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Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
For more information call: 202-219-6091.
Department of Labor officials today denounced
Representative Cass Ballenger's (R-NC) proposed legislation to gut the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration and repeal the Mine Safety and
Health Administration by merging the two.
"This is not reform, this is retreat," said Labor
Secretary Robert B. Reich. "If Congress enacts this legislation, it will be
reneging on the promise it made twenty-five years ago to America's workers: the
right to a safe and healthy workplace."
Ballenger, Chair of the House Subcommittee on Workforce
Protection, introduced the legislation today.
"Under the Ballenger bill, the worst employers would be
given the same treatment as the best employers," said Joseph A. Dear, assistant
secretary of labor for occupational safety and health. "There must be a
distinction between employers who place a high priority on protecting their
workers and those who treat them as expendable."
The legislation would severely hamper OSHA's ability to
protect workers by:
- crippling OSHA's enforcement authority and mandating that at least 50
percent of the budget be spent on consultation services;
- effectively repealing the provision of the OSH Act that requires that
employers provide a safe workplace;
- banning workers from contacting OSHA unless they first raised the
problem with their employer
- even when the worker faces an imminent danger on the job and the
likelihood of retribution;
- eliminating NIOSH, the only federal agency that conducts occupational
safety and health research.
"America's miners deserve the best on-the-job protection we
can give them," said Davitt McAteer, assistant secretary of labor for mine
safety and health. "Mining is a unique and dangerous industry which has led to
disabling injuries, chronic lung disease, and death. Repealing the statute
would be a serious blow to workers' safety and health."
By repealing the statute and merging the agency with OSHA,
the legislation would:
- slash mandatory federal inspections of underground mines from four
per year to one;
- end mandatory federal inspections of surface mines;
- eliminate the current surprise factor in mine inspections by
cancelling mine inspectors' right to check out mine workplaces without a
warrant;
- prevent federal mine inspectors from closing an unsafe mine for
uncorrected hazards, extreme operator negligence, or a pattern of
violations;
- eliminate most penalties for mine operators who violate the law;
- prohibit federal mine inspectors from removing untrained miners from
the workplace;
- limit the rights of miners, including the right to take their own
case to court if they have suffered reprisals for maintaining their safety and
health rights.
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
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