Archives
Workers finally get some protective gear...well, some workers anyway
Sun, 11/18/2007 - 05:01 — Bobbo
Mike Hall of the AFL-CIO reports that:
Although this is certainly welcome news, protective gear does not "cover"(pun intended), the situation of the baristas at the Cowgirls Espresso chain of coffee bars.
After nine years, a lawsuit and some 400,000 workplace injuries, the Bush administration is issuing a rule requiring employers to pay for workers’ personal protective safety equipment (PPE)—a measure expected to prevent tens of thousands of workplace injuries every year.
The rule, requiring employers to pay for such safety items as hard hats, lifelines, face shields, gloves and other equipment used by an estimated 20 million workers, was first proposed in 1999, but it was pulled back when the Bush administration came to power. Nearly a year ago, the AFL-CIO and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) filed a lawsuit over the Bush’ administration’s refusal to issue the rule. The lawsuit and congressional appropriations legislation both set a deadline of Nov. 30 for final action by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)—which itself estimates that some 400,000 workers have been injured and another 50 killed because the rule has not been in place.
Although this is certainly welcome news, protective gear does not "cover"(pun intended), the situation of the baristas at the Cowgirls Espresso chain of coffee bars.
Workplace Survival 101
Sat, 11/10/2007 - 02:40 — Bobbo
I'm always amused by the business press "tips" on survival in the workplace. They usually include a few obvious common sense ideas that only the most oblivious worker would miss. They then mix this into a toxic swill of subservient demeaning behavior that only makes American workplaces more stressful.
Here's an example of what I mean from a book called 30 Ways to Shine as a New Employee by Denise Bissonette.
Here's an example of what I mean from a book called 30 Ways to Shine as a New Employee by Denise Bissonette.
Coming Home from the War after Flying Close to the Sun
Thu, 11/08/2007 - 22:13 — Bobbo
I recently read Cathy Wilkerson's memoir, Flying to Close to the Sun about her days in SDS and Weatherman. She was in Chicago a few months ago giving a reading from her book. I attended and here is my report.
Riding the Red Line up to Women and Children First Bookstore had my stomach tied in knots. Cathy Wilkerson was going to give a reading from her new book Flying Close to the Sun.
Thinking about Cathy brought back painful memories of the breakup of SDS, the murder of Fred Hampton, the bloody civil war that tore apart the Black Panther Party, the townhouse explosion that killed three SDS leaders, the splitup of the Mother Bloor Collective.... all of which happened around the last time I had laid eyes on Cathy Wilkerson.
It isn't the rebels who cause the troubles of the world.
It's the troubles that cause the rebels.
It's the troubles that cause the rebels.