Senate Bill Would Extend Chemical Security Rules

Four members of the US Senate's Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee introduced bipartisan legislation to extend by 5 years existing federal regulations on chemical plant security.

Refiners and petrochemical plant operators have expressed concern that proposals for new chemical plant security requirements ignore a program that has not been fully implemented while attempting to indirectly impose new environmental regulations.

Sens. Susan M. Collins (R-Me.), Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.), Mark L. Pryor (D-Ark.), and George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio) said their bill, S. 2996, would give the US Department of Homeland Security sufficient time to fully implement standards that it developed in 2007.

Collins, the bill's primary sponsor and the committee's ranking minority member, praised DHS for its work in developing a comprehensive chemical security program.

"This industry is vital to our country's economy and important to advancements and innovations, but it can also be a dangerous threat in the event of a terrorist attack," she said. "That is why it is critical that we enable [DHS] to continue this important work. The legislation passed by the House of Representatives would unwisely bring this progress to a screeching halt."

To read the full article click HERE

The Bureau of National Affairs reports that New York and Hawaii had the most union-represented workers as a share of each state's total workforce last year, according to an analysis of government data released recently by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a Washington, D.C., think tank.

In the report, The Unions of the States, CEPR researcher John Schmitt examined unionization rates in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. In addition, CEPR analyzed data from the government's current population survey for 2003-2009 in order to examine the effect unionization had on workers' wages and benefits in comparison to workers in each state who were not represented by unions.

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The Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported that the total number of union members in the United States declined by 771,000 last year as the recession eliminated many union-represented jobs.

The states with the largest number of union-represented workers last year were California (2,622,303), New York (2,181,766), and Illinois (996,522). In the United States as a whole, there were some 16.9 million workers represented by unions last year, the report said.

Click HERE to view full report

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) also voted against cloture, while Democratic Sens. Robert Byrd (W.Va.), Daniel Inouye (Hawaii), Mary Landrieu (La.), and Mark Pryor (Ark.) and Independent Bernard Sanders (Vt.) did not vote. No Republican voted for cloture.

Becker has been an associate general counsel for the Service Employees International Union since 1990 and a staff counsel for the AFL-CIO since 2004. He has practiced labor law for 28 years, including private practice before joining SEIU, and has taught labor law at three top law schools.

Management groups strongly oppose Becker. They point to statements in his academic writings and claim that he would bring a pro-union agenda when deciding NLRB cases and interpreting the National Labor Relations Act. Unions and a group of 66 labor law professors have expressed strong support for Becker, saying he is extremely well qualified and should be confirmed for the post.


Can Workplace Violence be Prevented? 

Reading about the murders at the University of Alabama this past Friday which were committed, apparently, by an accomplished neuroscientist who felt that her professional career was not going where she had hoped made me wonder whether there had been any warning signs which could have predicted that such a tragedy was about to unfold.

While workplace homicides are relatively infrequent (according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 628 workplace homicides in 2007), surely more can be done to prevent them.

The Human Resources department of the University of California (UC) Davis put together a document entitled "violence prevention brochure: maintaining a safe workplace" which is available on their website*. It starts out by stating that "UC Davis policies prohibit disruption and obstruction of University functions and activities, verbal threats, and behavior endangering the health or safety of any individual." It continues by describing behavior which is considered unacceptable under any circumstances and which should be reported and acted upon.

To read the full article and find out about behavior that is considered unacceptable click HERE

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