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Related: About this forumPost-hurricane cleanup could kill more workers than storms themselves
Last edited Mon Oct 23, 2017, 03:45 PM - Edit history (1)
Retweeted by Dave Weigel: https://twitter.com/daveweigel
Trump's OSHA is refusing to work w/ immigrant hurricane clean up workers facing deadly risks of asbestos exposure
Link to tweet
Post-hurricane cleanup could kill more workers than storms themselves
The two hurricanes that battered Texas and Florida left 200 people dead but neglect of health and safety among mainly day laborers could exact a great toll
Mike Elk
https://twitter.com/MikeElk
Monday 23 October 2017 06.00 EDT
More workers could die from the long-term effects of cleaning up after hurricanes Harvey and Irma than were killed by the storms, according to a nationwide network of workplace health and safety groups.
The mainland US death toll for the two hurricanes, which battered Texas and Florida in August and September, now stands at approximately 200 people. But according to Jessica Martinez, executive director of National Council of Occupation Safety and Health (Cosh), a nationwide network of workplace health and safety groups, a greater number of people will die cleaning up in their wake if more resources arent put into health and safety training from post-cleanup.
José Garza, former associate deputy assistant secretary for policy at Department of Labor under Obama, and now executive director of the Texas-based Workers Defense Project, said he had been working with more than 60 organizers in communities in Texas since the storm and had yet to meet with any high-ranking government officials. Ultimately, the lives of workers are too important for us to sit back and do nothing, he said.
Part of the problem stems from cuts the Trump administration is seeking to make to federal funding given by the Obama administration to labor groups to train undocumented workers in their rights to a healthy and safe workplace. Local groups claimed the Trump administration was also refusing to coordinate with worker groups doing health and safety training for hurricane cleanup workers.
The two hurricanes that battered Texas and Florida left 200 people dead but neglect of health and safety among mainly day laborers could exact a great toll
Mike Elk
https://twitter.com/MikeElk
Monday 23 October 2017 06.00 EDT
More workers could die from the long-term effects of cleaning up after hurricanes Harvey and Irma than were killed by the storms, according to a nationwide network of workplace health and safety groups.
The mainland US death toll for the two hurricanes, which battered Texas and Florida in August and September, now stands at approximately 200 people. But according to Jessica Martinez, executive director of National Council of Occupation Safety and Health (Cosh), a nationwide network of workplace health and safety groups, a greater number of people will die cleaning up in their wake if more resources arent put into health and safety training from post-cleanup.
José Garza, former associate deputy assistant secretary for policy at Department of Labor under Obama, and now executive director of the Texas-based Workers Defense Project, said he had been working with more than 60 organizers in communities in Texas since the storm and had yet to meet with any high-ranking government officials. Ultimately, the lives of workers are too important for us to sit back and do nothing, he said.
Part of the problem stems from cuts the Trump administration is seeking to make to federal funding given by the Obama administration to labor groups to train undocumented workers in their rights to a healthy and safe workplace. Local groups claimed the Trump administration was also refusing to coordinate with worker groups doing health and safety training for hurricane cleanup workers.
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Post-hurricane cleanup could kill more workers than storms themselves (Original Post)
mahatmakanejeeves
Oct 2017
OP
riversedge
(70,280 posts)1. There really is a dangerous disrespect for these workers!!
matt819
(10,749 posts)2. This is no different than children recylcing computer parts on junk heaps in China and elsewhere
Pardon me for the expression, but this is a third world mentality, no different from allowing children to strip computers for valuable metals and minerals in China, India, and elsewhere. In fact, it's not much different from WTC cleanup crews who are now dying because they went in without protection. We should be ashamed of ourselves as a nation, but we're frankly too far gone already.