AFL-CIO, UFCW Sue Labor Dept. for Inaction on Worker Safety Rule

http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/01/03/afl-cio-ufcw-sue-labor-dept-for-inaction-on-worker-safety-rule/

AFL-CIO, UFCW Sue Labor Dept. for Inaction on Worker Safety Rule

by Mike Hall, Jan 3, 2007

It’s common sense that if someone’s job requires safety equipment, the employer should provide and pay for it. In 1999, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) proposed a rule requiring employers to pay for personal protective equipment (PPE) such as specialized clothing, lifelines, face shields, gloves and other equipment used by an estimated 20 million workers to protect them from job hazards.

But the Bush administration has failed to issue the standard and today, the AFL-CIO and the unaffiliated United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) filed suit against the U.S. Department of Labor for its inaction. By OSHA’s own estimates, 400,000 workers have been injured and 50 have died due to the absence of this rule, since 1999 when the rule was first proposed.

Says AFL-CIO President John Sweeney:

The Bush administration’s failure to implement even this most basic safety rule spotlights how it has turned its back on workers in this country. Too many workers have already been hurt or killed. The Bush Department of Labor should stop looking out for corporate interests at the expense of workers’ safety and health on the job.

Filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the suit asserts the Bush administration’s failure to act is putting workers in danger. The union groups say workers in some of America’s most dangerous industries, such as meatpacking, poultry and construction and low-wage and immigrant workers who suffer high injury rates, are vulnerable to being forced by their employers to pay for their own safety gear because of OSHA’s failure to finish the rule.

UFCW President Joe Hansen, whose union represents a large number of workers who would benefit from the protective equipment rule, says:

Nothing is standing in the way of OSHA issuing a final PPE rule to protect worker safety and health except the will to do so. It is long overdue that the agency take action on protective equipment. Now, we are asking the courts to force OSHA to act.

In 1997, OSHA announced the protective gear standard and in 1999, promised to issue it the following the year. The new rule does not impose any new obligations on employers to provide safety equipment; it simply codifies OSHA’s longstanding policy that employers, not employees, have the responsibility to pay for it.

In 2003, after the Bush administration had failed to act on the rule, the AFL-CIO and UFCW petitioned the safety agency to issue the protective equipment standard. In addition, the Hispanic Congressional Caucus made several request to OSHA to move ahead on the rule. But OSHA has yet to act.

The lawsuit asks the court to issue an order directing the secretary of labor to complete the protective gear rule within 60 days of the court’s order.