~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

FDA/USDA ~~ August 2017 Alerts&Safety pg.2


~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Important laws you’ve never heard of
This message is the latest in a series of efforts to help amplify citizen voices in service of political accountability and transparency in America.
Friends …

Next week, Congress returns to Washington to start tackling a long list of tasks. Will the federal government remain funded after September? What relief will be provided for the Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts? Can our elected leaders successfully tackle the complexities of tax code reform?

Though Congress has yet to secure any major legislative achievements this year, President Trump has signed 50+ bills into law since his inauguration. With plenty of legislative efforts at play, more laws will be passed before the end of the year that could directly affect you and your family.

Before recess comes to an end, read up on a few legislative efforts that are being powered by petitions on Change.org but may not be on your radar.

You’ll read about folks like Robert, whose campaign has pushed for investments in our nation’s infrastructure since the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. He believes Congressional action is necessary to protect public health and prevent similar crises in other towns and cities before it’s too late. If you agree, sign his petition here.

Lawmaker and media attention will likely focus on the big ticket items this fall, including the important work to help Gulf Coast residents recover from Hurricane Harvey. You can bring greater public attention to these causes right now by lending your signature and ongoing support.

Thank you,

Justin L.
U.S. Campaigns Team
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Things to know this week ~BossFeed Briefing from Working Washington


We are Working Washington

BossFeed Briefing for August 28, 2017. Last Monday, Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin flew to Kentucky to view the solar eclipse from atop Fort Knox, which holds much of the nation’s gold reserves. This past Friday, a Federal judge lifted the injunction against Seattle’s law providing Uber, Lyft, and other drivers the right to organize. Saturday was Women’s Equality Day, marking the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which recognized women’s right to vote in the U.S. And today is the 54th anniversary of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivering his famous “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. 

Throwing shade

Paul Ryan screenshot

Three things to know this week:

chat bubble Speaker of the House Paul Ryan came to Everett on Thursday to try and use Boeing workers as a backdrop to sell his latest plan to give billions of dollars of new tax breaks to CEOs & giant corporations. We flooded the livechat with so much feedback, he had to shut it down — but comments are still up, so enjoy!

medical staffA new study of British workers suggests that having a bad job could be worse for your health than having no job at all.People working in jobs that offered low pay, unpredictable shifts, and little autonomy had higher levels of chronic stress and a worse health outlook than those who were unemployed.

shocked face A woman who worked at a 911 call center is suing over being disciplined and then fired after “experiencing two incidents of sudden onset, heavy menstrual flow.” First she was told she would be fired “if she ever soiled another chair from sudden onset menstrual flow,” and then terminated for failured to practice “high standards of personal hygiene and maintain a clean, neat appearance while on duty.”

 

Two things to ask:

envelope Think he’ll write back? Seattle City Councilmember Lisa Herbold wrote an open letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos calling on the multi-billionaire to lead a national conversation on wages and working conditions in the new economy. In her letter, Councilmember Herbold details poor conditions for Amazon Prime Now employees, contracted security workers, and others at the margins of the tech boom.

burger Is this any way for a burger chain to treat its employees? A former worker at local restaurant chain Blue Moon Burgers has shared his story after going public with a screenshot showing texts between a manager and the chain’s owner that used a racial slur to refer to employees. When the employee raised the issue, the owner told him that if he had an issue, he could leave and not come back.

 

And one thing that’s worth a closer look:

money with wings When online childcare matchmaking app Wondersitter went out of business, the site suddenly shut down and paychecks never arrived, so hundreds of sitters were left unpaid for work they had done, and hundred of parents who had purchased sitting credits in advance were left unable to use money they had already spent. As Catherine Ho explains in an eye-opening look at some lesser-known issues around app-based work for the San Francisco Chronicle, the app matched parents with sitters and collected a percentage of payments up front, but technically the sitters were classified as independent contractors rather than employees. While employees get priority to recover unpaid wages in the event their employer goes bankrupt, the legal rights of independent contractors in these circumstances are less clear.

 

Read this far?

tophat Consider yourself briefed, boss.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

A way to save children’s lives


1.7 million children live in homes with guns that are both loaded and unlocked.

Friends:

There’s a proven way to help save children’s lives from gun violence: Remove the possibility for them to get their hands on unlocked, loaded weapons. Twenty-eight states have implemented laws to do just that by requiring gun owners to secure their firearms so children can’t get to an adult’s gun. But we don’t have anything like that here in Washington – yet.

That’s why we’re working hard to pass Dangerous Access Prevention, which requires firearms to be safely stored and holds people accountable if their weapon is used by a child – or prohibited person – to harm themselves or others. It’s a matter of common sense and basic safety. States with laws like these in place for at least one year have seen a 23% drop in unintentional firearm deaths among children younger than 15.

This year, after almost two decades of trying, this policy made it further than it ever has in the legislature. But the gun lobby is determined to stop us, despite support from police, gun owners and medical professionals. That’s why we need your help, Friends.

If we’re going to overcome the gun lobby and pass Dangerous Access Prevention into law, we can’t do it without you. Can we count on you to give $5 today to help us fight for Dangerous Access Prevention to reduce gun violence in our communities?

Alliance for Gun Responsibility

Thank you so much.

The Alliance

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