Today is International Workers’ Day — commonly called May Day in many parts of the world. It is a day when we can reflect on the current struggles of working people, remember those that have fought so hard and won so many victories leading to the safety standards, wages, benefits and rights all of us have today, and honor those fighting the good fight today.  

International Workers’ Day is a commemoration of the 1886 Haymarket Affair in Chicago, when police were trying to disperse a crowd striking for an eight-hour workday. Someone threw a bomb at the police and they fired into the crowd, killing four demonstrators. Today, the holiday is celebrated in over 80 countries around the world. 

The fight for the rights of working people is far from over. Around the world, workers are exploited — earning paltry wages — and forced to work in unsafe workplaces with deplorable conditions. 

But, that doesn’t happen just in other countries. Unfortunately, there have been stark reminders of late that this happens right here in the U.S. 

One need only look at the situation in West, Texas to see how far we still need to go to make our workplaces — and the communities around them — safe. The last time a full safety inspection was done on the facility by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration was 1985. And, that was the only time in the history of the 51 years that the West Fertilizer Company has been in business that such an inspection was conducted. 

There were other inspections, though few and far between. When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency inspected the facility in 2006 it fined the company a whopping $2,300 for failing to update its risk management plan. The company updated the plan nearly five years later (after all, why bother if your fine for not doing so is so insignificant). That plan, listed as the “worst case scenario,” had fertilizer spilling onto the ground. No mention was made of the danger  of fire and explosion. 

Even as we sort through the rubble and try to deal with the tragedy of the loss of 14 people in West, Texas, efforts are underfoot to turn back the clock on workers’ rights around the country. In Ohio, efforts are underway by Republicans to institute a right-to-work law. Right-to-work laws are all the rage these days with the far-right politicians bankrolled by billionaires looking to keep working people down and line their own pockets in the process. They politically target unions in an attempt to weaken them and reduce the power of working people to collectively bargain for safer and healthier workplaces and family-supporting wages and benefits. Earlier this year, Michigan instituted such a law. 

There are a number of reasons right-to-work laws hurt all of us, not just union members. They drive wages down for both union members and non-union members (an average of $1,500 per year) and employees in right-to-work states are less likely to have health insurance. These laws also don’t do what they’re supposed to do.  Proponents of them say they’ll create jobs and make states more attractive to business, but there’s no proof of any impact on either. 

All of this is to say our fight here in America for safe and healthy workplaces, family-supporting wages and benefits, and the right to collectively bargain is far from over.  We need to celebrate today for the successes that have been achieved. But, we cannot forget how far we have to go.

Besides taking air traffic controllers off of airport runways, causing mass furloughs in federal and state government agencies and closing food pantries, we’re learning that sweeping budget cuts known as the sequester are now loosening the reins on industries and workers that can least afford it. Mine safety is the latest victim of these indiscriminate cuts and the consequences could be deadly.

This week, news that the Department of Labor will be forced to dismantle legal teams who keep mine operators accountable for maintaining and improving mine safety was met with protest from lawmakers and mine workers. We don’t have to look back far in time to see the real consequences this action could have for mine workers. It’s the same week three years ago that 29 Upper Big Branch miners were killed in an explosion.

A recent Washington Post article further explains the importance of the legal teams being laid off: “After the explosion, legal teams were hired to deal with a backlog of contested mine safety citations. The number of unresolved appeals had grown to 16,600, and Massey Energy, then owner of Upper Big Branch, had the highest contestation rate of any coal mine in the nation.”

Around 30 of the 74 lawyers hired to address the backlog of violations — including those of Massey Energy — will be laid off by June 1. This is an effect of the sequester that endangers workers and threatens progress toward better worker safety that we’ve made since the Upper Branch Mine disaster. If we learned anything before it’s the mine companies must be held accountable.

Just as mining companies have gamed the system before — by for example contesting mine safety citations that create a backlog of paperwork and delay accountability — they will once again have the opportunity to take advantage of loopholes that endanger mine workers’ safety.

Cutting funding to make sure protections can be enforced or loosening these important regulations doesn’t only affect mine workers, their families and mine companies though. The cuts the sequester makes are reaching us all. As the cuts continue to take effect, we stand to lose more than jobs and economic security —our own and many others’ safety is put unacceptably at risk. 

The following is cross-posted from the Good Jobs, Green Jobs Conference blog. Reserve your spot today.

We are pleased to announce the BlueGreen Alliance Foundation is partnering with the United Steelworkers Tony Mazzochi Center for Health, Safety and Environmental Education to offer a set of skills building workshops at the Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference in Washington D.C. April 16-18 that will arm workers with knowledge they need to make safer and healthier workplaces.

Participants who attend at least three of these five workshops on workplace safety and health can receive a complimentary Skills Builder certificate. The courses are:

How to Make Maps that Safeguard Workplaces and Communities
Wednesday April 17: 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
In this two-part workshop, workshop attendees will learn to how to use Hazard Mapping — a valuable tool to pinpoint hazards inside and outside the workplace — to develop a map that identifies and locates hazards that can be targeted for elimination through a cooperative group effort.

The Globally Harmonized System for Labeling Chemicals: What is it and Why it Matters to Workers and Communities
Tuesday, April 16: 10:30 a.m. -12:00 p.m.
In March 2012, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) modernized its hazard communication standards to align them with Globally Harmonized System for Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) created by the United Nations. This workshop will teach participants more about GHS and how they can use it to make every workplace and community safer and healthier.

How “Blame-the-Worker” Safety Programs Hurt Workers, Communities and the Environment
Tuesday, April 16: 2:00 p.m.-3:30 p.m.
So-called “behavior-based safety” programs, present in many workplaces today, are based on the bogus idea that most workplace accidents, incidents and injuries are caused by workers’ unsafe acts rather than hazardous workplace conditions. This workshop will examine behavior-based safety programs and the harm they can do along with exploring options that will put the focus back on the prevention of hazardous workplace conditions before accidents happen. 

Putting Breast Cancer Out of Work
Wednesday, April 17: 2:40 p.m.-4:10 p.m.
In November of last year, a six-year study found that women employed in the automotive plastics and food-packaging industries in Ontario were five times as likely to develop breast cancer, prior to menopause, than women in the control group. This workshop will teach workers the new science linking chemicals and breast cancer and other chronic health problems along information about how to eliminate these hazards. 

Change the Story: New Strategies for Protecting Workers’ Rights and Health and Safety Regulation
Tuesday, April 16: 3:40 p.m.-5:10 p.m.
This provocative, multimedia workshop will look at the stories that are told, who tells them, and how we can change the story for a more just and sustainable future.

Make sure to save your spot for this exciting conference today.

This blog — by John Guevarra, Research and Policy Analyst for Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) — is cross-posted from the Good Jobs, Green Jobs Conference blog.

Picture this moment at last year’s Good Jobs Green Jobs Conference in Los Angeles: Several hundred environmentalists, union members, and green jobs advocates rallying on behalf of green jobs at a recycling facility in a heavy industrial area. The crowd — some donned in business casual, others in reflective vests, and many in union t-shirts— held signs that read “Fight for Recycling Workers!” while rallying in support of the workers’ right to fair treatment and safe conditions.  

In an industry that is deemed one of the “most dangerous industries in the nation” by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and with injury and fatality rates higher than police and firefighters, the workers at this facility appreciated every bit of our support.

A former employee of the company talked about her repetitive and exhausting work of collecting and sorting, with tattered gloves, through vile trash on a dizzying sort line — this was her life before she was fired by her employer an hour after her tailbone was injured in a workplace accident. Not even a farewell — or compensation for the injury.

Within shoulder’s length, James Hoffa, General President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and Allison Chin, former President of the Sierra Club, shared the merits of reaching zero waste-to-landfill, but only if those green jobs are ones with dignity and respect. By the end of the rally, the message was clear: companies that collect and dispose of our trash, in the name of zero waste, will be held accountable by the public when they trash workers.*

After the rally, we at the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) and the Don’t Waste LA Project carried the message — and the spirit — from the battlefield into the conference room. As part of a panel on zero waste and green jobs, LAANE’s Greg Good shared experiences about transforming Los Angeles, the nation’s second largest waste market, into a high-road industry.

A few months after the conference, the Don’t Waste LA Coalition achieved a major victory to overhaul the Los Angeles waste landscape. In November 2012, the City of Los Angeles voted to approve and implement a strong franchise system. This move would install a robust set of standards and guidelines, including: recycling for all, cleaner trucks, equitable customer rates, and worker health and safety requirements. We applaud the City for their efforts then, and now.

But we will not rest until every major city has a high-road recycling system. For years to come, we will work to pave the road for good recycling jobs: Jobs with dignity and humane conditions; Jobs that protect public safety and health; Jobs that catalyze our society towards zero waste-to-landfill goals; and, jobs that transform our recycled materials into new products.

The Good Jobs Green Jobs Conference is one of the best opportunities to share stories about creating good recycling jobs. This year, we are participating in a workshop hosted and moderated by the Partnership for Working Families (PWF). We are joined by our Teamster allies and partner organizations from Boston, Denver, Milwaukee, New York, Oakland, and San Diego in sharing experiences and best practices about reforming the waste industry into a high-road recycling industry. 

Each story is unique — with their own set of strategies for improving workers’ lives, market research and analysis, and political dimensions. However, the goal is the same: to radically transform the U.S. recycling industry to produce better jobs, less pollution, and greater accountability.

To learn more, please join our workshop, “Cleaning Up Trash and Recycling: Creating Good Jobs and Healthier Communities by Changing the Waste Industry,” at the Good Jobs Green Jobs Conference in Washington D.C., on Wednesday, April 17th at 10:30 AM.

*Related note: The month following the rally at Good Jobs Green Jobs, this recycling company was cited by the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration for 36 violations of placing workers at risk of injury or death, and fined $38,895. 

With only six days left until Michigan voters head to the polls to cast their ballots on Proposal 2, a broad coalition of supporters who are backing better wages and safer working conditions, environmental leaders and local workers spoke out about the importance of voting yes on Proposal 2 in Michigan. Proposal 2 ensures that future generations benefit from basic rights that give workers a say when it comes to protecting their health, as well as negotiating and enforcing agreements between themselves and their employers.

“Collective bargaining means safer workers, safer communities and better jobs for all of us. Workers who can collectively bargain not only protect themselves, they also safeguard our neighborhoods, our communities and our environment, and raise up the wages and benefits for all of us,” said Michael Brune, Executive Director of the Sierra Club. “It’s important that we pull together to build on that progress and give working families the opportunity to provide better lives for their children, and Prop 2 does just that.”

Proposal 2 protects collective bargaining rights and prevents attempts to weaken these protections in the future.

“Everyone who values clean environments and safe, secure and prosperous communities should support this critical ballot initiative,” said Anne Woiwode, State Director for the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter. “The rights secured by Proposal 2 are essential for strengthening and protecting the hardworking, middle-class families who are the backbone of Michigan communities.”

“Some Michigan lawmakers are doing everything they can to abolish workers’ rights to organize and collectively bargain,” said Mark Schauer, National Co-Chair of the BlueGreen Alliance’s Jobs21! initiative. “But, giving Michigan’s working families a voice to negotiate for fair wages, benefits and working conditions that are good for them and safe for our communities and our environment is as important today as it ever has been.”

At a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan this week in support of Proposal 2, event participants spoke specifically to the protections that make the middle class strong by ensuring workers have a voice in their workplace and in the nation’s policies, advocating more equitable wages, humane work conditions, and improved benefits. Joining Sierra Club and the BlueGreen Alliance in outspoken support of the proposal were local workers, the Union of Scientists and Michigan Clean Water Action.

“We can and we must protect the rights of working people in Michigan,” said Kevin Riley, a meat cutter at Meijer in Grand Rapids. “Putting these rights in our constitution is something the politicians and corporations cannot take away, and it will benefit future generations of Michiganders, both economically and environmentally. We must stand together to protect the right to negotiate for good jobs with cleaner, safer and healthier workplaces.” 

“We cannot afford to go back to a time when corporations could make up the rules as they go along, regarding working conditions, workplace safety, environmental protection and worker pay,” said Ben Scheid, an AT&T worker. “Michigan’s workers and families can’t afford it, that’s why I support Proposal 2.”

The supporters said that without collective bargaining rights our environment is endangered and workers face more risks on the job.

“Collective bargaining rights are as American as apple pie,” said Kevin Knobloch, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists. “These rights have strengthened our democracy and our economy by protecting working families from exploitation and by expanding economic opportunities.  The overt, well-funded attacks on workers’ rights are like the overt, well-funded attacks on science that we have been fighting— and both, if successful, would weaken our democracy.”

“Collective bargaining has been the driving force behind improved work place safety and protecting Michigan workers from over exposure to toxic chemicals,” said Nic Clark, Executive Director of Michigan Clean Water Action. “Clean Water Action is proud to stand with labor on voting yes for Proposal 2.” 

Press Coverage

WPRR 1680 AM Radio Working Family Radio Network, Grand Rapids, MI October 26, 2012 (interview starts at 35:40) 

WPRR 1680 AM Radio Working Family Radio Network, Grand Rapids, MI October 29, 2012 (interview starts at 44:00) 

WKZO AM 590/FM 96.5 Kalamazoo, MI, October 29, 2012  (not available online) 

Gongwer News Service: Environmental Groups Join Collective Bargaining Proposal Proponents, October 29, 2012 (Excerpt, subscription required)
The BlueGreen Alliance and the Sierra Club joined major unions backing the proposal to enshrine collective bargaining rights in the Constitution on Monday, citing safer working environments and better-paying jobs as reasons to get involved.  

Grand Rapids Press/MLive.com Sierra Club leader headlines Proposal 2 rally in Grand Rapids October 29, 2012

Yesterday, environmental and local leaders gathered in San Francisco to urge voters to reject Proposition 32 — a billionaire-backed ballot measure that would silence the voices of working people in the political process. At the event, Michael Brune, Sierra Club's Executive Director, announced the Sierra Club's strong opposition to Prop 32 and  noted, “Backed by out-of-state billionaires like the Koch Brothers, who see California's clean energy progress as a threat, Prop 32 would silence the voices of our state's working families who share our vision for good clean energy jobs and clean air and water.”

During the event, Victor Menotti, Executive Director of the International Fourm on Globalization released a report that highlights the anti-labor and clean energy agenda of some of the largest funders of Prop 32, the Koch Brothers. The report found the Koch Brothers had spent:

• $1 million in 2010 to overturn AB 32 
• $4 million through the American Future Fund to support Proposition 32
• At least $656 million on attacks on environmental protections and workers’ rights

Other local and state environmental leaders who spoke at the event were Jenessee Miller, Communications Director for the California League of Conservation Voters; Roger Kim, Executive Director for the Asian Pacific Environmental Network; and Laura Wisland, Senior Energy Analyst, Union of Concerned Scientists; and Lisa Hoyos, California Director for the BlueGreen Alliance.

The Labor's Edge blog did a feature on the event. From the blog.

Menotti was joined by other academics who underscored the fact that anyone who respects science, the environment, workers and the truth should immediately recognize the Kochs and Prop 32 as an enemy to all of the above.

Laura Wisland of the Union for Concerned Scientists:

"These overt, well-funded attacks on labor rights are in the same realm as the overt, well-funded attacks on science -- and both, if successful, will weaken our democracy. Make no mistake: Prop 32 would be the first step in a renewed effort to kill California’s environmental advances and threaten hundreds of thousands of green-technology and clean-energy jobs. The Union of Concerned Scientists sees through this phony reform of Prop 32 for what it really is – a way for corporations to buy a Legislature that will roll back California’s environmental advances, reduce the rights of workers and silence the voices of Californians."

Check out the video from the event below:

The following post was cross-posted from the United Food and Commercial Worker's blog.

All too often, we see companies putting their employees at risk in order to cut costs.  This week, a monthly report by the National Council of La Raza announced that the number of fatalities for Latino workers has increased.

The report includes a chart that shows the amount of Latino worker fatalities each year since 1997, and in 2011, there were a total of 729, the highest since 2009.  Although the higher number of fatalities may have to do with a greater amount of Latinos in the workplace, it is no excuse for the lack of worker protection programs employed by corporations.

The figures from 2011 should prompt policymakers and authority figures to amp up laws and regulations that protect workers on the job. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is sorely in need of more funding and needs to update its policies so that it can keep up with this fast paced economy.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the federal agency responsible for enforcing and strengthening workplace safety standards, is in dire need of funding and reform to enable it to be more nimble and effective in the twenty-first century economy. With a meager $500 million budget, OSHA under the Obama administration has succeeded in hiring hundreds of additional workplace inspectors, targeting enforcement to high-violation industries, and improving prevention outreach to workers around common hazards like heat illness and falls in construction. However, OSHA’s reach remains limited; in 2010, there were only 7.3 OSHA inspectors for every million workers. Vulnerable workers are further threatened by the end-of-year

Lawmakers must also act to strengthen OSHA’s authority to regulate rapidly evolving industries, such as poultry processing, and strengthen the agency’s ability to crack down on repeat bad actors, who currently consider the agency’s weak fines and legal recourse a cost of business rather than a deterrent from breaking the law. Protecting workers from deadly injuries at work requires serious consideration of these and other important legal and regulatory reforms.fiscal debate, in which cuts to OSHA’s budget could total $46 million if sequestration proceeds.

No amount of cut costs is as valuable as a human life.  It’s time for more worker protection programs in the workplace, no matter what occupation or race the employees may be. Click here to read the full NCLR report. 

The middle class is shrinking. New Census data proves a fact we already knew, that the income gap between the richest Americans and the rest of us is getting bigger and stagnant incomes and rising costs are making it harder than ever to reach the middle class. 

Offering a way forward, more than a dozen leading national organizations that research the economy, advocate for good jobs and represent workers— including the BlueGreen Alliance—have come together to propose 10 steps to build the middle-class.

As the middle class, the great engine of the American economy, sputters there is real cause for concern about the fact that the wages of most workers have been stuck in neutral for 30 years; more and more Americans—even those with college degrees—are toiling in jobs that do not pay enough to support their families in dignity and offer hope of a brighter future. 

The guiding principles of the roadmap are values we all share: that work lies at the center of a robust and sustainable economy; that all work has dignity; and that through work, all of us should be able to support our families, educate our children and enjoy our retirements.

Some might think the jobs being created in today’s economy are being shaped by some kind of invisible hand—that there is little we can do to change that. But a strong middle class doesn’t happen by accident. 

Rebuilding the great American middle class in the 21^st century will once again require deliberate action by the American people, through our government and by businesses that understand that our mutual long-term prosperity depends on treating workers everywhere with dignity and giving them the means to a decent standard of living. These too are the principles that guide BlueGreen Alliance’s work.

It will mean taking a U-turn from the policies of the past 30 years, which have squeezed workers in the pursuit of short-term profits, slowly hollowing out the middle class on which our long-term prosperity is built. 

Together, we can set a course that will honor work, help rebuild the middle class and drive us forward to a more powerful, sustainable economy.

Check out the full report, 10 Ways to Rebuild the Middle Class for Hard Working Americans: Making Work Pay in the 21st Century and BlueGreen Alliance’s Jobs21! plan for national, long-term economic growth here. 

The following blog post is from Michael Williams, Senior Legislative and Policy Advocate for the BlueGreen Alliance. 

Well, if H.R. 4078 passes the full House, then that parapraxis becomes more likely. (Though still highly unlikely, given the White House’s veto threat and sincere opposition in the Senate. Thankfully.) 

H.R. 4078, the “Red Tape Reduction and Small Business Job Creation Act,” obliterates the federal government’s ability to issue regulations. It aims to “freeze” regulations until unemployment dips below 6%. Or… that’s what the authors supposedly meant for the bill to do. Unfortunately for them, the bill — as written and passed out of the House Rules Committee — left out a very important prefix, leaving the legislation to freeze regulations until EMPLOYMENT dips below 6%. 

Now, I certainly hope the House leadership isn’t subconsciously rooting for 94% unemployment, but maybe they subconsciously know that playing games with the regulatory process does absolutely nothing to create jobs. Sounds like a Freudian slip in bill drafting to me. 

To be sure, we shouldn’t overlook how dangerous this overall bill is. It messes with vital public health, worker safety and consumer protections. The Coalition for Sensible Safeguards, which the BlueGreen Alliance is a member of, has laid out five key reasons to oppose this monstrosity (for substantive reasons, ignoring the bill’s drafting failures). We’ll count them down from five to one. 

Why an Unprecedented Effort to Shut Down Safeguards is a Damaging Idea 

Reason #5: EPA standards designed to monitor soot pollution will not be updated to keep pace with current pollution levels.

Under the Clean Air Act, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) periodically reviews the standards for pollution to assure that they are protecting the public.  The EPA is now a year behind in updating its standard for small particle pollution, commonly referred to as “soot.” This delay is costing lives. Soot can lodge deep within the lungs, aggravating asthma and increasing the risk of heart attacks. Those with pre-existing lung or heart disease, diabetics, the elderly and children are most at risk. 

Delaying updates to soot pollution standards causes as many as:

• 1.4 million additional asthma attacks among children each year
• 2.7 million days of missed work or school each year due to air pollution-caused ailments

To learn how delays in soot pollution standards will affect your state, check out our state factsheets.

Statistics from study commissioned by Earthjustice, the American Lung Association, and the Clean Air Task Force with support from the Energy Foundation. 

By Thursday, the House will vote on a massive safeguard shutdown bill (H.R. 4078), which would freeze the rulemaking process that ensures laws are enacted – including rules that make food safer, prevent workplace injuries, police deceptive and predatory practices in the financial industry, protect the nation’s infrastructure and more. Under H.R. 4078, the EPA would be unable to adjust pollution standards. This would leave more people unprotected, like Mark Mitchell, who developed asthma as an adult after being exposed to pollution from a fire at a sewage sludge compost facility in his hometown. 

Despite its sponsors’ rhetoric, the bill contains no provisions that would create jobs, stimulate the economy or help the unemployed. 

WE URGE YOU TO VOTE AGAINST HR 4078 

THE BOTTOM LINE: If H.R. 4078 were to pass, it would stop action on ALL pending safeguards, resulting in hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths and injuries annually. The bill is a radical and unprecedented attempt to stop the implementation of vital safeguards affecting everything from public health, food safety and workplace safety to environmental protections, veterans benefits and hunting. 

Learn more about the imminent harm caused by safeguard shutdown bills.

For sources click here. 

Reason #4: Americans will remain unprotected from foodborne illnesses. 

Congress passed and the president signed into law the Food Safety Modernization Act in January 2011. While some provisions of the law have taken effect, provisions requiring farmers to create checklists to assure that safety procedures are followed in the production, harvesting, handling and packing of produce will not take effect until the FDA issues a rule detailing new requirements for the industry. The law was due to be enacted by January 2012 but the needed rules still have not been released. Delays on these essential food safety rules are making an already flawed system increasingly problematic. Each year we delay the rule causes more suffering.

 Consider: 

• There are an estimated 48 million foodborne illnesses, 120,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths from food contamination each year.
• Foodborne illnesses wind up costing more than $70 billion dollars each year in health-related costs.
• The delay of the fresh produce rule would result in 9,838,773 food-poisoned Americans per year.

To learn how delays in fresh produce rule will affect your state, check out our state factsheets. 

Statistics from Pew Charitable Trusts and “Health Related Costs from Foodborne Illness in the United States,” Produce Safety Project at Georgetown University, March 2010 

Next week, the House will vote on a massive safeguard shutdown bill (H.R. 4078), which would freeze the rulemaking process that ensures laws are enacted – including rules that make food safer, prevent workplace injuries, police deceptive and predatory practices in the financial industry, protect the nation’s infrastructure and more. Under H.R. 4078, the Food Safety Modernization Act wouldn’t be delayed up to 5 years. This would leave more people unprotected, like Colette Dzaidul, who almost lost her daughter to a salmonella outbreak in cantaloupe. 

Despite its sponsors’ rhetoric, the bill contains no provisions that would create jobs, stimulate the economy or help the unemployed. 

WE URGE YOU TO VOTE AGAINST HR 4078 

THE BOTTOM LINE: If H.R. 4078 were to pass, it would stop action on ALL pending safeguards, resulting in hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths and injuries annually. The bill is a radical and unprecedented attempt to stop the implementation of vital safeguards affecting everything from public health, food safety and workplace safety to environmental protections, veterans benefits and hunting. 

Learn more about the imminent harm caused by safeguard shutdown bills.

For sources click here.  

Reason #3:  Americans would not be protected from faulty blowout preventers, which could cause another oil disaster just like the Deepwater Horizon incident.

Blowout preventers are the last line of defense against a blowout—and major oil spill—in our oceans.  When they fail, as the one on the Macondo well did during the BP oil spill, horrific consequences follow. Since the Deepwater Horizon incident, the government has been working to identify how to improve the effectiveness of blowout preventers so that lives are not lost and landscapes and our water are not despoiled. The Department of the Interior is planning to propose new standards on blowout preventers in September. These rules are intended to save lives and to decrease the chances of another event like Gulf Coast oil disaster from happening. The aftermath of the spill includes, but is not limited, to: 

• An estimated 170 million gallons of oil flooded into the Gulf of Mexico.
• 8,000 animals were found dead in the six months after the spill.
• 2 million gallons of dispersants were used on the spill, and the damage they caused may not be known for years to come.
• Scientists of have found oil still sitting on the ocean floor.
• Long-term impacts include an unbalanced food web, decreased fish and wildlife populations, and decreased activity in recreational activities that generate revenue for the Gulf area. 

Statistics from National Wildlife Federation http://www.nwf.org/oil-spill/effects-on-wildlife.aspx 

This week, the House will vote on a massive safeguard shutdown bill (H.R. 4078), which would freeze the rulemaking process that ensures laws are enacted – including rules that prevent workplace injuries, make food safer, police deceptive and predatory practices in the financial industry, protect the nation’s infrastructure and more. Under H.R. 4078, the Department of the Interior would be shackled from advancing needed oil drilling regulations. Find out from NRDC how H.R. 4078 would make another Deepwater Horizon spill more likely. 

Despite its sponsors’ rhetoric, the bill contains no provisions that would create jobs, stimulate the economy or help the unemployed. 

WE URGE YOU TO VOTE AGAINST HR 4078. 

THE BOTTOM LINE: If H.R. 4078 were to pass, it would stop action on ALL pending safeguards, resulting in hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths and injuries annually. The bill is a radical and unprecedented attempt to stop the implementation of vital safeguards affecting everything from public health, food safety and workplace safety to environmental protections, veteran’s benefits and hunting. 

Learn more about the imminent harm caused by safeguard shutdown bills.  

Reason #2:  Workers will remain unprotected from the hazards of silica and beryllium. 

The standards established by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for beryllium and cancer-causing silica are each more than 50 years old. Because both of these hazards cause countless illnesses to American workers, OSHA is working to reform the rules to limit exposure to these dangers to American safety. Delays on updated rules have already had consequences (2 million American workers are exposed to silica dust in the workplace each day, for example), and a safeguard shutdown bill would only harm American workers further. 

Consider:

• The silica rule would prevent 60 worker deaths each year—41 from silicosis and 19 from lung cancer.
• The silica rule would prevent hundreds of cases of nonfatal silicosis annually.
• In the 10 years OSHA has been working on the silica rule, 600 workers have died because of rulemaking delays.
• There are hundreds of silicosis deaths and thousands of new silicosis cases each year.
• If the beryllium rules were enacted nine years ago, they would have prevented 4,194 cases of chronic beryllium disease (a potentially fatal respiratory ailment), 5,413 cases of beryllium sensitization (which often leads to chronic beryllium disease), and 216 cases of lung cancer. 

Next week, the House will vote on a massive safeguard shutdown bill (H.R. 4078), which would freeze the rulemaking process that ensures laws are enacted – including rules that prevent workplace injuries, make food safer, police deceptive and predatory practices in the financial industry, protect the nation’s infrastructure and more. Under H.R. 4078, OSHA would be shackled and would be unable to advance these needed protections. This would affect people like Bruce Revers, a factory worker who sufferes from chronic beryllium disease. 

Despite its sponsors’ rhetoric, the bill contains no provisions that would create jobs, stimulate the economy or help the unemployed. 

WE URGE YOU TO VOTE AGAINST HR 4078 

THE BOTTOM LINE: If H.R. 4078 were to pass, it would stop action on ALL pending safeguards, resulting in hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths and injuries annually. The bill is a radical and unprecedented attempt to stop the implementation of vital safeguards affecting everything from public health, food safety and workplace safety to environmental protections, veterans benefits and hunting. 

Learn more about the imminent harm caused by safeguard shutdown bills.

For sources click here.

Reason #1:  Consumers will be unprotected from hidden fees and the sometimes predatory practices of the financial industry

The Dodd-Frank law created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), charging the agency withprotecting consumers and empowering it to issue new consumer protection rules. Rules that the agency may issue include:

• Requiring mortgage lenders to consider borrowers’ ability to pay;
• Prohibiting banks from charging excessive overdraft fees or suckering consumers into opting into unreasonable overdraft fee harvesting schemes;
• Eliminating forced arbitration provisions in consumer financial contracts, banning unfair practices in the payday loan industry, and prohibiting kickbacks to auto dealers who steer buyers into overpriced loans;
•  Stopping student loan companies from tricking students into taking high-priced private loans before they exhaust less expensive federal loans. 

Next week, the House will vote on a massive Safeguard Shutdown bill (H.R. 4078), which would shut down the rulemaking that ensures enacted laws are enforced – including rules that police deceptive and predatory practices in the financial industry, ensure food safety, prevent workplace injuries, protect the nation’s infrastructure and more. Under H.R. 4078 act, the CFPB would be shackled from advancing needed consumer protections. This would affect people like Belinda Brooks, a small business owner.

 Despite its sponsors’ rhetoric, the bill contains no provisions that would create jobs, stimulate the economy or help the unemployed. 

WE URGE YOU TO VOTE AGAINST HR 4078. 

THE BOTTOM LINE: If H.R. 4078 were to pass, it would stop action on ALL pending safeguards, resulting in hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths and injuries annually. The bill is a radical and unprecedented attempt to stop the implementation of vital safeguards affecting everything from public health, food safety and workplace safety to environmental protections, veterans benefits and hunting. 

Learn more about the imminent harm caused by safeguard shutdown bills.

This blog is crossposted from the United Steelworkers website.

The USW's 70th Anniversary Celebration featured one workshop about health and safety where we discussed some of the work that the unions that now make up the USW have done over the years to protect workers' health and safety. There are many important stories to be told. The USW HSE department has compiled a few of these struggles below in the form of videos from YouTube. If you have stories or videos to add, please email them to safety@usw.org

1936 Steel Industry Safety Video - This video gives a steel industry point of view of worker safety hazards in their mills in 1936, before the union was formed. The clip is from the 1936 industrial film, "Steel: Symphony of Industry," available at the Internet Archives.

Passage of Occupational Safety & Health Act and the Creation of NIOSH - Both the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) were created under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 that was signed by President Richard Nixon. OSHA and NIOSH began operations on April 29, 1971. NIOSH is responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-releated injury and illness. This clip is from the 1996 video "The Unfinished Agenda: NIOSH's first 25 years and beyond" produced by filmmaker Abby Ginzberg for NIOSH.

Rubber Industry Cancer Investigation - Workers in the rubber industry have inhalation and skin absorption exposure to the hundreds of chemicals that are heated and pressurized during the rubber manufacturing process. Early studies of rubber workers showed that they may have increased incidence of cancer. In 1970 the United Rubber, Cork, Linoleum and Plastic Workers of America (URW - now a part of USW) joined with six major rubber companies to establish a joint occupational health program. The program included a study of rubber workers that focused on cancer cases and mortality. This clip is from the 1980 OSHA film "Worker to Worker."

Sunshine Mine Disaster - In 1972 a fire broke out and killed 91 miners in the Sunshine Mine, one of the nation's premier silver mines located in Idaho. This was one of the worst mining disasters of the 20th century, and prompted the passage of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (Mine Act) that amended the 1969 Coal Act to include all of the mining industry instead of just coal mines. The Mine Act strengthened and expanded rights and protections for miners. This disaster also resulted in a legal case that eventually was decided by the US Supreme Court and provided our current definition for the union's obligation to duty of fair representation as it pertains to our members' health & safety.  This clip is from the 2004 video "We are MSHA," by the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

OSHA's Hazard Communication Standard (The Right to Know) - Labor unions worked for nearly 15 years after the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act to gain a national right to know standard. The final rule, which was promulgated in 1983, expanded the scope of industries to cover all workers and gave them the right to know the names and hazards of the chemicals in their workplace. The rule was updated in 2012 to include the Globally Harmonized System for Classification and Labeling. This clip is from the 1987 video "The Right to Know: Making it Work" that was produced by the AFL-CIO's Department of Occupational Safety, Health and Social Security and the Labor Institute of Public Affairs.

Out of Control - The 1989 explosion at the Phillips Chemical Complex and other safety incidents in the petrochemical industry prompted the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union (OCAW - now part of USW) to put out a video call "Out of Control." That explosion and advocacy from the labor movement led to the promulgation of OSHA's Process Safety Management (PSM) standard. The USW put out another video in 2011 called "Still Out of Control" that documents the corporate disregard for plant safety and public health that still exists in the petrochemical industry.

Our Children's World: The Environment - The United Steelworkers was the first union to see the important like between a clean environment and good public and occupational health and safety. Its first environmental conference was held in 1952. The 1990 USWA constitutional convention adopted the report"Our Children's World" that discussed environmental issues. It said that the destruction of the environment may be the greatest threat to our children's future, and that is why the environment must be an issue for the union. An updated report called "Securing Our Children's World" was issued in 2006 jointly with theBlueGreen Alliance, a coalition of labor and environmental groups started by the USW and the Sierra Club in 2005. This clip is from the BlueGreen Alliance.

Westray - In 1992 the Westray Mine in Nova Scotia exploded killing 26 miners in one of Canada's worst mining disasters. After years of work by the USW, the Westray Bill was passed. This law allows for criminal prosecution of managers and supervisors in the case of a workplace fatality. This clip is of Ken Neumann, the USW Canadian National Director, at a press conference for the 20th anniversary of the explosion. It was recorded by Samantha Bayard for Straight Good News.

Global Occupational Safety & Health (Bangladesh) - Over the years, the USW has supported workers around the world who are attempting to join unions and improve safety and health in their workplaces. We have worked with steelworkers in Romania, rubber workers in Liberia, and textile workers in Bangladesh, among others. This video, created by the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights, shows the striking similarities between the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire in New York in 1911 and a 2011 fire in Bangladesh. Many worker safety measures were passed for workers in the US after the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, but those have yet to reach workers all around the world.