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Showing 83 results

Marcha Chaudry | March 14, 2023

It’s Equal Pay Day. Or, Rather, Unequal Pay Day.

On average, women who work full-time earn 84 cents for every dollar that men earn. Addressing these barriers requires a multifaceted approach.

Minor Sinclair | March 6, 2023

Center Taps Three New Board Members as Country Faces Unprecedented Challenges

As the Center for Progressive Reform enters our third decade of advocating for progressive policy for the public good, our country is facing wholly unprecedented challenges: A suffering climate. Unimaginable inequality and inequities that dispossess the majority. A faltering democracy. The Center is extremely gratified to have three new Board members join us and lend their deep expertise and wide range of experiences as we tackle these challenges and more.

Marcha Chaudry | February 16, 2023

Protecting Industrial Workers from Toxic Chemicals

February started with news that's all too familiar in the United States: An incident involving highly toxic industrial chemicals sparked a large fire, threatening an explosion, forcing evacuations, and putting workers and community members directly in harm's way. In this case, the danger came from a derailed train in Ohio that was hauling cancer-causing vinyl chloride, used to make certain types of plastic; toxic phosgene, an industrial chemical that was also used as a chemical weapon in World War I; and other substances. But extreme, acute threats like the Ohio derailment aren't the only toxic chemical dangers facing workers and surrounding communities.

US Capitol Building behind green trees

Daniel Farber | February 7, 2023

When Bad Things Happen to Good Regulations

In their crusade against “wokeness,” congressional Republicans are taking aim at a Labor Department rule about pension plan investments. The rule’s transgression is apparently that it makes it easier for pension plans to consider how climate-related risks might affect a company’s bottom line. To avoid being woke, the GOP would apparently prefer pension managers to close their eyes to financial realities, sleepwalking their way through the climate crisis. The real fear, of course, is that more wide-awake investment might disfavor some of the GOP’s biggest corporate supporters.

U.S. Capitol at night

Allison Stevens, Dave Owen, Michael C. Duff, Noah Sachs | November 18, 2022

How Will the Midterm Elections Affect Environmental Health, Clean Air, and Workers’ Rights? Member Scholars Offer Expert Insights

We asked several of our Member Scholars how the election outcomes will affect policy going forward in our three priority policy areas. Today’s post covers the implications for public protections such as environmental health, clean air and water, and workers’ rights.

A construction worker wipes sweat from his forehead

Marcha Chaudry, Sidney A. Shapiro | September 26, 2022

Congress Must Protect Workers from Extreme Heat — Now

As Cole Porter crooned in 1948, “It’s too darn hot.”  California and other parts of the American West are heading into another week of excessive heat that not only threatens public health and safety but also power shortages, which would cut millions off from the energy they need to fuel their lives. Workers, particularly those […]

A construction worker wipes sweat from his forehead

Grace DuBois | August 31, 2022

Center Considers Worker Safety Amid Climate Change Ahead of Labor Day

Climate change poses a serious threat to occupational health and safety. Workers — especially low-income workers and those who work outdoors — are particularly vulnerable to rising temperatures and increasingly frequent extreme weather and other climate-related disasters.

Michael C. Duff | June 23, 2022

Justices Overturn Washington Workers’ Compensation Law on a Strict Reading of Intergovernmental Immunity

The Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously struck down a Washington state law that was aimed at helping federal contract employees get workers' compensation for diseases arising from cleaning up nuclear waste. The case, United States v. Washington, concerned the federally controlled Hanford nuclear reservation, a decommissioned facility that spans 586 square miles near the Columbia River. The reservation, formerly used by the federal government in the production of nuclear weapons, presents unique hazards to cleanup workers.

Jake Moore | May 19, 2022

Worker Safety Means Environmental Regulation

In 2001, an explosion at the Motiva Enterprises Delaware City Refinery caused a 1 million gallon sulfuric acid spill, killing one worker and severely injuring eight others. In 2008, an aboveground storage tank containing 2 million gallons of liquid fertilizer collapsed at the Allied Terminals facility in Chesapeake, Virginia, critically injuring two workers exposed to hazardous vapors. In 2021, the release of over 100,000 gallons of chemicals at a Texas plant killed two contractors and hospitalized 30 others. In addition to injury and death, workplace chemical spills and exposures contribute to an estimated 50,000 work-related diseases such as asthma and chronic lung disease each year, as well as nearly 200,000 hospitalizations. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was created to reduce risks and hazards to workers, and to prevent incidents like these. However, following through on this promise has been another matter.