Mourn For The Dead, Fight For The Living. A Contrasting View Of Safety In The Workplace

[Omaha Steve]

I accidentally put this in the wrong Forum. I'll cross post it later.

http://nhlabornews.com/2013/04/mourn-for-the-dead-fight-for-the-living-a-contrasting-view-of-safety-in-the-workplace/

By Bill Brickley | April 23, 2013

With Workers Memorial Day approaching Sunday April 28 two high-profile safety situations this week have helped further illustrate the gulf between a union and non-union workplace. Union leaders have called out the Postal Service for being slow in handling one situation while in Texas a completely different regulatory atmosphere turned into a catastrophe.

Postal employees were reminded of the risks in moving the mail. Ricin tainted letters passed through mail plants in Tennessee, Maryland and Washington DC. The media reported the story before the USPS told its employees according to the American Postal Workers Union (APWU). The hope is the Postal Service will communicate faster with employees if a similar problem occurs in the future.



The APWU was displeased with the Postal Service not telling his members sooner about the Ricin tainted letters sent to President Obama and Senator Wicker. Especially considering the deaths of Postal Workers during the Anthrax mailings in 2001 the APWU expected a quicker response.

“It is unacceptable that postal officials did not contact the union immediately to notify us of this potentially deadly hazard,” Union President Cliff Guffey said. “Postal workers have learned through bitter experience of the dangers we face when poisons are sent through the mail.”

FULL story at link.

[In_The_Wind]

1. Excellent post!

[Sekhmets Daughter]

2. This is so totally unacceptable....what is wrong with us...

that we allow it to continue?

OSHA inspectors have been reduced consistently over the past 30 years and currently there are only 2,200 inspectors for the country’s 8 million workplaces and 130 million workers. So OSHA could be expected to visit each plant every 129 years. With no union voice workers are not really empowered to make a call on their own. The whole community in West, Texas is now paying the price.