Works Initiative News | Worker Wellness & Career Opportunities

Wellness & Well-being Highlights August 28

Wellness & Well-being Highlights

for the

Week of August 28, 2023

This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog consists of topics on how some communities are handling 911 calls with Mental Health experts vs Police to why HR professionals should prioritize Mental Health issues to how and why a construction union in KC, MO is calling on local, state, and federal officials to improve and ensure worker safety on the job site. Today, I wish to shed some light on a newly published study that indicated child gun deaths in the US have hit a record high. In 2021, nearly 4800 kids died by gunfire…of which nearly two-thirds were Black children while white children made up almost 80% of gun-assisted suicides. I, like many of you, am a gun owner. However, upon reflection, I cannot support the NRA’s rhetoric concerning 2^nd Amendment Rights at the expense of our kids’ futures. Yet, here we are at the dawn of another election year, publicly debating the value of one’s rights vs a child’s life…while Rome is burning!

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/number-us-children-killed-by-guns-hit-record-high-2021-study-2023-08-22/

Kids killed by guns hit record number

AZ / 911 employees / MH

Police / 911 Calls / MH

Highest OD deaths in construction

Politician/Vet calls out opioids profiteers

Vets / MH / PTSD / App

Spending on pharma & MH to rise

MH @ Work Poll

Workplace Safety

Tonic Immobility: On the Trauma of Rape & Freezing

On Black Americans & Depression

On Spirituality & Despair

Anxiety & Supplements?

MDMA: Pros & Cons

On Transgender Inclusion

Stretches & Stress Relief

MLK’s Dream Revisited

Finding Meaning: Wheelchair Football

UK Nurse & Infant Deaths

Update: Teamsters & UPS Contract Vote

FedEx Pilots Concerned

AZ / Chip Mfg / Foreign Labor Issues

Tipping: The New Battleground

Minimum Wage In Hot Markets

Wages: The Bidding War is Over?

Mallinckrodt Hides Behind Bankruptcy to Avoid Settlement Payments

The End of ESG Investing?

Is AI Coming After White-collar Jobs?

Laborers Speak Out In KC After Needless Jobsite Death

Fed Warns About Construction Worker Fraud

College Students & Construction Careers

Cobalt / Batteries / Child Labor

Missouri Apprentice Ready Program 2023 Annual Report

The Missouri Works Initiative was founded on the belief that all Missourians deserve the opportunity to learn skills that will lead to gainful employment, self-sufficiency, dignity, and respect. Many underserved members of our communities face obstacles to family- supporting employment.

Please use the arrows at the top of the PDF to read our 2023 Annual Report!

23.MWI.0645.MissouriWorksAnnualReport.toPP

August 23, 2023/by Braxton Payne

Worker Wellness News

Wellness & Well-being Highlights August 21

Wellness & Well-being Highlights

for the

Week of August 21, 2023

This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog consists of topics from Tik-Tok brain to how Canada is addressing its worker shortage by supporting older workers to how some parents in Missouri may now be put in jail for their children’s truancy. Today, I wish to shed some light on the new movement of holding 3^rd grades back who fail standardized reading tests. Experts suggest that students who cannot read at grade level by 4^th grade are more likely to face incarceration. As such, I do not support the concept of social promotion. However, I also do not support politicians who short-change school funding via tax incentives to big businesses (i.e., Walmart, etc.). As someone who devoted nearly his entire career to workforce development, I find it very disturbing when politicians hide behind employers under the guise of “employers demanding a better educated workforce”. Meanwhile, many of these same squeaky-wheel employers are funneling campaign funds to those very politicians for future favors. It never ceases to amaze me how the people in “control” fail to see that these backroom deals can contribute to a community’s race to the bottom. I often shake my head when reading stories like the WSJ article linked below knowing that those parties complaining are at the root of the bigger problem. Yet, society’s solution is to punish our struggling kids…because of the shortcomings of unethical adults!

Source: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/more-states-threaten-to-hold-back-third-graders-who-cant-read-19f9765

Parents / College Students / Legal Docs

Students & Adderall shortage

Kids & Tik-Tok Brain

Kids / Summer Camp / MH

Winning w/ Honor

Sober living in Milwaukee

Wellness & Well-being Highlights August 14

Wellness & Well-being Highlights

for the

Week of August 14, 2023

This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog consists of topics from the launch of a new mini-series on the US opioids crisis (“Painkiller” on Netflix) to how police are testing high drivers to why younger workers in China, India, and Vietnam are avoiding factory jobs. Today, I wish to shed some light on the issue of the college “arms race”. For the past couple of decades, many universities have been on a spending spree: Building more specialized labs, rec centers, stadiums, etc. Some administrators have claimed they needed to do this to recruit the best and brightest students. In the end, it is the students and their families who paid for these amenities…but at what cost? In an era of “college for all”, too many parents pushed their kids to attend tertiary education—often aimlessly—and, now, more than a few graduates are claiming to have worthless degrees. It is no secret that: 1) Universities, for the most part, were one of a few industries in the US that continued to raise their prices, year after year, during the Great Recession (2007-2012); and 2) Student debt is one of the few types of debt, in general, one cannot file for bankruptcy. With these points in mind, is there any wonder why:

student debt ($1.6t) now exceeds the sub-prime mortgage debacle in 2007 ($1.2t); and
young adults are putting off traditions like marriage and home-buying?

Some of us may have friends who have “joked” about their 28-32 yo children living in their basements. Recent surveys reveal that too many of these young adults are now convinced their lives will not be better than that of their parents. With respect to the so-called American Dream, one might ask how the related actions of Congress, bankers, and universities have done more harm than good?

Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/state-university-tuition-increase-spending-41a58100?mod=Searchresults_pos1&page=1

MO Moms / Pregnancy / Death

MH Tool Kit for Schools

Business of Well-being

New CDC data on Suicides

OD Deaths & Xylazine

Xylazine in Maine

MH Tool Kt for Construction

Supporting Injured Workers

Coal Miners & Silica

Black Women & Opioids

Lolla & Narcan

Meth / Money / Motivation

PAINKILLER Movie / Opioids / Sacklers

US Supreme Court & Opioids Settlement (1)

US Supreme Court & Opioids Settlement (2)

Fentanyl’s Path from Mexico

OD deaths in Mexico

Police / Testing / High Drivers

Heat Inequity

Facing Your Fears

Emotional Health & Mondays

AI & Babysitting?

Impact of Social Connections

On Happiness

Drug Trials & Suicide Death

New Rules on Donating Blood

Retirement / Illness / Money Planning

Kimchi & Fermented Foods

Your Brain & Language Apps

Trucker & Pilots are Fed Up

Update: Davis-Bacon Law

Starbucks Diversity Policy Challenged

The Real Cost of College Tuition

College Students & Money Mistakes

When workers make more than managers

WFH era fading?

Gen Z & Benefits

Graying of US Prison Population

Younger Workers & Asian Factories

Germany / Time / Trains

Canada & Free Construction Training

Upcoming webinars, etc.:

ASIST Training

Impact of Suicide in Construction Industry

NOTE: The links provided above are for informational purposes only. None of these serve as a substitute for medical advice one should obtain from his/her own primary care physician and/or mental health professional. Please contact johngaal@moaflcio.org with related questions or comments.

August 14, 2023/by Braxton Payne

Worker Wellness News

Wellness & Well-being Highlights August 7

Wellness & Well-being Highlights

for the

Week of August 7, 2023

This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog consists of topics from a new pill for postpartum depression to how costs are causing employers to limit employees access to weigh loss drugs to how pandemic-related student learning loss has negatively impacted new workers’ skills. Today, I wish to shed some light on the issue of unintended consequences. For several years, Portugal has been held up as a model country for decriminalizing drugs. And, a couple of states have adopted/adapted that model to fit their needs (i.e., Oregon). Truth be told, SUD/OUD rarely is JUST about illegal drug use. Too often, other aspects of mental health play concurrent key roles…not to mention joblessness, homelessness, etc. To debate whether or not the “War on Drugs” has failed our citizens only seems to further entrench opposing sides. In my opinion, we must recognize that the scourge of Fentanyl has touched ALL of our lives…directly or indirectly. Stats for 2022 reveal that nearly 110k people in the USA died from drug overdoses, of which ~70% were due to Fentanyl. In other words, US Fentanyl-related deaths equate to approximately 77k people in 2022 or almost 211 per day. So, no matter which side you are on, someone near and dear to you may very easily be part of that daily 211. Isn’t it time we set our differences aside and work together to reduce these numbers…at least back to 2016 figures: 160 per day? To this end, I respectfully have 2 asks: PLEASE don’t wait till this tragic issue hits your dinner table. PLEASE do consider what you might do on the upcoming International Overdose Awareness Day (August 31) to help break the stigma and maybe save a life of a friend or family member. Thank you!

Sources: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/07/07/portugal-drugs-decriminalization-heroin-crack/

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/31/health/portland-oregon-drugs.html?searchResultPosition=1

https://ncapda.org/ioad/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwib2mBhDWARIsAPZUn_n6hyPksWH3F1WIJRb0W0x3Pz2b7KgDAunvUBqVd3V2y1sU5sVsfCgaArLcEALw_wcB

Heat & Age

International Overdose Awareness Day

Facts About Fentanyl

Portugal & Drug Decriminalization

Portland & Drug Decriminalization

Homeless Camp / Oakland

Boston / Opioids Settlement / Spending

Wasting opioids settlement funds

Addiction & Involuntary Treatment

Women & Postpartum Depression

Postpartum Depression Pill

50% of Population w/ MH Issues

~90% of Teens: MH Challenges

Bipolar Disorder: Women v Men

Women / Alcohol / Deaths

MLB Pitcher / Alcohol Rehab

Hangovers

Wellness & Well-being Highlights July 30

Wellness & Well-being Highlights

for the

Week of July 30, 2023

This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog consists of topics from how big pharma is using the US legal system to skirt their obligations to assist the communities that they helped destroy to how the songs of birds can aid in easing your anxiety to the importance of creating apprenticeships across all industrial sectors in order to address today’s workforce shortages. Today, I wish to shed some light on the issue of Recovery Friendly Workplaces (RFW). On August 10, 2023, University of Missouri- Extension will be holding a summit in Columbia, MO (live and virtual) showcasing the work they have accomplished in this arena over the last ~3 years. As noted in related articles below, people who are in MOUD (Medication for Opioid Use Disorder) recovery have proven to be some of the most loyal and productive employees. In Missouri alone, we have nearly 29,000 working-age people in MOUD recovery (of which approximately 3800 are people with construction skills) and yet industries across the spectrum continue to ring the “workforce shortage” warning bell. The aforementioned event will allow interested employers to network with firms that have created safe environments for workers in MOUD recovery. The bottom line: Isn’t about time we consider giving people a 2^nd, 3^rd, or maybe even a 4^th chance?

Sources: https://extension.missouri.edu/events/recovery-friendly-workplace-reimagining-today-s-workforce

https://fortune.com/2023/07/27/opioid-recovery-friendly-workplace-culture-tips/

https://fortune.com/longform/drug-addiction-recovery-workplace-support/

https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/state_news/workplace-support-plays-a-critical-role-in-managing-the-opioid-crisis/article_0c6383ba-1511-11ee-a1c1-7743f660e7e5.html

MH worsening for employees

New proposed rules for MH parity

Help for domestic violence

Recovery Friendly Workplace Tips

RFW Support

Workplace & Managing the opioid crisis

Celebrating RFW

Fentanyl & Murder charges

Portland / Homeless / Fentanyl

$1b end run on opioids settlement obligation

Purdue Pharma’s win & US Supreme Court’s failure

On combating Tranq Dope

Social media & Student harm

Screening for anxiety?

Workplace resilience

Grief as a spiritual practice

Cost of weight on career

Ozempic: Losing weight & Suicidal ideation?

Pain management

Your brain needs a vacation

Birds & MH

COVID’s next vaccine

Depression & Personal hygiene

How to chill out

Wellness & False claims

Craft projects & Strangers

2023’s best exercises?

Making friends as an adult

A “smart” gun?

Public pools & Drowning

Update: UPS & Teamsters

Farmworkers / Visa / Labor shortage

Update: Military sexual assault

OSHA / Injury data / Exposure

Hard hat / Job openings

Govt jobs / Wage wars

On presenteeism

50% employees looking to leave

China’s youth unemployment

HR & Child care

NY crane collapse

Baking on a plane

Dealing w/ record heat

Why Apprenticeships?

WC / Concussions / Collar

WC / Head injury

Upcoming webinars, etc.:

Opioids crisis & Ethnic communities

Recovery Friendly Workplaces

NOTE: The links provided above are for informational purposes only. None of these serve as a substitute for medical advice one should obtain from his/her own primary care physician and/or mental health professional. Please contact johngaal@moaflcio.org with related questions or comments.

July 31, 2023/by Braxton Payne

Worker Wellness News

Wellness & Well-being Highlights July 23

Wellness & Well-being Highlights

for the

Week of July 16, 2023

This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog consists of topics from how the food you eat can impact your mood to the importance of including “play” in your daily routines to how establishing a brief, regular mindfulness practice can settle your mind by connecting you to the present. Today, I wish to shed some light on the issue of the ongoing worker shortage. As noted in one article below, public infrastructure funding has been secured but is the US construction industry positioned to answer the call? Meanwhile, another story below focuses on our country’s reliance on foreign workers to pick crops your and my family rely on. Finally, the third article below explains how our neighbors to the north are strategically attracting skilled talent to address their workforce needs. As a nation of immigrants, one would think we would take a more proactive stance on this issue not unlike Canada has. Whether it is tech, farmwork, lawn care, or roofing, it begs the question: When will the US stop “using” these foreign workers as disposable/replaceable parts and start developing the very people who have been vital to our economy for decades?

Sources: https://www.constructiondive.com/news/the-infrastructure-act-was-historic-now-we-need-workers-to-get-the-job-do/688212/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue:%202023-07-18%20Construction%20Dive%20Newsletter%20%5Bissue:52698%5D&utm_term=Construction%20Dive

https://www.npr.org/2023/07/16/1187992791/the-u-s-s-increased-reliance-on-farmworkers-from-other-countries-is-drawing-conc

https://www.wsj.com/articles/canada-is-coming-for-our-lottery-winners-h-1b-tech-talent-immigration-e18213b5

Good Foods & Good Moods

Student MH Podcast

Teens & Firearms in the US and Beyond

Fentanyl & Texas

Contractors & Narcan

Employers & Stress Management

Saying NO

Showing yourself Self-compassion

How a women’s WC team revamped their program

Update: Teen suicides during COVID

A student’s suicide & School’s liability?

Well-being washing

Mindfulness practice (1)

Mindfulness practice (2)

Mindfulness practice (3)

Play’s impact on your MH

Mortality & Maternity

Working Grandparents’ benefit: Time Off

Moving beyond a broken friendship

Sugar & Cancer?

UFCW in STL avoids strike

AI: Business & Labor

How will shifting demographics change the world?

OSHA / Women / PPE

Job site harassment

OSHA & Heat Safety?

TX worker dies from heat

New funding = More work…but we NEED workers

US relies on workers from other countries

Canada attracts skilled workers from other countries

Is it time to bring back asylums?

Wellness & Well-being Highlights July 16

Wellness & Well-being Highlights

for the

Week of July 16, 2023

This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog consists of topics from how well the new Suicide Prevention & Mental Health Crisis Lifeline (988) is working one year on to the dangers of using Kratom for pain relief to how work-related trauma negatively impacts organizations. Today, I wish to shed some light on the issue of how the WSJ recently broke an article pertaining to telecommunication workers and their decades long exposure to lead via the cables they worked with on a daily basis. Once again, we see big corporations not only ignoring the health & welfare of their workers in the field but their customers as well. With respect to the latter, the lead from these cables, etc. leaches into the environments where we live, work, and play. The science is clear: Lead is especially harmful to children! These children are those telecommunications companies’ future customers. Labor unions for years have fought to ensure safer workplaces. And, for the most part, have held firms to higher standards by balancing safer productivity with reasonable profits. However, the case herein goes beyond the workplace. At the very least, it should raise questions about the societal harm of unfettered capitalism! It was “people at the top” who made these poor decisions…and, yet, because our supreme court treats corporations as people, the only people who will seemingly pay will be those who unknowingly and/or unwillingly are/were exposed to this toxic metal.

Sources: https://www.wsj.com/articles/lead-cables-exposure-workers-ca6d67f0?reflink=integratedwebview_share

https://www.wsj.com/articles/att-verizon-lead-cables-telecom-5e329f9?mod=Searchresults_pos6&page=1

988…One year later (1)

988…One year later (2)

NYPD & Mental Illness Hotline?

Wall Street & MH

Students’ podcast on MH

More Americans seeking MH care

Teens / Girls / Depression & Suicide

Your morning routine & Depression

Update: PTSD

Opioids settlements: So far, so little

Opioids: Post Civil War

Crypto & Fentanyl

Opioid ODs / STL / Black Men

WI / Opioids / Harm Reduction

When crack was king

Kratom’s dangers

Biden’s plan for Xylazine

Pet Vets & Xylazine

Plans for Work-Life Balance

Getting rid of Menopause?

Mindfulness & Vacationing

Workouts & Vacations

OTC Birth Control Pill

BIPOC MH Tool Kit

Trauma in Organizations

Farmworkers / Heat / Safety

Telecom Workers & Lead Poisoning

FL & Public Unions

States & Average Salaries

Wellness & Well-being Highlights July 10

Wellness & Well-being Highlights

for the

Week of July 10, 2023

This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog consists of topics from how the concept worker wellness is gaining importance in the C-Suite to how the >50-year War on Drugs has cost Americans a lot in terms of lives and funding with scant results to the news of the first female professional athlete being diagnosed with the brain disease, CTE…which, currently, can only be determined postmortem. Today, I wish to shed some light on the issue of how good intentions can often have unintended consequences. More specifically, there is an ongoing heated debate in the US as to whether or not our public health systems should support harm reduction efforts. Harm reduction has more recently become a popular term as it relates to measures to safely assist people experiencing OUD (opioid use disorder) avoid becoming “dope sick” w/o fear of judgment and/or discrimination. These measures may include providing clean needles; free Narcan, tests strips, condoms; wound care; supervised use space; and/or counseling. Recent research has shown that compassionate care is a strategy that can improve the lives of those who misuse drugs while patterns of drug overdoses and deaths have followed major busts in several areas. With respect to the latter, why? Experts suggest that by destabilizing the illegal drug ecosystem in a given area, users seek their supply from less reliable sources (i.e., product with greater potency, laced with Xylazine, etc.) or go without drugs for a short period which can alter one’s tolerance when returning to use. As I have written before in this blog, policies on paper may look great but rarely ferret out issues much beyond first order consequences.

Let’s face it, this nation has:

a workforce shortage
over 2 million adults with OUD

Right or wrong, we cannot arrest our way out of the opioids crisis. Maybe it is time to stop penalizing those with a disease and begin helping them become productive members of society!

Sources: https://www.npr.org/2023/07/05/1183172045/fentanyl-drug-busts-overdose-police-dealers-trafficking-indianapolis

First Responders & Suicide Prevention

MH: One Size does not Fit All

Total Worker Health & Jobsite Safety

India’s execs commit to MH

Firms hiring Chief Wellness Officers

Swapping hard hats for safety helmets

+50 War on Drugs

Cannabis & Mental Illness

Narcan on the jobsites!!!

Opioid ODs & Cognitive Abilities

Opioids’ Impact on Rural Workforce

Paramedics approach to repeat opioids ODs

Wellness & Well-being Highlights July 3

Wellness & Well-being Highlights

for the

Week of July 3, 2023

This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog consists of topics from how poverty negatively impacts a child’s brain to the benefits of hypnotherapy to the recent US Supreme Court’s rulings on colleges & affirmative action and student debt relief. Today, I wish to shed some light on the issue of the “graying” of America. This week I include no less than 4 articles touching on aspects of how grandparents’ duties have changed over the past couple of decades. In addition, why some people into their 80s choose to continue to work. Addressing the former, I have made it no secret in this weekly blog the extent of our country’s opioids crisis. One consequence is that more and more grandparents—who once viewed their retirement years as time for worldly travels, rest, and relaxation—are now stepping up to fill in as parents to their grandchildren. Far too many parents in the 25-54 year range have lost their lives to what I referred to as a “pandemic” long before we knew what COVID-19 was. With respect to the latter, on one hand, the instability of global markets, climate change, epidemics, and a lack of defined pension plans in most workplaces in the past 3 decades have been cause for many older Americans not having sufficient funds to live comfortably in retirement. Thus, finding PT work in retirement is a means of survival vs a need to feed a hobby. While, on the other hand, there are those of us who are able to seek opportunities to contribute. Beyond the ultruism of paying it forward, research suggests that staying active (i.e., consulting, volunteering, etc.) builds/maintains social connections which can help stave off loneliness and early death. With an apparent worker shortage, it seems to make sense for firms to recruit and accommodate retirees to assist in filling in the gaps. To this end, retirees can offer more than institutional knowledge…they can also serve as role models. As my dear friend Dr Doug Swanson recently remarked, “This is the first time in US history that we have 5 generations in the workforce at the same time.” To me, that sounds less like a death knell and more like opportunity knocking!

Sources: https://the1a.org/segments/the-opioid-crisis-is-causing-grandparents-to-become-caregivers-again/

https://www.wsj.com/articles/grandparents-get-their-version-of-parental-leave-825fa88c

https://www.npr.org/2023/06/26/1184268060/what-does-an-older-population-mean-for-the-economy-society-at-large

https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/social-fitness/amp/

On Social Fitness

Shortage of cancer drugs?

The science of trauma

Impact of Poverty on Children’s Brains

NYC / Homeless / Mental Illness

Is there a link between Marijuana / Schizophrenia / Young Men?

How to unwind w/o alcohol

On teachers & family leave