Search News
For the Media
For media inquiries, call CWA Communications at 202-434-1168 or email comms@cwa-union.org. To read about CWA Members, Leadership or Industries, visit our About page.
Post Series Documents Bush Assault on OSHA
Workplace safety and health rules have taken a huge hit under the Bush administration, but the rollbacks have been done quietly, most without input from labor and few generating any media coverage, a comprehensive Washington Post series reported this week.
"At OSHA, the administration's regulatory philosophy has translated into a smaller staff to develop new standards, less reliance on the views of organized labor and an enlarged role for businesses," the Post reported.
The series began by describing a rule designed to protect 5 million health workers and others at homeless shelters, prisons and drug treatment centers whose jobs put them at risk of tuberculosis, which has been on the rise. The tuberculosis rule making began under President Clinton in 1993 and was nearly complete when George Bush took office.
"Then, on the last day of 2003, in an action so obscure it was not mentioned in any major newspaper in the country, the administration canceled the rules," The Post reported. "Voluntary measures, federal officials said, were effective enough to make regulation unnecessary."
Not only has Bush canceled that and other regulations, the Post said he has not started any major new health or safety rules, setting him apart from his three most recent predecessors, including his father and Ronald Reagan.
Further, he has cut staff and funding for OSHA, angering some employees who told the Post it has cost the agency some of its expertise. "I finally couldn't take it anymore," Peter Infante, a senior epidemiologist, told the Post. Infante retired before finishing years of research on rules to protect workers from beryllium, a metal that can cause cancer if inhaled in even minute amounts. He told the Post that the only U.S. company that mines and processes beryllium ore had gained too much influence inside the agency.
The first part of the series deals specifically with OSHA. It is available on the Post website at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1315-2004Aug14.html or simply go to www.washingtonpost.com and use the search engine. On the story site you'll find links to the second and third parts of the series, which show how the administration is attacking the science behind regulations and how a one-word change in one regulation allowed coal companies to strip the tops of thousands of Appalachian Mountains.
"At OSHA, the administration's regulatory philosophy has translated into a smaller staff to develop new standards, less reliance on the views of organized labor and an enlarged role for businesses," the Post reported.
The series began by describing a rule designed to protect 5 million health workers and others at homeless shelters, prisons and drug treatment centers whose jobs put them at risk of tuberculosis, which has been on the rise. The tuberculosis rule making began under President Clinton in 1993 and was nearly complete when George Bush took office.
"Then, on the last day of 2003, in an action so obscure it was not mentioned in any major newspaper in the country, the administration canceled the rules," The Post reported. "Voluntary measures, federal officials said, were effective enough to make regulation unnecessary."
Not only has Bush canceled that and other regulations, the Post said he has not started any major new health or safety rules, setting him apart from his three most recent predecessors, including his father and Ronald Reagan.
Further, he has cut staff and funding for OSHA, angering some employees who told the Post it has cost the agency some of its expertise. "I finally couldn't take it anymore," Peter Infante, a senior epidemiologist, told the Post. Infante retired before finishing years of research on rules to protect workers from beryllium, a metal that can cause cancer if inhaled in even minute amounts. He told the Post that the only U.S. company that mines and processes beryllium ore had gained too much influence inside the agency.
The first part of the series deals specifically with OSHA. It is available on the Post website at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1315-2004Aug14.html or simply go to www.washingtonpost.com and use the search engine. On the story site you'll find links to the second and third parts of the series, which show how the administration is attacking the science behind regulations and how a one-word change in one regulation allowed coal companies to strip the tops of thousands of Appalachian Mountains.