This winter saw families in Paulsboro and many other towns across America worrying about two kinds of pollution. Full Article by Debra McFadden, Assistant Director, WEC and Doug O'Malley, Executive Director, Environment NJ and WEC board member. May 4, 2014 - The South Jersey Times
Here in New Jersey, huge sums of money will have to be spent to clean up the Passaic River, one of the most contaminated stretches of water in the world. Toxicants in the river include dioxin, a chemical suspected of causing cancer. It was dumped in the water by a manufacturer of Agent Orange during the war in Vietnam. Full Article by John Pajak, Vice President, Teamsters Local 877 & WEC President and Amy Goldsmith. Director, NJ Clean Water Action & WEC Board member. April 25, 2014 - The Star Ledger
New Jersey has the 38th-worst unemployment rate in the nation, and for construction workers the jobless rate is even worse. At the same time, thousands of school children, their teachers and other staff face serious health and safety hazards and poor learning conditions in buildings that may be more than a hundred years old. Full Article by Troy Singleton, Assemblyman District 7 and Avery Grant, member, Long Branch Board of Education and Vice President, WEC March 18, 2014 - The Star Ledger
The recent announcement that Trenton Central High School (TCHS) will be rebuilt is the latest proof of the old saying that "if the people lead, the leaders will follow." Indeed, that has been the case in New Jersey when it comes to providing our children and education staff with modern, productive learning and teaching environments free of serious health and safety hazards. Full Article by Mo Kinberg, Campaign Organizer, WEC and Mike Goodman, President, Trenton Central High School/Chambers Campus Parent Teacher Association February 18, 2014 - Times of Trenton
We may not know for several months exactly how a temporary worker died this month at Amazon.com's distribution center in Avenel, but there is already a lot we know about how companies like Amazon exploit temps and too often fail to protect them from physical danger. Full Article by John Pajak, Vice President, Teamsters Local 877 & WEC President and Marien Casiallas Pablen, Executive Director, New Labor and WEC Board Member December 27, 2013 - The Star Ledger
An art exhibit on the Statehouse steps yesterday exposed the shameful conditions in some New Jersey public schools. The exhibit, titled "A Blind Eye: The Immorality of Inaction," highlights the shocking result that four years of delayed repairs, renovations and construction have had on our public schools and the students who attend them. Full Article by Mo Kinberg, Campaign Organizer, WEC October 24, 2013 - NJ Spotlight
A highly toxic cloud of cancer-causing chemicals moves into neighborhoods where local residents live and work. People are sent to the hospital in droves. More have to evacuate their homes. Parents are told not to let their children out of the house to go to school. Businesses are shut down. It may sound like a bad Hollywood movie, but this worst-case scenario happened last November in Paulsboro, when a train carrying more than 12 tons of vinyl chloride derailed and spilled its hazardous load. Full Article by Natasha Lavard, member, Paulsboro Action Committee and Debra McFadden, Assistant Director, WEC October 21, 2013 - The South Jersey Times
"It can't happen here." That's what most of us think when we hear about toxic chemical disasters. It's a comforting thought - except that if you live in New Jersey, it unfortunately is just not true. Full Article by John Pajak, Vice President, Teamsters Local 877 & WEC President October 13, 2013 - The Star Ledger
Should New Jersey make it easy for wealthy campaign contributors to get waivers from the state to violate public safeguards that protect our jobs, rights at work, health and safety, or pocketbooks as consumers? Stephen Sweeney, the state Senate president, has the power to decide. Full Article by Natasha Lavard, member of the Paulsboro Action Committee, and Denise Patel, former project coordinator, WEC July 9, 2013 - The Star Ledger
Could the kind of industrial fire and explosion that recently decimated a town in Texas happen here in New Jersey - the state with the greatest concentration of workplaces with hazardous chemicals in the nation? Full Articleby Amy Goldsmith, Director, NJ Environmental Federation, the state chapter of Clean Water Action and Rev. Fletcher Harper, Executive Director, GreenFaith (Goldsmith and Harper are members of WEC Board of Directors) April 25, 2013 - The Star Ledger