U.S. Workers Face Crushing Working Conditions as Federal and State Rules, Regulations and Enforcement Drop to Their Lowest in over 50 Years

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years of OSHA [1970 to 1980], often referred to as the “Golden Years of OSHA” the cries against OSHA has been steadily withdrawn from the standard corporate Republican legislation litany.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.