Recently in Government Category

Source: By the National Employment Law Project for the Just Pay Working Group, July 2010

In this toolkit, we encourage community groups, worker centers, labor unions, and the public interest and private bar to reach out to local offices of the WHD and the SOL to build relationships and enter into collaborations. These arrangements can be mutually beneficial, helping both the agency and advocates fulfill their shared mission of protecting workers.

More specifically, this toolkit provides some helpful resources for advocates including: a brief overview of the roles and function of the WHD and the SOL; direction on how to set up a meeting with the agency; and some examples of historical collaborations between advocates and state and federal enforcement agencies. The Appendices contain talking points to use in meetings, additional examples of collaboration between community organizations and state and federal agencies, contact and key personnel information for WHD and SOL offices around the nation, a sample outreach letter to these agencies, and a scorecard for keeping track of progress around the country.

Source: Office of the Federal Register, 2010

From the announcement:
The Office of the Federal Register (OFR) and the Government Printing Office (GPO) are moving the Federal Register Home Page and the Public Inspection Desk to www.OFR.gov. Please reset your bookmarks before July 26, 2010. This change is necessary to make way for a new edition the daily Federal Register, an unofficial "Web 2.0" prototype, which will be hosted on FederalRegister.gov.

The Federal Register Home Page on OFR.gov will continue to feature the electronic Public Inspection Desk, the Privacy Act Issuances for 2007 and 2009, and the OFR Catalog, which links to all Federal Register publications and services.

As of July 26, 2010, the FederalRegister.gov website will display an XML prototype of the daily Federal Register. It is not an official legal edition of the Federal Register, and does not replace the official print version or the official electronic version on GPO's Federal Digital System. OFR and GPO are posting the unofficial XML prototype of the Federal Register to gather public feedback, with the aim of granting it official status in the future. It will remain an unofficial informational resource until the Administrative Committee of the Federal Register issues a regulation granting it official legal status.

Source: Thomas L. Gais, Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, Presented at 27th Annual Conference of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts, May 7, 2010

The federal government during the Obama Administration has assertively sought to influence state policies, perhaps more so than any time since the 1960s. Sometimes it offers states more funding and flexibility; sometimes it seeks to constrain, guide, or direct state policy and budget decisions -- generally in service of its views of what domestic policies ought to be.

Source: Department of Labor, April 2010

The Department of Labor enforcement agencies foster and promote the welfare of wage earners
and retirees of the United States, by ensuring their safety, improving their working conditions,
and protecting their retirement and health care benefits. In carrying out this mission, the Agencies administer and enforce a variety of Federal labor laws that guarantee workers' rights to safe and healthful working conditions, a minimum hourly wage and overtime pay, and freedom from employment discrimination, as well as the integrity of their pensions and health plans

This site aims to make the enforcement data, collected by these agencies in the exercise of their mission, accessible and searchable, using common search criteria, by the public. It intends, also, to engage the public in new and creative ways of using this data. It is a work in progress, and new features, functionality, and search criteria will be added over time. It is foremost our invitation to you, the American public, to engage with us, and react to this first iteration of our work by telling us what you think and what you would like to see here.

Available now:
- Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)
- Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA)
- Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP)
- Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA)
- Wage & Hour Division (WHD)

Coming soon:
1. BUILD A DATA CATALOG
* Make the enforcement agencies datasets available for download in machine readable format.
* Provide metadata for all datasets.
* Publish the datasets on Data.Gov.

2. LAUNCH MASHUP COMPETITION OPPORTUNITIES
* Invite the Public to find innovative ways of using DOL's enforcement data to promote worker's
safety and protect worker's rights.

3. ADD NEW SEARCH CRITERIA
* Search by Company Name
* Additional Search granularity: Penalty Amount, Violation Type, Legislative Acts, etc.

4. COLLABORATION
* Integrate the Enforcement Data Warehouse with other Federal and State enforcement agencies data systems (i.e. EPA's enforcement data system).

5. USABILITY
* Provide data driven maps to allow visual access to the data.
* Provide an interactive dashboard.

Source: James Fallows, The Atlantic, January/February 2010

Is the nation in terminal decline? Not necessarily--this country has been built on cycles of crisis and renewal, and the forces that have made it great remain strong. But the government is broken. Securing the future will require fixing a system that has become a joke.

Source: American Prospect, Special Report, Vol. 20 no. 8, October 2009

Today, the country's primary labor market - regular jobs with reliable wages, benefits, and terms of employment - is being drained by a rise in temporary and contract work with no security. By using its power as a contractor and by enforcing laws already on the books, government can turn millions of bad jobs into good ones.
Articles include:

• Broken Laws, Unprotected Workers - Annette Bernhardt, Ruth Milkman and Nik Theodore
Rebuilding our economy on the back of illegal working conditions is morally untenable -- and it is bad economics.

• Dark and Bitter - Nancy Cleeland
Food workers increasingly exist in a legal limbo with no protections for wages, benefits, job security, or life and limb. Why are employers like Hershey off the hook?

• Decent Work - Robert Kuttner
How government can get back on the side of promoting good jobs.

• Forgotten Corners of the Economy - Stephen Franklin
As unemployment rises, the illegal treatment of day laborers only worsens. Where's the government?

• Good Jobs, Healthy Cities - Peter Dreier
Some city governments are using their economic muscle to promote good jobs.

• Government Paves the Way - Paul Sonn and Annette Bernhardt
A decent work agenda for the Obama administration.

• Stuck on the Low Road - David Bensman
Deregulation turned truck driving from a good job into a bad one. Now, thanks to local organizing and government action, there's a better road.

• The Good War and the Workers - Steve Fraser
World War II defense contracts raised labor standards. Government could use the same leverage in peacetime.

• Which Side Is Government On? - David Moberg
Millions of contract workers whose salaries are ultimately paid by government live in poverty. Uncle Sam should demand high standards, not pay as little as possible.

Source: Local Spending, 2009

Billions are spent on government contracts. Track how much Federal money is spent near you and who it is going to.

Source: USASpendingwatch.net, 2009

USASpendingwatch.net is a (politics 2.0) website aiming to combine the federal expenses with their political context. This shall be the basis for better information navigation and investigation. Besides presenting new information and making analyses and interpretations using the data of USASpending.gov and other information sources ( govtrack.us ...) this website aims to provide a starting point for the community and citizens concerned about federal expenses and open government. Thus features like rating, sharing etc. are or will be implemented.
See also:
- Spendtrend.us

Source: Govpulse.us, 2009

To the average US citizen it can often seem that their government works in leaps and bounds, with new legislation or debates on legislation leaping to the fore. Yet every day the thousands of employees of the U.S Government go to work for the people of the country. Each day agencies release hundreds of proposed rules and regulations, meeting notices, final rules, and changes to existing rules in the form of the Federal Register. However in their current format they are difficult to find and to process in meaningful ways.

govpulse was built to address this problem and open the doors of government to the people they work for. By making such documents as the Federal Register searchable, more accessible and easier to digest, govepulse seeks to encourage every citizen to become more involved in the workings of their government and make their voice heard on the things that matter to them, from the smallest to the largest issues.

Source: Office of Personnel Management, Center for Workforce Information & Systems Requirements, Central Personnel Data File (CPDF) September 2008

Federal civilian employment by major geographic area, state, and selected agency, executive branch and selected other agencies, non-postal, full-time, permanent employees and all annuitants.