Statement By AFL-CIO President John Sweeney on AFL-CIO Petition to Secretary Elaine Chao Demanding A New Workplace Standard

WASHINGTON -- I am delighted to stand here with Senator Ted Kennedy, Representative George Miller and leading members of Congress who have demonstrated their commitment to America's working men and women over the years.

I am particularly honored to stand with the workers who have come to Washington today to tell their own stories that so keenly illustrate the importance of heath and safety protections in the workplace. They are courageous representatives of the hundreds of thousands of workers who suffer each year from crippling and painful job-related injuries.

We stand with them to demand that President George Bush, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao and members of Congress develop a new federal OSHA ergonomics standard immediately. There is an urgent need for a new standard. An estimated 190,000 workers have suffered from job-related repetitive stress injuries since March 20th, when President Bush signed legislation that killed the ergonomics standard that had been 10 years in the making. That's about 5,000 injuries every day.

The 1.8 million ergonomic injuries and illnesses each year, are the nation's biggest workplace safety and health hazards. Annually, they cost companies between $45 and $50 billion in compensation costs, lost wages and lost productivity.

It's a national scandal that this Administration and Republican congressional leaders continue to drag their feet on this matter. Thousands of repetitive stress injuries could have been prevented if a strong job safety standard had been in place.

This afternoon, we will deliver a formal petition to Secretary Chao at the Department of Labor calling for the immediate development of a new standard. The petition has been signed by leaders of unions, occupational safety and public health groups, as well as civil rights, religious, and women's organizations.

Tomorrow, officials from the AFL-CIO and national unions will join injured workers and health and safety experts to testify at a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, and Education on the need for a new standard.

And this Saturday, April 28, Workers' Memorial Day, thousands of activists across America will hold memorial services, rallies and candlelight vigils to remember workers killed or injured on the job. They will use those events as forums to call for a new standard.

Workers will continue to pay a high price for the delay in the development of workplace safety rules. Given the urgency, scope and seriousness of the problem of work-related repetitive stress injuries, we demand that the Bush Administration make this matter a high priority.

Safety in the workplace is a right. And we'll continue to fight until every worker in every workplace is protected from crippling and disabling injuries. It's time to stop the pain.