New EMPOWERMED Program Provides Significantly Discounted Solar Panel Installation and $1,000 Support Package

Ambient Edge is proud to provide free HVAC tune-ups to first responders and medical staff workers

In light of the pandemic, EC-Council has made its anti-phishing solution, OhPhish, free to the businesses who need it. OhPhish is built to simulate phishing attacks on any workforce.

New York attorney sends urgent letter to Governor Cuomo, praising the leader's handling of the crisis and urging financial support for healthcare workers, police officers, firefighters, and others who suffer injuries fighting the coronavirus.

The complaint alleges that Caliper contracts with labor brokers to staff construction projects with labor.

Sage construction accounting solution provider connects COVID-19 medical shortage with potential client base inventory

Remote Worker + Virtual Team Support

Peter Cappelli, Wharton School professor and coauthor of "Managing the Older Worker: How to Prepare for the New Organizational Order."

Dan McGinn and Scott Berinato, HBR senior editors.

Dorothy Leonard, author of "Critical Knowledge Transfer" ​and Harvard Business School professor, on retaining organizational expertise.

Pay transparency is actually a way better system than pay secrecy. David Burkus, professor at Oral Roberts University and author of "Under New Management," explains why.

Joseph Fuller, professor at Harvard Business School, says that the story we hear about workers being afraid for the future of their jobs might not be right. In surveying 11,000 people in lower-income and middle-skills jobs and 6,500 managers across 11 countries, Fuller discovered that, contrary to what bosses believe, many employees are excited about new technologies and willing to be trained in new skills. But they don't always know what they need to learn or how to access and pay for it. Organizations can do a better job of identifying the skills gaps they have or will soon face and using their existing workforces to fill them. Fuller's project is a joint venture between the HBS Project on Managing the Future of Work and the Boston Consulting Group’s Henderson Institute. He's a co-author of the HBR article “Your Workforce is More Adaptable Than You Think."

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) today announced an interim enforcement response plan for the coronavirus pandemic. The response plan provides instructions and guidance to OSHA Area Offices and compliance safety and health officers (CSHOs) for handling coronavirus-related complaints, referrals, and severe illness reports.

To ensure hygiene while transporting, the drivers of UberMedic were trained in safety procedures and also provided with personal protective equipment and disinfectants

The number of Indians who left during the grace period till October-end is 1,34,281, the Indian Embassy here said in a statement.

The minister said the government has already set up an Indian Workers Resource Centre in Dubai and will set up two more in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services receives about 1,00,000 green card applications from high-skilled applicants of Indian origin every year.

Millions of foreigners work in the United Arab Emirates and across the other wealthy Gulf nations, providing the backbone of the workforce in hospitals and banks, as well as on construction sites and in factories.

H-1B visa recipients can remain in the country legally for 60 days without being paid.

"Among the top 30 H-1B employers are major US firms including Amazon, Microsoft, Walmart, Google, Apple and Facebook. All of them take advantage of program rules in order to legally pay many of their H-1B workers below the local median wage for the jobs they fill," said the report released by the Economic Policy Institute.

Lockdown 3.0: Migrant workers clash with cops in Surat, over 100 detained

COVID-19: Mangaluru doctors claim to develop ‘bubble helmet’ for better safety of health workers

Shramik special trains were run from May 1 on the request of different state governments. The railways has suspended passenger, mail and express trains to combat the spread of novel coronavirus (Covid-19) since March 24.

Within a week of the announcement of lockdown from March 25, telcos had extended the prepaid validity of their low-income subscribers till April 17 and further to May 3 on subsequent announcement of lockdown extension. Airtel and Vodafone Idea also credited Rs 10 talk time credit to such users whereas Jio gave 100 minutes of free talk time and 100 text messages to all its users.

Keeneland today announced Nourish the Backstretch, powered by Keeneland, Nourish Lexington and Blue Grass Farms Charities (BGFC), which will provide weekly meals and groceries to stable area workers at Keeneland and The Thoroughbred Center (TTC). More than 500 people are employed by trainers to care for horses at the two locations. Proceeds from wagers placed […]

The post Keeneland Announces New Initiative To Provide Meals, Groceries To Stable Workers appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

In the midst of school closures and a sudden need for child care among the families of medical professionals, a group of University of Minnesota students saw an opportunity to put their passion to work. The non-profit MN CovidSitters offers child care and assistive services for free of charge and has grown to over 300 volunteers since its inception in early March. The organization has since inspired others to do the same internationally and across the United States.

New York Times: One-Third of All U.S. Coronavirus Deaths Are Nursing Home Residents or Workers. “At least 25,600 residents and workers have died from the coronavirus at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities for older adults in the United States, according to a New York Times database. The virus so far has infected more … Continue reading New York Times: One-Third of All U.S. Coronavirus Deaths Are Nursing Home Residents or Workers

The Minnesota National Guard conducted flyovers across the state to recognize the frontline health care workers of the COVID-19 pandemic response. A pair of F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft from the 148th Fighter Wing out of Duluth flanked a C-130 Hercules aircraft from the 133rd Air Wing out of Fort Snelling floew over downtown Minneapolis Wednesday morning, May 6, 2020.

Returning Internal Revenue Service workers in Kansas City are being directed to a room well-stocked with face masks, while some other IRS offices were still telling staffers to buy or make their own as the Trump administration starts rolling out a location-based plan for returning more of the some 2 million federal workers to job sites.

Nurses, doctors, and medical personnel in New York City and England will now have access to free hotel rooms during the novel coronavirus outbreaks.

The post Hotels Are Opening Up Free Rooms to Healthcare Workers Battling the COVID-19 Outbreaks appeared first on Good News Network.

Kroger, which is the largest supermarket chain in the US by revenue, has now given their employees two different bonuses for their work during the pandemic.

The post Hourly Workers at Largest Grocery Chain in US Are All Getting ‘Hero Bonuses’ for Their Service Amid COVID-19 appeared first on Good News Network.

The Danish toy company has reworked some of their equipment to produce more than 13,000 protective plastic face masks every day.

The post LEGO Factory is Now Producing Thousands of Protective Plastic Face Masks for Medical Workers appeared first on Good News Network.

For two hours on Sunday mornings, all Sam's Club stores will be open to first responders and hospital workers—no membership required.

The post Sam’s Club is Offering ‘Hero Shopping Hours’ to Healthcare Workers Regardless of Memberships appeared first on Good News Network.

Nike is donating 32,500 pairs of shoes designed specially for healthcare workers, the Air Zoom Pulse, to hospitals hardest hit in the US and Europe.

The post Nike Donates Tens of Thousands of Shoes They Designed Exclusively for Healthcare Workers appeared first on Good News Network.

THE COVID-19 Omnibus (Emergency Measures) Bill 2020 passed.  The legislation “implements a range of temporary emergency measures to support Victorians and continue delivering the services we all rely on”.

SPANISH BROADCASTING SYSTEM joined with the SOUTH FLORIDA HISPANIC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, HOLIDAY BAKERY, and ART DECO SUPERMARKET AND CAFETERIA to deliver 100 hot meals and treats for … more

iHEARTMEDIA Top 40 WKSC (KISS 1035)/CHICAGO is rolling out the red carpet for the thousands of bartenders and servers who are sidelined with no work due to COVID-19 impacting their businesses … more

Former iHEARTMEDIA Top 40 KHTS (CHANNEL 933)/SAN DIEGO morning co-host STEVE KRAMER, now hosting his "CERTIFIED MAMA'S BOY" podcast, raised over $6000 to feed third shift … more

Calls have been made for a zero tolerance policy against threats in essential stores

The FCC is granting a blanket waiver to broadcasters of the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) requirement that mandates broad recruitment outreach for all open full-time positions when the … more

CUMULUS MEDIA Classic Rock WXMX  (98.1 THE MAX)/MEMPHIS, TN and the MEMPHIS MADE BREWING CO. are teaming up with AJAX DISTRIBUTING COMPANY of MEMPHIS to help hospitality workers … more

The workforce of the 21st century is more diverse than before. Over 85% of the total global workforce comprises frontline workers. Frontline workers are essentially the employees that have to be ‘present’ to accomplish their jobs. Unlike knowledge workers who can work from anywhere, frontline workers have to be on the ‘field’ which can be...

At the same time Vice President Mike Pence was in Iowa on Friday to discuss the nation’s food supply security, U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack called on the administration to take more measures to...

COVID-19 is a brutal villain, infecting millions and taking more than 185,000 lives worldwide, just over 100 of which were Iowans at the time of this writing. In the face of this, Iowans are showing the strength of their character. Individual acts of courage have become everyday occurrences. Nowhere is this truer than in our state’s long-term care centers.

The threat facing those in long-term care is unprecedented. Because many who are infected remain asymptomatic, efforts to prevent the virus from being introduced into facilities has proved difficult. Once the virus is introduced, it is hard to impede its spread — and virtually impossible without enhanced testing capabilities and more personal protective equipment (PPE) than we have access to today.

Long-term care providers have taken unprecedented steps to protect their residents, including prohibiting non-essential visitors in early March. Unfortunately, even with these measures and following guidance from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other public health officials, more than 3,600 long-term care facilities nationwide have been impacted by the virus, including 13 in Iowa.

Yet, in the face of this challenge, our long-term care workers are performing with a valor we have not seen during peacetime in a generation; maybe two.

While many of us are hunkered down in our homes teleworking and spending time with our families, these caregivers are leaving their families to provide care for the loved ones of others. What these caregivers are doing and what they are sacrificing is remarkable. We owe them our gratitude, and we owe them our best efforts to address their critical needs.

Adequate PPE and routine testing for long-term care are paramount. While there has been significant attention paid to providing hospitals with PPE, it is imperative we not overlook those working in long-term care.

More than 70% of long-term care facilities nationwide report they lack enough PPE. This not only puts our caregivers at risk, it also puts the people they care for at greater risk. Preventing the introduction of the virus and containing its spread in nursing homes and assisted living facilities is one of the most important things we must do to relieve pressure on hospitals now.

Testing is a critical area where more support is needed. There are protocols in place to limit the spread of the virus once it is in a facility, including establishing isolation wings where those who have the virus are kept apart from the rest of the residents and are cared for by staff who do not interact with those in the rest of the building. But the virus leaves many of those infected without symptoms, these steps cannot be effectively implemented without broader testing.

We applaud Gov. Kim Reynolds’ recent action to broaden testing for some of Iowa’s long-term care staff. Equally important is the plan to address potential staff shortages which may result from expanded testing. Since a test result only captures an individual’s infection status for a fixed period of time, long-term care staff and residents must be prioritized at the highest level to receive ongoing testing to effectively identify infections and respond as early as possible.

Those one the front lines of this fight need the tools to confront, contain and ultimately defeat the virus. There is reason to be hopeful. Even though residents of long-term care are particularly at risk, most recover from the virus. Caregivers can do even more amazing work if we get them the tools they need: protective equipment, testing and staffing.

It is time to rally around our long-term care residents and staff, and give them the support they need and deserve.

Brent Willett is president and CEO of the Iowa Health Care Association.

Chet Culver really should have known better.

Iowa’s former Democratic governor wrote a letter to current Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds decrying her administration’s declaration that workers who refuse to return to jobs amid COVID-19 fears would be denied unemployment benefits. He was among many who questioned whether Reynolds’ policy is even lawful, considering that unemployment rules allow Iowans to claim benefits for unsafe, intolerable or detrimental working conditions.

“Any such ill-conceived scheme that deprives them of choice and forces those hardworking, yet vulnerable, employees to report to unsafe workplace environments, while the positive incidences of COVID-19 infection are on the rise, is not merely penny-wise and pound-foolish — it is just plain wrong,” Culver argued.

But Culver should have known any overture for the rights of workers during the pandemic would fall on deaf ears. We learned Tuesday that more than 1,600 workers at four meatpacking plants tested positive for the virus. Reynolds continues insisting companies such as Tyson, with more than 1,300 cases at three facilities, are doing all they can to protect workers. In one Tyson facility at Perry, 58 percent of its employees contracted the virus.

Culver lost in 2010 to the Branstad-Reynolds ticket, a team that would go on to gut collective bargaining for public employees and make it far more difficult for injured workers to get compensation, among other greatest hits composed by its big business allies.

And Culver was bounced from office after issuing bonded debt to help Iowa communities, including Cedar Rapids, recover from natural disasters of 2008. Republicans dubbed him “Big Debt Chet” and decried his mismanagement of a crisis.

Strong management, apparently, is Reynolds’ decision to partially reopen 77 counties even as COVID-19 case numbers grow and deaths mount, and before ramped up testing and modeling provide critical information on the scope of the virus.

On Monday Reynolds received a lofty “A” grade from FreedomWorks and the Committee to Unleash Prosperity. Reynolds appeared on a conference call sponsored by the groups to talk about her strategy for reopening Iowa.

FreedomWorks and the Committee to Unleash Prosperity are conservative groups playing a key role in organizing “liberation” protests in Wisconsin, Oklahoma and elsewhere. FreedomWorks, with roots in the Tea Party movement, has been mobilizing local protesters and organizing events, according to The New York Times. It’s also conducting tracking polls in swing congressional districts and sharing data with presidential advisers and congressional staff.

“This isn’t political, and it shouldn’t be for anybody,” Reynolds told reporters this week when asked about her virus response.

FreedomWorks is among 24 groups who sent a letter to the president in April urging him to waive the Renewable Fuel Standard for the rest of the year due to pandemic concerns, potentially freeing Iowa farmers from more of their already scarce income.

So step aside Big Debt Chet. We’re unleashing prosperity. Even if workers get trampled.

(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com

At the same time Vice President Mike Pence was in Iowa on Friday to discuss the nation’s food supply security, U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack called on the administration to take more measures to protect workers in food processing plants.

Loebsack also questioned the decisions to reopen the economy being made by the Trump administration and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds.

“I don’t think we’re ready for that yet, quite honestly,” the Iowa City Democrat said.

“Ready” will be when adequate protections are in place for the people processing America’s food, Loebsack said.

Workers are showing up on the job, but “they fear for their families, they fear for themselves, they fear for everybody,” Loebsack said. “They don’t know if they’re going to catch this thing or not. But they’re there.”

Of particular concern are workers in food processing, such as those in meatpacking plants in Iowa where more than 1,600 cases of COVID-19 have been reported.

“I really believe that we should not open the plants if we do not ensure worker safety,” Loebsack said.

He called for President Donald Trump to use the Defense Production Act, which the president invoked to keep meatpacking plants open, to ensure an adequate supply of personal protective equipment for packing plant workers.

If Pence and the president are concerned about the nation’s food supply, then they need to “keep those workers safe and, therefore, keep those processing plants running” to avoid meat shortages at the grocery store, Loebsack said.

“We can’t have those plants running if workers are not protected. It’s that simple,” he said. “It’s not just the workers, it’s the families, it’s the community at large.”

With unemployment at 14.7 percent — probably higher, Loebsack said, Congress should extend federal coronavirus-related unemployment benefits of $600 a week beyond their current July end date.

He’s also pleased that the last relief package fixed a Small Business Administration Economic Injury Disaster Loan program to allow farmers to apply for assistance.

Comments: (319) 398-8375; james.lynch@thegazette.com

Nicholas Kristof: Before the coronavirus pandemic, I crept behind [expletive] Danish lines to explore: How scary is Denmark? How horrifying would it be if the United States took a step or two in the direction of Denmark? Would America lose its edge, productivity and innovation, or would it gain well-being, fairness and happiness?