U.S. Oil Workers Strike

CNN

A U.S. oil workers strike is underway, and USW International President Leo W. Gerard says that safety conditions need to be improved and pay isn’t the issue.

Due To Falling Oil Revenues, Oil Companies Lay Off Workers

Forbes Magazine states that on Thursday morning came news that oil services company Apache Corp. will lay off about 250 people, or 5% of its workforce.

Later in the day came worse news: oil services giant Schlumberger said it was in the process of slashing 9,000 workers worldwide.

These are only the latest hits to an oil industry already staggering under $50 oil. So far there’s been at least 24,000 cuts announced in North America alone by the likes of Shell, Pemex, Halliburton, and Suncor, and they will likely only get worse.

Here’s a list of layoffs by oil (or oil-related) companies compiled by Forbes so far:

Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex): 10,000 workers (in Mexico).

Halliburton: 1,000+ workers (Eastern hemisphere).

Suncor: 1,000 workers (Canadian oil sands).

Ensign Energy Services: 700 workers (in California).

U.S. Steel: 700 workers. (Cleveland and Houston).

BP : “hundreds” of workers.

Schlumberger SLB: 9,000 workers.

Tenaris : 300 workers (Mississippi).

Hercules Offshore : 300 workers.

Shell: 300 workers (Canadian oilsands).

Apache Corp.: 250 workers.

OFS Energy: 150 workers.

EOG Resources EOG: 150 workers (Canada).

Enbridge : 100 workers.

The Harsh Conditions Of Mexican Farm Workers

How does produce from Mexico go from the fields to Americans’ plates?

A new Los Angeles Times report details the work conditions of many Mexican farm laborers.

MSNBC’s Melissa Harris Perry talks about it with Richard Marosi of the LA Times.

MSNBC video.

Huff Post: Some Immigrants May Be Eligible For Social Security Under Executive Order, But Not For Welfare Or Food Stamps

According to the Huffington Post, the White House states that many immigrants in the United States illegally who apply for work permits under President Barack Obama’s new executive actions would be eligible for Social Security and Medicare benefits upon reaching retirement age.

Under Obama’s actions, immigrants who are spared deportation could obtain work permits and a Social Security number. As a result, they would pay into the Social Security system through payroll taxes.

No such “lawfully present” immigrant, however, would be immediately entitled to the benefits because like all Social Security and Medicare recipients they would have to work 10 years to become eligible for retirement payments and health care.

To remain qualified, either Congress or future administrations would have to extend Obama’s actions so that those immigrants would still be considered lawfully present in the country.

None of the immigrants who would be spared deportation under Obama’s executive actions would be able to receive federal assistance such as welfare or food stamps, or other income-based aid.

They also would not be eligible to purchase health insurance in federal exchanges set up by the new health care law and they would not be able to apply for tax credits that would lower the cost of their health insurance.

The issue of benefits for immigrants who are illegally in the United States is a particularly sensitive one for the Obama administration. As a result, the White House has made it clear that none of the nearly 5 million immigrants affected by Obama’s actions would be eligible for federal assistance.

The Obama administration first denied younger immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally as children access to health care exchanges and tax credits in 2012, especially disappointing immigrant advocates.

75 Dallas Health Care Workers Banned From Public Transportation, Put On No-Fly List

According to KERA TV news, a Dallas PBS station, 75 health care workers have been asked to sign legal documents in which they agree to stay home, not ride public transportation, and not go to public places.

A local CBS affiliate claims they were also placed on a no-fly list.

The documents ask 75 health care workers to agree not to go to public places or use mass transit. Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins says the agreements are binding legal documents that can be enforced with a variety of remedies, though he declined to elaborate to the Associated Press.

WFAA reports that Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins has confirmed that 75 employees who took care of Thomas Eric Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital were put on the no-fly list.  The workers reportedly had contact with the Ebola patient.

In a Texas Department of State Health Services memo obtained by KXAS-TV, the state mandate says that “no individual who entered the first Ebola patient’s room can travel by commercial transportation until 21 days after that individual’s last exposure.”

It continues: “These individuals should not travel by commercial conveyances (e.g. airplane, ship, long-distance bus, or train). Local use of public transportation (e.g. taxi, bus) by asymptomatic individuals should be discussed with the public health authority.”

On Thursday, Nina Pham, the first nurse to contract Ebola in the U.S., boarded a CDC plane at Dallas Love Field to Frederick, Maryland.  She is to be treated at the National Institutes of Health.  The plane departed at 7:09 p.m. CT and arrived at an airport at Frederick less than three hours later.

She walked off the plane in Maryland with assistance while wearing a protective suit. She climbed into an ambulance for transport to the National Institutes of Health’s state-of-the-art facility in Bethesda, Md.

Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital has reported that she is in good condition.

Pham, who said “I’m doing really well,” left Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in an ambulance.  Friends and coworkers told her goodbye.