USW Reaches Tentative Deal with Oil Industry
The United Steelworkers (USW) and the oil industry have reached a tentative three-year agreement covering 30,000 USW members at 168 production, refining, marketing, transportation, pipeline and petrochemical facilities nationwide, the union announced last night. The deal is subject to ratification by the membership.
Talks between the USW and Shell—which represented the industry—began Jan. 14,and most the current contracts expired at midnight.
While details of the tentative contract have not been released, news reports say that improvements in safe and health provisions—a major concern for the USW—are included. Between 2009 and 2011, 18 workers died while working at U.S. refineries.
New App from OSHA Helps Workers Avoid Deadly Heat-Related Illnesses
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When you’re working outside you certainly know when it’s hot. But do you know when it’s so hot that you need to start taking precautions to prevent heat related illnesses? Thousands of workers become ill from heat-related illnesses every year and in 2010, 30 workers died from heat stroke.
This week, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced a free app for mobile devices that will enable workers and supervisors to monitor the heat index and take steps to ensure safety.
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis says the new app is one way to get the message out that heat-related illnesses are preventable.
Summer heat presents a serious issue that affects some of the most vulnerable workers in our country, and education is crucial to keeping them safe.
The app, available in English and Spanish, combines heat index data from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with the user’s location to determine necessary protective measures. Based on the risk level of the heat index, the app provides users with information about precautions they may take, such as drinking fluids, taking rest breaks and adjusting work operations. 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 »
Cry Wolf Project Debunks Corporate, Conservative Claims
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How many times have we heard from big corporations and their political allies—usually well-financed by corporate campaign contributions—that the latest workplace safety, environmental or consumer protection regulation will kill jobs, ruin the economy and lead to the end of civilization as we know it?
I’ve lost track—but the new Cry Wolf Project hasn’t.
The Cry Wolf Project is a network of advocates, researchers and scholars dedicated to demonstrating that, in fact, conservatives and business groups are only “crying wolf” to delay, prevent and weaken important and commonsense regulations that save lives, clean our environment and make our families more secure.
The group’s just-launched website includes:
- A Quote Bank of nearly 800 “cry wolf” quotes opposing popular and effective laws and regulations over the past century.
- Evidence including dozens of articles, studies showing how health, safety, environmental and other important laws have actually saved lives, motivated innovation and helped grow the economy.
- Backgrounders and briefs on a variety of issues, from auto emissions to workplace safety.
- Cry Wolf Blog with the latest commentary showing the latest efforts to block important laws and regulations.
Click here to check it out and you also can like Cry Wolf on Facebook and follow on Twitter (@CryWolfProject).
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.
MSHA Says Massey Blast Shows Need for Tougher Safety Laws
As we approach Tuesday, April 5, the first anniversary of the deadly blast at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch (W.Va.) mine that killed 29 coal miners, the nation’s top mine safety official today called for tougher laws and bigger penalties for safety violators.
Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) chief Joe Main today told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee:
No mine operator should be risking the lives of its miners by cutting corners on health and safety. For those operators who do knowingly engage in such practices, we need to send a message that their actions will not be tolerated.
Main also called for stronger protections for miners who speak out about unsafe practices and conditions.
Miners know best the conditions in their mine. But miners are afraid to speak out because they fear they’ll lose their jobs. Read the rest of this entry »
Solis, White House to Host Online Triangle Shirtwaist Forum
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Ceremonies and events honoring the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire that killed 146 garment workers—most of them young women—and spurred the first nationwide call for workplace safety, continue Monday morning with a special online forum that will examine the connection between a voice at work and job safety.
Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis and Valerie B. Jarrett, senior adviser to President Obama and chairwoman of the White House Council on Women and Girls, will host the Women’s History Month forum with women workers and organizers sharing their stories of courageous action. In a statement they note that “this compelling history highlights the critical need to ensure worker safety and labor standards for all workers—including a new generation of immigrant workers.”
