Senate Republicans Block Bill on Equal Pay

Today's post was shared by Steven Greenhouse and comes from www.nytimes.com

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked legislation meant to close the pay gap between men and women, framing an election-year fight between the parties over whose policies are friendlier to women. The bill was an attempt by Democrats to press what they see as their electoral advantage among women in the coming midterm elections, but they fell short of the 60 votes they needed to prevent a filibuster and advance the legislation. “For reasons known only to them, Senate Republicans don’t seem to be interested in closing wage gaps for working women,” Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, said in a floor speech. Republican lawmakers have said that given existing anti-discrimination laws, the legislation is redundant and is a transparent attempt by Democrats to distract from President Obama’s much-criticized health care law. Supporters of the bill, called the Paycheck Fairness Act, say it would bring transparency to worker pay by making it illegal for employers to penalize employees who discuss their salaries and by requiring the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to collect pay information from employers. Mr. Obama signed executive measures on Tuesday that imposed similar requirements on government contractors. Republican leaders assailed Democrats’ attempt to paint them as unsympathetic to women in the work force. The Senate Republican Conference on Wednesday called the pay equity legislation “the latest...

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Of Course Student-Athletes Are University Employees

Student athletes are organizing as employees. Will this change of status mandate much needed workers' compensation insurance coverage? Today's post was shared by Steven Greenhouse and comes from www.theatlantic.com

Objectors to the NLRB's ruling that student-athletes can unionize are glossing over the fact that student-athletes meet all the criteria to be considered employees of their schools. Are college athletes university employees? It’s a question that has gripped the sports world since January, when a group of Northwestern University football players petitioned the National Labor Relations Board to form a union. The debate has only intensified since March 26, when a regional director in Chicago surprised many by granting the players’ petition. The backbone of regional director Peter Sung Ohr’s 24-page ruling that the players are employees and thus have the right to form a union was the exhaustive description of the responsibilities and time-consuming demands of Northwestern football players. The judge said the evidence put forth by the team members, led by former quarterback Kain Colter and the College Athletes Players Association, showed that football “student-athletes” at Northwestern spend 40 to 50 hours a week on football-related activities for the duration of the regular season and bowl season, and have a virtual year-round commitment to the program. Thus, they are employees under the National Labor Relations Act, Ohr concluded. “In its detailed presentation of the life of a Northwestern football player and in its analysis of the applicable law, Ohr's opinion clearly anticipates the appeal,” said ESPN’s Lester Munson....

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Workers' Compensation: Union says other college teams in ...

Apr 10, 2014

A member of Wisconsin's Final Four basketball team said he participated in weekly conference calls in recent months with the union and Ramogi Huma, head of the National College Players Association, and other players.

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College Football Players Get Approval to Unionize

Mar 30, 2014

The ruling, which Northwestern immediately said it would appeal, has the potential to upend big-time college sports by reversing the NCAA's longtime stance that athletes are students first and athletes second. As such, they ...

http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

Of Course Student-Athletes Are University Employees

Apr 10, 2014

Are college athletes university employees? It's a question that has gripped the sports world since January, when a group of Northwestern University football players petitioned the National Labor Relations Board to form a ...

http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

Northwestern quarterback says 'confident' of unionization vote

Apr 06, 2014

The two met earlier in the week with congressional lawmakers to talk about the Northwestern players' novel effort to form what could be the first labor union for U.S. college athletes. "The hard part is over," Colter said of the ...

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Union says other college teams in play after decision involving Northwestern football team

Today's post was shared by Steven Greenhouse and comes from www.jacksonsun.com

Tweet Players from other universities have expressed interest in forming unions in the wake of the landmark decision last week involving the Northwestern football team, a union organizer said Friday. Tim Waters of the United Steelworkers would not disclose the players or their schools, saying it was too early to reveal who they are. But he said they reached out following the decision last week by a regional director of the National Labor Relations Board declaring Northwestern's football players have the right to form a union. "We're not giving out who it is or who they are, but the answer is yes," said Waters. "There's a lot of excitement out there. We've been contacted by a number of players." A member of Wisconsin's Final Four basketball team said he participated in weekly conference calls in recent months with the union and Ramogi Huma, head of the National College Players Association, and other players. The NCPA and the steelworkers are working together on the union push, with the NCAA, Big Ten Conference and Northwestern opposing the move. "I don't know exactly how many there were. But on average on a weekly call there were probably 10 or 20, at least," said Zach Bohannon, a reserve on the team. "So it was definitely a unique experience just hearing the concerns that players all over the country had, and then just voicing my opinion." Northwestern players will vote April 25 on whether to become the first college athletes...

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UConn guard on unions: I go to bed 'starving'

Today's post was shared by Steven Greenhouse and comes from www.cnn.com

(CNN) -- He's one of the best basketball players in the country, and he led his team to victory in Monday night's NCAA championship game. But the University of Connecticut's Shabazz Napier recently told reporters he sometimes goes to bed "starving" because he can't afford food, despite that UConn's student-athlete guidelines include provisions for meal plans. The remark got the attention of state lawmakers in Connecticut, who are now exploring legislative ways to allow athletes at UConn, a state institution, to unionize -- much like athletes are attempting at Northwestern University. Rep. Matthew Lesser said he and other state lawmakers are considering legislation. Unlike at Northwestern, a private institution governed by the National Labor Relations Board, Connecticut law governs whether employees at a public institution can unionize. "He says he's going to bed hungry at a time when millions of dollars are being made off of him. It's obscene," Lesser said. "This isn't a Connecticut problem. This is an NCAA problem, and I want to make sure we're putting pressure on them to treat athletes well." Napier recently called the Northwestern union ruling "kind of great" and said that although he appreciates his basketball scholarship, it doesn't cover all of his expenses. "I don't feel student-athletes should get hundreds of thousands of dollars, but like I said, there are hungry nights that I go to bed and I'm starving," he said. Asked...

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Toyota Recalls 6.4 Million Vehicles, Raising New Questions About Its Quality Controls

Today's post was shared by FairWarning and comes from www.fairwarning.org

Five defects spur world’s No. 1 automaker to launch massive recall. The action announced today by Toyota Motor Corp. involves nearly 6.4 million vehicles worldwide and 27 models, including the RAV4, Corolla, Yaris, Matrix and Highlander. The recalls were prompted by defects with seat rails, cables connected to air bags, engine starters, steering column brackets and windshield-wiper motors. Engine-starter defects led two vehicles in Japan to catch fire, but Toyota said it wasn’t aware of any crashes, injuries or fatalities caused by the problems. The most widespread problem is with the spiral cable assembly attached to air bags, an issue affecting 3.5 million vehicles. The recalls are a fresh blow to Toyota’s reputation for quality, and follow the company’s agreement last month to pay a $1.2 billion criminal penalty to settle a U.S. investigation. The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg GM gets slapped with a $7,000-a-day fine — and a warning about possible Justice Department action. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration told General Motors in a letter that it was imposing the fine, retroactive to April 3, because the company still hasn’t provided enough answers about its ignition switch recall. NHTSA also warned that it could refer the case to the Justice Department as early as today because of GM’s “failure to fully respond” to the agency’s 107 questions about...

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Are secret, dangerous ingredients in your food?

Today's post was shared by FairWarning and comes from www.washingtonpost.com

Food manufacturers are routinely exploiting a “legal loophole” that allows them to use new chemicals in their products, based on their own safety studies, without ever notifying the Food and Drug Administration, according to a new report by an environmental and consumer advocacy group. Natural Resources Defense Council identified 56 companies that were marketing products using 275 chemicals that the company’s hired experts decided met federal safety standards, known as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS). However, the science behind those safety findings and the use of the chemicals was disclosed to the FDA in only six instances. The New York-based NRDC called its report “Generally Recognized as Secret” and said the lack of transparency with the GRAS process is a public health threat. “If you don’t know when (an additive) is being used, how can you determine if it’s safe?” said Thomas Neltner, a chemical engineer and co-author of the study that was presented Monday at a Grocery Manufacturers Association’s Science Forum at Washington. In a prepared statement, the GMA defended the GRAS process, saying, “It is a very thorough and comprehensive process that has, under the current law provided FDA with authority to challenge the improper marketing of an ingredient as GRAS, and if necessary, act to remove products containing that ingredient from the food supply.” The FDA said that...

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Jury Awards $9 Billion in Damages in Drug Case

Today's post was shared by FairWarning and comes from www.nytimes.com

In one of the biggest damages verdicts ever imposed, a jury in Louisiana has ordered a Japanese drug maker and its American partner to pay a combined $9 billion in punitive damages over a diabetes drug that has been linked to cancer. Jurors in a district court trial in Lafayette, La., ordered the Japanese company, Takeda Pharmaceutical, to pay $6 billion in punitive damages on Monday after finding that the company had hidden the cancer risks of its drug, Actos. The jury also ordered Takeda’s partner, Eli Lilly, which once marketed the drug in the United States, to pay $3 billion. Both Takeda and Lilly said they disagreed with the verdict and would fight it. Under the companies’ contract, Lilly is indemnified by Takeda, and so would not have to pay any damages. “Takeda respectfully disagrees with the verdict, and we intend to vigorously challenge this outcome through all available legal means,” Kenneth D. Greisman, senior vice president of Takeda’s American subsidiary, said in a statement. In its decision, the jury found that Takeda became aware of links between Actos and bladder cancer early in the 2000s, but withheld that information from patients and doctors. The jury was deciding on a lawsuit filed by a man who had bladder cancer diagnosed in 2011 after using Actos for several years. The lawsuit is one of thousands that Takeda faces over the drug, once one of the company’s best-selling products. Court documents said Actos, also called...

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