Concord, April 29, 2008 – In commemoration of workers hurt on the job last year, the NH Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health distributed workplace safety information at the Statehouse and released a new report on workers’ compensation problems.The event was part of nationwide observance of Workers’ Memorial Day.
NH COSH Chair Brian Mitchell pointed out that nearly 50,000 workers are injured annually in New Hampshire. He said OSHA lacks resources to enforce workplace safety laws.At current staffing levels, the New Hampshire OSHA office would need 122 years to inspect each workplace in the state just once.Mitchell said that many employers feel they can get away with breaking safety rules and endangering workers.
Mitchell also stated “Although our state has relatively few workplace fatalities, even one is too many.No family should face the heartbreak of losing a loved one to an accident on the job.”
As part of its Workers’ Memorial Day observance, NH COSH also released a new report on workers’ compensation.The report, focusing on immigrant workers, documents the many difficulties that injured workers face accessing medical benefits under the workers’ compensation system.As a result, many are forced to live with long-term disabilities.The cost to their families and to the social service system is high, according to the study.The report is available at NH COSH’s website, www.nhcosh.org.
For Immediate ReleaseContact: Rachele Huennekens 202-637-5018
Jump in Fatalities of Latino Workers, Reports New AFL-CIO Death on the Job Study
New Report Released to Mark 20th Workers Memorial Day, April 28
(Washington, April 28) - - Workplace fatalities have increased sharply for Latino and immigrant workers, reports the new AFL-CIO annual study: Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect.In 2006, fatal injuries among Latino workers increased by seven percent over 2005, with 990 fatalities among this group of workers, the highest number ever reported.
The total number of fatal workplace injuries in the United States was 5,840, an increase from the year before.On average, 16 workers were fatally injured and another 11,200 workers were injured or made ill each day in 2006. These statistics do not include deaths from occupational diseases, which claim the lives of an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 more workers each year.
The fatality rate among Hispanic workers in 2006 was 25 percent higher than the fatal injury rate for all U.S. workers.Since 1992, when data was first collected in the BLS Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, the number of fatalities among Latino workers has increased by 86 percent, from 533 fatal injuries in 1992 to 990 deaths in 2006.Among foreign-born workers, job fatalities have increased by 63 percent, from 635 to 1,035 deaths.
“It’s clear that the workplace safety net has more holes than fabric, and it is costing too many American workers their lives,” said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.“Our nation’s workplaces have gotten more dangerous, not safer, under President Bush.Congress and the next President must take real action by strengthening the OSHA Act with tougher civil and criminal penalties, addressing increasing risks for Hispanic and immigrant workers, increasing funding for OSHA, and fully implementing the provisions of the MINER Act.”
The construction sector had the largest number of fatal work injuries (1,239, up from 1,192 in 2005), followed by transportation and warehousing (860), and agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting (655).In the construction sector, there was a gap between Hispanic and non-Hispanic workers.In 2005, the death rate for Hispanic construction workers was 12.4/100,000 full time workers compared to 10.5/100,000 non-Hispanic construction workers.
The report also examined OSHA staffing levels, finding that to inspect each workplace once, it would take federal OSHA 133 years with its current number of inspectors.The current level of federal and state OSHA inspectors provides one inspector for every 63,913 workers.This compares to a benchmark of one labor inspector for every 10,000 workers recommended by the International Labor Organization for industrialized countries.
The release of the Death on the Job report comes in advance of the 20th Workers Memorial Day, April 28th, which commemorates workers who were killed or injured in the past year.Community and union members around the world will gather at hundreds of events to remember local workers and draw attention to the problem of unaddressed workplace hazards.
Also in conjunction with Workers Memorial Day, on Tuesday, April 29th, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions will hold a hearing to investigate OSHA enforcement in cases of worker fatalities. Peg Seminario, Director of Safety and Health at the AFL-CIO, will testify before the committee, arguing that the OSHA Act is too weak to protect workers and to deter employers from violating the law. The hearing will take place in Room 430 at the Dirksen Senate Office Building at 10:00 a.m.
Early next week there is a possiblity that S. 1300 will be taken up on the United States Senate Floor for a vote. The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee marked up the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Bill (S.1300) in May of 2007. The members of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association are asking for your help to protect their jobs and your safety by telling Judd Gregg and John Sununu to support S. 1300.
To tell John Sununu and Judd Gregg to support federal aviation workers click here.
S.1300 and the House companion bill (HR2881) are key to addressing the many needs of the National Airspace System (NAS).HR2881 overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives in September 2007.The users of the system need S1300 to pass the Senate so it can be reconciled with HR2881, then sent to the President for signature. Both FAA Reauthorization bills contain many provisions integral to our nation's aviation infrastructure, such as funding and modernization for the NAS. There are also provisions for fair collective bargaining, and atransparent process, that includes all stakeholders, which is urgently needed to guide the realignment of facilities and services within the FAA.
Click Here to help our Brothers and Sisters of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.
Pretty much everyone agrees our country is headed in the wrong direction.Home foreclosures, unaffordable health care, good jobs disappearing, having to choose between paying the bills and filling your gas tank.
The big question is: How do we Turn Around America ?
What’s not working?What changes would you like to see?And how do we get it done?
Tell us what you think in a video and you could win a national TV spot plus $2,000.
Submit your video on how to Turn Around America at:
We want to hear from union members like you – and your co-workers, friends, neighbors and family.Team up with them or encourage them to submit their own videos.Video submissions will be accepted April 10 through May 20.
The video contest is part of the AFL-CIO’s Turn Around America campaign – coming this summer!
WASHINGTON (AP) - The nation's largest labor federation, the AFL-CIO, and the Service Employees Union International, the nation's largest union and member of a rival labor group, argued Tuesday over who was at fault for a scuffle in Michigan between union members.
What everyone agrees on is that union members tussled at the Labor Notes Conference in Dearborn, Mich., on Saturday, April 12.
The networking conference was sponsored by Labor Notes, a nonprofit organization and network for rank-and-file union members and grassroots labor activists.
The California Nurses Association, an AFL-CIO member, and the SEIU are competing to sign up nurses, with the SEIU complaining that the CNA is raiding its members.
CNA executive director Rose Ann DeMoro was scheduled to speak at the conference, but said she canceled when she heard rumors that SEIU would be there to protest. SEIU members tried to storm the conference's banquet to protest during what they expected to be DeMoro's speech, the CNA said.
"While breaking in the building, the SEIU staff, now joined by SEIU staff inside the building, physically assaulted a group of union members and activists at the door," CNA said in a news release. "At least one woman, a retired auto worker and former business manager for Labor Notes, was injured and went to the hospital after being pushed to the floor and hitting her head on a table."
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney on Tuesday squarely blamed the SEIU, which left the labor federation in 2005 to form a rival federation called Change to Win, for the scuffle. "There is no justification -- none -- for the violent attack orchestrated by SEIU," Sweeney said.
But the SEIU says their people were the ones attacked.
"Contrary to the CNA's description of what happened, however, many of the protesters were being pushed, shoved, and even assaulted by conference participants," the SEIU said.
The SEIU said its people were there to protest the CNA, but "the protest was mostly peaceful."
"Unfortunately, a brief period of pushing and shoving occurred when conference organizers attempted to block the protesters from entering, which resulted in a number of unintentional injuries -- including several SEIU members and organizers."
And SEIU President Andy Stern said Sweeney "has the power to solve this problem."
"He should stop making excuses and protect workers," Stern said.
A free-trade agreement with Colombia got swept away by Democratic presidential politics and concerns over economic woes, with the House on Thursday handing the Bush administration a stinging defeat on a deal that had been touted as crucial to U.S. interests.
The 224-195 House vote -- mostly along party lines -- leaves only a faint hope that the Colombia free-trade agreement would be voted on after the presidential election in November or before the new president takes office in January.
The Colombian agreement is modest compared to other trade deals, such as NAFTA. But it got caught up in the public's sour mood on free trade amid a presidential campaign in which both Democratic candidates strongly rejected it. The agreement's cause also was hurt by the low popularity and lame-duck status of President Bush, its staunchest supporter, and U.S. organized labor concerns over violence against union members in Colombia.
Even sympathetic Republicans such as Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Richard Lugar, R-Ind., had doubts about the administration's push on Colombia, noting ''the politically inhospitable circumstances.'' He urged Bush ``to work with the Colombian government to show tangible progress regarding labor practices in Colombia.''
The White House had cast the free-trade deal as necessary to support Colombian President Alvaro Uribe -- a stalwart U.S. ally -- and an opportunity to provide thousands of export-based jobs by opening South America's second-most-populous market to more U.S. goods and services. The U.S. International Trade Commission estimated that U.S. exports to Colombia would increase by $1.1 billion if the deal were approved.
'DAMAGING' VOTE
In a gloomy statement after the vote, Bush called the action ''unprecedented and unfortunate'' and ``damaging to our economy, our national security, and our relations with an important ally.''
Colombian business leaders expressed outrage at their homeland's treatment by the Democrat-led Congress.
''Colombia is one of the only friends they have in Latin America and it is asking for their help, and their answer is a slap in the face,'' said Ricardo Tribin, president of the Colombian-American Chamber of Commerce of Miami. ``The U.S. Congress is abandoning us in the middle of lions like Venezuela, Ecuador and Nicaragua.''
Bush attempted to use a ''fast track'' provision that would have forced Congress to vote on the agreement within 90 legislative days.
But the move backfired after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked the House to strip the calendar provision, an unprecedented action in the 34 years fast track has existed.
Colombian officials argued that the agreement would attract more foreign investment by making its access to the U.S. market permanent. A study last year by two Colombian universities estimated that failure to approve the trade deal would cost Colombia 460,000 jobs.
S. FLA. FALLOUT
Many in South Florida's Colombian business community said they expect their businesses to suffer if the agreement is not approved.
Jorge Barragan, owner of the Fort Lauderdale-based company Franchises and Strategies, said he has more than 15 clients who have put their plans on hold.
The temporary measures that have granted Colombia favorable trade status until the end of the year are not enough to convince such companies to invest in Colombia, Barragan said.
Only 10 Democrats joined 185 Republicans in opposing the move, including Florida Reps. Allen Boyd of Tallahassee and Tim Mahoney of Palm Beach. Both represent Republican-leaning agricultural districts.
Miami Herald staff writer Casey Woods contributed to this report
