NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | May 15, 2015 | PAGE 9
After 20 years, OSHA issues rule to protect WASHINGTON
construction workers in confined spaces La Center, Wash. school board
WASHINGTON, D.C. (PAI)—
It’s taken more than 20 years, but
the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA)
on May 1 issued a final rule to
increase protections for con-
struction workers in confined
spaces.
The rule establishes new re-
quirements for working safely in
confined spaces, such as man-
holes, crawl spaces, tanks, and
other spaces not intended for
continuous occupancy and
which are difficult to exit in an
emergency. Hazards workers
face include toxic substances,
electrocution, asphyxiation and
explosions.
According to the latest data
from the Bureau of Labor Statis-
tics, construction workers die at
a rate of 9.7 per 100,000 full-
time equivalent workers, com-
pared with a rate of 3.3 workers
across all industries.
The Center to Protect Work-
ers’ Rights, a union-created
safety organization for the con-
struction industry, said more
than a third of the confined space
deaths happen to untrained co-
workers or friends who try to
rescue a worker who has col-
lapsed in a confined space.
“In the construction industry,
entering confined spaces is often
necessary, but fatalities like these
don’t have to happen,” said Sec-
retary of Labor Thomas E.
Perez. “This new rule will signif-
icantly improve the safety of
construction workers who enter
confined spaces. In fact, we es-
timate that it will prevent about
780 serious injuries every year.”
The new standards will pro-
vide construction workers with
protections similar to those in
factories and general industry.
That’s because unlike most gen-
eral industry worksites, con-
struction sites are continually
evolving, with the number and
characteristics of confined
spaces changing as work pro-
gresses.
The new rule emphasizes
training, continuous worksite
evaluation, and communication
OPEN FORUM
To The Editor:
In spite of Oregon being a
Blue State, there is trouble brew-
ing in River City. Organized la-
bor is beginning to wonder if the
traditional “Working man’s
Party” has adopted so many new
friends, that we are no longer of
importance.
Catch phrases like “hope” and
“change” may sound good, but
pushing the same failed “free
trade” policies of the Clinton and
Bush administrations smells
bad—like the same old stuff
(SOS).
It’s been said the expert politi-
cian gets money from the rich—
and votes from the poor, while
promising each to protect them
from the other. While not poor,
we in labor have to ask: Why is
President Obama visiting Nike
to drum up support for yet an-
other free trade deal that has
been so beneficial to multina-
tional Wall St. at the expense of
America’s Main St?
At last count, Phil Knight’s
nest egg had surpassed $22 bil-
lion. Instead, maybe you should
ask Mr. Knight if he finally has
so much money that Nike could
start manufacturing here in the
U.S., instead of continuing to
squeeze that last ounce of profit
from Asian sweatshops.
requirements. Employers will be
required to provide training in a
language and vocabulary that
workers understand.
The maximum penalty OSHA
can assess for failure to comply
with the new rules is $7,000 for
each serious violation and
$70,000 for a repeated or willful
violation.
The new standard is sched-
uled to go into effect Aug. 3.
Besides the manholes, crawl
spaces and tanks, the new
rule covers construction
workers in bins, boilers,
pits—such as elevator, esca-
lator, pump and valve
pits—fuel, chemical, water
and gas tanks, incinerators,
scrubbers, sewers, trans-
former vaults, heating, ven-
tilation, and air-condition-
ing ducts, storm drains and
water mains, drilled shafts,
silos and step-up transform-
ers, among other confined
spaces.
Trouble brewing in River City over fast track
In the televised presidential
debate with Ross Perot, Al Gore
guaranteed free trade would
“open up new markets for Amer-
ica-made goods” and create
more manufacturing jobs than
would be lost. At the time,
NAFTA and subsequent deals
did not have a track record for
examination. But they do now.
And they’re colossal failures.
Negative trade balance numbers
across the board.
So how can anyone keep a
straight face parroting the same
old sales pitch?
Fortunately, Sen. Jeff Merkley
gets it. He has stated: “My test
for any treaty is, ‘Does it create
a level playing field that en-
hances our ability to have more
good-paying manufacturing
jobs?’ Most trade agreements
have not met this test, so I’m cer-
tainly not going to fast track
something the details of which
have not even been shared with
the public.”
Speaking of Sen. Merkley, do
you remember how he won his
Senate seat? In 2008, with dis-
gust for incumbent Republican
Gordon Smith straying from
party core principles, the Consti-
tution Party ran a candidate,
splitting the conservative vote,
handing Merkley the election.
If any incumbent should be
aware of this, it would be Sen.
Ron Wyden. Yet, he seems to be-
lieve he is so entrenched that he
can throw a large segment of his
supporters under the bus and still
skate to another victory.
Gordon Smith thought so, too.
Supporting trade deals that have
closed untold numbers of facto-
ries, sent millions of manufactur-
ing jobs overseas, and filled
store shelves with “Made in
China” etc., sow seeds of discon-
tent.
The equivalent of the spoiler
Constitution Party—The Work-
ing Families Party—has been
formed and is gaining strength
with every Democratic party
sellout.
Dean Wolf
IBEW Local 48
Retired
Tigard, Oregon
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
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Attn: Editor; PO Box 13150;
Portland, OR 97213.
passes right-to-work resolution
The board of directors at La
Center, Washington, School
District unanimously passed a
right-to-work resolution April
28.
The resolution, entitled “right
to choose,” puts the school dis-
trict on record supporting “right-
to-work,” which allows employ-
ees to work at the district and
receive representation from their
union without any obligation to
pay dues.
Under Washington state law,
however, the school board does-
n’t have the authority to change
union rules, so the action was
symbolic, albeit divisive.
The Columbian newspaper
reported the vote came after a
40-minute discussion drawing
an unusually large crowd of sev-
eral dozen people. School Su-
perintendent Mark Mansell
emailed the newspaper: “It was
clear to me that the majority of
the audience was not in favor of
the resolution based on the num-
ber of speakers and periodic
clapping.”
Service Employees Interna-
tional Union Local 925 repre-
sents classified employees at the
school district. It is working un-
der a collective bargaining
agreement that contains a union
security clause. The contract ex-
pires Aug. 31.
Teachers are represented by
the La Center Education Asso-
ciation. They renewed their con-
tract last year. It runs through
the end of August 2017.
La Center School District is
located in Clark County and
serves approximately 1,600 stu-
dents in kindergarten through
12th grade. The District operates
one elementary school, one
middle school and one high
school. The District operates on
an annual fund budget of over
$14.5 million with approxi-
mately 150 employees.
The board of directors are
Wendy Chord, Todd Jones, John
Parsons, Bob Taylor, and Cris
Yaw.
...AFL-CIO leader Whelan dies
From Page 1
1965 session.
In 1965, at age 39, Whelan
succeeded the retiring James T.
Marr as executive secretary-
treasurer of the Oregon AFL-
CIO. The 1967 convention of
the state labor federation made
the president the organization’s
executive officer, and Whelan
was elected to the top post.
In that capacity he helped
lobby the 1969 Legislature to
create TriMet, and he later
served on its Board of Commis-
sioners.
Whelan also held stints on the
Governor’s Economic Develop-
ment Council, the Portland
Dock Commission, and later the
Port of Portland Commission.
In January 1973, Republican
Gov. Tom McCall lured Whelan
from the labor movement, per-
suading him to accept an ap-
pointment as the first executive
director of the Oregon Depart-
ment of Economic Develop-
ment. When McCall completed
his second term in office, Whe-
lan took a job as an economic
development executive for Port-
land General Electric (PGE).
There, he also handled the util-
ity’s governmental affairs as-
signment.
He retired
from PGE
in 1988.
He and
his wife
Phyllis
moved to
Newport,
Oregon,
where they operated a real estate
business, a car wash, and an
auto detailing shop. He also
served on the city’s Port Com-
mission.
They moved to the King City
retirement community near
Tigard in 1999. Phyllis died in
March of that year, just shy of
their 54th wedding anniversary.
Whelan re-married in 2000 to
Jeanne (Hanna). She died last
November. Whelan also was
preceded in death by sons, Tom
and Steve. Tom was a Fire
Fighter Union official and Ore-
gon legislator. He died in 2013.
Steve died in 1997.
Whelan is survived by a
daughter, Susan; and grand-
daughter, Julia.
At Whelan’s request, there
will not be a memorial service.
Donations in his name can be
made to Serenity Hospice.