Debbie Berkowitz

Imagine doing a hard job in high heat or in darkness while thousands of pounds of steel hurtle by within inches of your body. Your only protection is a few plastic traffic cones and some flashing lights Why do so many workers continue to die in highway work zones? jordanbarab.com/confinedspac...

This will save lives. Bravo to California. There are much safer alternatives for workers. Please spread the word. California Prepares to Ban Quartz Countertop Production www.nytimes.com/2026/10/05/u...

This is the human toll of failing to have workplace heat standards in place prismreports.org/2026/09/29/f...

Obed Azahel Hernandez Perez, a 24-year-old man from Mexico, died Sept. 8 from prolonged heat exposure in Mississippi while harvesting sweet potatoes. It was 98 degrees. His death was preventable. A strong #OSHA standard likely would have saved his life. mississippitoday.org/2026/10/01/f...

Not only is the White House using taxpayer dollars to run political ads, but so is the Department of Labor.

In Mississippi a Farmworker doing the back breaking work of harvesting sweet potatoes was killed on the job from heat exposure a few weeks ago. These are the heroes who make sure we are fed. mississippitoday.org/2026/10/01/f...

"María" is harvesting sweet potatoes. "I work 8 hours a day and earn CA minimum wage of $16.90/hr. The hardest part for me is having to get up at 2:00am to pack my lunch, wait for my ride and drive to the site. My shift runs from 4am. to 12:30 pm." #WeFeedYou

There is no recent precedent for how unpopular Trump is and how deeply that cuts into support among voters of the president’s party.

New podcast about our investigation (www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...) into artificial stone silicosis: swap.fm/l/hjLEObgNKY...

Horrible Ice raids on the same workers - heroes really- who came in every day during COVID as the virus raced like wildfire through their plants ,sickening and killing them- now treated sooo horribly. Why didn’t the industry fight for a path for these heroes? Shame! www.kcur.org/politics-ele...

TONIGHT: ProPublica investigative reporter Avi Asher-Schapiro talks to @lawrenceodonnell.bsky.social on The #LastWord at 10pm ET.

www.propublica.org/article/fbi-...

OSHA inspections reduced injuries at nearby uninspected workplaces. Spillover effects were several times larger than direct effects and are missed by naïve estimates, from Matthew S. Johnson, David Levine, and Michael W. Toffel www.nber.org/papers/w35646

The cost of Trump

Republican Governor Jim Pillen has been a champion of Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. But at least 20 of his family farms employed undocumented immigrants, according to a new investigation by the Flatwater Free Press and The New York Times. youtu.be/5RZgrR1_7Dc?...

The Kennedy Center crowd is singing America The Beautiful. This is what democracy looks like.

Sadly, Michael Wagner's story is not uncommon. While workers' compensation now has higher profits than all other property and casualty lines, states are competing with each other to reduce payments to injured workers. There is no federal oversight or guardrails to stop the race to the bottom. 2/

Heartbreaking. Listen to this story please. When a worker gets injured at work - unsafe equipment and or hazardous conditions- which happens to millions each year- they can’t sue the employer, and the measly benefits they are due so they can live and heal are impossible to get.

Workers are dying. Please spread the word. This can be prevented. Amazing reporting. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

NEW @businessweektr.bsky.social investigation: Crafting America’s Favorite Countertops Is Killing Workers www.bloomberg.com/news/feature... Artificial stone manufacturers want Congress to shut down silicosis lawsuits seeking billions. Confidential company records undermine industry's safety claims

Sounds like a job for the face-eating leopards. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/u...

Corporations spend more than $1.5 billion a year on union-busting. That’s $1.5 billion they could have spent on higher wages, better benefits, and improving workplace safety. Remember: if they weren’t so scared of worker power, they wouldn’t fight so hard against unions.

Devastating podcast about six agricultural workers killed in a confined space last year, and the abuse and fear that farm workers face every day on the job in this country. share.google/Xj5Qi9NAJqOV...

It's Labor Day--a chance to reflect on the state of work, workers and fairness. Inviting you to this @gamechangerspolicy.bsky.social webinar where @julietschor.bsky.social @paulsonn.bsky.social, Gerald Epstein & I will talk about fair work standards. Please join us! events.zoom.us/ev/ApCr_SWeb...

Very apropos: Trump turned HOMES into SHAME

Gov. Safety agency- the CSB- finds the paper company in WA, where 11 workers were killed this May when a tank full of extremely dangerous chemicals failed, was told repeatedly the tank was unsafe and shouldn’t be used. And Trump wants to kill this agency. www.csb.gov/us-chemical-...

#BREAKING: In the League of Women Voters case, Judge Talwani (D. Mass.) has issued a temporary restraining order freezing the USPS Final Rule on mail-in ballots from going into effect for 14 days (while the parties litigate whether she should enter a preliminary injunction blocking it indefinitely).

One clarification: Judge Talwani granted a TRO in *both* the League of Women Voters case *and* the California case (this doesn't really matter, except that I misdescribed it as being in the LWV case, specifically, above).

Link: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

I'm proud to be included on @time.com's list of the TIME100 AI of 2026, an acknowledgment that workers are on the front lines of the fight for fair, safe and equitable jobs in the face of AI. Labor is building a future that works for all of us. #TIME100AI ti.me/100ai

This is so cruel and horrible. How is this America. Who supports this injustice. What is happening to our country that we are doing this. For decades those with TPS have taken care of our parents , processed the meat we eat , taught our kids, conducted research and were my colleagues. OHIO rise up

The next United States Senator from the great state of Michigan: Abdul El-Sayed! Never stop believing!

Trump Administration Is Undoing Plans to Boost Workplace Heat Protections www.nytimes.com/2026/08/01/c...

Trump is the most corrupt president in the history of our country He has filled the swamp to the brim while selling out Americans to the highest bidder Senate Democrats will be exposing, investigating, and holding him accountable for his brazen self-dealing at the expense of the American taxpayer

Abilene city employee Frank Cortez died on the job July 21. The city provided no details, but reports say his death was "a medical issue & not the job he was performing" Heat related? It was 101 degrees that day but TX public workers aren't covered by OSHA. We may never know. tinyurl.com/mwtcvm52

What are Republicans thinking as they try to kill a federal OSHA heat protection standard that would protect workers from excessive heat? Nothing good and nothing honest. jordanbarab.com/confinedspac...

ICYMI: The rule proposed by the Board of Governors to block undocumented students from FL's public universities undermines legislative intent and would create more barriers to higher ed, notes FPI's Alexis Tsoukalas, PhD. Read FPI's comments below ⬇️ www.floridapolicy.org/posts/fpi-co...

House Republicans Attempt to Kill OSHA Heat Standard. jordanbarab.com/confinedspac...

Trump's "anti-woke" agenda cripples agency that investigates sexual harassment, gender and race discrimination in federal contractors. Trump unravels anti-discrimination policies enacted more than a half-century ago in response to the civil rights movement. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/19/u...

Climate deniers take note—this smoke is the result of your indifference. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/16/w...

@cnbc.com poll: Disapproval of Trump on the economy is 24 points higher today than at a similar point in his first midterm election cycle.

In addition to taking care of older Americans, workers with TPS also work in our food industry- assuring Americans have chicken and meat to eat. They work the hardest and most dangerous jobs. Most have been here for decades. Forcing them off the job is totally wrong and insane.

Immigrant workers with Temporary Protected Status are our coworkers and union siblings. Forcing them off the job is wrong and makes no sense — it’s bad for our communities, our workplaces and our economy. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/10/us/politics/tps-workers-dismissals.html

This is a great piece, Anne. Thanks for re-upping. The powerful become complicit with the tyrant because they want to stay powerful. The hacks who could never gain prominence in any other situation become complicit to achieve glory.

The Supreme Court gave President Trump power to fire members of independent government agencies, including potentially those that protect workers’ rights. This is an attack on workers that will embolden bad bosses and big corporations.

First (but *not* last) ruling from #SCOTUS today is in Watson v. RNC. For a 5-4 majority (with Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch, Kavanaugh dissenting), Justice Barrett holds that federal law does *not* bar states from counting late-arriving mail-in ballots that are postmarked on or before Election Day.

Kalmanovitz practitioner fellow Debbie Berkowitz (@debbieberkowitz.bsky.social) warns recent OSHA decision could send the message "OSHA is giving employers a pass" when "workers are seriously injured" | TIME Magazine time.com/article/2026...

“More than 20,000 Haitian TPS holders work as direct caregivers and nursing assistants in the U.S. long-term care industry. Overall, immigrants make up roughly 28% of the nation's long-term care workforce, with over 112,000 Haitian-born individuals employed in the broader healthcare sector.”