Tag Archives: USA

US green watchdog backs worker role in inspections

The US government’s environmental watchdog has accepted workers and union reps should be allowed to participate in official workplace safety inspections conducted under the Clean Air Act, according to a report in the March issue of Life Lines, the newsletter of the Laborers’ Health and Safety Fund of North America (LHSFNA). The clarification came when the [...]
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Indonesia turns back illegal US e-waste

Intervention by an environmental campaign group has stopped an illegal shipment of nine sea-going containers of US hazardous electronic waste being exported to Indonesia. The block on the shipment from Massachusetts firm CRT Recycling Inc. was made possible due to a tip off to the Indonesian environment ministry from the Basel Action Network (BAN). BAN volunteers [...]
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Poisonous record of prison e-waste recycling

US prisoners and staff supervisors were exposed for years to excessive levels of toxic heavy metals during computer recycling operations, a government workplace health research agency has confirmed. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) report, however, says the absence of recordkeeping inside the prisons, made it impossible to confirm any health problems from [...]
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What’s union, green and read all over?

There’s been a flurry of activity from the US national union confederation AFL-CIO, as it fleshes out its green jobs activities. And you can find out all about it in regular online briefings. The National Labor College (NLC) and the AFL-CIO’s Center for Green Jobs have launched a monthly online Green Labor Journal to outline issues [...]
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US work safety chief calls for good safe green jobs

The newly installed leader of the US government’s workplace safety watchdog has made his first public act a call for green jobs to be good, safe jobs. On 9 December 2009 David Michaels was  confirmed as the Obama administration’s Assistant Secretary of Labor for occupational safety and health. The head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration [...]
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USA: Unions lead the way to a green economy

America’s future is green and the union movement is in the forefront of creating a new green economy, says AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker. Speaking to the A. Philip Randolph Institute (APRI) education conference in Phoenix last week, Holt Baker said:  “One of our biggest opportunities lies in the creation of green jobs, and [...]
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USA: NIOSH making green jobs safe workshop

NIOSH, the US government’s occupational safety and health research body, is to run a ‘Going green: Safe and healthy jobs’ workshop in Washington DC from 14-16 December 2009.  It says: “Please join NIOSH as we frame the issues surrounding integrating worker health and safety into the new green economy.”  [pdf version of the workshop flyer]. [...]
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US prison recycling ‘poisoned’ participants

Freda Cobb believes the job in food services at the Federal Correction Institute in Marianna has ruined her life. Cobb, who started working at the Florida prison in 1991, is one of 26 plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit against the prison, claiming its computer recycling programme is toxic and hazardous to workers’ health.
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