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Workers Die; Bush Administration Idles. What About McCain and Obama? |
Today adds to the toll of bad news about worker safety and health, and we’ll be posting several items on that topic. You’ll see that workers have been dying while the Bush administration sits on recommended standards to protect us from workplace hazards. But the administration is racing to implement a secretly written rule that could allow us to be exposed to higher levels of toxic substances at work and could prevent future administrations from protecting us at work.
You’ll see that under the Bush administration, federal workplace safety operations have been designed to protect corporations, not working men and women.
Before you read the other posts, take a look at how things could change–or not change–under the next president. Compare the records of Barack Obama and John McCain on workplace safety and other working family isssues.
As a community organizer for a Chicago church-based group, Obama worked to force public officials to deal with asbestos problems in local housing projects. In the Illinois legislature, he voted to require out-of-state construction contractors to carry valid Illinois workers’ compensation insurance.
As a U.S. senator, Obama co-sponsored the Protecting America’s Workers Act to strngthen Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) enforcement; make OSHA criminal violations a felony; and expand OSHA coverage to public-sector workers, flight attendants and others not covered. He has joined with other Senate Democrats this week in calling on Labor Secretary Elaine Chao to issue crane safety rules and step up oversight on construction sites.
McCain, on the other hand, seems to dislike worker safety measures almost as much as he likes free trade. He voted against requiring farms to provide drinking water and hand-washing and toilet facilities for agriculture field workers. He opposed stronger criminal penalties for employers when willful health and safety violations lead to a worker’s injury or death. He voted to allow cost-benefit analyses to shape occupational safety and health and mine safety and health regulations.
McCain worked to block a federal health program to identify and notify workers at high risk of developing occupational diseases. He voted to block protection against ergonomic injuries. He voted against allowing victims of toxic waste and health hazards to sue in federal court those responsible. He supported limiting compensation for workers injured by defective workplace products, and he wanted to preclude injured workers from settling with manufacturers without the employer’s consent.
No one should have to die for a job.
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Paid for by the AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education Political Contributions Committee, www.aflcio.org, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.
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After reading the above blocks and supports by Senator John McCain, against ergonomic injuries with his support by limiting compensation for workers injured by defective workplace products__DOCUMATE PROCESSING MACHINE__ and he wanted to prevent injured workers from settling with manufacturers__General Electric or NCR__ without the employer’s consent; was the exact formats that happen in 1982 with a group of workers with PG&E.
John McCain is continuing to cover-up for the BUSHES defected business decision to hide the reason of this war.
Today, there are more then 2/3 of office workers in the Middle East who are complaining about Repetitive Strain Injury. If the problem hasn’t been resolved here in America, how can it be resolved globally?
John McCain isn’t for the American people who have built this country from wealth to almost bankruptcy, but for the BUSHES to keep their hidden act of injustices.
The Change. With the Bush Admiistration closing, the USA has an increase of 21% foreclosures, a huge deficit, a recession, very little border security, no deportation of illegals, no protection for working people on the job, no health care, no protection for Social Security, unemployment rising, crime is up, no concealed weapons permits nationwide, no job security and they wonder why we are forced to vote for Obama.
Noone should get sick from a job, and, if they do, there should be effective treatments available to cure them. Asbestos, a known carcinogen and hazardous material is still legal. The U.S. Congress is considering a bill to ban asbestos (it is already banned in 40 countries) and to provide funding for medical research into effective treatments for asbestos-related diseases, such as mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lungs, abdomen and heart. Please tell your representative to support the bill by going to http://www.banasbestos.us A ban is not enough, as it doesn’t help people already sick, already exposed and who will become exposed in the future to asbestos already in place.