Regional Airlines Want to Cut Co-Pilot Flight Rules. The Idea Mustn't Get Off the Ground

Robert Reed Chicago Tribune
Airline travelers are willing to compromise on personal comfort and convenience in return for lower fares and regularly scheduled flights. But I doubt the flying public would agree to deeply discount their own safety by letting the government hack away at an essential industry standard designed to protect flyers from inexperienced pilots.

The Demolition of Workers’ Comp

Michael Grabell, ProPublica, and Howard Berkes, NPR ProPublica
Over the past decade, state after state has been dismantling America’s workers’ comp system with disastrous consequences for many of the hundreds of thousands of people who suffer serious injuries at work each year, a ProPublica and NPR investigation has found. The cutbacks have been so drastic in some places that they virtually guarantee injured workers will plummet into poverty.

labor

Rail Workers Vote Down Single-Person Crews

Alexandra Bradbury Labor Notes
The Warren Buffett owned Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway pushed hard for a railroad union to agree to one person crews. Despite support from Union leadership, the membership rejected the one person crew contract.

labor

How Unions Avert Tragedies, Save Lives

A building collapse in Philadelphia kills 6 - a non-union contractor with a shady history faces scrutiny - see 2 articles below. The factory collapse in Bangladesh that killed more than 1,100 workers is another glaring example of workers without union protection at the mercy of greedy employers and corrupt politicians. But this cycle can finally be broken if demands for change start to focus on workers’ right to form trade unions - see opinion column below.
Subscribe to Safety