Jennifer Gollan at Reveal, The Center for Investigative Reporting, writes—Trump’s OSHA won’t name and shame businesses. So a dissident steps in:
When Jordan Barab worked for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, corporate attorneys were blunt about what worried them.
It wasn’t the agency’s paltry fines for flouting workplace safety laws. What terrified businesses, they told him, “is being mentioned in a press release.”
Companies no longer have to worry. Since President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20, the agency hasn’t issued a press release naming and shaming the companies it fines.
And that’s where Barab comes in. A former deputy assistant secretary under President Barack Obama, he had planned to ride off into the sunset after leaving his post on Inauguration Day. Instead, he’s turned his blog into a shadow OSHA press room, publishing a list of companies slapped with significant fines from Jan. 18 through mid-February.
The list is a striking display of how the Obama and Trump administrations differ in their approach to enforcing the nation’s workplace safety laws. Under Obama, OSHA trained a spotlight on companies to try to bring them into compliance. But the recent decision not to publicize citations signals the dawn of an era in which regulators may stress voluntary compliance with safety laws instead of aggressive enforcement. [...]
QUOTATION OF THE DAY
“I got in a fight with my girlfriend," I said. "I was just driving around, blowing off steam, you know?"
Well, you should be more careful where you drive," the officer said. "You're making people nervous. You don't fit the profile of the neighborhood." I wanted to tell him that I didn't fit the profile of the country but I knew it would just get me into trouble.”
~Sherman Alexie, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, 1993
TWEET OF THE DAY
BLAST FROM THE PAST
At Daily Kos on this date in 2009—Reforming the 'Big Three'
While most of the discussion today is about whether the Obama administration made the right or wrong choice by ousting GM's Rick Wagoner and demanding a more comprehensive makeover than GM or Chrysler had provided as part of their deal to get taxpayer assistance, Robert Scott over at the Economic Policy Institute had some things to say about how the Big Three should be investing in America.
While GM, Ford, and Chrysler production in Mexico increased in 2008, it fell in the United States and Canada. GM has invested $3.6 billion in Mexico in the past three years and is increasing its commitment to Mexican production by having its new Aveo subcompact built there instead of in the United States (Black 2008). And the Big Three plan even greater future investments outside of the United States: GM announced plans to invest $1 billion in Brazil (Ortolani 2008), and Chrysler is investing $570 million in a new engine factory near Saltillo in the Mexican state of Coahuila. At the same time, GM and Chrysler are seeking nearly $22 billion in additional restructuring aid from the Obama administration.
This, writes Scott, indicates a clear need for the government to make future taxpaid funding for GM and Chrysler dependent on a restructuring that includes an investment here at home instead of sending those production jobs out of the country. The problem is that administration's Path to Viability for GM and Chrysler that requires aggressive restructuring also may contribute to further pushing the companies to reduce their U.S. manufacturing footprint and increase their outsourcing off-shoring. That would add more losses to the 369,000 jobs already lost in the auto industry and auto parts makers since December 2007. And when recovery does happen, more U.S. auto jobs would be outside the country than ever before. As Scott says, "This would conflict with the President’s announced 'commitment to support an auto industry that can help revive modern manufacturing.'"
HIGH IMPACT STORIES • TOP COMMENTS • OVERNIGHT NEWS DIGEST
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show: Mike Pence: weirdo. Greg Dworkin has a shoutout for Charles Gaba, the latest polling news, and a new legal threat to health care. Armando weighs in on Gorsuch & Nunes. GOP options on breaking a Gorsuch filibuster, explained. Ivanka burrows in.
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