Union jobs are good jobs

Less than one year after the Blue Bird workers of Fort Valley, Georgia, voted to join the United Steelworkers, they signed their first contract with management. At the signing, Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su celebrated the achievement saying, “I want to congratulate you for proving to the rest of the country that a first contract within a year is possible, that it can be done, and that it can even be the norm.”

Acting Secretary Su and White House Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden visited Workforce Connections in Las Vegas, the Southern Nevada workforce board, for the latest stop on the department’s Good Jobs Summer Tour to highlight $3.6 billion in Investing in America funds supporting good jobs in the region. Following a roundtable discussion with local workers, employers, unions, educators and elected officials, they joined local leaders in a Good Jobs Principles signing ceremony. They also announced additional investments to support high quality training at community colleges and pre-apprenticeships in high-demand industries.

We’ve made more than $164 million in grant funding available for workforce development this week, including:

• $99 million to deliver education, occupational skills training and job services to young people
• $65 million to help community colleges scale workforce training in critical industry sectors

Acting Secretary Su, Deputy Undersecretary for International Affairs Thea Lee and other Labor Department staff are representing the United States at the G20 Labor and Employment Ministers Meeting in Fortaleza, Brazil. The delegation met with government and labor leaders, and called for action on worker empowerment, heat stress, good jobs, gender equity and a just transition to a clean economy. Follow @ActSecJulieSu and our Bureau of International Labor Affairs for trip updates.

We issued more than $3 million in grants to Texas this week, including:

• $2 million+ to support disaster recovery following severe storms in April
• $1 million+ to provide employment and training services for people affected by the permanent layoffs at Austin’s Tesla Gigafactory

We recovered $288,979 for 92 employees after finding a Florida property management group committed improper pay practices, including shaving hours from timesheets to deny overtime.

OSHA has cited a Florida contractor for willfully exposing workers to potentially deadly falls for the second time in five years.

State Street Corp. has agreed to allocate $4.2 million for future pay adjustments to resolve alleged gender-based discrimination.

The Americans with Disabilities Act was a significant achievement. On its 34th anniversary, we recommit to delivering on its ongoing promise by advancing access for all.

Our Mine Safety and Health Administration released the results of a screening identifying chronic violators and mine operators that show a disregard for miners’ health and safety.

Nevada pizzeria operators must pay $277,414 in penalties after we found they employed 28 children to perform dangerous tasks and work during prohibited hours.

A Wisconsin waste management company that failed to follow federal safety standards is facing $367,401 in penalties after a worker was severely injured.

Our Employment and Training Administration has updated their Workforce Data Hub to provide more data on employment and training in the U.S. Find info on the unemployment rate, job openings, labor force participation and more.

Heat illness prevention programs save lives! Learn more about the elements you should include in your #HeatSafety program. Use this OSHA resource to help you create yours. https://lnkd.in/gt-2zddV #NIHHIS
- OSHA LinkedIn

• USDA Forest Service: 60 years of fulfilling promise
• WHYY.org: Why Philly’s sheet metal workers got a visit from the Biden-Harris administration
• The Gazette: Union leaders, activists sound alarm on child labor in Iowa
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Top Labor Department official touts Blue Bird buses, union pact
• Safety & Health: MSHA head: Mining industry ‘in much better shape’ as worker fatalities decline