Labor Update:  April the Cruelest Month for Workplace Disasters

T.S. Eliot famously said that April is the cruelest month. However, this April the cruelty is not caused by lilacs breeding out of dead land but by workplace disasters that have killed dozens of workers.

April saw a methane explosion at the Massey Mine in West Virginia which killed 29 workers; a chemical explosion April 2nd at the Tesoro refinery in Anacortes, Washington resulted in seven deaths; just last week another monstrous explosion and fireball injured dozens at the Transocean Ltd oil rig off the Louisiana Coast. Eleven workers remain unaccounted for and are presumed dead.

April is also the month when we recognize workers killed or injured on the job on Workers Memorial Day, April 28th.  But this April, after we pause to remember the dead, console the families who must endure life in the aftermath of a workplace tragedy, and to never forget that we must stay vigilant about workplace safety, we should also demand that Congress past the Protect American Workers Act (PAWA).

Shortly before his death last year from brain cancer, Senator Edward Kennedy introduced PAWA, a bill to amend the Occupational Safety and Health Act and increase penalties against employers who willfully flout workplace safety.

More specifically, PAWA would:

Expand coverage to federal, state, and local government employees as well as railroad, Department of Energy contract employees and others who currently fall through the cracks of federal workplace safety laws.

Increase penalties against employers who willfully neglect workplace safety leading to the death of a worker. The current maximum penalty for a willful violation is only $70,000. PAWA would increase that to $250,000 and index it to inflation.

Increase criminal penalties against corporate officers and other senior management for willful violations that result in workers deaths. Currently such neglect is subject to only a misdemeanor. PAWA would make it a felony with applicable increased jail time.

Increase protections for whistleblowers. Currently workers are discouraged for reporting workplace hazards for fear of retribution from their employer. PAWA would protect against loss of wages or employee benefits as a result of an employee participating in or aiding workplace inspections; PAWA would also increase investigations of incidents which result in the death or hospitalization of two or more employees. 

Click here for more info and great testimony on the need for PAWA
 
Click here for situations in which workers lives were spared, thanks to investigators:

These and other Workers Memorial Day Ceremonies will take place on April 28th  in Iowa: 

Des Moines: 1000 East Grand, 11:00 a.m.
Bettendorf: USW 105 Hall, 880 Devils Glen Road, 3:30 p.m.
Mason City: VFW Post 733, 1603 S. Monroe Ave. 1:00 p.m.

Tracy
Kurowski
has been active in the labor movement
for ten years, first as a member of AFSCME 3506, when she taught adult
education classes at the City Colleges of Chicago. She moved to the
Quad Cities in 2007 where she worked as political coordinator with the
Quad City Federation of Labor, and as a caseworker for Congressman
Bruce Braley from 2007 – 2009.

Tracy Kurowski writes a labor update every
Monday on Blog for Iowa