Agencies have criticised the lack of action to protect the health needs of sex workers during the pandemic, with the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) warning of a “ticking time bomb of health...

As the U.S. health-care system sags under the strain of the COVID-19 pandemic, health-care workers are not only on the frontlines fighting the virus, they are also some of the most at-risk individuals, making it more essential than ever to have sufficient numbers of qualified health professionals. While 1.5 million immigrants and refugees are already working in the U.S. health-care system, an additional 263,000 immigrants and refugees in the U.S. with health-related college degrees are working in low-skilled jobs or are out of work.

Although in many countries immigrants fill labor gaps in fields such as agriculture and construction, few legal migration pathways exist for low-skilled workers. As states meet to negotiate a Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration, this policy brief takes stock of the channels available for such workers to move legally and take up work abroad, highlighting promising practices and policy gaps.

Faced with labor shortages in key sectors of the economy, South Korea has moved carefully in recent decades toward accepting greater numbers of workers—albeit in temporary fashion. Its Employment Permit System, launched in 2003, earned international accolades for bringing order and legality to immigration in the country, although several challenges remain to be addressed as this Country Profile explores.

Officials said 15 migrant workers were killed Friday when a cargo train ran them over as they slept on the tracks near Aurangabad, India.

From online petitions to organized walkouts, corporate America is facing increasing employee activism over its business involvement with agencies implementing the federal government's immigration policies. This "cubicle activism," seen at companies ranging from Amazon and Google to Bank of America and Wayfair, has garnered mixed success to date, forcing divestiture from private prison contractors but fewer results in other contexts, as this article explores.

The ADA is calling on Congress to help ensure there is appropriate personal protective equipment available to all health care providers — including dentists — who continue to provide emergency care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nearly 5,000 workers in 115 meat processing workers across 19 states have been diagnosed with COVID-19, according to figures released Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For children in U.S. homes where a language other than English is spoken, early childhood programs that are responsive to their needs can be key to later academic success. But as states refine their Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) to assess such programs, immigrant early childhood workers with in-demand language and cultural skills may be left behind. This report examines the challenges these workers face and promising practices to serve diverse communities.

This webinar discusses the first-ever profile of the 30 million immigrant-origin adults in the United States who lack a postsecondary credential such as a college degree, apprenticeship certificate, or occupational license. The researchers discuss their findings and policy implications with leading experts.

Hero worship alone doesn’t protect frontline clinicians from distress

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Six million immigrant workers are at the frontlines of keeping U.S. residents healthy and fed during the COVID-19 pandemic, representing disproportionate shares of physicians, home health aides, and retail-store pharmacists, for example. They also are over-represented in sectors most immediately devastated by mass layoffs, yet many will have limited access to safety-net systems and to federal relief, as this fact sheet details.

This webinar discusses the first-ever profile of the 30 million immigrant-origin adults in the United States who lack a postsecondary credential and offers analysis of the significant payoff credentials could bring in terms of workforce participation and wages.

WASHINGTON — Six million immigrant workers are at the frontlines of keeping U.S. residents healthy, safe and fed during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a Migration Policy Institute (MPI) analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data issued today. While the foreign born represented 17 percent of the 156 million civilians working in 2018, they account for larger shares in pandemic-response frontline occupations: 29 percent of all physicians in the United States, 38 percent of home health aides and 23 percent of retail-store pharmacists, for example.

The coronavirus pandemic is unlike anything we've ever seen in health care, says emergency physician Esther Choo. Sharing insights into how health workers are responding to the outbreak, she explains what makes this public health emergency different from others -- and provides a few simple things you can do to help. Watch to the end to hear about Choo's work deploying mobile ICUs across the United States as hospitals start to reach capacity. (This virtual conversation is part of the TED Connects series, hosted by current affairs curator Whitney Pennington Rodgers and head of curation Helen Walters. Recorded April 7, 2020)

Health care workers are under more stress than ever before. How can they protect their mental health while handling new and complex pressures? TED Fellow Laurel Braitman shows how writing and sharing personal stories helps physicians, nurses, medical students and other health professionals connect more meaningfully with themselves and others -- and make their emotional well-being a priority.

The Eugene, Ore., superintendent has led the district since 2015 and has emphasized diverse leadership, improved school facilities, and support services for newly arrived immigrant students and their families.

Three Oregon school employees sued their union in federal court last week, arguing it's unfair that the teachers' union only lets members drop out and stop paying dues during the month of September.

A train in India on Friday plowed through a group of migrant workers who fell asleep on the tracks after walking back home from a coronavirus lockdown, killing 15, the Railways Ministry said. Early this week the government started running trains to carry stranded workers to their home states.

The infections and deaths are spread across roughly two farms and 189 meat and processed food factories.

The new style is available to shop today.

Doctors and nurses are attaching smiling photos of themselves to the outside of their protective gear to maintain connections with patients

The Kent State shootings further widened the chasm among a citizenry divided over the Vietnam War

For those working in CHSLDs — the province's long-term care homes which are the site of the most serious outbreaks — the bonus will amount to as much as $1,000 per month.

The University of Manitoba is laying off dozens of employees as it tries to find savings at a time when post-secondary schools have largely been closed since COVID-19 emerged on the Prairies, a union says.

Despite having no ice on which to perform, more than 40 figure skaters from nine countries will take part in a fundraiser Friday to help health care workers on the front lines battling the new coronavirus.

The Canadian four-time world champion figure skater took part in the Americares Blades for the Brave fundraiser for front-line workers battling the COVID-19 pandemic.

Employees in Alberta continuing care homes and seniors’ residences are the most likely recipients of a federal wage top-up intended for essential workers.

Bank of England Working Papers by Cristiano Cantore and Lukas Freund

Danes haven’t built a “socialist” country. Just one that works.

Vatican City, May 6, 2020 / 05:30 am (CNA).- The coronavirus crisis can be an opportunity to recenter work on the dignity of each person, Pope Francis said in an appeal at the end of his general audience broadcast on Wednesday. 

“On May 1, I received several messages about the world of work and its problems. I was particularly struck by that of the agricultural workers, among them many migrants, who work in the Italian countryside. Unfortunately, many are very harshly exploited,” Pope Francis said May 6.

“It is true that the current crisis affects everyone, but people's dignity must always be respected. That is why I add my voice to the appeal of these workers and of all exploited workers. May the crisis give us the opportunity to make the dignity of the person and of work the center of our concern,” he said. 

Amid fears of a food shortage, the Italian government is currently discussing whether to legalize some undocumented migrant workers. These workers are particularly vulnerable to exploitation with illegal contracts that can pay less than half of Italy’s minimum wage for the agricultural sector.

May 1 is recognized as Labor Day in Italy and many countries throughout Europe, however it is not an official holiday in the Vatican, which instead celebrates the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, established by Pope Pius XII in 1955.

On the feast day, the pope asked St. Joseph to help Catholics fight for dignified work. He prayed that “no one might be without work and all might be paid a just wage.”

Pope Francis said in his Wednesday audience that prayer is “a cry that comes for the heart of those who believe and entrust themselves to God.” The pope began a new cycle of weekly catechesis on May 6 focused on prayer. 

“Not only do Christians pray, they share the cry of prayer with all men and women. But the horizon can still be widened. Paul says that the whole creation ‘groans and suffers the pains of childbirth,’” he said, quoting St. Paul’s letter to the Romans.

“The Catechism states that ‘humility is the foundation of prayer,’” the pope said. “Prayer … comes from our precarious state, from our continuous thirst for God.”

Pope Francis focused his catechesis on the Gospel account of Bartimaeus, the blind beggar from Jericho.

Bartimaeus “uses the only weapon in his possession: his voice. He starts shouting: ‘Son of David, Jesus, have mercy on me,’” the pope explained.

“And Jesus listens to his cry. Bartimaeus' prayer touches his heart, the heart of God, and the doors of salvation are opened for him,” he said. “He recognizes in that poor, helpless, despised man, all the power of his faith, which attracts the mercy and power of God.”

“Stronger than any argument, there is a voice in the human heart that calls out. We all have this voice inside. A voice that comes out spontaneously, without anyone commanding it, a voice that questions the meaning of our journey down here, especially when we are in the dark: ‘Jesus, have mercy on me! Jesus, have mercy on me!’ This is a beautiful prayer,” Pope Francis said.

SIR Andy Murray has sent a heartfelt message to NHS staff for their heroic work during the coronavirus crisis.

IT was a sombre appraisal, but the sense of relief was self-evident. “The war in Europe has ended at the last more suddenly than we sometimes dared to hope”, began the Glasgow Herald’s leading article on the morning of Tuesday, May 8, 1945.

EUGENE Cairns (Herald Letters, May 6) feels that a fitting tribute to our NHS heroes would be to name hospitals and wards after those who have died in our service during the pandemic crisis.

For the first time in 130 years, there will be no rallies and marches to celebrate what began as a campaign for an eight-hour working day.

Where businesses are fighting to survive, agility is the name of the game, says Mignon Reynecke.

CNA Staff, Apr 30, 2020 / 05:47 pm (CNA).- When Bolivia closed its borders March 25 to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, hundreds of Bolivian seasonal farm workers in central Chile found themselves stranded.

With their seasonal work ended and their savings depleted, many of the farm workers had no choice but to sleep on the streets of Santiago, unable to obtain food or shelter.

In the weeks that followed, Catholic groups stepped up to arrange shelter, food, and additional aid for the migrant workers.
Red CLAMOR, a network coordinating efforts among numerous organizations to serve migrants, refugees, and human trafficking victims, led the effort to provide temporary shelter for the Bolivians starting the night of April 28.

The network coordinated with the Chilean Catholic Institute for Migration, the Archdiocese of Santiago, the Vicariate for Social Ministry, the Human Mobility Ministry, Jesuit Migration Services, and Caritas Chile, as well as municipalities and the central government to arrange for shelter and meals for the Bolivians.

Initially, the network found accommodations for 600 people. By the first evening, however, the total had risen to 950, lodged at parishes and a local retreat house.

The migrant workers were provided with masks and hand sanitizer, meals, and sleeping mats. They are also being aided with legal advice on their employment situation and access to unemployment insurance.

Auxiliary Bishop Cristián Roncagliolo of Santiago said the effort was coordinated with the municipalities and other government authorities.

“For the moment it’s a solution so that they can stay somewhere more decent than the street,” the prelate said.

“It’s our Gospel duty to welcome the stranger. But we know that’s not enough. Because there are many more people that still need be in lockdown in order to later return to their country,” he continued. “We encourage other social actors to be welcoming to the Bolivian brothers.”

Lorenzo Figueroa, the director of Caritas Chile, called the situation “a new wakeup call about what the migrant communities are going through, especially during times of pandemic.”

Caritas Chile reported that the Foreign Ministries of Chile and Bolivia have reached an agreement that if Bolivian citizens stay quarantined for 14 days in the city of Iquique in northern Chile, which is close to Bolivia, they can then return to their own country.

 

Penn State Health St. Joseph has moved swiftly to tackle the COVID-19 crisis, converting portions of its hospital as COVID-19 clinics, applying tried-and-true methods and learning on the fly.

The Penn State Wilkes-Barre Alumni Society provided lunch for local, hardworking medical professionals as a way to thank them for their efforts during the ongoing coronavirus outbreak and working to keep local residents safe.

The Economy, Energy and Fair Work Committee has today issued a call for views from Scottish businesses and workers on the current Covid-19 crisis.

CNA Staff, Mar 27, 2020 / 11:19 am (CNA).- Four men working in Iraq for the French humanitarian organization SOS Chrétiens d'Orient who went missing in Baghdad in January have been released by their kidnappers, the French president announced Thursday.

Emmanuel Macron announced March 26 that he “welcomes the release of our three nationals Antoine Brochon, Julien Dittmar, Alexandre Goodarzy and Iraqi Tariq Mattoka.”

The men disappeared Jan. 20 after they made a trip to an appointment by car. SOS Chrétiens d'Orient tried to contact them the following day, unsuccessfully.

The missing employees had gone to Baghdad “to renew their visas and the registration of association with the Iraqi authorities and to monitor the association's operations” in the country.

Macron's office said it had made “every effort” to secure their release, and he expressed “gratitude to the Iraqi authorities for their co-operation.”

SOS Chrétiens d'Orient said last week that they had received no ransom demand, and no group had claimed responsibility for the abduction.

The organization works to support Eastern Christians with humanitarian material aid; it has permanent missions in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Egypt.

Christians in Iraq have suffered persecution in recent years, especially during the invasion of the Islamic State.

Prior to the United States invasion of Iraq in 2003, there were about 1.5 million Iraqi Christians. Today, that number is believed to be fewer than 500,000.

Program would provide state-guaranteed, low-interest loans for workers going unpaid during shutdown DOVER, Del. – Governor John Carney on Thursday announced a state-guaranteed, low-interest loan program to assist federal workers who are going unpaid during the federal government shutdown. Loans funded through the program announced Thursday would be made by a financial institution and with […]

DOVER, DE – Delaware Insurance Commissioner Trinidad Navarro is pleased to announce that there will be another decrease in workers’ compensation insurance rates, effective December 1, 2019. “I am delighted to approve a decrease in workers’ compensation rates in Delaware for the third year in a row,” stated Commissioner Navarro. “These continued decreases mean significant […]

Workplace Safety Program saves $7.6 million for participants The Delaware Department of Insurance has analyzed new filings from the state’s top writers of workers’ compensation insurance after announcing the third consecutive year of decreased rates in November. The top writers represent nearly 10,000 companies that hold policies within the state. Policyholders of these companies will […]

Governor signs proclamation marking March as Social Work Month WILMINGTON, Del. – Governor John Carney on Thursday recognized the role of Delaware’s social workers as he signed a proclamation marking Social Work Month. The Governor signed the proclamation during an event at the Wilmington Public Library, one of seven libraries statewide where since January social […]

Wilmington --

DART, together with Amtrak, NJ TRANSIT, SEPTA, and other regional public transit operators today launched a coordinated day of action to simultaneously sound their fleet of bus horns on April 16 to honor heroic transportation workers across the region. As a tribute to #HeroesMovingHeroes on the front lines of this public health crisis, all buses running in service will give two one-second horn blasts at 3 PM in solidarity with partner agencies. Heroic transportation workers continue to provide critical service for healthcare workers, first responders, childcare workers, grocery store employees and other heroes who are performing critically essential work during the Covid-19 pandemic. [More]