Journalists blast Supreme Court. In Chicago, journalists are reacting to the Supreme Court’s decision to let stand a lower court ruling letting police sue news media for disclosing officers’ physical descriptions, and the international president of the News Guild-CWA argues that the First Amendment will suffer since news gathering must occur in order to exercise freedom of the press.

The case stems from a Chicago Sun-Times article describing policemen who were in a lineup with ex- Mayor Richard M. Daley’s nephew, R.J. Vanecko, who was initially not identified in a homicide-investigation lineup. The newspaper said the lineup was rigged by using big men to make the 6-foot, 3-inch Vanecko seem smaller. The officers sued the Sun-Times for invasion of privacy for getting information from drivers’ license records.

Guild president Bernie Lunzer, whose union represents many U.S. journalists, said, “The … appalling ruling is a dangerous, over-reaching interpretation of the law. Allowing that ruling to stand without further review is a chilling blow to the First Amendment. Anyone who thinks the media will be intimidated by this unconscionable decision doesn’t understand journalists.”

T-Mobile criticized. Illinois Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky of Chicagoland’s northern suburbs was one of 14 House Democrats who signed a letter calling for Germany’s Parliament to investigate the labor practices of T-Mobile, which is owned by Germany’s Deutsch Telekom.

Almost 52,000 people from Germany and the United States have endorsed the action, which is tied to multiple violations of labor law, according to the National Labor Relations Board. The Communications Workers union reports that T-Mobile’s rate of Unfair Labor Practice charges since 2009 is seven times that of Walmart, a notorious anti-union company.

Workers split in job safety actions. Two recent Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) actions resulted in a split decision for workers, as an administrative law judge said OSHA could charge an entire company with rampant job-safety violations, but OSHA also withdrew its request for Obama administration approval of a rule to reduce fatal falls on the job.

The victory involved Central Transport, a Michigan warehouse company whose workers shift freight using forklifts. Central has 170 U.S. facilities nationwide, including Rock Island, and a judge ruled that OSHA could issue a company-wide complaint against the employer instead of regulating by site or complaint. That could put more power into OSHA’s hands against national firms whose individual worksites have rampant violations.

Kaiser Foundation shows support for single-payer health care. A Kaiser Foundation health-care poll this winter shows most Americans, except for Republicans, support single-payer, government-run health care. That’s noteworthy because single-payer health care is a key issue for independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the top challenger to Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The poll said 81 percent of Democrats back Medicare for all, as do 60 percent of independents. Just 30 percent of GOPers support it. Overall, single-payer won by a 58 percent-35 percent margin, with the rest undecided.

Corporation sues gov’t over Keystone. The long saga of the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline’s northern leg – which saw building trades unions supporting it, and other unions saying it would hurt the environment – continues since its sponsor, TransCanada, last month in Houston sued to overturn its rejection. Separately, it’s using the North America Free Trade Agreement to seek $15 billion in damages.

After seven years of review, President Barack Obama rejected Keystone’s leg from the Alberta, Canada-Montana border to Nebraska. Its southern leg, to oil refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast, is already built and operating.

News briefs courtesy of The Labor Paper