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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (April 18, 2008)
U.S. Senate panel pushes OSHA on worker safety John Young Recapper Oleksandr Zdrylyuk Truck Driver (Oregon fatalities are from information supplied by the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services.) OREGON COMBAT MILITARY DEATHS IN 2007 Army Sgt. Joshua C. Brennan Ontario, Oregon Army Sgt. Michael Louis Vaughan Otis, Oregon Army Sgt. Eliot W. Scott Portland, Oregon Army Private Brett Andre Walton Hillsboro, Oregon Army Cpl. Graham McMahon Corvallis, Oregon Army Sgt. Jason A. Shaffer Hood River, Oregon Army Capt. Drew Jensen Clackamas, Oregon Army Sgt. 1st Class John J. Stephens La Grande, Oregon Army SFC Adrian Marcos Elizalde North Bend, Oregon Army Sgt. Nicholas J. Lightner Newport, Oregon Army PFC Daniel Allen Leckel Glendale, Oregon Marine Lance Cpl. Nathan Windsor Newport, Oregon Army Cpl. Kory Wiens Albany, Oregon Army Sgt. Long N. Nguyen Portland, Oregon Army Specialist Michelle Ring McMinnville, Oregon Army Private 1st Class Brian A. Browning Astoria, Oregon Marine Lance Cpl. Steven Stacy Coos Bay, Oregon Marine Lance Cpl. Juan Manuel Garcia-Schill Grants Pass, Oregon Army Private 1st Class Ryan J. Hill Keizer, Oregon Army Sgt. Sean P. Fennerty Portland, Oregon in Afghanistan and Iraq. 16 from the Oregon National Guard; 1 from the Washington National Guard; Army Specialist Dominic N. Rodriguez Klamath Falls, Oregon 1 from the New York National Guard; 58 from the United States Army; 3 from the United States Army Reserve; Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Henderson Hillsboro, Oregon Marine Lance Cpl. Dale G. Peterson Redmond, Oregon APRIL 18, 2008 19 from the United States Marine Corps; 1 from the United States Air Force; 5 from the United States Navy. workers are afraid to complain about the working conditions because they are fearful they will lose their jobs,” Morrow said of her 1,000-worker Tyson Poultry plant in Robards, Kentucky. Those conditions, she added, are far worse than people imagine. A poultry plant, for example, has maximum temperatures of 40 degrees Fahrenheit, with wind whipping through on cold days, icy and dangerous floors, and common respiratory and musculoskeletal problems affecting workers who must lift heavy tubs of chicken on a rapid produc- tion line at all times. Frumin said Cintas was repeatedly warned of the danger of its conveyor belts sucking workers into its dryers long before one sucked in Gomez. OSHA has fined Cintas for the same hazards since Gomez’ death, Frumin told lawmakers. The fine, which may be reduced on appeal, is $3 million. That’s “one day’s profits” for Cintas, Frumin said. Bianco admitted health and safety attitudes must come from — and change at — the top for workers to see any progress. “This is not a consequence of there being a few bad apples” in the corporate barrel, said Isakson, who ran his own business for 33 years before en- tering politics. “They’re encouraged to be a bad actor,” he said of corporate titans’ quest for profits. “If there’s a judicial process that made the CEO personally accountable for part of the fine, or that he could be ordered to put in a safety officer” that would wake companies up, he said. Isakson, Murray and other lawmakers said they will work on legislation that identifies and penal- izes “a pattern and practice” of health and safety violations. “Penalties for that,” Isakson said, “would ripple through an industry.” Wages, job safety at top of Steelworkers’ bargaining list 104 Oregonians have died while serving Army Specialist Joseph P. Kenny Veneta, Oregon WASHINGTON, D.C. (PAI) — U.S. senators may be moving in a bipartisan manner toward pushing the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to come down hard on companies that repeatedly skirt safety rules. At least it sounded that way April 1 at a hearing of the Senate Workplace Safety Subcommittee. Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.), co-sponsored legislation a year ago following the death of Cintas worker Eleazar Torres-Gomez, who was sucked into a 300-degree dryer in Tulsa, Okla. Murray said OSHA has done little to go after repeat viola- tors. And the subcommittee’s top Republican, Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), said one big fine against one key firm in an industry for a pattern of ignor- ing worker safety would send a signal to all the others, through their trade associations, to obey the law. Isakson’s state was the scene of a fatal blast at a sugar refinery, caused by igniting dust. The senators spoke after Change to Win Health and Safety Coordinator Eric Frumin, former OSHA Administrator Gerald Scannell, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 227 Shop Steward Doris Morrow, and health and safety con- sultant Carmen Bianco testified about health and safety working conditions — 38 years after the Occupational Safety and Health Act was passed. A followup hearing will be on April 29, keyed to Workers Memorial Day, which is April 28. All four agreed that safety and health on the job is not just a matter of numbers of deaths and in- juries, which have been declining for years, but of corporate culture. “If bosses make safety and health a priority, injuries, deaths and fear on the job go down,” they said. Otherwise, even at a union shop, “many of the McMINNVILLE, OR — Cascade Steel Rolling Mills is doing well. Production at the company’s steel mill here set a record in March, and sales for the most recent quarter hit a record 202,000 tons. With steel prices also up, about $80 a ton, earnings are up by almost half since a year ago. So what was the company’s proposal to its union workers March 31? A wage freeze. No cost-of-living increase. And that’s after workers got just one cost-of-living in- crease in the last three-year contract — a 1.7 per- cent raise last April. For its part, the union wants workers to share in the good times, starting with decent raises. Cur- rently, pay starts about $11 and goes as high as $25, for what can be pretty dangerous industrial work. The union also wants rules improving par- ticipation on the safety committee. They want a $25 increase to the $125 annual boot allowance; boots with the required metatarsal guards cost that much and more, and better-made boots of U.S. manufacture can be over $200. And they want in- creased job security through a successorship clause, so that the union contract would remain in NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS force if parent company Schnitzer Steel Industries decides to sell the mill. Cascade Steel Rolling Mills produces concrete reinforcing bar (“rebar”), and various grades of wire and bars, using scrap steel purchased from Schnitzer’s steel recycling operation. Much of the steel produced at the plant is used in construction, which is experiencing a downturn, but the outlook remains good for the company. Chinese demand is soaking up steel production in other Pacific Rim countries, so Cascade Steel Rolling Mills and one other U.S. competitor have the West Coast U.S. market to themselves. Granted, the wage freeze was the company’s opening gambit, but the bargaining committee at United Steelworkers Local 8378 was not amused. The month before bargaining began Feb. 29, members voted to authorize the bargaining com- mittee to strike if needed. Local 8378 President Joe Munger wonders if the company might be pushing the union to strike. The previous contract has expired and is being extended on a day-to-day basis. The union could call a strike with 72-hour notice. PAGE 9
