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Court Orders Bush Labor Department to Respond to Unions’ Safety Suit
The Bush administration’s Department of Labor is not going to be able to duck a suit filed by the AFL-CIO and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) over the department’s failure to finish a safety rule requiring employers to pay for workers’ personal protective equipment (PPE). Protective gear, such as specialized clothing, lifelines, face shields, gloves and other equipment, is used by an estimated 20 million workers to protect them from job hazards.
On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ordered the Bush administration to respond to the suit, filed Jan. 3, within 30 days.
By the government’s own estimates, the PPE rule could have prevented 400,000 injuries and saved 50 lives since it was first proposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in 1999.
The lawsuit asserts the Bush administration’s failure to act is putting workers in danger. The union groups say workers in some of America’s most dangerous industries—meatpacking, poultry and construction—and low-wage and immigrant workers who suffer high-injury rates are vulnerable to being forced by their employers to pay for their own safety gear because of OSHA’s failure to finish the rule.
In 1997, OSHA announced that it would issue a rule on protective gear, and it formally proposed a rule in 1999. The proposed rule does not impose any new obligations on employers to provide safety equipment; it simply clarifies that employers, not employees, have the responsibility to pay for it.
In 2003, the AFL-CIO and UFCW petitioned the safety agency to finish the protective equipment standard. In addition, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus made several requests to OSHA to finish the rule. But OSHA has yet to act.
The lawsuit asks the court to issue an order directing the secretary of labor to complete the protective gear rule within 60 days of the court’s order.
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3 Comments
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Everyone that is an America deserves the right to join any UNION.Anyone that is against UNIONS does NOT really know what made America great. If the UNIONS disappear, the Middlle Class and the rest of America will revert back to what America was n the GOO0 OLD DAYS,,,,,BREAD LINES FOR THE MAJORITY,,EXTREME WEALTH FOR THE MINORITY. Keep America strong with Unions Al Mellen Retired IAFF
This Bush administration has blood on it’s hands. Not only for the Blood of our Troops and the many thousands who were killed in Iraq, but also for those who were tortured and murdered in illegal “Black Water Prisons and last but not least, it has the blood of all the Factory workers, Miners, etc. who were not given proper PPE by their employers .
Ever since the Regan Era, the Republicans have continiously set out to errode the Workplase Safety standards our Unions have lobbied for over the years. They have systematically tried to shift the worplase safety responsibility from the Rmployers to the Workers.
We as Union member must demand that this dangerous trend be reversed. It is the responsibility for the Employer to provide a Safe Work environment for it’s employees, including any necessary PPE.
Why don’t they get one of the 8 OSHA inspectors left, take them out of the field, and have him/her help finish the rule. Maybe Bush can cut his pay since they would be doing inside work. God forbid employers have to spend a dime more for their workers safety. It’s a shame.