Wellness & Well-being Highlights April 22

Wellness & Well-being Highlights

for the

Week of April 22, 2024

This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog highlights how the US continues to work with China to stem the tide of Fentanyl-related deaths—to the impact of poor sleep habits on your fellow workers—to how a topic I recently covered cannot find a way to stay out of our national news: Guns (i.e., safety training, violence, and suicides). This week I would like to focus on the UAW’s big win down South…in spite of the ANTI-UNION rhetoric from a chorus of nearby “Henny-Penny” governors. So, why would a so-called leader NOT want his/her constituents to make more money and, thus, have better lives? Maybe you should ask them this question before sending a child off to college in one of their states? From another angle, do the governors from Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas discriminate when it comes to you spending your hard-earned (out-of-state) dollars while vacationing there? So, what’s in common between these 6 states? They are all Right-to-Work (for less) states. In 1947, Taft-Hartley provided a pathway for the Deep South to continue their mistreatment of workers. Today, this same outdated law prevents many unions—that recently won elections—from negotiating and settling a first contract. The PRO Act is designed to update a number of built-in faults. The candidate you support in 2024 will make a difference in improving ALL workers’ lives. In closing, consider these words from WWII:

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

—Martin Niemöller

Sources: https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/vw-factory-tennessee-union-results-uaw-00cbeffb?st=ubb5gxbi78hido3&reflink=article_gmail_share

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/uaw-vw-chattanooga-tennessee/

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/04/american-labor-movement-unions-support/678099/

Heat Stress & Cranes

Navy / Suicides / Verbal Hugs

Chronic Illness & Grief

China’s direct connection to US Fentanyl ODs