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Groups say workers could be exposed to more than three times the amount of chemicals of US workers. Consumers take action with new mock "App;" 20,000 have so far signed petition urging action by Apple.

Serious labour rights violations have taken place at Brazilian farms linked to some of the largest international coffee certification systems, including Rainforest Alliance and UTZ, according to an investigation by Repórter Brasil. Brazil is the largest coffee producer in the world, with about one-third of all coffee consumed planted in the country. These violations include workers' pay packets being falsely docked resulting in some receiving less than half Brazil's minimum wage, and workers being hired informally and without mandatory medical tests. One farm even promoted its output with a Fairtrade certificate it was not entitled to use.

People working in green buildings think better in the office and sleep better when they get home, a new study has revealed. The research indicates that better ventilation, lighting and heat control improves workers' performance and could boost their productivity by thousands of dollars a year. It also suggests that more subjective aspects, such as beautiful design, may make workers happier and more productive.

Apple has released its annual Supplier Responsibility report, detailing its monitoring of supply partner labor practices, compliance with regulations and Apple's standards of business, the environmental impact of its product components and more. Apple highlighted its ongoing education investments in the report, detailing the growth in its worker rights and skills training up top.

The new Levi's Dockers Wellthread process creates a pattern for sustainability in clothing production

Construction is finished at the 33-story Tower at PNC Plaza in Pittsburgh, a structure considered one of the world's greenest buildings. It was designed to use 50% less energy and 77% less water than a regular office building. The project used new materials techniques, requiring construction workers to understand the latest technology. "They get trained and they get retrained when new things come out," said Jack Shea, Allegheny County Labor Council, AFL-CIO president. 

More than 200 million gallons of contaminated wastewater from a fertilizer plant in central Florida leaked into one of the state's main underground sources of drinking water after a massive sinkhole opened up beneath a storage pond, a phosphate company said Friday. The sinkhole, discovered by a worker on Aug. 27, is believed to reach down to the Floridan aquifer, the company said in a news release.

The World Wildlife Fund released its Soy Scorecard, which uses cultivation, land use, and workers' rights data to score the practices of 133 European companies in the soy industry.

Apple's labor practices are under attack by China Labor Watch and Green America, who contend the company makes its iPhones with a hazardous mix of chemicals that threaten the health of factory workers assembling the devices in China

Levi Strauss & Co. has debuted a process for responsible sourcing that the company says combines sustainable design, environmental practices and apparel worker well-being.

The $1.35 billion Quest carbon capture and storage project in Canada being developed by Shell Canada is now half finished. There are 600 workers on the project, scheduled to become operational late next year. When completed, the facility will reduce direct carbon dioxide emissions by 1 million tons per year, "equivalent to taking 175,000 cars off the road," the article notes

Two years after the collapse of a garment factory killed 1,100 workers in Bangladesh, a coalition of investors argue that not enough has been done to remediate dangerous conditions.

NPR 2010 waste ending up in different countries where it is toxic to the env. and workers.

Patagonia will offer 9 styles of Fair Trade Certified apparel in its fall 2014 lineup. As part of the effort, Patagonia will contribute a portion of revenues from sales of Fair Trade items to the Indian workers that produced them.

Airplane engine-maker Pratt & Whitney is going green to attract and keep the best workers, says environmental chief Mary Anne Cannon. The company is aiming for 100% recycling of manufacturing waste, is holding its supply chain accountable for its actions and has curbed factory emissions by 28% since 2000. The company performs life-cycle assessments to measure the effects of its products, Cannon says

The Fashion Footprint app can scan clothing tags and provide ratings information on everything from factory safety to worker health. Fashion Footprint lets shoppers connect directly with the makers of clothes through an interactive, audio-visual experience, and learn how their purchase decisions affect the lives of people around the world.

According to the report, 95 percent of study respondents ranked aging facilities and infrastructure as one of the most significant challenges facing the industry, followed by the aging of management and plant workers.

a campaign called Behind the Brands, led by Oxfam International, an advocacy organization dedicated to fighting poverty, is trying to make the inner workings of the 10 biggest food companies in the world more visible. Oxfam's goal is to nudge them by scoring them on a scale of 1 to 10 on a whole host of fronts, from worker rights to climate change.

The United States is launching an effort to save some of its busiest workers: honey bees.

Apple is banning the use of two potentially hazardous chemicals, benzene and n-hexane, during the final assembly of iPhones and iPads as part of the company's latest commitment to protect the factory workers who build its trendy devices.