An extensive investigation by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer finds the threat diacetyl poses to workers may be more widespread than previously thought.

The Bargaining Digest is back from the holidays, with a few recent items from the weeks of Dec. 17–Jan. 4. The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 900 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.

Settlements

This just in from Rand Wilson, communications coordinator in the Center for Strategic Research, AFL-CIO Organizing Department.

From the subprime mortgage crisis to toxic toys to kids without health care to—yes, brace yourself—even Paris Hilton, the Drum Major Institute's (DMI's) 2007 Injustice Index paints quite a picture of the nation in 2007.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao missed the Dec. 15 deadline to issue new federal rules for better trained mine rescue teams at the nation's coal mines. The Charleston Gazette reports:

Last year, the Bush administration denied health coverage to millions of low-income children by vetoing expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) <

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R-N.Y.) continues to come under fire for his failures during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The first votes of 2008 are in, and the winners of Iowa’s caucuses are Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) on the Democratic side and former Gov. Mike Huckabee (Ark.) on the Republican side.

Unemployment worsened to 5 percent—sinking a whopping three-tenths of a percentage point, from 4.7 percent in November, the largest single jump since the slowdown following Sept. 11, 2001.