists