In another indication of the changed climate in Washington, D.C., since the Democrats won control of Congress, the House and Senate are both taking a serious look at workplace safety and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). AFT members Tracee Binion from Alabama and Franklin Mirer from New York were highlighted prominently in recent efforts on Capitol Hill to bring attention to the Bush administration's failure to protect the health and safety of workers.

AFT member Tracee Binion speaks at a press conference addressing worker safety. Photo by Gary DiNunno/Page One Photography.

On April 26, just two days before Workers Memorial Day—designed to honor those killed and injured on the job and to focus attention on the need to do much more to ensure worker safety—Binion spoke at a press conference with Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee. Binion, a teacher and member of the Jefferson County (Ala.) Federation of Teachers, spoke about the "occupational asthma" that she was diagnosed with after working in a school that was being renovated without proper ventilation. A marathon runner before then, Binion missed four weeks of school and still is on several asthma medications.

"What angers me is that so much of this could have been avoided," she said. Public employees in Alabama, like more than 8 million others in many other states, are not covered by OSHA so they had no recourse to request that the agency inspect and possibly cite the school district for exposing staff and students to hazardous fumes. "If toxic fumes and bad ventilation can have such an impact on me, a healthy adult, just imagine what we're subjecting our children to," she added.

Binion's testimony followed a hearing of the Senate HELP health and safety subcommittee that featured experts, including the director of the AFL-CIO's safety and health program, as well as a registered nurse who spoke about the epidemic of back injuries caused by manual patient handling. In addition, the HELP committee staff prepared a booklet about 10 workers injured on the job that included Binion's story as well as that of fellow AFT member Jean Lucus from the Health Professionals and Allied Employees, who was injured caring for a 600-pound patient.

A day earlier, AFT higher education member Franklin Mirer testified before the House Education and Labor Committee's subcommittee on workforce protections. Mirer, a professor of environmental and occupational health sciences at City University of New York's Hunter College and former director of Health and Safety for the United Auto Workers, is an expert on OSHA standards. As he told the representatives, the agency has "checked out" of setting standards since 2001. "Slow progress in earlier years has ground to a halt and may even be moving stealthily backward," Mirer said in his testimony. Under the Bush administration, OSHA has set one new chemical standard—and that was because of a court order.

Subcommittee chair Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) noted that the current administration "has the worst record of standard setting of any administration in the history of the law."

The AFT and the AFL-CIO are using Workers Memorial Day to address some of these vital worker safety issues. On the problem of the millions of public employees who are not covered by OSHA in their states, the AFT is pushing for passage of a bill in Congress, recently introduced by Rep. Robert Andrews (D-N.J.), that would extend OSHA coverage to these workers.

Binion's experience is far from unique. School employees in particular experience high rates of work-related assaults and work-related asthma. In addition, healthcare workers and transportation workers suffer strains and sprains at rates that rival those of construction workers.

The AFL-CIO's theme for this year's day is "Good Jobs, Safe Jobs, It's Time." The AFT has adopted its own unofficial mott "A moment of silence is not enough." Stickers with that slogan were distributed at the AFT's PSRP conference in Las Vegas, and the union's health and safety program also hosted a Workers Memorial Day luncheon during the conference.

The AFL-CIO has more information on Workers Memorial Day, including downloadable fliers, fact sheets, posters and other material. The AFT's Web site offers additional resources, including a section titled "Work Shouldn't Hurt." [Dan Gursky, Darryl Alexander, AFT public affairs department, AFL-CIO]

April 26, 2007