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[1/3] Drone footage shows the freight train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, U.S., February 6, 2023 in this screengrab obtained from a handout video released by the NTSB. NTSBGov/Handout via REUTERSFeb 14 (Reuters) - Cleanup is moving quickly after a train carrying toxic materials derailed in Ohio 11 days ago, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said on Tuesday, while residents and observers questioned the health impacts of pollution that spilled into the Ohio River. Officials said the volume of the river diluted the plume and the plume did not pose a serious threat. UNION WARNINGSRailroad union officials said they have been warning that such an accident could happen because railroad cost-cutting harmed safety measures. "No one wants to listen until we have a town blown off the face of the earth, then people listen," said Whitaker, whose union is the largest U.S. railroad union representing conductors, engineers and other workers.

☆ U.S. Justice Dept. to review Memphis police after Tyre Nichols' killing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( Kanishka Singh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Feb 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department will participate in a review of the Memphis Police Department after the death of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man fatally beaten by officers in the Tennessee city last month, according to city officials. The review was disclosed in a bulletin by Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday. Memphis police on Friday fired a sixth officer involved in the death of Nichols. The Justice Department's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services will take part in the review, the city said.

☆ JetBlue's 3,000 ground workers vote against union representation
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Feb 1 (Reuters) - The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) said on Wednesday about 3,000 JetBlue (JBLU.O) ground workers have voted against union representation. "This campaign has been long and difficult, especially with the pressure and anti-union rhetoric workers received from JetBlue management", the IAM said in a statement. Reporting by Lavanya Ahire in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.VOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

SEATTLE/WASHINGTON, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Boeing Co (BA.N) told employees on Monday that it will add a new 737 MAX production line in Everett, Washington, in mid-2024 as it plans to ramp up deliveries of its best-selling plane. The company is reactivating its third 737 MAX line in Renton, Washington, Deal added. Boeing booked nearly 700 MAX orders last year, delivered 387 737s and has a total backlog of about 3,600 MAX airplanes. Boeing said this month it had stabilized 737 production at 31 per month, with plans to ramp production up to approximately 50 per month in the 2025-2026 timeframe. The legislation requires Boeing to fit new safety enhancements to the MAX 7 and MAX 10 and retrofit existing MAX 8 and MAX 9 planes in the fleet.

SEATTLE/WASHINGTON, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Boeing Co (BA.N) told employees on Monday that it will add a new 737 MAX production line in Everett, Washington, in mid-2024 as it plans to ramp up deliveries of its best-selling plane. Boeing Commercial Airplanes Chief Executive Stan Deal said in an email seen by Reuters that the new line will be its fourth 737 MAX one and is needed because of "strong product demand." Boeing is reactivating its third 737 MAX line in Renton, Washington, Deal's email added. Boeing booked nearly 700 MAX orders last year, delivered 387 737s and has a total backlog of about 3,600 MAX airplanes. Boeing said this month it has stabilized 737 production at 31 per month with plans to ramp production to approximately 50 per month in the 2025 to 2026 timeframe.

☆ Tyre Nichols' death has reignited the debate around police brutality. Here are 5 proven ways to reduce it - and 2 strategies that don't work.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Michelle Mark | Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Here are five proven, data-based changes that could make a difference, and two approaches that don't seem to work, according to Campaign Zero. Track complaints about officers' use of forceMost complaints against officers aren't public, making them hard to track. These changes, along with requiring departments to report and publish online data on all uses of force, could reduce police violence. Body cameras are another method that haven't been proven effective when it comes to excessive force instances. Research has shown that 93% of prosecutors' offices have used body cameras mostly in cases against citizens, not against police.

☆ Firefighters Union Pushes to Rid Protective Gear of ‘Forever Chemicals’
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Kris Maher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

PFAS compounds have been used in firefighting gear. The so-called forever chemicals have been associated with cancer and other illnesses. Growing concern among firefighters across the country that high rates of cancer in their profession are linked to chemicals in protective gear they wear has led to a sharp change of course in the union that represents them. The chemicals, known as PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, have been associated with cancers and other illnesses and are coming under greater scrutiny from environmental regulators. After years of playing down concerns about the chemicals, the International Association of Fire Fighters is now urging that gear with PFAS be removed whenever possible.

☆ Unions press Biden administration to not change EV tax credit rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Major unions and public interest and environmental groups are urging President Joe Biden to reject efforts by the European Union and other foreign governments to revise U.S. electric vehicle tax incentives. Foreign governments have been pressing the Biden administration to do more to expand credit eligibility. The letter rejected the suggestion from foreign governments that the EV tax incentives violate World Trade Organization and free trade rules. The EU in December praised the U.S. Treasury Department decision to allow EVs leased by consumers to qualify for up to $7,500 in commercial clean vehicle tax credits. South Korea, Europe and some automakers in December had sought approval from Treasury to use the commercial electric vehicle tax credit to boost consumer EV access.

☆ What happens to the human brain during a near-death experience that can trigger vivid memories and bizarre spiritual encounters
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Erin Heger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

But people who have had a near-death experience (NDE) typically report feeling peace, comfort, and calm throughout the ordeal. What a near-death experience feels likeNDEs can trigger a lot of peculiar sensations, including feeling like you're floating above your body or an out-of-body experience. What a near-death experience does to the brainThe temporal lobe, highlighted here, is responsible for language and visual memory, among other things. It might differ based on cultural or spiritual beliefs, but it is essentially the same," San Filippo said. "That leads us to believe that a near-death experience is a transpersonal experience happening outside of the brain."

☆ Apple’s first US labor union reaches new milestone for tech industry
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Workers at Apple’s first unionized retail store began collectively bargaining with management on Wednesday, in a milestone moment not only for the iPhone company but for all of Big Tech. The worker group, based out of a mall near Baltimore, is organized with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) union. “Other Apple workers will be watching this,” she said. Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesThe success of the Towson Apple store workers’ unionization bid came amid a broader wave of workplace organizing. David DiMaria, the lead organizer of the Towson Apple store union campaign with the IAMAW, said excitement was high among the Apple store workers ahead of Wednesday’s first meeting.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology removes CO2 emissions from the atmosphere and stores them underground. * Smeaheia, a project by Equinor to develop a storage site in the North Sea with a potential to inject up to 20 mtpa from 2027/2028. The project plans to transport CO2 via pipelines to a storage site some 145 km offshore in the southern North Sea. ICELAND* The Coda Terminal will be a cross-border carbon transport and storage hub in Straumsvík, operated by Icelandic carbon storage firm Carbfix. The full capture, transport and storage chain will handle up to 100,000 mtpa of CO2.

☆ Exclusive: U.S. lawmakers set to back Boeing 737 MAX certification extension
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Congressional leaders have agreed to attach the extension to a bill to fund U.S. government operations and to require new safety enhancements for existing MAX aircraft proposed by U.S. Cantwell proposed requiring retrofitting existing MAX airplanes with an "enhanced angle of attack (AOA) and a means to shut off stall warnings and overspeed alerts, for all MAX aircraft," Reuters reported on Nov. 30. Faulty data from a single sensor that erroneously triggered a software function called MCAS to repeatedly activate played critical roles in the fatal 737 MAX crashes. Boeing declined to comment, but Boeing Commercial Airplanes Chief Executive Stan Deal said last week the planemaker supported Cantwell's safety retrofit proposal. Boeing said in October it expects the 737 MAX 7 to be certified this year or in 2023 and last week Boeing's Deal said he thinks the MAX 10 could receive certification in late 2023 or early 2024.

☆ Rail workers are rallying nationwide after both Congress and management refused them paid sick days, showing that the battle for time off isn't over
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Rail workers won't give up sick leave and better conditions without a fight. However, a progressive-backed proposal to tack seven paid sick days onto that contract did not pick up enough votes to pass. "It is literally beyond belief that rail workers are not guaranteed this basic and fundamental human right. "Expanding paid sick leave access is a priority for President Biden," a White House spokesperson told Insider. There are 115,000 union-eligible rail workers across the US who prepared to walk out.

☆ Some bloodstream infection bacteria grew resistant to last-resort drugs in 2020 - WHO
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Natalie Grover | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Increased drug resistance in bacteria causing bloodstream infections, including against last-resort antibiotics, was seen in the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, a World Health Organization report based on data from 87 countries in 2020 showed. High levels (above 50%) of resistance have been reported in bacteria that typically cause life-threatening bloodstream infections in hospitals such as Klebsiella pneumoniae and Acinetobacter spp, report authors highlighted on Friday. These infections often require treatment with 'last-resort' antibiotics, drugs that are used when all other antibiotics fail. About 8% of bloodstream infections caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae grew resistant to a vital last-resort group of drugs called carbapenems, the report said. Rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) remain very high, but last-resort antibiotics are only just starting to lose potency, said Dr Carmem Pessoa-Silva, the lead for WHO Global Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System, in a media conference.

"There's a lot of anger about paid sick leave among the membership" who kept goods flowing during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Seth Harris, a professor at Northeastern University. Labor unions have criticized the railroads' sick leave and attendance policies and the lack of paid sick days for short-term illness. There are no paid sick days under the tentative deal. Unions asked for 15 paid sick days and the railroads settled on one personal day. Railroads have slashed labor and other costs to bolster profits and are fiercely opposed to adding paid sick time that would require them to hire more staff.

Train and engine service members of the transportation division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers (SMART-TD) narrowly voted to reject the deal. Three other unions that rejected the deal have already agreed to extend a strike deadline until early December. Labor unions have criticized the railroads’ sick leave and attendance policies and the lack of paid sick days for short-term illness. Beginning on Dec. 9, SMART-TD would be allowed to go on strike or the rail carriers would be permitted to lock out workers, unless Congress intervenes. The Biden administration helped avert a service cutoff by hosting last-minute contract talks in September at the Labor Department that led to a tentative contract deal.

☆ Rail workers at biggest unions split on contract, strike potential unclear
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Eli M. Rosenberg | Eli Rosenberg Is An Investigative Tech Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Workers at two of the country's biggest rail unions split over a tentative contract their leaders had hashed out with freight rail companies — leaving open the possibility of a debilitating rail strike in the middle of the holiday season. The 28,000-member SMART-TD union, which represents rail conductors, voted no on the contract, after one of their divisions voted it down. A strike could also impact the country’s commuter rail system, with the potential to halt service entirely on some lines serviced by freight rail workers and cause backlogs and traffic snarls on others. The National Carriers’ Conference Committee, which represents rail companies in the bargaining process warned about the economic threats of a strike. The Association of American Railroads, the trade group which represents the rail companies, estimates losses of $2 billion a day.

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and the transportation division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers (SMART-TD) -- representing about half of all unionized rail employees are set to report results. The standoff between U.S. railroad operators and their union workers disrupted flows of hazardous materials such as chemicals used in fertilizer and disrupted U.S. passenger railroad Amtrak service in September. The Biden administration helped avert a service cutoff by hosting last-minute contract talks in September at the Labor Department that led to a tentative contract deal. The unions represent 115,000 workers at railroads, including Union Pacific (UNP.N), Berkshire Hathaway Inc's (BRKa.N) BNSF, CSX (CSX.O), Norfolk Southern (NSC.N) and Kansas City Southern. Labor unions have criticized the railroads’ sick leave and attendance policies and the lack of paid sick days for short-term illness.

☆ Rail strike potential grows, threatening to worsen supply chain backlogs, inflation
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Eli M. Rosenberg | Eli Rosenberg Is An Investigative Tech Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +12 min

That’s how much paid sick leave some freight rail workers are demanding from the rail companies before they sign new contracts. Rail workers say years of grievances about workforce cuts, coupled with new scheduling requirements, have pushed them to the brink of exhaustion. But if any of the unions decides to strike, all rail unions will honor the work stoppage. Kennedy said the union had never agreed to higher wages at the expense of a benefit like paid sick leave. “A rail strike, even one of short duration, would be catastrophic,” said John Drake, a vice president at the Chamber of Commerce.

☆ With U.S. economy at risk, here's how a national rail strike could start in December
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Lori Ann Larocco | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The strike prep calendar for rail operators, customers, and logistics managers continues to be in flux with a lack of coordination between key rail unions leaving open the potential for two strike dates in December. BMWED, which represents the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees, is scheduled to strike on December 5 with the The Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS). But unlike BMWED, the BRS — which can also strike after its cooling-off period ends on Dec. 4 — has not indicated whether it will extend its deadline for talks. According to federal safety measures, railroad carriers begin prepping for a strike seven days before the strike date. The carriers start to prioritize the securing and movement of security sensitive materials like chlorine for drinking water and hazardous materials in the rail winddown.

☆ Chemicals industry warns that rail strike will shut plants and cost economy billions
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Lori Ann Larocco | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Ninety-six hours before a strike deadline, all chemical shipments are no longer moved. "We would expect a similar dramatic reduction in chemical shipments if an embargo were to take place this month." The start of rail strike preparation will depend on the voting results from some of the largest rail unions yet to ratify the labor deal recommended by President Biden's Presidential Emergency Board. If SMART-TD or BLET rejects the agreement, the strike date would be December 9, the day after their cooling-off period ends. BMWED has said it would extend its own cooling-off period to align with the new strike date.

☆ Union vs. Union Dispute Stalls West Coast Port Labor Talks
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Paul Berger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

A dispute between two unions over which workers get certain jobs at a cargo-handling terminal at the Port of Seattle is holding up labor talks between West Coast dockworkers and their employers. West Coast port labor talks are often fraught. Importers are already diverting some goods to Gulf Coast and East Coast ports because of the risk of labor strife. The port talks are taking place against a backdrop of global freight labor unrest. West Coast dockworkers have been working without a contract since the most recent labor agreement expired in early July.

☆ Machinist Union Members Approve Revised Railroad Labor Deal
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( Esther Fung | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Members of a labor union for machinists narrowly approved an agreement on wages and work conditions with large freight railroads, after rejecting an earlier proposal. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 19 said Saturday that its members voted to ratify a revised agreement that its leaders had negotiated with the railroads. The IAM members had voted to reject the original contract on Sept. 14, a day before the White House brokered a deal between the companies and three other unions.

☆ U.S. rail union representing 4,900 workers narrowly approves contract
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - A labor union representing about 4,900 rail workers said on Saturday that members narrowly ratified a tentative contract agreement with freight railroads in the United States. The union representing locomotive machinists, roadway mechanics, and facility maintenance personnel is the seventh of 12 to approve the deal, while two unions previously voted to reject the national deal announced in mid-September. Last month, the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS) union, representing more than 6,000 members, voted against the deal as did the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees (BMWED), which represents 11,000 workers. The rail deal included a 24% percent wage increase over a five-year period from 2020 through 2024 as well $1,000 lump sum payments in each of the next five years. The unions represent 115,000 workers at railroads including Union Pacific (UNP.N), BNSF, CSX (CSX.O), Norfolk Southern (NSC.N) and Kansas City Southern .

☆ Worker complaints alleging anti-union shutdowns rise as organizing surges
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Eli M. Rosenberg | Eli Rosenberg Is An Investigative Tech Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +13 min

The company, G&D Integrated, had closed the factory, saying it had suddenly lost its decade-old contract with a Japanese company, workers said. Starbucks closed multiple stores this year following union activity. Trader Joe’s, for example, abruptly closed a wine shop in the center of New York City where workers had been organizing. Demonstrators protest outside a closed Starbucks in Seattle on July 16. More than 40 percent of the stores had union campaigns, according to data from Starbucks Workers United, the union that has been organizing the workers.

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