Tag Archives: BP

a repost a reminder a warning

Tell BP: Protect Cleanup Workers in the Gulf of Mexico

Nausea, vomiting, nosebleeds, headaches, and chest pain: these are just some of the identical symptoms reported by people working around BP’s oil in the Gulf Coast.¹

More than 100 people in the Gulf have fallen ill from BP’s oil, and that doesn’t include untold numbers of workers hiding their symptoms for fear of being fired by BP.²

Yet despite clear evidence of illness from exposure to oil and dispersants, BP refuses to provide respirators to people cleaning up its disaster. Why? Because BP is afraid of the PR impact from images of people wearing this critical safety equipment in pictures and on TV.³ BP even threatened to fire workers who choose to wear their own.⁴

This is ridiculous. No amount of good PR images for BP is worth the health and lives of people battling BP’s oil in the Gulf Coast.

Sign our petition for BP to pay for proper safety equipment and respirators for cleanup workers. Click here to add your name:

http://action.firedoglake.com/respirators

We’ll make sure that your petition also goes to key government decision makers on the oil disaster and worker safety so they can take steps to protect cleanup workers in the Gulf.

BP’s oil disaster isn’t the first time in recent history that workers responding to a hazardous emergency have had their lungs – and lives – put at risk.

Just like after 9/11, we’re already seeing cleanup workers with serious health problems after exposure to toxic chemicals without adequate protection. If the government properly enforced its safety standards after 9/11, every person at Ground Zero would have worn a respirator that could have protected their health and saved their lives.⁵

With workers’ rights advocacy group American Rights at Work, we’re launching this petition to key decision makers in the oil disaster for a simple idea: any worker who wants safety equipment like breathing respirators should get it, and BP should pick up the tab. We can’t afford to fail our nation’s workers in yet another disaster.

Join our call to make BP to pay for breathing respirators and other safety equipment for workers in the Gulf. Click here to sign our petition:

http://action.firedoglake.com/respirators

Cleanup workers deserve the best protection possible from the nasty effects from BP’s oil. Paying for safety equipment for workers who want it is really the least BP should do for the people cleaning up its disaster.

The government agency responsible for overseeing worker safety – the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) – says that their tests showed respirators aren’t yet required for cleanup workers in the Gulf.⁶

While OSHA is still studying the air quality in the Gulf, it should be no coincidence that dozens of people working around BP’s oil disaster are falling ill with symptoms of chemical exposure to oil. Every worker needs access to the right respirators, training and safety equipment for protection from BP’s toxic stew in the Gulf.

In addition to sending our petition to BP, we’ll also send it to US Oil Disaster leader Thad Allen and government worker safety officials to make your voice heard by people who can make change happen. Click here to add your name to our call for BP to pay for respirators and safety equipment for cleanup workers:

http://action.firedoglake.com/respirators

Thanks for all you do to take on BP in its disaster.

Michael Whitney
Firedoglake

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Raped and no right to choose — 24 hours to help

05/20/2015 Nativegrl77

A 10-year-old girl in Paraguay was reportedly sexually abused by her stepfather for years. Now pregnant, the government denied her the abortion she asked for — but Congress is reconsidering the law in a special session this week, and it could turn the tide. Let’s launch a massive global outcry so this child, and thousands like her, will have a choice:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/paraguays_choice_loc/?biEWLbb&v=58671

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

President Obama Features Paid Leave In State of the Union Address

05/19/2015 Nativegrl77

Dear Friend,

Yesterday was a thrilling day for working families, A Better Balance, and the entire paid leave movement in the United States! In the past few months, we have shared with you an incredible number of work-family victories, including the passage of 4 new paid sick time laws (which A Better Balance worked on) in November’s election. The momentum is clearly continuing into 2015! In his State of the Union address, President Obama featured the need for paid leave laws in the United States and pointed to the success of the issue in the November election.

A Better Balance is currently drafting and providing legal support on paid sick time bills and paid family leave bills in dozens of states across the country. The President’s call for a nationwide paid sick time law, his pledge to provide support through his budget for state paid family leave programs, and his spotlight on the need for workplace leave will provide an incredible boost to these campaigns and our organization’s work.

"Today, we’re the only advanced country on Earth that doesn’t guarantee paid sick leave or paid maternity leave to our workers. . . . So I’ll be taking new action to help states adopt paid leave laws of their own. And since paid sick leave won where it was on the ballot last November, let’s put it to a vote right here in Washington."

A Better Balance’s Co-Presidents, Sherry Leiwant and Dina Bakst, released the following statement last night on the President’s remarks:

“A Better Balance applauds President Barack Obama for shining a national spotlight on paid family leave – and the idea that Americans cannot be financially secure unless our public policies support their ability to care for their children and families – in tonight’s State of the Union address.

Ten years ago, A Better Balance was founded as a legal advocacy organization to address the problems caused by the failure of our public policies to keep up with the changing workforce and the needs of families. The proliferation of new laws we have written in states and cities around the country guaranteeing workers paid sick time for themselves and their families, paid family leave and an end to pregnancy discrimination are proof that better policies are possible and will work.

Tonight the President makes it clear that this is a national problem that requires national solutions – so that families are not left with impossible choices between caring for their loved ones and meeting their basic financial needs. And we pledge to work harder than ever to ensure that those policies become a reality for all American families.”

On our blog, we provide more information on the President’s specific proposals. To learn more about the paid sick time wins that President Obama referenced last night, check out our webpage on the issue and our comparison chart of paid sick time laws in the United States.

As we continue to fight for paid leave laws and policies, you can help! Stories are crucial to informing public officials of the need for paid leave. If you have a story about your need for paid sick time or paid family leave, or if having paid time off to care for your family (especially if it is leave provided under one of the laws we’ve helped pass) has made a difference for you, please share your story with us! And if you work in New York State and would like to support our ongoing campaign to pass a paid family leave insurance law, please add your name to our petition.

Thanks for all you do to support our work.

The A Better Balance Team,

Sherry, Dina, Phoebe, Jared, Elizabeth, Risha, Morenike, Rachel, Jake, Molly & Lynn