Protecting America's Workers

They hailed from Northern California to Southern Texas, from mid-state Michigan to eastern Massachusetts.  They were 170 workers, trade unionists, safety professionals and community activists strong, all with a common purpose: to develop a powerful national agenda that would ensure that OSHA achieves the mission set forth nearly forty years ago: “to assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women.”

On November 7, the Protecting Workers’ Alliance held its first Health and Safety Summit to tackle the nation’s most significant occupational health challenges: musculoskeletal injuries and the lack of an ergonomics standard; chemical exposure and the need for stronger chemical policies; growing rates of fatalities among immigrants and the need for increased access to OSHA; and an overall need for strong enforcement against employers who flout OSHA regulations. 

 “We have an obligation to ensure that the Obama administration lives up to its promise of putting worker safety above corporate influence,” said Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, MassCOSH’s Executive Director, who coordinates the Alliance’s policy committee. “We have to make up eight years of inaction on key standards. We also have a groundbreaking opportunity to pass legislation that puts some teeth into OSHA - the Protecting America’s Workers Act.”

Speaking on a panel that opened the Summit, MassCOSH Worker Center Organizer Mirna Montano described the experience of several immigrant workers who took the risk of reporting unsafe conditions to OSHA but found themselves unable to participate in the investigation. “Imagine what it’s like to call OSHA only to find that the OSHA investigator who walks through your factory can’t speak to you because he or she only speaks English,” she remarked. “It’s also very intimidating to have someone walking through your plant who looks like an official government agent – but you don’t know why they are there. How difficult would it be to provide a card to workers in their own language that informs them of what OSHA does and their right to share safety concerns in a confidential setting?”

In a workgroup that focused on the burgeoning green jobs market, MassCOSH Labor-Environment Coordinator Tolle Graham gathered strategies from across the country to expand the definition of “green jobs.” “We all want to find ways to ensure that these new green jobs provide safe conditions and living wages,” said Graham, who also serves as the president of National COSH.  “With more stimulus money expected to stream in, we need to be sure that contractors that reap the benefits of this money are required to maintain high standards for safety and health.”

With work plans forming around key policy areas, workgroups will continue to convene through regular conference calls as they move forward with their agenda. “This Summit is the first step in what is quickly becoming a powerful, diverse and vigilant coalition,” said Tom O’Connor, National COSH Coordinator. 

To read the final workplans and get involved in national policy advocacy, email Tom O’Connor at oconnorta@gmail.com.