A report by the Mine Safety and Health Administration finds the organization has failed to issue penalties for thousands of citations. Jesse Russell reports:

Data released by the Mine Safety and Health Administration has the federal agency taking a hard look at how it regulates. Since 2000 the organization has failed to follow up with penalties relating to thousands of health and safety citations. The agency found the startling discrepancy when it looked back on records concerning a Kentucky coal company. During a 2005 incident a worker bled to death after he failed to receive first aid. The United States has faced a number of headline grabbing mine tragedies in the past three years – including the death of 12 workers at the Sago Mine in West Virginia in 2006 and additional deaths at a mine collapse in Utah in 2007. During a January 10 speech acting assistant labor secretary Richard Stickler said the amount of penalties assessed in 2007 increased by more than 100 percent over 2006.

A report by the Mine Safety and Health Administration finds the organization has failed to issue penalties for thousands of citations. Jesse Russell reports:

Data released by the Mine Safety and Health Administration has the federal agency taking a hard look at how it regulates. Since 2000 the organization has failed to follow up with penalties relating to thousands of health and safety citations. The agency found the startling discrepancy when it looked back on records concerning a Kentucky coal company. During a 2005 incident a worker bled to death after he failed to receive first aid. The United States has faced a number of headline grabbing mine tragedies in the past three years – including the death of 12 workers at the Sago Mine in West Virginia in 2006 and additional deaths at a mine collapse in Utah in 2007. During a January 10 speech acting assistant labor secretary Richard Stickler said the amount of penalties assessed in 2007 increased by more than 100 percent over 2006.

By Doug Cunningham

California’s Senate failed to pass health care reform in a vote Monday. The California Labor Federation says unions have worked tirelessly there for years to create affordable health care options and he Senate’s vote won’t deter them from that goal. The labor federations says it will redouble its efforts to reform California’s health care system and says a federal health care reform solution is needed – and more likely – with a new Democratic president.

By Doug Cunningham

California’s Senate failed to pass health care reform in a vote Monday. The California Labor Federation says unions have worked tirelessly there for years to create affordable health care options and he Senate’s vote won’t deter them from that goal. The labor federations says it will redouble its efforts to reform California’s health care system and says a federal health care reform solution is needed – and more likely – with a new Democratic president.

President Bush is expected tonight to tell us that the state of the nation is strong. Here's one question among many he may not answer: “Is the state of our union strong enough to provide for the health needs of 9/11 workers?”

On Capitol Hill today, AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney and New York State AFL-CIO President Denis Hughes joined members of Congress and the heroes of Sept. 11 in asking that crucial question.

First responders, cleanup crews and other workers directly involved with responding to the 9/11 attacks have experienced serious health problems, and the Bush administration has failed to respond to their health care needs. Thousands of Ground Zero workers need monitoring and special care to deal with the complex health problems that resulted from their work that day and in the months after the terrorist attacks.

Sweeney said the failure to provide for these workers showed a fundamental disrespect for their sacrifices:

Year after year, President Bush has refused to request the necessary funding to provide medical care for the 9/11 workers. Today, we are here to call upon our government to help those who came forward and helped the nation during one of its darkest hours.

The staffing crisis in the nation’s air traffic control system has reached a dangerous level and it’s getting worse. Just two weeks after the Air Traffic Controllers (NATCA) declared a staffing emergency in five cities, the union now has added Oakland to the list and is warning that Miami may be next.