Republican Jobs Plan? Gut Workers’ Rights, Safety and Health Laws
Time after time this year, congressional Republicans have voted against jobs-creating legislation, telling the fire fighters, teachers, construction workers and jobless Americans—“Don’t worry. We have our very own jobs plan.”
This week in the House, we get to see it in all its disingenuous glory. Here’s how congressional Republicans plan to create jobs—by attacking workers’ rights and gutting workplace and environmental safety and health laws. They really claim this is their jobs package.
The first bill (H.R. 3094) is scheduled to be voted on tomorrow. It would deny workers the right to fair union elections by blocking the modest changes proposed by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) earlier this year in the way union elections are conducted. Read the rest of this entry »
OSHA Crackdown on Severe Violators Nets 182 Firms
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited 182 workplaces—two-thirds of them construction firms—in its year-old severe violator enforcement program (SVEP), according to BNA’s Daily Labor Report (DLR—subscription required).
Using information from a Freedom Information Act request and public records, DLR found that the most common reason for a company to earn a place on the list was what OSHA terms a “high gravity” violation of a safety hazard on which that OSHA has put an emphasis. Those include fall hazards, construction, combustible dust, grain handling, excavation and trenching and several others. Of the 182 employers cited in the SVEP, 109 made the list because of such violations.
The next most common reason (32 companies) for a SVEP citation was a workplace death at a company that had been previously cited for violation that was related to the fatality or other repeated violations. Read the rest of this entry »
Study Finds Unionized Coal Mines Substantially Safer
A new study shows that miners in unionized coal mines are far less likely to be killed or injured on the job than miners in nonunion operations. The independent study funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) found that “unionization predicts an 18-33 percent drop in traumatic injuries and a 27-68 percent drop in fatalities.”
The comprehensive study, conducted by Stanford University law professor Alison D. Morantz, the John A. Wilson Distinguished Faculty Scholar at Stanford Law School, looked at coal mine fatality and injury statistics from 1993 to 2008.
Mine Workers (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts says the study “quantifies the profound differences in safety underground coal miners experience when working union versus working nonunion.”
He points out that recent mining disasters, including the blast at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch (W.Va.) mine that killed 29 miners last year, the Crandall Canyon (Utah) disaster that killed nine in 2007 and the Sago explosion in 2006 that killed 12 miners, have all been in nonunion mines.
The simple truth is that union mines are safer mines, and this study proves that.
Mine Execs Want to Police Themselves on Safety
The day after federal mine safety officials announced a series of “outrageous” safety violations at a Massey Energy West Virginia coal mine, mining industry officials were on Capitol Hill calling for fewer federal inspections and a voluntary safety program.
At the hearing before the Education and Workforce’s Workforce Protections Subcommittee, the Republican majority allowed just one worker’s witness, Mine Workers (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts, while three mine industry executives testified. Said Roberts:
The disaster at Upper Big Branch, as well as the other deaths and illnesses that continue to plague the mining industry make it clear that Congress must do more to protect miners. Operators should be required to make better efforts to prevent illnesses and injuries in the first place. After all, the mining industry has shown time and time again it is not very effective at self-policing.
Job Safety Laws Must Not Go Backward
In Michigan yesterday, workers not only honored those killed and injured on the job as part of Workers Memorial Day ceremonies at the state Capitol in Lansing, they warned that plans to dismantle the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA) and repeal the state’s workplace safety law would put workers at risk.
UAW Region1C Director Norwood Jewell said:
We remember those that are injured and it brings to light the fact they are talking about defunding MIOSHA. We still have people dying in workplaces. We have come too far to go backwards.
Michigan AFL-CIO Health and Safety Director Derrick Quinney says, “Even in a common-sense topic like public safety, our Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation in Michigan that will repeal the Michigan Occupational and Safety Health Act in favor of a federal OSHA program.”
Instead of stripping away our law that we know works, why not update it with further rules and regulations to keep our workers safe on the job?
The real goal of our Republican legislature is to take away workers’ rights and weaken the role of protecting workers in the public. These are the same coordinated attacks that are happening in Wisconsin, Indiana, and Ohio. This isn’t about the budget—these attacks threaten the economic security and safety of all workers.
Read more here.
Elsewhere on Workers Memorial Day, Mike Staley of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 649, offered a prayer during services at Laborers (LIUNA) Local 538 in Galesburg, Ill.
Obama: Workers Memorial Day—Time To Recommit to Job Safety
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Today, in hundreds of ceremonies across the country, working families are honoring workers who died or were injured on the job in the past year. In a Workers Memorial Day proclamation, President Obama says the nation must:
recommit to keeping all workers safe and healthy [and] make sure the full force of the law is brought to bear in cases where workers are put in harm’s way.
He also says the safety and health laws that protect today’s workers “were won by generations of courageous men and women, fighting to secure decent working conditions.”
Organized labor has continued to give voice to millions of working men and women by representing their views and fighting for good working conditions and fair wages.
Click here for the full proclamation.
In Huntington, W.Va., the West Virginia AFL-CIO will honor the 50 West Virginia workers killed on the job in 2010, including the 29 coal miners killed in the explosion at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine. Says President Kenneth Perdue:
As vividly demonstrated by the Upper Big Branch mine disaster and other worker safety disasters that recently occurred, too many workers remain at risk and face death, injury or disease as a result of their job.
4,340 Killed on the Job; Job Safety Laws ‘Must Be Strengthened’
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Forty years after the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act), “there is much more work to be done….The job safety laws must be strengthened,” finds the 2011 AFL-CIO annual job safety report “Death on the Job,” released this morning to commemorate Workers Memorial Day. (Click here for the full report.)
In 2009 (the latest figures available), 4,340 workers were killed on the job—an average of 12 workers a day—and an estimated 50,000 died of occupational diseases. More than 4.1 million workplace injuries and illnesses were reported in private and state and local workplaces. But the report says the 4.1 million “understates the problem,” and the actual number is more likely 8 million to 12 million.
The safety report estimates that since the OSH Act become law 40 years ago tomorrow, it has saved an estimated 431,000 lives. The nation’s two mining laws, the 42-year-old Coal Mine Health and Safety Act and the 34-year-old Mine Safety and Health Act, have saved thousands more.
Last year’s string of major workplace tragedies, however, shows the desperate need for stronger safety and health rules coupled with tougher enforcement. Those disasters included the Upper Big Branch (W.Va.) coal mine explosion that killed 29 miners, an explosion at the Kleen Energy plant in Middletown, Conn., that killed six workers, another at the Tesoro Refinery in Washington State that killed seven workers and the BP/Deepwater Horizon Gulf Coast oil rig explosion that killed 11 and caused a massive environmental and economic disaster. Says the report:
The nation must renew the commitment to protect workers from injury, disease and death and make this a high priority. Employers must meet their responsibilities to protect workers and be held accountable if they put workers in danger. Only then can the promise of safe jobs for all of America’s workers be fulfilled.
Honor Fallen Workers, Fight for Job Safety on Workers Memorial Day
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In hundreds of events around the nation on Workers Memorial Day, April 28, workers will gather together at worksites, city parks, houses of worship and local and state government offices to remember those who have lost their lives on the job and demand strong safety laws and tough enforcement of those laws.
In Cumberland, Md., union, faith and community activists will hold a prayer vigil for workers killed and hurt on the job. In Tucson, Ariz., the Pima Area Labor Federation will honor fallen workers and call on state and national lawmakers to make job safety a priority.
Click here to find a Workers Memorial Day event near you or to register an event.
In 2009 (the latest figures available), 4,340 workers were killed on the job and another 50,000 to 60,000 died of occupational diseases. More than 4.1 million workplace injuries and illnesses were reported in private and state and local workplaces.
Tomorrow, the 2011 edition of the AFL-CIO’s “Death on the Job” report on the state of safety for the nation’s workers will be released. It includes a state-by-state look at job deaths and injuries, a demographic breakdown of workers killed and hurt on the job, an in-depth look at job safety enforcement and more. Be sure to check back here.
With the Occupational Safety and Health Act reaching its 40th anniversary April 28, the Obama administration is refocusing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Mine Safety and Health Administration on protecting workers and enforcing safety laws after years of neglect by the Bush administration.
Workers Memorial Day Honors Those Killed on Job, Including BP Rig Workers
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A year ago today–as workers were being pushed to finish drilling faster than some thought was safe, according to news reports–the BP Deepwater/Horizon drilling platform, 72 miles off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico exploded. Eleven workers were killed, the rest were rescued.
The BP well then begin spewing 206 million gallons of oil—19 times more than the Exxon Valdez disaster—triggering the worst environmental and economic disaster ever in the Gulf Coast.
Two days later the rig sank to the bottom of the Gulf—likely carrying with it the bodies of the dead workers that have yet to be recovered.
On April 28, as they call for tougher job safety laws as part of the 22nd annual Workers Memorial Day, workers across the country will honor those killed on the BP Deepwater/Horizon rig and the thousands more killed on the job each year. (Click here to find a Workers Memorial Day event near you or to register an event).
House Republican Budget Plan Hits Working Families, Spares CEOs
The nation’s No. 1 priority is getting the nation’s job-creation engine running again. But House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his gang instead have unveiled a budget plan that slams working families and is a “naked payback” to Wall Street CEOs, says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.
The Republican plan for the rest of fiscal year 2011 slashes investments in education from pre-school to college, cuts and cancels real world infrastructure projects at the cost of 300,000 jobs, chops billions from the job training programs that help 8 million people a year and goes after workplace rights, job safety and the environment.
But they haven’t put everything on their hit list. While working families will bear the brunt of the proposed cuts, corporate CEOs are not being asked for any sacrifices at all. Nor are the lawmakers pushing these cuts proposing to cut their own pay and benefits.
Trumka says the “budget gutting” bill the House will vote on this week:
will padlock the doors to essential programs millions rely on every day and put hundreds of thousands out of work.
