Category: Archive

Vice President Joe Biden got to know Sen. Arlen Specter pretty well on many Amtrak train rides they shared while commuting from Washington to their homes in Delaware and Pennsylvania, respectively, when Biden was in the Senate.

Now that Specter has joined Biden in the Democratic Party, he doesn’t expect the former Republican to change his opposition to a bill that would make it easier for workers to organize. Specter reiterated that stance in announcing his party switch on Tuesday, April 28.

“Arlen is a close friend but a very independent guy,” Biden told reporters in a conference call Wednesday, April 29. “I take Arlen at his word.”

Biden anticipated that Specter would entertain supporting a modified bill. “Arlen will have an open mind if a compromise is offered,” he said. “He’ll listen to alternatives.”

Specter came out against the Employee Free Choice Act in March, saying that he opposed two key provisions.

One would allow a union to form when a majority of workers sign cards authorizing one. Another would impose binding arbitration if employers and a union didn’t reach a first contract within 120 days.

But Specter also asserted that labor laws are not working properly. He proposed amending the National Labor Relations Act.

Specter’s decision to change parties reduces the number of Republicans in the Senate to 40, which is one short of the number they need to block legislation through a filibuster. That maneuver was used in a previous Congress to kill EFCA.

After more than four decades as a Republican, Specter said that he did not want to run in the 2010 Pennsylvania Republican primary. His vote in favor of the $787 billion stimulus bill earlier this year has “caused a schism” that has made differences with the party “irreconcilable,” he said in a statement.

But Specter vowed to maintain his independence. “My change in party affiliation does not mean that I will be a party-line voter any more for the Democrats than I was for the Republicans,” he said in a statement. “I will not be an automatic 60th vote for cloture. For example, my position on Employees Free Choice [card check] will not change.”

Biden said that the White House supports EFCA, which is the top legislative priority for unions.

“We’ve been listening to organized labor as well as business on their mutual concerns about [the bill],” Biden said.

Biden asserted that current labor laws, which allow companies to demand a secret-ballot election, create obstacles for workers to form unions.

“That’s been made such a tricky wicket for labor to go through,” Biden said. “I am hopeful we will get card check passed.”

The business lobby opposes the bill because it says the measure will effectively end the right to a secret ballot for union elections and raise labor costs for corporations.

Supporters of the legislation maintain that the bill does not remove the secret ballot; it simply gives workers a choice of which process—ballot or card check—to use. They also say that strengthening unions will give employees leverage to raise wages and benefits. About 7.6 percent of workers in the private sector are unionized.

Glenn Spencer, executive director of the Workforce Freedom Initiative at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said EFCA faces an uphill battle even after Specter’s defection to the Democrats.

He noted that Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Arkansas, opposes the bill. Other moderate Democrats also have raised concerns and refused to co-sponsor the measure.

“In reality, they’re at least two votes short of the 60 they need,” Spencer said. “I don’t know that Specter changing the letter behind his name significantly changes the calculus on this issue.”

Mike Aitken, director of government affairs at the Society for Human Resource Management, said that Specter’s move will heighten interest in his proposal for a compromise. But it won’t ensure EFCA approval.

“It’s got to get more than just Specter to be viable,” Aitken said.

But Josh Goldstein, spokesman for American Rights at Work, said that Specter’s move gave EFCA momentum.

“It’s a new day for the Employee Free Choice Act,” he said. “We’ll continue to work with Sen. Specter on finding ways to create real labor law reform this year.”

Providing employees a “fair and direct path” to unionization, imposing “real penalties” on employers for labor law violations and ensuring a first contract in a reasonable amount of time are reform principles that won’t be diluted, Goldstein said.

“We need to let the legislative process on the Employee Free Choice Act play out … before we can get to counting [vote] numbers,” Goldstein said.

—Mark Schoeff Jr.

Workforce Management’s online news feed is now available via Twitter.

 

Greenhouse gas cap-and-trade legislation such as that proposed by the Obama administration and under discussion in the House could result in the loss of more than 3 million jobs by 2030, according to a recently released report.

In addition, the legislation could cost the average household $2,100 annually, according to the report compiled on behalf of the Coalition for Affordable American Energy, which receives funding from more than 180 business groups.

“This study proves that the pending bill will be a massive weight on an economy that is barely treading water,” said Bruce Josten, executive vice president of government affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “All consumers and businesses would face steep increases in energy costs, leading to a spike in the cost of goods and services throughout the U.S. economy.”

The study concludes that by 2030, natural gas and electricity costs will increase by more than 50 percent and motor fuels costs by 78 cents a gallon. Taken together, the combined effects of increased energy costs and dollars spent on carbon reductions will force industry to reduce productivity.

The findings are in contrast to a recent EPA estimate that climate legislation could cost each household $98 to $140 per year.

Waste & Recycling News

Filed by Bruce Gieselman of Waste & Recycling News , a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.

Workforce Management’s online news feed is now available via Twitter.

Former Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius was sworn in as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services at a White House ceremony Tuesday, April 28, after Senate confirmation.

The Senate approved Sebelius’ nomination on a 65-31 vote.

Sebelius, a former commissioner of the Kansas Department of Insurance, is expected to play a key role as the Obama administration and Congress attempt to negotiate comprehensive health care reform legislation.

Sebelius “is the right person to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. She’s a problem solver, and that’s what Congress needs in a partner for health care reform,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Montana, said in a statement.

Filed by Jerry Geisel of Business Insurance, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.

Workforce Management’s online news feed is now available via Twitter

The Institute for Business & Home Safety is urging organizations to review their preparedness for an influenza pandemic.

“Evaluating specific risks and planning well beforehand for a variety of potential emergencies that could disrupt day-to-day business is critical, no matter how big or small a company may be,” Julie Rochman, president of the Tampa, Florida-based IBHS, said in a statement issued Monday, April 27.

The IBHS pandemic preparedness recommendations include:

• Determine when to curtail employee travel, domestically and internationally.

• Develop business continuity policies that provide work-at-home options.

• Address sick-leave policies, because people who develop swine flu or those attending to relatives may need to be on leave longer than the policy allows.

• Consider the impact a shutdown of public transportation or the loss of basic utilities would have.

• Determine at what point the organization would need to close its doors.

Filed by Mark A. Hofmann of Business Insurance, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.

Workforce Management’s online news feed is now available via Twitter.

Companies are taking precautions to limit the spread of swine flu—and panic among their workforces—by restricting employee travel, dusting off pandemic preparedness plans and providing e-mails, Web sites and phone calls with information provided by public health officials.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the first U.S. death from the flu in Texas and identified 91 cases of swine flu in the United States as of Wednesday, April 29. More than 150 people have died from the flu in Mexico.

Employers that established preparedness plans during the avian flu crisis several years ago are seeing their efforts pay off. Heavy equipment maker Caterpillar, based in Peoria, Illinois, is using its avian flu pandemic plan to guide the company’s actions at each facility worldwide, said Michael Taylor, the company’s medical director for health promotion.

The company has partnered with International SOS, a medical security company, to identify and communicate health information to traveling employees. The company has halted travel to Mexico unless extremely urgent and has sent medical kits to employees who are on extended business travel or are in Mexico.

There is no vaccine for swine flu, which combines strains from human, avian and swine viruses, but Caterpillar says the company’s travel kits include antiviral drugs, such as Tamiflu and Relenza. If taken within 24 hours of symptoms, the drugs can reduce the intensity of the flu.

“We spent a tremendous amount of effort getting the pandemic project completed two years ago,” Taylor said.

EMC, a technology company near Boston, said it also has a preparedness plan that details how the company will operate if the outbreak spreads. While the company has not instituted a travel ban, its employees in Mexico are using flexible work locations, a spokeswoman said.

SC Johnson, the Racine, Wisconsin-based cleaning products manufacturer, began implementing portions of its pandemic preparedness plan when health officials declared an emergency Sunday, April 26. The company has limited travel to Mexico, sent information to employees on ways to stay healthy—such as covering one’s mouth when sneezing and washing hands—and updated employees with information from health officials. Its Mexico office is following a more detailed plan, a spokeswoman said.

Companies without pandemic plans are improvising based on their circumstances.

The Cleveland Metropolitan School District has sent out e-mails and automated phone messages with health information to its employees after the only case of swine flu in Ohio was identified at a public school in nearby Elyria. Officials closed the school, Ely Elementary, for the remainder of the week.

“We’re providing information without attempting to induce panic,” said Edwin Skinner, executive director of employee benefits and risk management at Cleveland Metropolitan Schools.

Law firm Bryan Cave is posting health information on its company Web site but has not sent e-mails to its 2,300 employees for fear of causing a panic.

Interpublic Group, a marketing and advertising firm in New York with 43,000 employees in more than 100 countries, has restricted travel to Mexico and advised employees in affected areas to work from home.

Rooms to Go, a Tampa, Florida-based furniture chain, is working with its pharmacy benefit manager to get access to generic forms of the antiviral medication for its employees.

“We are going to see if we can get the medication at a low cost so that employees don’t have a high co-pay and thus avoid taking the medication,” said Linda Garcia, the company’s vice president of HR.

The company is also allowing employees who are sick to take time off without having to use sick days.

Companies in the U.S. that don’t have unions will face fewer obstacles if they want to quickly implement pandemic plans, said Don Dowling, an international employment attorney with White & Case in New York. Health officials have categorized swine flu as an outbreak, which is more limited in its scope.

Pandemic preparedness experts say companies should identify company leaders who are responsible for communicating with employees and other contacts, such as health and legal services, and maintain an updated and accurate contact list. In addition to business continuity plans, Aon Consulting suggests employers should establish crisis communication plans and provide a central resource responsible for answering questions and collecting site-specific information.

Dowling says formal policies allow employers to discipline employees who do not comply with company procedures, such as travel restrictions or reporting the illness of family members.

“Now that this has happened, maybe companies are going to see the importance of having a global pandemic policy,” Dowling said.

—Jeremy Smerd and Jessica Marquez

Workforce Management’s online news feed is now available via Twitter.

 

Former Chrysler parent Daimler immediately will pump $200 million into Chrysler’s underfunded pension plans under an agreement reached Monday, April 27, with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.

In addition, Stuttgart, Germany-based Daimler, which sold an 80.1 percent share of the financially troubled automaker to New York-based private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management in 2007, will pay $200 million into the plans in 2010 and 2011.

If the Chrysler plans are terminated before August 2012, Daimler would pay the PBGC $200 million.

The agreement, which also was signed by Auburn Hills, Michigan-based Chrysler and Cerberus, replaces a 2007 pact between PBGC and Daimler, in which Daimler, among other things, agreed to a $1 billion guarantee if the pension plans were terminated within a five-year period.

Chrysler’s pension plans, as of November 30, 2008, had about $9.3 billion in unfunded benefits, according to the PBGC, of which about $2 billion would be guaranteed by the PBGC if the plans are terminated. The carmaker’s plans have about 255,000 participants.

If the plans are terminated, it would be either the PBGC’s fourth or fifth biggest loss, depending on the current value of the plans’ assets and liabilities, and the biggest termination in terms of number of plan participants affected.

The PBGC’s biggest plan takeover—in terms of loss to the agency’s insurance program and number of participants in the plans—was the 2005 termination of United Airlines’ four pension plans. The plans had about 122,000 participants and $7.5 billion in unfunded PBGC guaranteed benefits.

Filed by Jerry Geisel of Business Insurance, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.

Workforce Management’s online news feed is now available via Twitter.

On a day designated to remember workers who have been killed on the job, Democrats in Congress vowed to increase penalties against employers who violate workplace safety rules.

Two Capitol Hill events on Tuesday, April 28, were devoted to strengthening the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the law that brought it into existence on that day 39 years ago.

A hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions subcommittee on employment and workplace safety was described as the “first step in crafting legislation” by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, that would crack down on employers and give injured workers and the families of deceased workers “a greater role in the penalty process.”

The House Education and Labor Committee hearing revolved around a bill introduced last week by Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-California and chair of the workforce protections subcommittee.

Republicans at the House hearing said they wanted to improve workplace safety but that increasing penalties was the wrong answer because current regulations are complex and confusing.

Woolsey’s bill, the Protecting America’s Workers Act, also would allow workers and families to be more involved in OSHA investigations.

In addition, it would extend OSHA coverage to more workers, increase civil penalties for safety violations and index them to inflation. In another move to give OSHA more teeth, the measure would allow felony prosecution of employers and their corporate officers who commit willful violations that result in worker death or serious injury.

House Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, D-California, wanted to move the bill as quickly as possible.

“This is absolutely critical,” he said.

Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis also has made workplace safety a priority and has promised to hire more OSHA inspectors.

Stepped-up enforcement is needed in order to make the consequences for violating workplace safety as tough as they are for harming the environment and wildlife, according to advocates.

In emotional testimony before the House committee, Rebecca Foster testified that an Arkansas sawmill was fined $2,250 after it failed to put the proper safeguards on equipment that caught her stepson Jeremy’s shirt and strangled him to death.

Foster asserted that her family never heard from the company after the day that her stepson died.

“Did they place a value of our only son’s life at this amount [$2,250]?” she said. “It was as if OSHA had patted Deltic Timber on the back and said, ‘Good job, guys. You only killed one person.’ ”

Examples like Foster’s are the reason she wrote her bill, according to Woolsey.

“It is rare that an employer gets more than a slap on the wrist, even when a worker dies or is seriously injured, even in the most egregious cases. It is rarer still that they are referred for prosecution,” Woolsey said.

Margaret Seminario, director of occupational safety and health at the AFL-CIO, said that 5,657 workers died and more than 4 million were injured on the job in 2007. An additional 50,000 lost their lives due to occupational diseases.

An AFL-CIO study indicates that the average penalty for a serious OSHA infraction is less than $1,000; for a violation involving a worker’s death, it’s $11,300.

The ranking Republican on the House labor committee, Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon of California, cited positive statistics. OSHA figures show that since 2001, deaths have declined 14 percent and injuries and illness rates have fallen 21 percent.

He argued that the government would improve safety more with carrots than with sticks.

“The mentality should be to fix things, make things better rather than trying to punish,” McKeon said.

Lawrence Halprin, an attorney with Keller and Heckman in Washington, told the House panel that thousands of pages of regulations are ambiguous and confusing.

“Workplace safety and health could be far more effectively advanced through greater emphasis on clarifying OSHA standards and implementing effective training, outreach and cooperative programs,” Halprin said in prepared testimony.

Other witnesses, however, said that more criminal enforcement is required. Seminario said that since OSHA was established in 1970, only 71 criminal prosecutions have been sought for workplace safety violations, resulting in 42 months of jail time.

David Uhlmann, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, said that employers’ mind-set must be fear of incarceration rather than willingness to pay OSHA fines as a cost of doing business.

“That changes behavior more than anything else we do,” Uhlmann said.

—Mark Schoeff Jr.

Workforce Management’s online news feed is now available via Twitter.

 

Here are answers from the federal agency to some questions about the illness.

What are the symptoms of swine flu in humans?
The symptoms of swine flu in people are expected to be similar to the symptoms of regular human seasonal influenza and include fever, lethargy, lack of appetite and coughing. Some people with swine flu also have reported runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

What medications are available to treat swine flu infections in humans?
There are four different anti-viral drugs that are licensed for use in the U.S. for the treatment of influenza: amantadine, rimantadine, oseltamivir and zanamivir. While most swine influenza viruses have been susceptible to all four drugs, the most recent swine influenza viruses isolated from humans are resistant to amantadine and rimantadine. At this time, the CDC recommends the use of oseltamivir or zanamivir for the treatment and/or prevention of infection with swine influenza viruses.

Is there a vaccine for swine flu?
Vaccines are available to be given to pigs to prevent swine influenza. There is no vaccine to protect humans from swine flu. The seasonal influenza vaccine will likely help provide partial protection against swine H3N2, but not swine H1N1 viruses.

Over the years, different variations of swine flu viruses have emerged. At this time, there are four main influenza type A virus subtypes that have been isolated in pigs: H1N1, H1N2, H3N2 and H3N1. However, most of the recently isolated influenza viruses from pigs have been H1N1 viruses.

What are everyday actions people can take to stay healthy?

• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
  
• Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hands cleaners are also effective.
  
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread that way.
  
• Try to avoid close contact with sick people. Influenza is thought to spread mainly person-to-person through coughing or sneezing of infected people.
  
• If you get sick, the CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.

What about anti-viral drugs?
Anti-viral drugs are prescription medicines (pills, liquid or an inhaler) with activity against influenza viruses, including swine influenza viruses. Anti-viral drugs can be used to treat swine flu or to prevent infection with swine flu viruses. These medications must be prescribed by a health care professional. Influenza anti-viral drugs only work against influenza viruses; they will not help treat or prevent symptoms caused by infection from other viruses that can cause symptoms similar to the flu. There are four influenza anti-viral drugs approved for use in the United States (oseltamivir, zanamivir, amantadine and rimantadine). The swine influenza A (H1N1) viruses that have been detected in humans in the U.S. and Mexico are resistant to amantadine and rimantadine so these drugs will not work against these swine influenza viruses. Laboratory testing on these swine influenza A (H1N1) viruses so far indicate that they are susceptible (sensitive) to oseltamivir and zanamivir.

What are the benefits of anti-viral drugs?
Treatment: If you get sick, anti-viral drugs can make your illness milder and make you feel better faster. They may also prevent serious influenza complications. For treatment, anti-viral drugs work best if started as soon after getting sick as possible, and might not work if started more than 48 hours after illness starts.

Prevention: Influenza anti-viral drugs also can be used to prevent influenza when they are given to a person who is not ill, but who has been or may be near a person with swine influenza. When used to prevent the flu, anti-viral drugs are about 70 to 90 percent effective. When used for prevention, the number of days that they should be used will vary depending on a person’s particular situation.

The CDC recommends the use of oseltamivir or zanamivir for the treatment and/or prevention of infection with swine influenza viruses.

• Oseltamivir (brand name Tamiflu) is approved to both treat and prevent influenza A and B virus infection in people one year of age and older.
• Zanamivir (brand name Relenza) is approved to treat influenza A and B virus infection in people 7 years and older and to prevent influenza A and B virus infection in people 5 years and older.

Recommendations for using anti-viral drugs for treatment or prevention of swine influenza will change as we learn more about this new virus. Clinicians should consider treating any person with confirmed or suspected swine influenza with an anti-viral drug. Visit http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/recommendations.htm for specific recommendations.