Cada lugar de trabajo de UE debe tener un Comité de Salud y Seguridad, o un Programa Sindical para Salud y Seguridad. El apoyo financiero a OSHA ha sido severamente recortado, así que ningún trabajador debe confiar en que OSHA hará inspecciones.
Sin importar lo que diga el jefe, es el derecho y deber del sindicato tratar asuntos de salud y seguridad, aún si no hay lenguaje específico en el contrato.
Los delegados de la UE son nuestra primera línea de defensa en este nuevo frente. Los delegados tienen un papel especial para asistir a nuestros miembros en como confrontar a una situación que amenaza a sus vidas. Algunos de nuestros lugares de trabajo tienen que mantenerse abiertos para proveer servicios de sostenimiento de vida y los delegados necesitan abogar por protecciones especiales de trabajo.
UE Stewards are our first line of defense on a new front. Stewards have a special role to play right now to assist our members as they face a life-threatening situation. Some of our workplaces must stay open to provide life-sustaining services, and stewards will need to advocate for special workplace protections. Other workplaces must close or drastically reduce the number of workers present to prevent this disease from spreading more rapidly, and stewards will need to help workers navigate layoffs and maintain connections with members outside of work.
Estimado Representante de UE,
El Delegado de la UE sobre “Peticiones para Información” dice que nuestro empleador tiene que proveernos información médica. Sin embargo, puede ser considerado confidencial. Aquí hay una situación que acaba de ocurrir con nosotros.
Every UE workplace should have a Health & Safety Committee or a Union Program for Health & Safety. Funding for OSHA has been cut severely and so no workers should rely on OSHA to make inspections.
No matter what the boss says, it is the right and the duty of the union to deal with health & safety issues even if there is no specific language in the contract.
In 1990 OSHA began a process that was supposed to end with the issuing of rules on workplace ergonomics to deal with many various forms of Cumulative Trauma Disorders (CTD). The issuing of these new rules has been stalled in Congress for 8 years by pro-business republicans and democrats.
So what is "ergonomics" and "CTDs" and since OSHA hasnt issued these rules can we still file grievances over these type of health & safety problems?
Sara Watkins is the steward for the clerical unit at Haliburton Prevaricators Inc. In her job she gets to talk to many of the clerical workers who work in different departments. For the last month or so she noticed that there were more complaints about aches and pains, and there seemed to be people wearing wrist braces. She spoke to the company's health & safety person but she was told that there was no increase in injuries.
In 1982 the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) started a new program called the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP). Under this program, if corporations met certain health and safety guidelines and had employee involvement programs, they could be exempted from random OSHA inspections. This idea was met with skepticism from unions and health and safety activists.
