Job Stress & Heart Disease

September 14, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Researchers have analyzed 13 European studies covering 200,000 people, and concluded that “job strain” is linked to a 23% increased risk of heart attacks and deaths from coronary heart disease.

A recent article in the Lancet medical journal identifies job strain- from job insecurity, excessive workloads, inadequate deadlines, etc. –  is a type of stress.

(Note: the research did not specifically investigate the impact of workplace bullying and abuse – which is job strain on steroids – on workers. However, many other studies show a link between workplace bullying and potentially serious mental and physical health problems. )

At the beginning of each of the studies, people were asked a series of questions, such as whether they had excessive workloads or insufficient time to do their job , and they were asked about how much freedom they had to make decisions.  They were then sorted into people with job strain or not and followed for an average of seven and a half years.

One of the researchers, Prof Mika Kivimaki, from University College London, said: “Our findings indicate that job strain is associated with a small but consistent increased risk of experiencing a first coronary heart disease event, such as a heart attack.”

The researchers said eliminating job strain would prevent 3.4% of those cases.

Interestingly, job strain is associated with other more deadly health risk factors, such as smoking and obesity. Kivimaki told the BBC:  “We know smokers with job strain are more likely to smoke a bit more, active people with job strain are more likely to become inactive and there is a link with obesity.”

The research indicates that workers with more control over their jobs experience less job strain. For examples, medical doctors do not experience the same level of strain as low skilled workers.

According to Prof Kivimaki, “If one has high stress at work you can still reduce risk by keeping a healthy lifestyle.”

The researchers conclude that preventing job strain would decrease the incidence of heart disease, though they emphasize that eliminating smoking and  avoiding obesity would provide the greatest benefit.

Filed Under: DISPATCHES Tagged With: coronary heart disease, heart attack, job strain, job stress, Lancet, Prof Mika Kivimaki, stress at work, University College London, worked-related heart attack

‘Lost Decade’ for American Workers

September 8, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The Economic Policy Institute has confirmed something most workers already know – wages have stagnated in the past decade.

 But why?

An excerpt from the 12th edition of EPI’s forthcoming The State of Working America, says  the ongoing erosion of unionization and the resultant decline in worker bargaining power has inhibited unions ability to set norms or labor standards that raise the wages of comparable nonunion workers.

 The EPI report states that the share of the American workforce represented by unions declined from 1973 to 2011 from 26.7 percent to 13.1 percent. 

 The EPI report characterizes the last decade as a “lost decade” for wage growth.

According to the Institute, the median worker’s real hourly compensation (including wages and benefits: rose 10.7 percent between 1973 and 2011.  But most of this growth occurred in the late 1990s. Since 2002 and 2003, real wages and compen­sation have stagnated for most workers—college graduates and high school graduates alike.

(By contrast, average Chief Executive Officer  compensation rose 725%  between 1978 and 2011, according to a study earlier this year by  EPI) 

 The EPI report documents some of the benefits of unionization for workers: 

  •  The union wage premium—the percentage-higher wage earned by those covered by a collective bargain­ing contract—is 13.6 percent over­all (17.3 percent for men and 9.1 percent for women).
  • Unionized workers are 28.2 percent more likely to be covered by employer-provided health insurance and
  • Unionized workers are 53.9 percent more likely to have employer-provided pensions.

 In addition to wage stagnation, the EPI states the “lost decade” is characterized by increased wage inequality between workers at the top and those at the middle, and by the continued divergence between overall productivity and the wages or compensation of the typical worker.

 De-unionization can explain about a third of the entire growth of wage inequality among men and around a fifth of the growth among women from 1973 to 2007, according to the EPI.

The EPI report attributes the erosion of bargaining power to a harsher economic context for unions because of trade pressures, the shift to services, and ongoing technological change. However, ana­lysts also point to  employers’ militant stance against unions and changes in the application and administration of labor lawss.

The EPI is a non-profit, non-partisan think tank founded in 1986 to study the needs of low income and middle income workers..

* The  full EPI report is scheduled for released on September 11, 2012.

Filed Under: DISPATCHES Tagged With: Chief Executive Officer pay, de-unionization, decline of unions, Ecnomic Policy Institute, health benefits, penions, State of Working America, union premium, wage stagnation

The EEOC’s New Gameplan

September 8, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The situation in the United States is bleak, to say the least, for workers who are targets of employment discrimination and harassment.

 Federal courts are blatantly hostile to these types of cases -  dismissing most of them before they ever reach a jury – and our leaders in Washington, D.C., seem to be oblivious.

Part of the problem is that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency that is supposed to be combatting employment discrimination, is overwhelmed and underfunded.

 The EEOC says there has been  a 38 percent rise in the number of charges filed with the EEOC  against private employers and state and local government employers in the past 20 years.  But  the  EEOC’s staffing levels and funding dropped nearly 30 percent between 2000 and 2008. An infusion of resources in 2009 allowed for some rebuilding of capacity, but that was quickly stalled when funding was reduced and hiring freezes were implemented in FY 2011 and 2012.

The bottom line is that  many observers feel the EEOC has been about  as effective as a gnat battling an elephant in recent years.

 But  it seems that change is afoot. The EEOC is seeking public comment  (see below) on a proposed new strategic plan that it hopes will be more effective than the EEOC’s prior practice of  filing individual lawsuits against select employers. 

In its new plan, the EEOC says it will strategically attack  practices and issues that adversely affect large numbers of employees. The EEOC identifies five national priorities:

1.  Eliminate Systemic Barriers in Recruitment and Hiring. The EEOC will target class-based  hiring discrimination and facially neutral hiring practices that adversely impact particular groups. This includes, for example, steering of individuals into specific jobs due to their status in a particular group, restrictive application processes, and the use of screening tools (e.g., pre-employment tests, background screens, date of birth screens in online applications) that adversely impact groups protected under the law.

2. Protect immigrant, migrant and other vulnerable workers. The EEOC will target disparate pay, job segregation, harassment, trafficking and discriminatory language policies affecting these vulnerable workers who may be unaware of their rights under the equal employment laws, or reluctant or unable to exercise them.

3. Address Emerging Issues. The agency will address emerging issues with respect to:

-The Americans with Disability Act, particularly coverage issues, and the proper application of ADA defenses, such as undue hardship, direct threat, and business necessity;

-Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals coverage under Title VII sex discrimination provisions.

-Accommodating pregnancy when women have been forced onto unpaid leave after being denied accommodations routinely provided to similarly situated employees.

4. Preserve Access to the Legal System. The EEOC will target policies and practices intended to prevent  individuals from exercising their rights under employment discrimination statutes, or which impede the EEOC’s investigative or enforcement effort, including retaliatory actions; overly broad waivers; and settlement provisions that prohibit filing charges with EEOC.

5. Combat Harassment. The EEOC will launch a national education and outreach campaign – aimed at both employees and employers – to prevent and appropriately respond to harassment in the workplace.

 Okay, some of this sounds like politically-correct gobbledygook that is incapable of measurement. At the same time, it is encouraging that the EEOC is rethinking its past practices. The  38 percent increase in charges filed with the EEOC  also represents an increase  the suffering of American workers and their families who are subjected to illegal discrimination by employers.  American workers need all the help they can get!

Comments and suggestions must be submitted to the EEOC about the plan by 5 p.m. ET on September 18, 2012 at [email protected] or received by mail at Executive Officer, Office of the Executive Secretariat, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 131 M Street, NE, Washington, D.C. 20507. The Commission plans to vote on the draft plan at the end of this fiscal year.

Filed Under: DISPATCHES Tagged With: , , discirmination against LGBT employees, , discrimination against migrants, , , , , Federal Courts dismiss employment discrimination cases, , ,
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