Working Together: Having a Union Can Be a Life or Death Matter

When you hear people debate whether unions are relevant — whether organized labor makes a contribution to the betterment of our society — just point out what our movement does in the area of workplace safety and health.

As this special issue of CWA News shows, whether it's direct action in the workplace to identify deadly toxins or a faulty piece of equipment, or political action to tighten safety laws and mandate medical screening for thousands of responders at Ground Zero after 9/11, the union difference can often be a matter of life and death.

There are a myriad of issues affecting every sector and occupation in our union. This is one area that really spotlights the role of CWA shop stewards who witness or hear about hazards and take action at the front lines to protect our members.

Some CWA members have jobs that are inherently dangerous. Just last month, a West Virginia state trooper and member of Local 2019, 25-year-old Brian Linn, was killed when his cruiser crashed during a high-speed chase near Martinsburg. While the accident is still being investigated, the age and condition of police cruisers is a concern that CWA law enforcement locals are raising throughout the country.

Working near high-voltage lines presents deadly hazards to broadcast and telecom techs. After the recent electrocution deaths of four CWA and IBEW members at Verizon, CWA demanded meetings with the company that have resulted in a new electrical safety program for Verizon members throughout the East Coast and Midwest, and soon around the whole country.

Did you know that social workers often are subject to violent assaults? A story in this issue describes what CWA is doing to make their jobs safer.

Other safety and health issues that might not be life-threatening still can cause painful and crippling injuries — whether it's newspaper mailers suffering crushed fingers, factory workers risking serious cuts and eye injuries, or service reps and others at computer stations developing carpal tunnel syndrome.

As several stories describe, job stress is a common problem in every sector, from high-pressure call centers, to understaffed police departments and to airport ticket counters and jet cabins, where "air rage" is a growing phenomenon.

In each case, CWA stewards and officers are working to improve conditions in a variety of ways — through bargaining and the work of safety committees, filings with regulators, lobbying lawmakers and community mobilization.

For 150 million American workers, union and non-union alike, the labor movement is their primary advocate for job safety and health — especially with a White House that has steadily slashed OSHA funding and eroded workers' rights and protections for the past seven years.

As in so many areas, the decline in worker bargaining power in the United States — with less than 8 percent of the private sector unionized — is clearly reflected in workplace safety comparisons with other countries. For example, in the U.S. the rate for on-the-job fatalities is 4 deaths for every 100,000 workers, compared with:

• Less than 1 per 100,000 in the United Kingdom, where 35 percent have collective bargaining. 
• 2.8 per 100,000 in France, where 95 percent have bargaining rights. 
• 3 per 100,000 in Canada, where one-third have        bargaining coverage.    

So add job safety and health to the list of high-stakes issues for the 2008 elections. Reclaiming the White House and electing more pro-worker lawmakers in Washington and around the country is the key to building our movement for change — fighting for good jobs, securing our health care and retirement, and restoring workers' organizing and collective bargaining rights, including our ability to negotiate safe and healthy workplaces.