CWA District 1 Occupational Safety and Health Retreat

The CWA District 1 Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Retreat was held June 9-10, 2006 in Albany, New York. Conducted jointly by
District 1 Headquarters and the Union's Occupational Safety and Health Department, the retreat was held for the primary purposes of bringing
local OSH activists together to:

• Discuss, coordinate, and develop tactics and strategies focused upon dentifying, preventing, and/or resolving member workplace
  safety and health hazards and related illnesses, injuries, and fatalities,
• Share information on successes and failures, and 
• Establish and  further communication and networking between and among national, state, and local OSH activists.

Participants included forty-four CWA OSH activists. Of these,

• Twenty-one activists came from 14 Locals primarily representing
  members within the telecommunications industry;
• Ten from five Locals within the IUE-CWA Industrial Division;
• Four from three Locals within the Public, Health Care, and
  Education Workers Sector;
• One each from one NABET-CWA Local union and one AFA-CWA local.

In addition, Micki Siegel de Hernandez, Director of the CWA New York State Occupational Safety and Health Program;David LeGrande and
Charlie Barret from the Union's Occupational Safety and Health Department, and Chris Witkowski, Director of the AFA-CWA Air Safety,
Health, and Security Department, participated.

The District 1 OSH Retreat focused upon and presentations were given on a number of issues including:

• CWA's role in helping to establish and use the New Jersey Public Worker Indoor Air Quality Standard (Of interest, indoor air quality
  investigations authorized by the Standard are conducted by industrial hygienists who belong to CWA Local 1034.);
• Hazards associated with contaminated indoor air, potable water, and pesticides on airplanes, as well as the U.S. Transportation
  Safety Administration (TSA) ruling to allow passengers to take once-prohibited items (e.g., blades and scissors) on airplanes;
• Workplace violence concerns associated with social workers (particularly when making client home visits);
• Chemical and ergonomic hazards within the furniture industry; 
• Occupational hazards such as ladder and electrical safety, as well as craft and computer workplace ergonomics issues within the telecommunications industry;
• Workplace ergonomics safety and health issues and problems associated with the production of (New Era) sports caps; and
• The wide variety of occupational and environmental safety and health exposures and issues within the manufacturing industry.

Presentations and discussions of the above issues emphasized the importance of developing and using local union occupational safety and health committees, working within the collective bargaining process, and coordinating information regarding tactics and strategies in identifying  and resolving/preventing workplace safety and health hazards and problems. 

The district retreat successfully accomplished its primary objectives, i.e., to identify local union eeds, develop and continue the use of ongoing safety and health networks, and coordinate safety and health projects with the Union's leaders and safety and health activists. These goals were primarily achieved through the delivery of eleven presentations by selected OSH activists during three defined panel sessions, as well as follow-up discussions involving all retreat participants. Presentations targeted real-life, day-to-day activities of CWA leaders, members, and OSH activists.

In the future, in coordination with CWA's Occupational Safety and Health Department, District 1 Headquarters will work with local union leaders and
OSH activists to further develop and implement identification and resolution/prevention occupational safety and health efforts. Where possible,
these activities will occur within the collective bargaining through a grant from the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
with the Center for Labor Education and Research-University of Alabama at Birmingham and CWA, this training targeted issues such as the
identification, avoidance, and containment of hazardous materials and the role of emergency responders.

Attached are the retreat agenda and a list of participants. 

CWA District 1 Occupational Safety and Health Retreat and Emergency Response/Hazardous Materials Awareness Training

June 9-10, 2006, Clarion Hotel of Albany Albany, NY

Friday, June 9, 2006

8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.  Emergency Response/Hazardous Materials
                                Awareness Training  (Optional Extra Session)

7:00 p.m.- 9:00 p.m.   Reception

Saturday, June 10, 2006

8:30- 9:00 a.m.          Welcome and Introduction 

                                Chris Shelton, CWA Vice President, District 1

9:00- 10:15                "Ready for the Future- Occupational Safety
                                 and Health"

                                      David LeGrande, Director, CWA Occupational
                                      Safety and Health Department

10:15- 10:30              Break

10:30- 12:00 p.m.       Local Union Issues (Local Union Panel)

                                "New Jersey Public Employee Occupational Safety and
                                Health Indoor Air Quality Standard"

                                Larry Endicott, CWA Local 1040

                                "Flight Attendant Workplace Safety and Health Issues"

                                Craig MacInnes, Jr., AFA-CWA LEC, United      
                                      Council 27                                 

                                "Social Worker Gains: Workplace Violence"

                                      John Vasko, IUE-CWA Local 81381

                                "Furniture Worker Occupational Safety and
                                Health Hazards"

                                Elmo De Silva, IUE-CWA Local 81076, and

                                      Giovanni Gomez, IUE-CWA Local 81475  

12:00- 1:15               Lunch

1:15- 2:45                 Developing Occupational Safety and Health
                                      Education and Training Activities/Programs
                                      (Local Union Panel)
                                                                 

                                      "Ladder and Electrical Hazards Safety Training,"

                                Joe Dunn (Retired), CWA Local 1123

                                      Wayne Persaud, CWA Local 1111

                                     Micki Siegel de Hernandez, Director, CWA
                                     New York State Occupational Safety and
                                     Health Program

                               "Computer Workplace Ergonomics,"

                               Maggie Sporbert and Bob Shannon,
                                     CWA Local 1105

                               Micki Siegel de Hernandez

2:45- 300                  Break

3:00- 4:30                 Using Joint and Union Occupational Safety
                                     and Health Committees to Identify/Resolve
                                     Safety and Health Issues (Local Union Panel)

                               "Workplace Ergonomics at New Era: Conflict
                               to Cooperation,"

                               Jane Howald and Kathy Ketterer,
                                     CWA Local 14177                  

                               "Working to Prevent/Resolve Occupational
                               Safety and Health
                               Issues in Manufacturing Workplaces"

                                    Ted Comick, IUE-CWA Local 81201

                                   Dominick Patrignani, IUE-CWA Local 81359      

                               "The Joint Occupational Safety and Health
                               Committee: CWA and Verizon"

                                Carmen Damiano, CWA Local 1123,
                                      and Jim Morrow, CWA Local 1108

                               Micki Siegel de Hernandez

4:30- 5:00                 Closing Remarks