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Unions, Supporters in Congress Begin New Fight for Ergonomics Rule
The fight for an ergonomics rule is heating up again, with CWA, unions and supporters on Capitol Hill pledging to make it a top priority.
At a news conference April 26, dozens of CWA members waved union and "Stop the Pain” signs as some of labor’s strongest backers in Congress held a news conference to demand that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration start work on a new ergonomics standard.
“It took this administration 10 hours to overturn 10 years of work to protect workers,” Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) said. “That’s unconscionable, that’s unacceptable and we intend to change it.”
He was referencing the mere 10 hours of debate Senate Republicans allowed in a single day before voting in March to overturn the OSHA standard, put in place by the Clinton administration after a decade of scientific studies and a year of hearings. The House quickly followed suit and killed the rule.
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Democratic House members Nancy Pelosi of California and Major Owens of New York took part in the noon news conference outside the U.S. Capitol, along with AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and four
injured workers.
“It’s a national scandal that this administration and Republican congressional leaders continue to drag their feet on this matter,” Sweeney said. “Safety in the workplace is a right.”
Sweeney and other labor leaders delivered a petition to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao after the event, calling for a new ergonomics standard. The petition was signed by union leaders, safety and health experts, and civil rights, religious and women’s groups. Chao received a similar letter the same day from Kennedy and Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.).
5,000 Injuries a Day
“By conservative estimates, every day we delay protecting workers from ergonomic hazards, almost 5,000 workers will suffer one of these crippling injuries,” the letter stated. “These avoidable injuries are painful and potentially career-ending for thousands upon thousands of workers. The injuries are expensive for employers. And it is intolerable for us as a nation to ignore this country’s number-one workplace health and safety problem.”
Ergonomic injuries were the focus of many union events April 28 observing Workers’ Memorial Day. Nearly 2 million workers every year suffer injuries due to repetitive strain, poorly designed computer stations, assembly lines that force people to move too quickly and reach too far, and jobs that require heavy lifting without assistance. About 600,000 workers need time off to heal, costing businesses $50 billion a year in workers’ compensation, lost productivity and related expenses.
The business lobby fought bitterly against the standard, claiming it would cost too much to make needed changes. Jerri Wood, a customer service representative for Qwest in Seattle and legislative chair for CWA Local 7800, said a $25 ergonomically designed keyboard could have spared her carpal tunnel syndrome in both arms — and saved her company a small fortune.
“My employer spent over $45,000 in lost-time wages, orthopedic and medical examinations, as well as significant administrative costs,” said Wood, a phone company worker for 28 years. She said the pain “never stops.”
A nursing home worker injured while lifting a patient and a packinghouse worker in Iowa also told their stories. Gloria Boyd said she worked on a production line that processed 1,300 hogs an hour. She was forced to cut the meat so quickly that she suffered 13 injuries and has been diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome. Now she has a light-duty job at the plant that pays less.
Owens said workers have “taken a beating” during President Bush’s first 100 days in office, and it’s time to fight back. “We have to make sure the president understands that we are not intimidated,” he said. “Our hands are bloodied but not bound. We’re going to go forward and fight the greed-mongers.”
Kennedy recalled the bipartisan effort that created OSHA in 1970. “That was a national commitment by Republicans and Democrats to make sure the workplaces in the United States were the safest they could be,” he said. “Over the years, we’ve seen workplace deaths reduced by half and we’ve seen important progress made in protecting workers’ safety and health.”
Just 10 years ago, he said, Republican Labor Secretary Elizabeth Dole “identified what was going to be a major health hazard in the workplace — ergonomic injuries.” But “the first order of the Bush administration was to urge the Senate and the House to repeal, outright repeal, those protections, and that is wrong.”
In killing the rule, the business lobby and its Republican allies claimed they would support an altered ergonomics standard. Hillary Clinton said Democrats are calling them on it, beginning with a Senate subcommittee hearing April 27. “We’ll find out if it’s just rhetoric,” Clinton said, pledging to remedy employers’ concerns while creating a standard that truly helps workers.
“The ball is in the court of the administration,” she said. “And many of us are more than willing to work hand in hand to help develop a fair, comprehensive and effective standard.”
At a news conference April 26, dozens of CWA members waved union and "Stop the Pain” signs as some of labor’s strongest backers in Congress held a news conference to demand that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration start work on a new ergonomics standard.
“It took this administration 10 hours to overturn 10 years of work to protect workers,” Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) said. “That’s unconscionable, that’s unacceptable and we intend to change it.”
He was referencing the mere 10 hours of debate Senate Republicans allowed in a single day before voting in March to overturn the OSHA standard, put in place by the Clinton administration after a decade of scientific studies and a year of hearings. The House quickly followed suit and killed the rule.
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Democratic House members Nancy Pelosi of California and Major Owens of New York took part in the noon news conference outside the U.S. Capitol, along with AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and four
injured workers.
“It’s a national scandal that this administration and Republican congressional leaders continue to drag their feet on this matter,” Sweeney said. “Safety in the workplace is a right.”
Sweeney and other labor leaders delivered a petition to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao after the event, calling for a new ergonomics standard. The petition was signed by union leaders, safety and health experts, and civil rights, religious and women’s groups. Chao received a similar letter the same day from Kennedy and Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.).
5,000 Injuries a Day
“By conservative estimates, every day we delay protecting workers from ergonomic hazards, almost 5,000 workers will suffer one of these crippling injuries,” the letter stated. “These avoidable injuries are painful and potentially career-ending for thousands upon thousands of workers. The injuries are expensive for employers. And it is intolerable for us as a nation to ignore this country’s number-one workplace health and safety problem.”
Ergonomic injuries were the focus of many union events April 28 observing Workers’ Memorial Day. Nearly 2 million workers every year suffer injuries due to repetitive strain, poorly designed computer stations, assembly lines that force people to move too quickly and reach too far, and jobs that require heavy lifting without assistance. About 600,000 workers need time off to heal, costing businesses $50 billion a year in workers’ compensation, lost productivity and related expenses.
The business lobby fought bitterly against the standard, claiming it would cost too much to make needed changes. Jerri Wood, a customer service representative for Qwest in Seattle and legislative chair for CWA Local 7800, said a $25 ergonomically designed keyboard could have spared her carpal tunnel syndrome in both arms — and saved her company a small fortune.
“My employer spent over $45,000 in lost-time wages, orthopedic and medical examinations, as well as significant administrative costs,” said Wood, a phone company worker for 28 years. She said the pain “never stops.”
A nursing home worker injured while lifting a patient and a packinghouse worker in Iowa also told their stories. Gloria Boyd said she worked on a production line that processed 1,300 hogs an hour. She was forced to cut the meat so quickly that she suffered 13 injuries and has been diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome. Now she has a light-duty job at the plant that pays less.
Owens said workers have “taken a beating” during President Bush’s first 100 days in office, and it’s time to fight back. “We have to make sure the president understands that we are not intimidated,” he said. “Our hands are bloodied but not bound. We’re going to go forward and fight the greed-mongers.”
Kennedy recalled the bipartisan effort that created OSHA in 1970. “That was a national commitment by Republicans and Democrats to make sure the workplaces in the United States were the safest they could be,” he said. “Over the years, we’ve seen workplace deaths reduced by half and we’ve seen important progress made in protecting workers’ safety and health.”
Just 10 years ago, he said, Republican Labor Secretary Elizabeth Dole “identified what was going to be a major health hazard in the workplace — ergonomic injuries.” But “the first order of the Bush administration was to urge the Senate and the House to repeal, outright repeal, those protections, and that is wrong.”
In killing the rule, the business lobby and its Republican allies claimed they would support an altered ergonomics standard. Hillary Clinton said Democrats are calling them on it, beginning with a Senate subcommittee hearing April 27. “We’ll find out if it’s just rhetoric,” Clinton said, pledging to remedy employers’ concerns while creating a standard that truly helps workers.
“The ball is in the court of the administration,” she said. “And many of us are more than willing to work hand in hand to help develop a fair, comprehensive and effective standard.”