” WALMART: SUPERCENTER” by alphageek is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Dear Friend,

Breaking news! Walmart has bowed to pressure from A Better Balance and our allies to improve its policies for pregnant workers! This is a huge development for low-wage working women. As detailed in the Washington Post, “anytime the world’s biggest retailer changes how it treats its workforce–especially women, with whom the company has a fraught history–the rest of the industry tends to take notice.”

The path to this victory began with an email to A Better Balance in 2012. We heard from Brittany,* a 28-weeks-pregnant Walmart worker who was sent home because she needed a modest accommodation on the job in order to stay healthy. Alarmed by this story, we sent a letter to Walmart’s general counsel, outlining the ways in which Walmart’s treatment of pregnant workers violated the law. After further investigation, ABB, joined by the National Women’s Law Center, and Mehri & Skalet, PLLC, filed a class action pregnancy discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against Walmart and its discriminatory policy.

“Three months before my baby was born, Walmart forced me out the door,” said Kathy,* the Walmart sales associate at the center of the EEOC charge who was seven months pregnant when Walmart refused to accommodate her restrictions despite routinely accommodating workers with a wide array of non-pregnancy-related disbailities. “I was doing my job as a sales associate just as I had been for months, but suddenly I lost the paycheck that my family was counting on—simply because I was pregnant.”

What happened to Kathy and Brittany is part of a larger national trend at Walmart, in which pregnant workers are treated like second-class citizens in violation of the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act.

After we filed our charge with the EEOC and after two Walmart workers proposed a shareholder resolution, with our assistance, demanding changes, Walmart announced its new Accommodation in Employment policy, which now explicitly states that temporary disabilities caused by pregnancy are eligible for the same reasonable accommodations as other disabilities.

Although a major win, this policy change does not go far enough: Walmart can continue to evade its legal obligations and force pregnant workers off the job if they are not considered “disabled” under the policy.

“While we are enthusiastic about this policy change, there is still work to be done,” said Dina Bakst, Co-Founder & Co-President of A Better Balance. “Over and over again, Walmart has failed to accommodate pregnant workers. Many pregnant women without illnesses or complications are advised by their doctors to stay off tall ladders, drink water throughout the day, or take other steps to prevent health problems. Walmart must further update its policy to make clear that it will provide reasonable accommodations for all pregnant workers who need them, regardless of whether they are ‘disabled.’ The Pregnancy Discrimination Act mandates equal treatment, nothing less, and we will continue to fight until Walmart obeys the law in full. No woman should have to choose between her job and a healthy pregnancy.”

We are thrilled that our efforts will assist hundreds of thousands of pregnant Walmart associates across the country, and we will continue pushing for broader reform. Click here to read the Washington Post’s story about our work on this case and please share this story with your friends.

Thank you for all that you do,

Sherry, Dina, Phoebe, Jared, Elizabeth, Risha, Liz, & Rachel

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Día de Reyes: A Time for Friends, Feasts, and Food Safety

01/10/2015 Nativegrl77

Celebrated in January … Some on the 5th , 6th and or the 10th

Nothing brings people together like the Holidays, or Navidades for Spanish speakers. Día de Reyes (Three Kings Day) would not be complete without some excellent eats. Many Hispanic-Americans have a favorite dish during this special season – from lechón topasteles to tamales to atole.

Nothing brings a party down like poor food safety though. No one wants to be down for the count during this time of the year–think of all the parties that will be missed! And you don’t want to be responsible for getting your guests sick either

Keep Your Recycling Contamination FREE !

Image 01/10/2015 Nativegrl77

~ pop culture

Goodbye, Colbert Report

01/09/2015 Nativegrl77

By CAP Action War Room

On Its Final Day, Remembering Some Of The Colbert Report’s Best

The final episode of “The Colbert Report” airs tonight, as its host Stephen Colbert moves on to succeed David Letterman as the new late night host on CBS. In the move, Colbert is retiring the hilarious, ridiculous, and lovable conservative pundit that hosted his show. In his honor, we wanted to share with you some of our favorite Colbert moments:

The Colbert Super PAC, “Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow.” In one of the best examples of the comedian’s humor to actually educate people about an important civic issue, Colbert’s efforts earned him a Peabody award, over $1 million in donations, and some pretty hilarious bits.
When Colbert interviews Jane Fonda and Gloria Steinem about their new feminist radio station — while the three of them make an apple pie.
Former Arizona Senator Jon Kyl landed himself in some hot water after saying that abortion services are “well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does.” Abortion is actually just 3 percent of Planned Parenthood services, and when Kyl was corrected a spokesman said the Senator’s comment was “not intended to be a factual statement.” Enter Colbert.
Pretty much any time Colbert went head-to-head with Bill O’Reilly.
Colbert’s Congressional testimony — in character — about the plight of migrant farm workers. “I don’t want a tomato picked by a Mexican. I want it picked by an American, sliced by a Guatemalan . . . and served in a spa where a Chilean gives me a Brazilian.”
After Daft Punk cancelled their appearance on the Report, Stephen gathered some of his friends — including Bryan Cranston and Jimmy Fallon — to do their own rendition of the musical group’s summer hit, ‘Get Lucky.’
Any of Colbert’s “Better Know A District” segments — but perhaps most importantly when Nancy Pelosi rode a BMX bike.
Colbert’s appearance as the host of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in 2006: “To sit here at the same table with my hero, George W. Bush. To be this close to the man! I feel like I’m dreaming. Somebody pinch me. Actually, I’m a pretty sound sleeper, that may not be enough. Somebody shoot me in the face.”
That time when Colbert and Jon Stewart staged the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. Hundreds of thousands of people attended the rally on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
Colbert’s moving, tearful tribute to his late mother. The comedian knew how to be serious, too.

Thanks for nine years of giving us the most low-class, bloviating, hypocritical, obnoxious, arrogant — and all-around amazing — coverage of important progressive issues and so much more. We don’t know what to expect from the new show, but we aren’t expecting anything less.

PS: Want a taste of what Colbert is like out of character? Here he is talking to the Yale Daily News, with Yale student and former CAP Action intern Cody Pomeranz as the interviewer!

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Help protect the public from toxic air pollution ~~ a repost from 2011

01/09/2015 Nativegrl77

Toxic air pollutants from power plants—mercury, lead, arsenic, and others—are linked to health problems such as cancer, heart disease, neurological damage, birth defects, asthma attacks, and even premature death. Mercury, for example, is a potent neurotoxin that poses a threat to fetal and infant brain development. And coal plants are far and away the greatest source of mercury air emissions in the United States.

Shockingly, there are currently no national limits on the amount of mercury and other toxic pollutants that power plants can spew into the environment. This gap in our public health protections is all the more disturbing since the Clean Air Act required the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to start regulating toxic pollutants more than two decades ago. Thankfully, in mid-March, the agency finally proposed a mercury and air toxics rule, which will limit hazardous air pollution from coal- and oil-fired power plants.

Even though the new standards are affordable and would deliver enormous health benefits, some energy companies and their allies in Congress are already working to block or weaken them.

The EPA is now accepting comments on its proposed mercury and air toxics rule. The agency needs to hear from concerned citizens like you, who want a strong rule that protects the public from these dangerous pollutants.

Take Action Today!

Sincerely,

Kate Abend

National Field Organizer

UCS Climate and Energy Program