WHEREAS:

Statistics show that 1,500 public employees were killed on the job in 1982 — 11% more than in 1981 — and over 300,000 public employees suffered disabling injuries; and

WHEREAS:

More than 7 million public employees in over half the states still do not have a legal guarantee of a safe and healthful workplace because they are not covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA); the full extent of hazards in the public sector is unknown because adequate injury and illness statistics exist for public employees; and

WHEREAS:

Public employees do some of the most dangerous and unpleasant work that our society demands in order to provide a safe and pleasant life for Americans; and

WHEREAS:

The Reagan Administration has inflicted major staffing cuts on OSHA which have severely reduced the agency's effectiveness; through administrative policies, the job health and safety protections of American workers have been severely eroded. For example, OSHA has issued a critically flawed Hazard Communication Standard which exempts public employees and any other employee outside of the manufacturing sector and attempts to pre-empt all state Right to Know laws. Furthermore, OSHA has failed to issue timely and protective regulations on such carcinogens as Ethylene Oxide, Asbestos, Formaldehyde, Benzene, Ethylene Dibromide and others; and

WHEREAS:

The Reagan Administration has attempted to keep public employees from obtaining the health and safety coverage that was made available to them under a provision of the OSHA Act, allowing states to set up public-employee-only plans and receive partial federal funding; and

WHEREAS:

Public employees have often been the victims of job blackmail — that is if an employee demanded a safe and healthful workplace the employee's job was threatened.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

That AFSCME locals set up strong health and safety committees and seek to introduce language into their contracts specifying the employees obligation to provide a workplace free from recognized or suspected health and safety hazards, the right of employees to refuse hazardous work, and management's obligation to abide by all OSHA standards and regulations; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME seek to restore safety and health protections, and work for the enactment of state safety and health plans covering public employees where none exist; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME councils and locals work for the enactment of local Right to Know legislation that covers all workers who are exposed to hazardous substances; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME locals and councils make education of their members on health and safety hazards and solutions a top priority, and that AFSCME demand more and better data and studies on the health and safety hazards faced by public employees; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME demand the end to job blackmail and continue to fight, along with our allies in the environmental movement, the position of many employers that there must be a choice between our health and our jobs; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME fight on the local and national level for fair compensation of workers who contract occupational diseases as a result of their working conditions; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:

That AFSCME call upon OSHA to issue protective regulations for toxic chemicals such as ethylene oxide, ethylene dibromide, asbestos, anesthetic waste gases, formaldehyde and benzene.

SUBMITTED BY:

William L. McGowan, President and Delegate
Irene Carr, Secretary and Delegate
CSEA/AFSCME Local 1000
Albany, New York

Marion Porro, President and Delegate
Local 1930, Council 37
Nov York, New York