Every week, we bring you a roundup of the top news and commentary about issues and events important to working families. Here’s this week’s Working People Weekly List.
150 Workers Die Each Day From Hazardous Work Conditions: AFL-CIO study: "About 150 workers each day died as a result of hazardous working conditions in 2015, according to a new labor analysis. The AFL-CIO study released Wednesday found 4,836 workers died after suffering workplace injuries in 2015, the most recent year data is available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics."
AFL-CIO Strongly Supports Writers Guild in Negotiations With Strike Looming: "AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka issued the statement Thursday while negotiators were meeting behind closed doors for a third straight day. He cited WGA estimates that the major entertainment conglomerates made $51 billion in profits last year."
Restaurants Need to Stop Treating Low-wage Workers Like Avocados: "When low-wage workers won higher minimum wages, restaurant owners reacted in three ways. Those who already paid their workers at or above the minimum wage shrugged. Others accepted the fairer wages and adjusted their business models accordingly. But a third group decided to protest the cost by adding 'labor surcharges' to customers' bills. These surcharges sit at the bottom of the bill with the itemized taxes and tip line. The Wall Street Journal reported that this extra charge is often between 3% and 4% of the bill."
America's Manliest Industries Are All Competing for Women: "Baby boomers are retiring in droves, vacating construction sites and body shops and 18-wheelers. Now America's male-dominated industries, faced with a looming worker shortage, are trying to tap talent that has traditionally found such working conditions hostile: women."
Mourn for the Dead, Fight Like Hell for the Living: "Today, on Workers Memorial Day, people all over the world remember workers who were killed, injured or made sick by their jobs. It's also a day we commit to fighting for safer working conditions. Most importantly, it is the day we remind ourselves that safe jobs are every worker’s right."
Get Ready for a Month of Labor Cultural Events at DC LaborFest: "From its semi-humble beginnings 17 years ago as a weekend film festival focusing on labor-related movies, the DC LaborFest has grown, diversified and blossomed into a monthlong cultural event. The 2017 lineup, which kicks off Monday, includes 22 films, 17 labor tours, walks, bike rides, cultural tours and—new this year—a union beer and whiskey tasting, sponsored by Labor 411."
IUPAT Community Day of Action: "On April 22, more than 2,000 members of the Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) across the United States and Canada put their hearts and skills to work for their neighbors to honor the union’s second annual IUPAT Community Day of Action."
Call Now to Oppose the Harmful New Republican Health Care Plan: "Public opposition to Republican plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act has been overwhelming. Americans have flocked to town halls across the country to speak out against these plans. Poll after poll shows that Americans don't want their health care taken away by Republicans who know that their own legislation is so bad that they are trying to exempt themselves from it. They claim they have a new plan, but the new one is even worse than the old plan."
Top Findings from the 2017 Death on the Job Report: "In 2015, 150 workers died each day from hazardous working conditions. This year is the 26th year the AFL-CIO has published a report on the state of safety and health in the workplace, Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect, which compiled 2015 injury and fatality data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and FY 2016 enforcement data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration."
Trump’s Tax Plan Is a Massive Giveaway to the Wealthy Few: "President Donald Trump is working on a new tax plan. Reports suggest that Trump wants to cut the corporate tax rate to 15%. That proposal could have serious long-term consequences for the United States—estimates show this will reduce revenue by $2.4 trillion in the first decade—and it amounts to little more than a massive giveaway to big corporations. Trump proposed the same tax cut for big corporations during the presidential campaign, as part of a larger tax plan that also included tax giveaways for the wealthy at a total cost of $7.2 trillion. We'll have to wait to see what the details of the plan are, but it's important that any tax plan help working people."
Another Organizing Victory in the South: Georgia’s Nestlé Workers Vote to Join RWDSU: "Contrary to many claims by pundits, amateur or professional, working people are showing, more and more, that they do want to organize their workplaces in the South. The latest victory comes from McDonough, Georgia, where employees at Nestlé’s logistics and shipping center voted to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU)."
Yes, the Republican Health Plan Is Still that Bad: "Big health care cuts and huge tax cuts for the wealthy few are back on the front burner for Congress. President Donald Trump is now saying he expects to have a deal with congressional Republicans for a health plan this week or shortly thereafter."