The Labor Movement's Role in Gaining Federal Safety and Health Standards to Protect America's Workers

Weinstock, Deborah; Failey, Tara

doi:10.2190/ns.24.3.k

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…2. The majority of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards were adopted during a period of relative strength of the manufacturing sector and a unionized workforce with avenues for worker participation codified in statute and collective bargaining agreements (Weinstock and Failey 2014). The regulatory framework presumes a stable relationship between employers and employees in which each maintains legal rights and responsibilities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Labor unions have historically played an important role within this regulatory framework-educating workers about their rights, enhancing enforcement of health and safety standards and worker protection through collective bargaining, filing complaints when violations are identified, accompanying OSHA representatives during worksite inspections, and participating in the appeals process when employers appeal citations. Labor unions have also advocated for industry-wide improvements and new standards that benefit the entire workforce (Robinson 1991;Brown 2006;Leopold 2007;Slatin 2009;Weinstock and Failey 2014;Delp et al 2014).…”

Section: The Health and Safety Regulatory Framework In The United Statesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Worker Engagement in the Health and Safety Regulatory Arena under Changing Models of Worker Representation

Delp

Riley

2015

Labor Studies Journal

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This paper examines the efforts of a labor-community-university partnership in Southern California to confront violations of workplace health and safety standards by employers of nonunion workers in low-wage jobs. A worker engagement model has opened avenues for workers and worker advocates to participate in the regulatory arena absent union representation. This approach has achieved notable successes to date, including groundbreaking Cal/OSHA citations and nascent collaboration with agency officials to target enforcement of health and safety standards. We argue this model constitutes the foundation needed to support a potentially viable form of tripartism that allows nonunion workers a voice, albeit limited, in the health and safety regulatory process.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Health and Safety Regulatory Framework In The United Statesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Worker Engagement in the Health and Safety Regulatory Arena under Changing Models of Worker Representation

Delp

Riley

2015

Labor Studies Journal

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“…Due to the advance in scientific methods, multiple authoritative bodies and scientific consensus groups have recognized the impacts of environmental pollution on health and have called for actions to prevent harmful exposures including improved policy approaches to more efficiently and effectively address the safety of widespread industrial chemical use [ 17 , 19 – 23 ]. Grassroots organizers from affected communities have also played a significant role in collaborating with public health researchers and environmental health scientists to elevate these problems and influence policy change [ 24 , 25 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A science-based agenda for health-protective chemical assessments and decisions: overview and consensus statement

et al. 2023

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The manufacture and production of industrial chemicals continues to increase, with hundreds of thousands of chemicals and chemical mixtures used worldwide, leading to widespread population exposures and resultant health impacts. Low-wealth communities and communities of color often bear disproportionate burdens of exposure and impact; all compounded by regulatory delays to the detriment of public health. Multiple authoritative bodies and scientific consensus groups have called for actions to prevent harmful exposures via improved policy approaches. We worked across multiple disciplines to develop consensus recommendations for health-protective, scientific approaches to reduce harmful chemical exposures, which can be applied to current US policies governing industrial chemicals and environmental pollutants. This consensus identifies five principles and scientific recommendations for improving how agencies like the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approach and conduct hazard and risk assessment and risk management analyses: (1) the financial burden of data generation for any given chemical on (or to be introduced to) the market should be on the chemical producers that benefit from their production and use; (2) lack of data does not equate to lack of hazard, exposure, or risk; (3) populations at greater risk, including those that are more susceptible or more highly exposed, must be better identified and protected to account for their real-world risks; (4) hazard and risk assessments should not assume existence of a “safe” or “no-risk” level of chemical exposure in the diverse general population; and (5) hazard and risk assessments must evaluate and account for financial conflicts of interest in the body of evidence. While many of these recommendations focus specifically on the EPA, they are general principles for environmental health that could be adopted by any agency or entity engaged in exposure, hazard, and risk assessment. We also detail recommendations for four priority areas in companion papers (exposure assessment methods, human variability assessment, methods for quantifying non-cancer health outcomes, and a framework for defining chemical classes). These recommendations constitute key steps for improved evidence-based environmental health decision-making and public health protection.

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What Unions Do for Regulation

Morantz

2017

Annu. Rev. Law. Soc. Sci.

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The question of how organized labor affects the content, enforcement, and outcomes of regulation is especially timely in an era in which protective laws and regulations are being scaled back or minimally enforced and union membership is in decline. This article surveys literature from a wide array of regulatory domains—antidiscrimination, environmental protection, product quality, corporate governance, law enforcement, tax compliance, minimum wage and overtime protection, and occupational safety and health—in an effort to identify common findings on what unions do for regulation. Literature on the topic has taken up five questions: how labor unions affect the passage of protective laws and regulations; how they affect the outcomes that regulators target; how they affect the intensity of regulatory enforcement; the specific activities and channels of influence they use to influence regulated outcomes; and the role they play in self-regulation. Drawing on empirical literature from the domains listed, I review and analyze literature on each of these questions and offer several conclusions and suggestions for future research.

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The Labor Movement's Role in Gaining Federal Safety and Health Standards to Protect America's Workers

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Worker Engagement in the Health and Safety Regulatory Arena under Changing Models of Worker Representation

Worker Engagement in the Health and Safety Regulatory Arena under Changing Models of Worker Representation

A science-based agenda for health-protective chemical assessments and decisions: overview and consensus statement

What Unions Do for Regulation

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