State Policy on Emergency Response Puts Residents in Harm’s Way, Report Says
The Christie administration is failing to ensure the public has access to up-to-date emergency response plans for nearly a hundred facilities handling extremely hazardous chemicals, according to a labor and environmental organization. See Article Here
Group Concerned about Crude Oil on Railways Seeks Access to Emergency Plans
Labor and environmental groups on Tuesday called on the Christie administration to ensure that the public can review local emergency management plans, a concern because large quantities of volatile crude oil are being transported on railways through towns in Bergen County and elsewhere in New Jersey. See Article Here
NJ Environmental Group Says Many Municipalities Won’t Allow Review of Emergency Response Plans
The New Jersey Work Environment Council says 68 percent of counties and towns where the most potentially hazardous chemical and oil facilities are located denied the group's request to review local emergency response plans. See Article Here
Many Communities in Chemical Risk Zones Are Unaware of the Dangers
"There are hundreds of facilities in New Jersey that use hazardous substances that can affect workers and the community," said Rick Engler, director of the New Jersey Work Environmental Council. See Article / Video Here
State Supreme Court to Hear Arguments on Whistleblower Protections
For years, New Jersey was considered to have some of the strongest whistleblower protections in the nation, shielding employees from retaliation from their employers when they tried to report corporate wrongdoing. Those safeguards could unravel in a series of court cases to be taken up by the state Supreme Court this fall, according to more than two-dozen environmental, labor, and consumer organizations, which have joined the litigation. See Article Here
Victim of Bangladesh factory collapse in demonstration at Secaucus Retailer
A garment worker who was trapped in the rubble of a collapsed Bangladesh factory last year joined about four-dozen labor activists Friday in urging Secaucus-based The Children's Place to increase its payments to victims of the disaster that killed more than 1,100 people. See Article Here View the video from the demonstration.