Obama is putting OHSA back on our side

[Omaha Steve]

http://unionreview.com/obama-putting-ohsa-back-our-side

By BERRY CRAIG

What a difference a year makes.

When unions observed Workers Memorial Day on April 28, 2008, one of the most anti-union presidents in history was in the White House.
As this Workers Memorial Day approaches, we have a new president who was elected with overwhelming union support.

Workers Memorial Day is a time when unions hold special services of remembrance for workers who lost their lives on the job. Unions recognize April 28 as Workers Memorial Day because the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration was born on that date in 1970.

Until Ronald Reagan was inaugurated president in 1981, OSHA did much to improve worker safety and health. OSHA was a watchdog for workers. But it was a lapdog for employers under Reagan and both Bushes.



“During the last eight years, tens of thousands of workers died or were injured on the job -- a direct result of the failure of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to promulgate new standards and stringently enforce the law,” said a special edition of the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health's newsletter. Mike Hall quoted from it in an online article posted on the AFL-CIO nowblog (http://blog.aflcio.org).

President Barack Obama is putting OSHA back on the side of workers, starting with Jordan Barab. He is acting head of OSHA until Obama names a permanent head.

FULL story at link.