While the Obama administration has worked closely with unions and other job safety advocates to overcome the eight years of neglect and inaction by the Bush administration on vital workplace safety issues, the AFL-CIO Executive Council says, “There still is much work to be done.”

Many job hazards are unregulated and uncontrolled. Some employers, such as Massey Energy and BP, cut corners and flagrantly violate the law, putting workers in serious danger and costing lives.

In the statement issued today at its annual winter meeting in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., the council says the Department of Labor under the Obama administration set an ambitious agenda to develop and issue much-needed standards to protect workers from serious and life-threatening safety and health hazards. But adds:

Business groups have fought aggressively to stop these new protections, and in 2011 were joined by the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, which has launched an all-out assault on government regulations.  

The AFL-CIO is particularly concerned, says the council, about the extraordinary delay in the development and promulgation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA’s) silica dust standard, which is urgently needed to protect workers from silicosis, lung cancer and other diseases. According to public health experts, each year more than 7,000 workers develop silicosis and 200 die as a result of this disabling lung disease. The Office of Management and Budget has held up action on the rule for more than a year. 

We call on the Obama administration to direct OMB to release the proposed silica rule so the public rule making on this important worker health standard can begin, and a final standard to protect workers from silica can be issued without further undue delay.

Click here for the full statement.

In other action, the council condemned New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) Tier-6 pension proposal that would cut pension benefits for new hires by 40 percent and pull billions of dollars out of the state and city pension systems to turn over to Wall Street financial firms.   

Instead of cutting pensions for workers, we should focus on ensuring that corporations and the wealthiest New Yorkers are paying their fair share of taxes.

Click here for the full statement.