Title: OSHA and MSHA Nominations
Author:
Section/SPIG: Occupational Health and Safety
Issue Date:
Jordan Barab, MA
jbarab@starpower.net
Apparently remembering that his branch of the federal government was responsible for workplace safety and health, in mid-September, President George W. Bush submitted nominations to the Senate for assistant secretaries of labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Both nominations left the labor and public health communities less than satisfied.
For OSHA, Bush nominated Edwin G. Foulke. Foulke had been chair of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission during the Bush I administration, but had since moved down to South Carolina where he headed the Occupational Safety and Health Practice for Jackson Lewis LLP, a law firm notorious for its “union avoidance” activities. While Foulke was not part of the union avoidance branch, health and safety activists still questioned the appropriateness of the appointment to the assistant secretary position an attorney who had spent the last 12 years assisting companies to circumvent OSHA inspections and penalties.
For MSHA, Bush nominated Richard Stickler, a former Pennsylvania mine agency official who is only notable for the poor safety and health conditions of the mines he managed while he was in the private sector. He was appointed director of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Deep Mine Safety in 1997, where he served until 2003. Stickler was head of the Bureau during the 2002 Quecreek Mine flood that trapped nine miners who were eventually rescued.
After his nomination, the Charleston Gazette found a letter that former mineworkers health and safety director Joe Main sent to the Governor of Pennsylvania while Stickler’s appointment was being considered. The letter pointed out that while Stickler was a mine manager prior to his appointment in 1997 as Pennsylvania’s Bureau of Deep Mine Safety, the mines he managed had injury rates that were double the national average, according to government data assembled by the mineworkers.
The bottom line is that little is expected to change at either agency. Foulke is a big supporter of voluntary programs and is unlikely to rock the boat at an agency that is hell-bent on making itself irrelevant to the concerns of workers. The mineworkers are concerned about active enforcement of the law and ensuring that there will be good communication between MSHA and the union. A UMWA spokesman emphasized the need for good communication between MSHA and the UMWA. Communication has been good between the UMWA and current Acting Assistant Secretary David Dye, although they often don't see eye to eye.