OSH News, Advocacy and Training

Every day workers in America are faced with a deadly dilema: risk losing their life or lose their job. Currently there are many in the U.S. Congress and state legislatures that are looking to strip workers of even their most basic rights. They often talk of "job killing regulations" but never recognize that these very same regulations have kept millions of workers from being injured or killed due to the hazards they face at work every day.

In an effort to help inform those charged with protecting workers, communities and the environment and highlight the conditions workers face WisCOSH is asking workers to submit written, audio or video recording of their working conditions. WisCOSH is looking to hear from new workers, experienced workers and retired workers. For more information please contact us at workerstories@wiscosh.org.

As Spring begins it's slow awakening and renewal WisCOSH begins its plans to hold Workers's Memorial Day events as well as Workers's Memorial Week of Action events.

As in past years WisCOSH is preparing to host a communal meal and a commemorative ceremony. Plans are underway with the Milwaukee Area Labor Council (MALC) and the Waukesha County Labor Council (WCLC)and workers to honor those workers unable to return home at the end of their workshift or that passed prematurely due to workplace exposures. If you know of any workers that either died on the job or from workplace exposures please contact WisCOSH so we can be sure to include them. More here.

With the passage of the continuing resolution for the 2017 Federal Budget there was money available for the Susan Harwood Grant Program. Unfortunately there was no request for proposals or continuation funding for the Institutional Capacity Building which WisCOSH had been a partner with the National COSH and other COSHs across the country.

Over the past year WisCOSH was able to work closely with Accion Ciudadadas de WI in providing a number of well recieved and much requested classes and workshops. WisCOSH could see a community of workers and employers wanting to know what they can do to make sure workers are safe and return home healthy but not adequately being served. More ...

While nothing is yet certain it is highly likely that the Susan Harwood Institutional Capacity Building Grant will end this fall. There is hope as a budget has not yet been passed and signed by the President, however, there were a number of very specific cuts to the proposed budget. The language for the grant program was removed and language specifically keeping OSHA from moving funds around to return funding to the program. The total budget request for OSHA is smaller by the amount of the program (approximately $10 million) and the 10% cut all agencies have been forced to take for the past serveral years due to Republican legislation.

WisCOSH encourages you to take advantage of our ability to offer such a wide range of training topics at not cost.

WisCOSH has begun planning this years event to commemorrate the workers lost in 2016 to workplace fatality or exposure with the Milwaukee Area Labor Council and the Waukesha County Labor Council. This is a first time joint project with both Central Labor Councils. WisCOSH is happy to welcome Waukesha to the efforts to highlight the continuing loss of workers to workplace hazards.

Discussion so far has centered around the location of this year's events. Currently the Workers' Memorial Day Committee is looking to hold the "Mourn The Dead" and "Fight Like Hell For The Living" events at an alternate location and work on repairing and repainting the gazebo in Ziedler Union Square Park in downtown Milwaukee where the events have been traditionally located. More information and updates.

Next month to kick off WisCOSH's "Workers' Memorial Week" of activities WisCOSH wwill send a delegation of workers to Washington D.C. to meet with their Congressional representation to tell of the workplace hazards, illnesses and injuries they have sustained or witnessed others sustain.

WisCOSH is coordinating this event in support of the recently released National COSH Policy Platform "Protecting Workers' Lives and Limbs". A number of other COSH groups and worker centers from around the country will also host delegations of their own. For more information and updates.

For immediate release March 15, 2017
Contact: James Schultz james.schultz@wiscosh.org

WisCOSH Joins Call for New Workplace Safety Protections
to Save Thousands of Lives, Billions of Dollars

Local delegation to meet with Sens. Johnson & Baldwin and several Reps.;
Advocates also call for action in local communities and workplaces

[Milwaukee, WI] – WisCOSH, a statewide organization advocating for worker safety for nearly 40 years, has joined a nationwide campaign to advance an action agenda for workplace safety.

“Protecting Workers’ Lives and Limbs,” convened by the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, has been endorsed by more than 90 groups across the country, including WisCOSH.

The comprehensive platform for strong worker safety protections, advocates say, can save workers’ lives and reduce costs to employers in Wisconsin. A delegation from WisCOSH will present the platform to Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Sen. Ron Johnson and several Representatives.

“Communication with elected officials is urgent”, said Jim Schultz of WisCOSH. “Recent Congressional actions have put workers at risk by taking steps to eliminate sanctions against federal contractors who violate safety laws and reverse longstanding recordkeeping rules.

“The need for workplace health and safety regulations with strong enforcement is of vital need all across Wisconsin and America. No one knows it more than do the family, friends and community of workers like Jeffery J. Jones Jr. (38) of Wausau, Shawn Day (49) of Oak Creek, and many too many others. We have the ability to prevent most incidents from occurring. But voluntary regulations will never be followed by the corporations that can afford to kill it’s worker. Allowing employers to treat their workforce differently ...More here