HEARING REVEALS BUSH REGIME'S ABANDONMENT OF ERGONOMICS

Friday, May 9, 2008

(PAI)HEARING REVEALS BUSH REGIME’S ABANDONMENT OF ERGONOMICS
By Mark Gruenberg
PAI Staff Writer

    WASHINGTON (PAI)--The anti-worker GOP Bush regime’s
abandonment of enforcing job safety and health
standards when ergonomic injuries come up is even
larger than official government data show.

    That came out in testimony by Bush Labor Secretary
Elaine Chao, defending her department’s budget
proposals to the very-critical Senate Labor
Appropriations subcommittee on May 7.   Ergonomics was
just one of several flash points between the Right
Wing Bush regime official and several senators from
both parties.

    Chao told panel chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
inspected 700 workplaces for ergonomic injuries last
year. That’s even though ergonomic
injuries--including musculoskeletal disorders when
workers are hurt on the job by actions such as
repetitive motions, lifting, turning and
hauling--totaled 375,540 in 2006, the last year for
which data are available.

    She also claimed ergonomic injuries fell by 22% since
2002, though she did not provide figures to back
that--and did not mention her DOL put through a rule
before 2002 saying businesses did not have to keep
separate counts of ergonomic injuries.

    But the 700-inspection estimate turned out to be
high. Harkin, quoting from DOL’S own “performance and
accountability report,” said the real number was 449.

    That didn’t deter Chao, who claimed “we’ve had the
best injury and illness rate and lowest workplace
fatality rate ever. We’ve helped workplaces become
safer.” Harkin countered with Labor Department data
showing workplace death rates rose from 2005-2006, as
did the number of fatalities. “And fatalities among
Hispanic workers decreased from 2002-2003, and then
shot up” to 990 in 2006, a record, he added.

    He also said ergonomics would not go away. “It still
is one of the highest reasons for people losing time
on the job. This will have to be addressed by the
next administration. And if I’m here next year, we’ll
get on it,” promised Harkin, who is up for re-election
this fall.

    “We have enforcement, outreach, education and
compliance assistance,” Chao responded, referring to
OSHA’s advice to businesses followed by exempting them
from inspections. “But we can do better.”

    Other disagreements between Chao and the senators
included:

    * DOL’s decision, revealed in Government
Accountability Office report released that morning, to
award approximately 90% of High Growth Job Training
grants since 2001 without competitive bidding--and
without holding grantees to results they promised to
achieve. Harkin compared the grants to
now-controversial congressional earmarks, saying that
at least lawmakers have to put them on record, and
follow up for results.

    “Your own inspector general quoted your department as
saying ‘It’s not necessary or valuable to evaluate all
grant activities,” an incredulous Harkin said. Chao
responded the grants were a pilot program, and they’re
now being awarded competitively. Harkin noted that
occurred only because, last year, the Democratic-run
Congress ordered competition to occur for the money.

    * Whether OSHA’s injury and illness data are
accurate. Harkin, citing outside studies, said there
appears to be widespread underreporting of injuries
and illnesses on the job, when the agency’s numbers
are compared with those from workers’ comp programs
and other official sources. Harkin and two other
senators have asked the non-partisan Government
Accountability Office to probe the underreporting.
Chao said she doubted it occurs.

    * The future sites for a small program called Youth
Build, designed to help train at-risk youngsters in
building trades. The $25 million program now
distributes $5 million grants to each of five major
cities. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) wants money to
help cities combating crime waves, specifically citing
Philadelphia. But Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) said
more should go to the Gulf Coast, still ravaged by
Katrina.   Chao did not respond to Specter but told
Cochran “we’ll take a look at your suggestion.”

    * Labor enforcement. Chao strongly defended the
increased money under the anti-worker GOP Bush regime
for the Office of Labor-Management Standards, the
small agency in DOL that gathers and publicizes union
financial data, letting workers’ enemies grab it. She
said the office needs more money to enforce its new
rules for required union LM-2 and LM-30 reports.

    LM-2s force unions to disclose spending on virtually
everything from pencils to paychecks of staffers, plus
how much time staffers spend on everything from
organizing to community service to activism. The
LM-30s require individual unionists, even if they’re
unpaid--such as people serving as shop stewards--to
disclose their personal finances, including mortgage
loans, car loans and college loans, in intimate
detail.

    The encounter over the labor enforcement office--a
favorite agency of the Radical Right National Right to
Work Committee--produced a show of temper from Chao.
“There seems to be some angst among some
special-interest groups over this,” she snapped.
“This office is one-tenth of 1% of our total budget.
We’re just trying to restore the budget and enforce
the law.”       ###