Northwest Labor Press is an independent union-supported newspaper founded in 1900. Our print version is mailed twice a month to about 45,000 members of over three dozen local unions in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Our online version has been maintained here since 1997.
Worker safety
Questions for Jordan Barab
Jordan Barab, a longtime union safety expert, was number two at OSHA under Obama. He’s not happy about the way things have gone under Trump.
Time to ban asbestos? Merkley and Bonamici think so
Decades after asbestos insulation was banned, the fibers are still in many legal products in America.
America’s most dangerous jobs
Three of the top 10 are in construction.
Making roadway construction zones safer
More roadway construction workers are killed each year by construction equipment and vehicles than by on-road vehicles. How can we make it safer?
FedEx executive will be Trump’s new OSHA chief
Scott Mugno got the thumbs up from a Senate Committee in a party-line vote Dec. 13.
OSHA fines Ross Island Bridge paint contractor $189,000 for safety violations that led to near-fatal accident
After an accident that seriously injured two workers in a 37' fall, OSHA levies its biggest fine in more than five years, saying contractor Abhe & Svoboda knowingly put workers at risk.
Union ceremony remembers workers who died on the job
Sixty-six Oregon workers lost their lives to preventable accidents in 2016.
UNSAFE AT WORK
At the ODOT bridge contractor where a 40-foot fall sent two workers to the hospital, at least four former employees say they were let go after complaining of dangerous work conditions.
Six questions for labor’s top workplace safety expert
Peg Seminario, the AFL-CIO’s director of occupational safety and health, is a nationally recognized expert on worker safety.
On-the-job Fatalities in Oregon in 2016
The list of workers killed on the job in Oregon in 2016 — from Oregon-OSHA reports, workers’ comp data, and newspaper accounts.
Long after the flames, firefighters at risk from cancer chemicals
The Fire Fighters union is sounding the alarm about the cancer-causing after-effects of fire.
On-the-job fatalities in Oregon increase
One of last year's on-the-job deaths was a union organizer killed in a car crash.
Abhe & Svoboda fires union salt amid safety complaints
Nonunion paint contractor Abhe & Svoboda faces civil rights, labor and safety complaints on a $22 million Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) painting project underneath the Ross Island Bridge.
UNDER THE ROSS ISLAND BRIDGE: Investigating a low-bid nonunion contractor, a union finds problems aplenty
Under the Ross Island Bridge Feb. 8, a painter plummeted 40 feet and landed on his own son, putting both in the hospital.
Work shouldn’t hurt, says OSEA
Oregon Special Education personnel all too frequently are injured by their students.
Portland Public Schools’ OTHER lead exposure problem
Chips and dust from lead paint are all over the place as Franklin High School undergoes renovation.
Lead crisis in schools: Could underfunding of maintenance be the culprit?
Decades of cuts have made insufficient maintenance the new normal.
Oregon labor honors fallen workers
41 workers died in job-related accidents in Oregon last year.
DEADLY DUST: OSHA’s new silica rule will save lives
The silica rule covering 2 million construction workers is the most significant OSHA move in decades.
Silicosis hits home
The disease can strike anyone exposed, even someone who teaches good safety practices to others.
