Title: Update on Washington State Ergonomics Standard
Author:
Section/SPIG: Occupational Health and Safety
Issue Date:
In response to data showing that more than 50,000 Washington State workers suffer musculoskeletal injuries every year, Washington OSHA issued an ergonomics standard in 2000. The Washington business community, urged on by the same business associations that killed the federal ergonomics standard, tried unsuccessfully to stop Washington OSHA from issuing the standard. They tried to get the governor to veto it and failed. They tried to get the legislature to rescind it and failed. They tried to get the courts to overturn it and failed. But four strikes against them still was not enough for these anti-worker zealots. Now they’re going “to the people,” using the state initiative process to try to overturn the standard at the ballot box.
The initiative process, most famous these days for the recall attempt against California Gov. Gray Davis, was originally envisioned by the progressives in the early 1900’s as a way for common people to overcome the control over state governments by corrupt business and railroad tycoons. Today the tables have turned. The initiative process is available only to those who have the money and is increasingly used to overturn progressive government actions– in this case to repeal Washington’s ergonomics regulation.
In early July, the Building Industry Association of Washington (BIA), which represents home builders, and other supporters such as the National Federation of Independent Businesses, the Association of Washington Business and the Washington Farm Bureau hired professional signature gatherers and turned in enough signatures to put Initiative 841, to overturn the ergonomics standard, on the Washington ballot.
The initiative sponsors have used more than money and paid gathers to gather collect signatures. They have also used blatant lies. The BIA’s web page had asserted the federal standard was repealed “by the U.S. Senate in 2001, led by democrat Tom Daschle (SD)” when Daschle, a strong supporter of the standard, was not even Majority Leader at the time. They claimed that carpet layers and drywallers wouldn't be able to work more than two hours per day. Laborers could only lift one load weighing more than 75 pounds. Workers wouldn’t be able to have their arms above their heads or their elbows above their shoulders for more than two hours per day. Mariners catcher Dan Wilson might not even be able to catch an entire game.
While many of these lies have been removed from the literature, the damage has been done. The initiative will be on the ballot this Fall. Fighting this effort to overturn these workplace protections is a top priority of the Washington State AFL-CIO and has national significance as well. If Initiative 841 succeeds and Washington's ergonomic standard is overturned, it will doom similar state efforts as well as efforts to convince federal OSHA that a standard is the only way to reduce ergonomic hazards that continue to be the biggest cause of injuries in American workplaces.