Skip to main content

Dirty Threads, Dangerous Factories: Health and Safety in Los Angeles’ Fashion Industry

Garment Worker Center and Others UCLA Labor Center
In collaboration with the Garment Worker Center and UCLA Occupational Safety and Health (UCLA LOSH), the UCLA Labor Center just released Dirty Threads, Dangerous Factories: Health and Safety in Los Angeles’ Fashion Industry. The study finds that fast fashion, an approach that moves garments from design to shelf at an accelerated pace, leads to dangerous working conditions for garment workers.

Trump’s Bait and Switch

Nomi Prins TomDispatch
How to Swamp Washington and Double-cross Your Supporters Big Time.

Defiant After Dakota Setback, Texas Company Eyes Pipeline Through Louisiana's Atchafalaya Basin

Sue Sturgis Facing South
The day after the Army handed down its decision on the Dakota Access Pipeline, it announced a public hearing on water permits for another controversial Energy Transfer Partners project: the Bayou Bridge Pipeline, which would cut through the ecologically important Atchafalaya Basin wetlands in south central Louisiana. The hearing will take place in Baton Rouge on Jan. 12.

Healthy Gift Guide — 17 ideas for giving “the gift of health”

Harvard T. H. Chan Nutrition Source Harvard T. H. Chan Nutrition Source
Instead of gifting sugar-laden sweets, try giving more nutritious snacks. Here are some fun ideas that serve as enjoyable and thoughtful gifts, and which can be motivational nudges toward living a healthier lifestyle.

President Rodrigo Duterte's Killing Fields and People's War in the Philippines

E. San Juan, Jr. interviewed by Andy Piascik ZNET
While the U.S. set up the electoral system in the Philippines, the feudal/comprador classes manipulate it so that personalities, not ideology, and bribery determine the outcome. Democracy in the Philippines is actually the rule of the privileged minority of landlords, bureaucrat capitalists, and business partners of foreign mega-corporations (called compradors) over the majority. All presidential candidates promise change for the better.

Teacher Shortages Are Looming, but It Doesn't Need to Be This Way

Eleanor J. Bader Truthout
About 8% of teachers leave the field each year, due to long workdays, low salaries and challenging conditions. Some predict a gap of 112,000 teachers by 2018. Some states are lowering the bar for teaching jobs. But there are plenty of good ideas about how to support teachers and improve the jobs in order to lower turnover and improve morale.

Amazon Drivers Say They Are Pushed to the Limit

Natalie Kitroeff Los Angeles Times
Amazon subcontracts to local courier companies that use drivers who are considered independence contractors. These companies are less expensive than Fedex or UPS and they are not unionized. Amazon provides them with phones that track their packages and delivery progress, and workers need to average a delivery every 2 minutes in order to meet demand.