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President Bush has already signed his first major anti-worker legislation, rejecting the new OSHA Ergonomics Standard as the Republicans repaid business interests for their support in the last election. [ Senate Votes ] [ House Votes ]  [ Tell your members of Congress "thanks" or "no-thanks" as we pledge not to forget. ]

Big business and anti-worker members of Congress struck a punishing blow to the cause of worker safety last month, overturning in one week what took 10 painstaking years to develop.

In close votes less than a day apart, the House and Senate voted to scrap a measure that would have helped millions of Americans avoid job-related repetitive motion injuries. The protections, which were imposed by President Clinton in January and were to take effect in October, would cover 102 million workers at more than 6 million work sites, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

In addition to killing the workplace protections aimed at workers who perform repetitive motions on the job, the legislation also makes it impossible for OSHA to issue similar guidelines without congressional approval. Many observers predict a halt for any chance of meaningful reform in the immediate future.

"This is nothing more than a blatant thank you from President Bush to his political contributors in big business," said International President Edwin D. Hill. "Business complains about the cost of the regulations, but what about the costboth in health care dollars and human sufferingof repetitive motion injuries? This is an outrageous act that will fall heavily on workers across occupational lines."

When OSHA released the rules last November, it said the $5.4 billion cost to implement would save businesses $9 billion a year in increased productivity and fewer sick days (see "Ten-Year Effort Pays off in New Ergonomics Rules," p. 6, IBEW Journal, January/February 2001). But employer groups protested, claiming the costs would be too high and manufacturing would be forced overseas.

On March 20, President Bush signed the legislation, placing millions at risk for job-related injuries. The repeal of the protections is an early victory for big Republican contributors like the United States Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), labor job safety experts said.

When Vice President Dick Cheney and NAM members met in Washington a week before the vote, they were faced with 200 union members, injured workers and safety activists protesting the assault on the new ergonomics standards.

The rules would require employers to provide workers with information about possible injuries and risk factors, review complaints, redesign workplaces if they were found to cause problems, ensure access to medical care and provide compensation for disabilities.

Musculoskeletal disorderscaused by highly repetitive, heavy and forceful workare the nations biggest job safety problem, accounting for nearly a third of all serious job-related injuries. In 1999, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 600,000 workers suffered serious workplace injuries caused by repetitive motion and overexertion. The cost of these injuries is enormous: $45 billion to $50 billion a year.