WHEREAS:

Statistics show that 1,400 public employees were killed on the job in 1984 and over a quarter of a million public employees suffered disabling injuries; the full extent of hazards in the public sector is unknown because adequate injury and illness statistics do not exist for public employees, nor do these statistics cover occupationally related illnesses; and

WHEREAS:

The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 does not provide for mandatory coverage for public employees, although public employees do some of the most dangerous and unpleasant work in our society to provide a safe and pleasant life for Americans; and

WHEREAS:

Each individual public employee and the public itself benefits when adequate safety and health protection is provided at the workplace; and

WHEREAS:

Several states — including Pennsylvania and Ohio — are conducting active campaigns to pass OSHA plans covering public employees of their states; and

WHEREAS:

The Reagan Administration has attempted in the past to keep public employee plans from being federally approved and funded in those states which pass legislation; and

WHEREAS:

Public employees continue to be victims of job blackmail: being forced to choose between their jobs or their health. 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; and

WHEREAS:

Public employees are on the frontier of new occupational health and safety hazards including Video Display Terminals, AIDS, indoor air pollution, and toxic wastes; and

WHEREAS:

For the first time since the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 was passed, recorded injuries and illnesses among workers rose in 1984; and

WHEREAS:

Under the Reagan Administration, federal health and safety agencies have failed in their statutory responsibility to protect workers on the job, due to cuts in staffing and funding, and administrative and policy changes; and

WHEREAS:

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has improperly interfered with OSHA's statutory responsibility to protect workers' health and safety; and

WHEREAS:

OSHA has finally issued a long-overdue asbestos standard, lengthy and inexcusable delays have taken place in issuing OSHA standards covering ethylene dibromide, grain elevator safety, confined spaces, formaldehyde, benzene and many other hazards faced by workers. Only when compelled by court order, congressional pressure, or in response to tragedies after workers lose their lives, has OSHA decided to act.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

That this 27th International Convention reaffirm AFSCME's support of public employee safety and health laws in those states where there is currently no protection, and that AFSCME work to see that OSHA agrees to fulfill its obligation to approve and fund such state plans; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME locals set up strong health and safety committees and actively seek to introduce language into their contracts specifying the employer's obligation to provide a workplace free from recognized or suspected 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 councils and locals make every effort to communicate health and safety information and activities to their members, to other AFSCME locals and councils and to the International Union; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME councils and locals 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 urge new regulations on asbestos, benzene, formaldehyde, ethylene dibromide, a short-term exposure limit for ethylene oxide, anesthetic waste gases, infectious diseases such as hepatitis B and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, grain elevator safety, bomb searches, field sanitation, confined space entry, pesticides, and hazardous waste cleanup be made top OSHA priorities; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That all efforts be made to stop OMB interference in the establishment of OSHA or EPA standards; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME explore the use of product liability suits and prosecution of employers under criminal statutes where willful disregard of the law results in injury, disease or death; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME support reauthorization of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Recovery Act (Superfund) and Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) which include strong worker protection programs covering public employees; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME actively support and assist its affiliates in working to pass the strongest possible occupational safety and health legislation in all states where public employees are not now protected; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:

That AFSCME councils and locals work for the enactment of state and local Right-to-Know legislation that covers all workers who are exposed to hazardous substances or infectious diseases.

SUBMITTED BY:

International Executive Board

Carol Stegall, Women's Committee
District Council 48
Thomas J Kaczkowski, President
Local 366, Council 48
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Ann Cohen, President
Ronald Mauldin, Business Agent
Local 1637, District Council 33
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania