5-01-09, 10:00 am
Workers Memorial Day 2009, a day to remember those who have suffered and died on the job and to renew the fight for safe workplaces, was observed by the Allegheny County Labor Council, AFL-CIO, at 11:30 AM on Tuesday 4/28/2009 in Pittsburgh in Market Square.
The ceremony also commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Pressed Steel Car Strike, one of the bloodiest battles in American labor history with over 500 men injured and 13 killed. The Pressed Steel Car Company located in McKees Rocks, manufactured rail cars and was one of the most dangerous, inhumane places to work in Allegheny County. In addition to the extremely dangerous working conditions, where serious accidents occurred daily, giving the plant the name “The Last Chance,' workers were subjected to low wages, extortion (i.e. paying a bribe to get a job), and forced to shop at company stores and live in overcrowded company housing (Presston).
In July 1909, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) led 8,000 unskilled and semi-skilled immigrant workers of many nationalities to strike. Over the ensuing months, the strikers suffered violence, vicious strikebreaking by scabs with the assistance of the State Coal and Iron Police, and evictions from company housing. The violent attempts to suppress the strike drew national and international attention, including the Austro-Hungarian Embassy, which protested the treatment of Hungarian citizen workers. Although the company was eventually forced to make some concessions, the “victory” for the workers was all too brief as the company reneged on its promises and did not bargain in good faith.
One hundred years later, in 2009, many workers still lack basic protections, major hazards remain unaddressed and the toll of workplace injuries, illnesses and death remain enormous. Each year around 5,000 workers are killed on the job, around 50,000 die of occupational diseases, and around 4 million are injured. The Union movement continues to work to make the promise of a safe workplace a reality. Vice President Joe Biden’s Task Force on Working Families has as one of its goals restoring labor standards, including workplace safety.
To meet this goal, there must be stronger criminal and civil penalties for violations. The average penalty for a serious violation of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) law remains insultingly low, “slap on the wrist” fines of around $960. The median penalty in enforcement cases involving a worker’s death is less than $4000. Criminal penalties under OSHA law are weaker than all other safety and health laws, limited to those cases where a willful violation results in the death of a worker and even then it’s a MISDEMEANOR, with a maximum sentence of six months in jail.
OSHA uses the informal settlement process to slash fines for employers and then fails to even collect these paltry fines in growing numbers each year. These actions invite employers to cut costs, even if it means putting their employees’ lives at risk, with the assurance that the “watchdog won’t bite.” The OSH act must be amended to strengthen criminal penalties and to enable the Department of Justice to prosecute a FELONY when an employer willfully causes death or serious bodily injury to a worker.
For too long, OSHA has erred on the side of corporations over the public interest and has undermined the spirit of the OSH act. Public servants committed to the agency’s mission should lead OSHA and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). Congress must fund both OSHA and MSHA at higher levels to assure that there are more inspectors to reach the most dangerous workplaces. Federal OSHA has fewer inspectors today than in 1980 and can inspect workplaces on average only once in 133 years! OSHA needs better and more strategic enforcement tools to deter noncompliance by employers who disregard worker protection in favor of production speed and profit. OSHA policies must be adapted to prevent employers from shirking their responsibilities by outsourcing work through subcontracting or misclassification of employees. Workers are being discouraged from reporting job injuries, often facing discipline or termination when they are injured. OSHA must take action to prohibit policies that discourage workers from reporting workplace injuries and step up enforcement on injury recording and reporting requirements.
Unlike corporations who routinely “negotiate” down fines with OSHA, family members of dead or injured workers have no such access. Workers and families should have the right to meet with Department of Labor investigators, have access to legal proceedings involving OSHA and MSHA, and be kept informed on the progress of the investigation.
OSHA protection must be extended to cover all workers including the 8 million state and local public employees, flight attendants and other workers lacking OSHA protection. Many hazard standards for toxic substances are out of date or nonexistent. New standards must be issued including rules on silica, beryllium, cranes, and combustible dust.
One hundred years ago, the horrendous working conditions at the Pressed Steel Car Company, and the savagery with which the company fought the workers attempts to have a safer, more humane working environment, shocked the community. The egregious policies of OSHA, which favor corporate profit over workers' safety, should shock people of conscience today. Workers Memorial Day 2009 celebrated the bravery and solidarity of the Pressed Steel strikers. Now we must honor all those who lost their lives while on the job in Western Pennsylvania and promote the health and safety of all workers.
--Donna Vincene Puleio, MD was born in Presston and now practices oncology in Franklin, Pennsylvania. On August 15, 2001, her brother, Gary Puleio, was killed after falling 25 feet from a concrete tower at Meadville Redi-Mix Concrete. The company, which had multiple serious violations issued only months before Gary was killed that were informally settled with reduced fines, paid a $6000 fine for REPEAT violations for not posting signs at a confined space.
