\n<\/p>\n
Responding to the complaint, a Department of Labor spokesperson said, \u201cIt appears a small group of employees would rather protest their detail to Labor than do their actual jobs and deliver for the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Celal Gunes\/Anadolu via Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n Education Department employees sent to the Labor Department are working in offices that are \u201cunsafe and in disrepair,\u201d according to the union representing the ED staff, which filed a complaint this week with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration over the working conditions.<\/p>\n The employees started working out of the Labor Department after ED outsourced career and technical education and postsecondary education programs to other agencies. According to the complaint, those staffers have experienced inconsistent heating, leading them to wear winter coats at their desks. They also consistently see mice, so employees say they don\u2019t bring their lunches into the building.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were informed that DOL is aware of this issue and has instructed people to only use certain trash cans for food because if they put food in just any old trash can, it will make this issue worse,\u201d the complaint says. \u201cThere are also notes at the bottom of some of the cubicles that warn people about the mice.\u201d<\/p>\n The union representing Education Department employees provided photos from inside the Labor Department building that show liquid leaking from the ceiling.<\/p>\n The union also says there\u2019s a cockroach issue, visible mold and leaking ceiling tiles, among other concerns. The represented employees say a communal refrigerator had substantial mold, according to the complaint, and they don\u2019t have a suitable refrigerated space for employees to bring food. According to the union\u2019s release, the Education Department has purchased new printers and a refrigerator for the Department of Labor.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Labor Department offices are unsafe and in disrepair, with water leaking from ceilings, mold in kitchens, extreme temperatures from a failing HVAC system, insect traps filled with dead bugs and live insects in lactation rooms and work areas,\u201d AFGE Local 252 president Rachel Gittleman said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Education Department referred Inside Higher Ed<\/em>\u2019s request for comment to Labor.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOver 2,000 employees report to the Frances Perkins Building every day without issue,\u201d DOL spokeswoman Courtney Parella said in a statement. \u201cIt appears a small group of employees would rather protest their detail to Labor than do their actual jobs and deliver for the American people. The Department of Labor remains focused on carrying out the Trump Administration\u2019s agenda and streamlining education to employment pathways to connect Americans with mortgage-paying jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Responding to the complaint, a Department of Labor spokesperson said, \u201cIt appears a small group of employees would rather protest their detail to Labor than do their actual jobs and deliver for the American people.\u201d Celal Gunes\/Anadolu via Getty Images Education Department employees sent to the Labor Department are working in offices that are \u201cunsafe<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47816,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[8488,6013,864,2719,14432,5215],"class_list":{"0":"post-47815","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-alleges","9":"tag-conditions","10":"tag-labor","11":"tag-union","12":"tag-unsafe","13":"tag-working"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/47816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}