Photo: Michael Duva/gettyimages
Washington — A coalition of 28 labor unions is calling on congressional lawmakers to “fulfill the promise of a safe job” by helping in the effort to reverse staffing cuts at NIOSH.
In an open letter to the lawmakers, the unions, including the AFL-CIO, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, United Mineworkers of America and United Steelworkers, write: “Fifty years ago, our elected leaders made that promise to every working family in America by establishing NIOSH, OSHA, and the Mine Safety and Health Administration, which were all entrusted by Congress to have distinct and imperative responsibilities that have allowed us to make critical progress over time.
“Yet, in its attempt to restructure the Department of Health and Human Services using artificial intelligence, the so-called ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ dismantled NIOSH – one of the most critical and impactful agencies to every worker in America, their families and to industries alike. More than 85% of NIOSH staff were placed on administrative leave, to be terminated in June. This decision must be immediately reversed as it will take working conditions back centuries, when chronic occupational diseases and fatalities skyrocketed with no government agency to help identify causes and research interventions.”
The sizable cuts at the agency, the letter notes, will affect, among other things, research on personal protective equipment.
NIOSH is reinstating dozens of workers mainly involved in mining safety and firefighting health and safety, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) announced April 29.
“My understanding is that this is temporary, so my focus will continue to be on working with @HHSGov on permanently restoring these functions and personnel in the most efficient and effective manner,” Capito wrote on her X account.
The unions contend that although “some pieces” of the NIOSH World Trade Center Health Program for 9/11 responders and Energy Workers Program will remain intact, they “cannot function without the highly specialized expertise in the other NIOSH divisions, including occupational physicians, epidemiologists, respiratory disease specialists, industrial hygienists, dose reconstructors and many others. NIOSH’s work is both vast and far-reaching.”
The letter concludes: “Safe jobs are a fundamental right for every worker in America, and NIOSH is necessary to make this right a reality.”
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Original article published by Safety+Health an NSC publication