By
Frank Goldsmith, Dr PH
Regional
Coordinator,
North
America
World
Federation of Trade Unions
EACH
YEAR WELL OVER 10,000 WORKERS ARE KILLED BY WORKPLACE ACUTE EVENTS
AND WELL OVER 20,000 DIE FROM WORK-RELATED OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES AND
ILLNESSES
Have
you noticed in recent elections that the cries from corporate leaders
and their hand picked politicians contained little ridicule or
opposition to OSHA standards, regulations and their enforcement?
In
fact, after the first ten years of OSHA [1970 to 1980], often
referred to as the “Golden Years of OSHA” the cries against OSHA
has been steadily withdrawn from the standard corporate Republican
legislation litany. There is a clear reason.
The
other mainstream party the Democrats have long since proposed strong,
new worker standards and their enforcement. On the contrary, when in
power, they've adopted former Senator Ted Kennedy's de-regulation
labor/management cooperation method of protecting workers. While
Kennedy's cooperative ideas were legislatively defeated by trade
union and worker demands, in 1980, BEFORE THE REAGAN ELECTION, most
of those anti-working class legislative proposals are now, in fact,
fully in place 37 years later.
Workplace
standards
Back
in the 1970's often heroic medical scientists and their trade unions
activist allies helped establish new ground breaking federal rules
for example the groundbreaking rules preventing lead exposure and a
few other toxic substances. Old standards were being questioned and
proposals were afloat to replace them with rules that actually
prevent hazards from killing and disabling workers. Optimism reigned.
A
new federal Workers’ Compensation System was being proposed to
replace the horrific state-based 50 state systems of workers’ comp.
This was written into the 1970 OSHA legislation. [10 years later,
after extensive debates and discussions, the system was largely
unchanged.]
But
the Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers
and every other corporate lobbying group got into action; especially
their political action arms by donating millions of dollars to
members of Congress and the White House – BOTH DEMOCRATIC AND
REPUBLICAN – to defend corporate rule at their plant and workplace
sites.
Since
1980 by adopting the Democratic Party’s Ted Kennedy anti regulation
agenda our working class has suffered often barbarism that is
historic.
Of
course, no one questions the anti-worker policies of the Republicans,
in this case by Ronald Reagan.
But
the complicity of the Democratic Party with their corporate and Wall
Street financial backers, made the election of presidents who satisfy
the corporate agenda their top priority, not workers, their families
and the trade unions. This became the norm. The Agenda of workers and
their unions was far in second or lower place.
The
lockstep control of both mainstream politicians by the International
Monetary Fund [IMF]; the World Trade Organization [WTO] and other
international corporate groups dictated all US national economic and
working class policies. But mostly those are were and are supposed to
represent workers and trade unionism are far more guilty. The home of
the IMF is in Washington, D.C. just a stone''s throw from the
AFL-CIO. The Brookings Institute, The Washington D.C. based
ideological neo-liberal Institute, buttresses the IMF and the WTO
with its own ideological neo-liberal experts. The US is the principle
financier and program determinant of these groups.
The
establishment in 1985 of the Democratic Leadership Council [DLC],
with Bill Clinton its first success story in 1992, brought the
neo-liberal philosophy, openly anti union and anti-worker. to the US
to the White House. Privatization was the goal; “Shrinking” the
government work force and most importantly dumping federal and state
regulations. Controlling and shrinking the power of OSHA was
the goal of the DLC and it was fully achieved. Funding was
drastically reduced for In-the- field inspectors [of which there were
very few to begin with]; promulgating new rules and standards was
completely stopped and new medical scientific research was almost
unfunded. And, that was under the Democrats. For example, Clinton’s
ties to United Parcel Service [UPS] were well known, so, for example,
fighting the UPS by the Teamsters Union for a strong Ergonomic rule
had to be done with one hand behind the IBT backs. [The EPA suffered
the same fate; and National Health was shelved and the privatization
of Medicare and Medicaid leapt forward.]
The
“Battle of Seattle” in 1999 which pitted the John Sweeney lead
AFL-CIO against the WTO and in effect the IMF was a heroic
politically independent mass action. While it failed, it set a
standard to still refer back to. Clinton and the DLC were furious and
Sweeney’s days were numbered.
The
Bush governments had to just continue the attacks on an already
crippled OSHA.
And,
the Barack Obama Democratic administration was a continuation of the
Bush-Clinton disaster years for workplace standards and
enforcement. Neo-liberal ideology won out in every case of standard
setting and enforcement by federal marshals. Obama’s Harvard
libertarian expert Cass Sunstein was put in charge of all Regulations
and he spent his 4 years in government service shutting down those
same government regulatory services.
States
Rights Blunt OSHA Enforcement.
The
original OSHA law had deadly compromises. The Democratic Party agreed
to allowing individual states to have their own OSHA legal apparatus.
The “As good as the federal OSHA” feature in the OSHA legislation
was a joke in most instances. But, like the Electoral College which
handed the recent election to Trump, the slave state history of our
country. was continued within OSHA. Over half of the States have
these mostly dangerous State Plans in place.
Also
Public workers were not originally covered. So, each and every state,
EVERY STATE, had to enact legislation to cover their public workers.
By 1980, most did, but most also did not employ strict rules and
enforcement. Monitoring by the federal OSHA was lax or nonexistent.
State Public Workers Plans are federal financially [50%] funded.
Asbestos
The
lone exception to the decline of OSHA has been the scourge of
asbestos. The Asbestos Workers Union in NYC noted by the late 1970s
that many of their members were dying of lung and related cancer. At
the same time a tough, independent New York Mt. Sinai medical
scientist Irving Selikoff discovered the relationship between
asbestos exposure and lung cancer. The two, the Asbestos union and
medical scientists, combined to reshape occupational health and
within 10 years fully established that asbestos was a full
carcinogen. Selikoff faced massive industry and political opposition
[he personally was a Republican] but stood his ground. Asbestos
workers’ medical, legal and financial rights were secured. Other
workers and their unions took heart. [During this process it came to
light, that the industrial insurance companies recognized the cancer
attributes
of
asbestos exposure.
But,
organized industry fought back against all other industrial exposure.
That is, the assumption that exposure to asbestos was associated to
lung cancer. In much the same way, in the 1960s that coal miners won
their Black Lung Benefits with a similar assumption that exposure to
coal and silica dust caused disability and death. Many industries
trade unions could cite workplace exposures that a reasonable person
could assume would cause disability or death. Corporate lawyers and
their politicians fought this assumption idea with all their
political and financial strength.
Political
Game
So,
when there is a race for the White House the Democrats will cry that
the Republicans are not protecting workers, tipping their hats to the
AFL-CIO demands; that is when Republicans are in power. In the
opposite; if Democrats are in power; they will warn against
Republicans destroying rules and enforcement. And, of course accept
corporate funds with the promise that the neo-liberal agenda will be
strictly followed in OSHA and MSHA [Mine Safety and Health
Administration].
The
truth is; both are pro corporate parties are anti worker in regard to
workplace standards, rules and enforcement; since both live off of
Wall Street, and big corporate and hedge fund contributions. It’s a
lose / lose for workers and their families.
A
New Strategy is Needed.
In
the next installment: LT describes how the Volkswagen barbarous
scandal of diesel exposure which came at the same time the US federal
National Institutes of Health and the International Agency for Cancer
research labeled Diesel Exhaust a major Class A Carcinogen in 2012,
and how the US government has done nothing to set adequate rules
for government work exposure to diesel exhaust [DE]. Also, the
criminal and cynical Bill Clinton strategy to not enact a rule
governing ergonomic issues such as carpel tunnel syndrome will be
described. LT will outline its full program on Workplace Health and
Safety
in the future with a series of class oriented articles written by
Workplace Health and Safety professionals. Watch for them in the
coming weeks.
