Celeste and I are in Houston for the OSHA National Action Summit for Latino Worker Health and Safety (and other related events). We’d love to meet any of our readers who are attending – if you’re at the meeting and see one of us, introduce yourself!
We’d also love to hear from summit attendees what you thought of the various sessions and of the conference as a whole. Leave a comment with your reaction!
The Pump Handle 
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April 17, 2010 at 8:37 am
safemba
Was this a Health and Safety summit or a Union drive?
Positive
Good exchange of information. Most sessions had knowledgeable presenters from academia, organized labor, government agencies and community organizations. Where were the employer and safety organization speakers?
Now I am clear on OSHA’s true agenda.
Negative
I am disappointed at how OSHA allowed this summit to become political allowing speakers and panel members to make inflammatory comments and mischaracterize entire industries to the benefit of organized labor and community activists.
Making statements that only employers that hire organized labor are safe are ridiculous. This would imply that most work places are unsafe.
How many workers belong to Unions? Less than 15%?
As a safety professional I have spent my career ensuring workers regardless of their national origin, race, color, religion, Union affiliation are safe and go home each day to their families.
It appears organized labor is exploiting the Latino community in certain industries to increase their membership. And this was a great forum for them.
Once again the pendulum swings from the extreme right to the extreme left.
Can we find a balance in between and work together to ensure workers go home each day to their families?
April 17, 2010 at 12:31 pm
Liz
It’s interesting that this was your impression. I didn’t think the unions had an outsized presence at the event, and I was glad to see Jorge Cisneros, Corporate Safety Director of Holder Construction sharing a construction-industry perspective on one of the two main panel discussions.
I agree that unionization isn’t the only route to safe and healthy workplaces, although it’s one avenue that has succeeded. What I took away from this meeting is that community organizations operating outside the traditional union model are playing a much larger role in advancing workplace health and safety.
I know there are lots of companies that care about their workers’ health and keep their workplaces safe. I’m sure it can be frustrating for responsible companies to hear their entire industries badmouthed, but the fact is that problems are rampant in industries like construction. Maybe advocates could be more careful to note that sweeping statements don’t apply to every single company in an industry, and the responsible companies could encourage the bad actors who give their industries bad names to shape up.