"... killing workers for profit is the perfect crime."

[Scuba]

http://www.uppitywis.org/blogarticle/making-killing-texas-style

In Texas (and, sadly, elsewhere in the US), killing workers for profit is the perfect crime. In 2005 an explosion at British Petroleum’s Texas City refinery killed 15 and injured 170. Five years later, BP’s offshore drilling rig, Deepwater Horizon, exploded and killed 11 workers. Though BP was fined for both incidents, there were no arrests of those responsible. Similarly Gulf Stream Marine, which handles cargo at Gulf Coast ports, experienced six fatal accidents from 2007 to 2011. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) found violations in every case but subsequently deleted violations and erased penalties in half of them.

Texas construction workers fare no better. According to Build a Better Texas, a study by the University of Texas: “More construction workers die in Texas than in any other state. One in every five workers surveyed reported suffering a workplace injury that required medical attention. Sixty percent of workers have never received basic safety training, and researchers discovered numerous safety violations on almost every worksite they visited.” The study also found:

• More than half of surveyed workers earned poverty-level wages. Half had insufficient financial resources to support their families. Low-wage workers were more likely to lack health insurance or workers’ compensation coverage.

• More than one in five workers (22%) didn’t get paid for their work. Half weren’t paid overtime, despite working as many as 80 hours per week.

• Seventy-one percent had no benefits. Seventy-eight percent lacked health insurance. Other workplace benefits, such as paid leave and pensions, were even less common.

• An estimated 41% of construction workers were victims of payroll fraud, misclassified as independent contractors, or paid off the books in cash.

[liberal N proud]

1. These companies continue to press their right wing friends in Congress to further relax regulations

West Texas is the perfect example of what smaller government can and will cause.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

2. In a short time all of America will be like this.

[Triana]

3. They want slave labor

Mark. My. Words.

Slavery was allegedly outlawed in the U.S. but slave labor is not.

[TRoN33]

13. True!

I never thought of that part, the slave labor, that is something Koch brothers' ALEC must be in complete love with. Look at Michigan and Wisconsin, they are practically killing the Unions that have benefit both of these states for very long times. Apparently Koch brothers are obessesed with General Motors' Union workers victories against the corporations and they want to have the big pay-back against the Unions.

Koch brothers always regarding themselves to be proud patriotic of America and apparently a lot of people in Americans can't simply see through their mouths.

[Blue Palasky]

5. I was just thinking this as i read

and half of this country is too repugnant to see it.

[Ilsa]

11. You may be right.

There tends to be a race to the bottom due to greed. Texas business owners should be ashamed of this record. I hope my fellow citizens can turn this around.

I wonder if there is some way to beat them at their own game?

[raging_moderate]

4. Yes, but think of all of that "Freedom" that states like Texas have!

They are a model for us all. Wisconsin seems to presently be a test case for even more freedoms being shoved down our throats whether we want them our not - those liberals just don't know what they really need 'cause of the librul media conspiracy. Someone once said something about our freedom-tree-thingy needing to be fertilized with some of our blood....this must be what they meant.

[Roy Rolling]

9. "Job Creators"

Texas boasts of job creation. The jobs created are increasingly anti-employee, dangerous, low-paying and exploitative.

Those jobs are the dreams of the 1% and its agenda to transfer wealth from the many to the few.

[mountain grammy]

6. Yes, the "free market" alive and well in Texas..

Too bad our poor excuse for a mainstream media reports none of this... While Gov. goodhair runs around the country bragging about the great unregulated Texas economy.
They won't stop until the entire country is like this.. wake the hell up, teabaggers!

[malaise]

7. Texas, Bangladesh, wherever

It's the same
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/24/bangladesh-building-collapse-kills-garment-workers

[Ilsa]

12. ^^^ Why don't more people realize this? ^^^ nt

[kenny blankenship]

8. A glimpse of our future: Factory collapses in Bangladesh, killing 87

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/04/24/bangladesh-building-collapse/2108727/

[BrainDrain]

10. I have posted this quote before....

"In pre-capitalist economies, exploitation of the worker was achieved via physical coercion. In the capitalist mode of production, that result is more subtly achieved; because the worker does not own the means of production, he or she must voluntarily enter into an exploitive work relationship with a capitalist in order to earn the necessities of life. The worker's entry into such employment is voluntary in that he or she chooses which capitalist to work for. However, the worker must work or starve. Thus, exploitation is inevitable, and the "voluntary" nature of a worker participating in a capitalist society is illusory."

Brothers and sisters of the trampled on working class, how many times must we be shoved into the mud before we realize that capitalists cannot make a dime without our labor. Politicians cannot get elected without our vote. How many must die, lose their jobs, their homes, their dignity before we actually do something about it.

We don't need a day to remember all those who have died so the rich can relax on their yachts in the Cayman Islands. We need a day of resistance to remember them by. A day to strike, to not be a part of the money-machine anymore. To stand up for who we are, people with families, hopes and dreams. We are not parts that can be replaced when we are worn out, broken or destroyed in the pursuit of monster profits.

Revolt! Strike!

[annabanana]

14. big kick. . . n/t