Illinois Fire Fighters back bill to end frivolous lawsuits. The Illinois Association of Fire Fighters is backing legislation to end frivolous lawsuits against first responders. SB1070 would restore the state’s “public-duty” rule – letting first responders prioritize resources without fear of being sued – when handling multiple emergencies. Enacted in the 1800s, the law was overturned by the state Supreme Court in January.

“The only focus in emergency response should be the well-being of those in need,” said state Fire Fighters president Pat Devaney. “Our responders have one priority, and it shouldn’t be impeded by those who wish to profit over the misfortune of others.”

Labor, allies launch campaign to rein in Wall Street. Top unions and allies say it’s time to make Wall Street work for Main Street, and not the other way around, and they launched a campaign to control, if not end, abuses by the financial sector.

The “Take On Wall Street” coalition (including the AFL-CIO, AFSCME, Teachers, Postal Workers, Communications Workers, Auto Workers, Service Employees, and UNITE/HERE) proposes reforms such as the restoration of the Glass-Steagall Act which separated commercial banking and investment banking; a small transactions tax (which the United States had until the mid-1960s on financial transactions), but limiting it to speculative mass- and computer-generated trading; closing two loopholes financiers use to evade taxes; creating a mechanism to break up “too big to fail” banks.

“There should be two basic rules,” said U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. “One, financial institutions shouldn’t be allowed to cheat people. Two, financial institutions shouldn’t be allowed to force taxpayers to bail them out [as happened in 2008-2009]”; expanding banking services to one-fourth of the country by bringing back the Post Office as an alternative for those without savings or checking accounts.

The group will demonstrate, lobby lawmakers, raise the issue during the election campaign and recruit activists nationwide.

Unions partner to get million green-card holders to become citizens. The United Food and Commercial Workers and the Service Employees have joined a group hoping to convince one million Latino “green card” holders in the United States, legal permanent residents, to become U.S. citizens. Coalition members then register them to vote.

The unions and their Hispanic-group allies, such as MaVotaLatina, have picked up an extra impetus for talking the green card holders into full citizenship: Donald Trump. His anti-Latino statements have driven tens of thousands of green-card holders, more than ever, to apply for citizenship since U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., began the drive in February.

SEIU will concentrate on cities and UFCW on small towns and rural areas.

“We formed the Stand Up To Hate campaign because right now is the perfect time for them to become citizens,” said UFCW organizer Omar Martinez. “There’s enough time for them to become citizens, register and vote.”

New OSHA rule to require detailed worksite disclosure. A new Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rule will force firms, worksite by worksite, into detailed, publicly posted job safety and health data disclosure showing how safe, or unsafe, each workplace is. The point of the final rule, which will cover almost half a million individual workplaces nationwide, including all 34,000 sites with at least 250 workers each, is to let workers and companies see which sites are the safest and which are not, and to shame those that are unsafe into changing their ways, said OSHA Administrator Dr. David Michaels.

By mid-2018, all yearly summaries will be posted online for 432,000 companies with 200-250 workers each and detailed injury reports for the 34,000 largest firms. But the first part of the new rule regarding enforcement starts this August.

Teamsters Safety and Health Director Lamont Byrd called the new rule “a great step in the right direction.”

News briefs courtesy of The Labor Paper