AFL-CIO Media Outreach Fellow Nora Frederickson sends us this report on a discussion at the Center for American Progress on the future of Americans’ health and safety at work.
Since 1970, workers in every state have counted on workplace inspections, whistleblower protections, and standard safety regulations from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to keep them safe at work. Today, unions and their partners in business are expanding their roles in helping OSHA protect workers today, according to panelists at “OSHA at 40,” a discussion at the Center for American Progress on Thursday featuring David Michaels, Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health. In two separate panels, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health David Michael laid out OSHA’s plans for the future and talked with representatives from the labor, business and academic communities about how to adapt safety regulation for the changing workplace.
In her remarks, AFL-CIO Director of Safety and Health Peg Seminario highlighted the important role of working relationships between unions, OSHA, and employers in responding to unsafe workplaces and designing preemptive regulations.
When unions bargain with employers, one of the primary focuses is setting standards for safety and health. Unions fought to get OSHA passed in 1970, and when you look at standards set over the years, virtually all of those standards came because unions petitioned OSHA for them. Now, drawing on preexisting OSHA standards, unions and employers do the day-in, day-out work that can’t be covered by OSHA.
