[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 10]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 14913-14914]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                    CONCERN FOR THE AMERICAN WORKER

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MICHAEL M. HONDA

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 27, 2001

  Mr. HONDA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my deep concern for 
the health and safety of the American Worker. Ergonomic hazards 
contribute to hundreds of thousands of injuries each year, we must do 
more to address the problem. Unfortunately, instead of dealing with 
this serious problem, the President with help from the majority party 
in the House of Representatives, took the drastic step of overturning 
workplace safety regulations that had been carefully studied for the 
past 10 years.
  The ergonomic rule that was overturned earlier this year protected 
over 100 million working women and men in this nation and covered over 
6 million work sites around the country. These critically important 
ergonomic regulations would have prevented 4.6 million musculoskeletal 
disorders, including carpal tunnel syndrome and other ailments related 
to repetitive motion, force, awkward postures, contact stress and 
vibration.
  Now the Bush Administration, in conjunction with its Labor 
Department, is going through the motions, dare I say ``repetitive 
motions`` of having ``field hearings'' to review the effects of 
ergonomic related injuries. These problems have been studied for the 
past 10 years, how much more information does this administration need 
to be convinced that this is a pressing matter?

[[Page 14914]]

  I have seen recent testimony by Amy Dean, Executive Officer of the 
South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council given at one of the Labor Department's 
ergonomic standard hearings. I believe this testimony illustrates the 
real life consequences of not protecting workers in this nation from 
ergonomic hazards and so I include it in the Congressional Record for 
the information of my colleagues.

  Testimony of Amy B. Dean, Executive Officer South Bay AFL-CIO Labor 
                         Council, July 24, 2001

       My name is Amy Beth Dean and I am the Executive Officer of 
     the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council. The Labor Council 
     represents more than 100,000 working families throughout 
     Silicon Valley.
       In this community, there are union members in every 
     occupation. We work in manufacturing. We work in 
     construction. We work in health care. We look after young 
     children, We're even the people who keep this building clean.
       But far more important than any of those differences in the 
     work we do, are the values we all share--values that begin 
     with the belief that each of us has the right to a safe and 
     healthy workplace. That's why I'm here today.
       A number of years ago a British journalist once wrote that, 
     ``in politics, being ridiculous is more damaging than being 
     extreme.'' By destroying OSHA's ergonomics standard--and then 
     stacking these forums in favor of big business--the Bush 
     Administration has demonstrated itself to be both. And 
     American workers are paying for George Bush's extremism every 
     single day.
       Since George Bush and the Republicans in Congress killed 
     this safety standard, more than 500,000 workers have suffered 
     carpal tunnel syndrome and other injuries. That's one more 
     worker every 18 seconds.
       What kinds of workers are we talking about? Some of them 
     are people who work in poultry processing plants. Some work 
     with heavy equipment. Others work in places like nursing 
     homes and warehouses. But many of these women and men work in 
     high technology. They're clerical and technical workers. And 
     many are professionals.
       They're people like Patricia Clay. She works at the 
     Referral Center at the Valley Medical Center. She worked for 
     five years at a desk that was too high. She raised the issue 
     with her supervisor, but her employer was indifferent. 
     Eventually, she began noticing that something was wrong with 
     her right hand. She found out it was carpal tunnel syndrome. 
     Eventually, she lost so much strength that, after a while, 
     she couldn't hold anything over two pounds. That meant she 
     couldn't even pick up the baby grandson she was helping her 
     daughter to look after. A week ago, Patricia Clark had 
     surgery, but her doctor tells her she'll never be the same 
     that she was before.
       We know from experience that, with the right equipment and 
     practices, injuries like those suffered by Patricia can be 
     avoided. Just ask anyone who was on the staff at the San Jose 
     Mercury News back in the mid-90s. As a result of using 
     outdated computer keyboards and poorly designed workstations, 
     there wre 70 repetitive stress injuries reported back in 
     1993.
       I'm not talking about workers suffering an ache every now 
     and then, but sometimes excruciating pain. I'm talking about 
     the kind of pain that keeps you from leading a normal life. 
     Well, those workers at the Mercury News were lucky. At that 
     time, thanks to the effort of the San Jose Newspaper Guild--
     and the cooperation of the Mercury News--changes were made. 
     The paper began investing in the kind of equipment computer 
     users need. And guess what? By 1998 repetitive strain 
     injuries declined by 49%!
       But, the fact is, not every worker has an employer who 
     wants to do the right thing. The fact is that far too many 
     employers still believe they don't have an obligation to 
     provide safe and healthy working conditions. Employers who 
     would rather see workers wear wrist splints or undergo 
     physical therapy, or even suffer through surgery than invest 
     in computer keyboards that are safe to use.
       It's the women and men working for those kinds of employers 
     who need this ergonomic standard most of all. And those are 
     the very people George Bush chose to betray.
       I know that three questions are being asked of those 
     participating in these forums. You've asked what is an 
     ergonomics injury. You've asked how OSHA can determine 
     whether an ergonomics injury was caused by work.
       And you've asked what the most useful and cost effective 
     government measures are to address ergonomic injuries. It 
     seems to me that if the Department of Labor reviewed the 10 
     years of research and expert testimony it compiled to draft 
     the ergonomics standard it could find the answer to those and 
     many other questions.
       Instead, I have a fourth question I would like to ask this 
     Administration. When a young newspaper reporter's hands are 
     numb after hours of typing at an obsolete keyboard, who is 
     going to help her to drive her car?
       When a baby cries out in the middle of the night and the 
     pain in her mother's arms and hands is so severe from working 
     at an obsolete keyboard that she can't reach down to lift 
     that child from her crib and that young mother is left 
     standing there with her heart breaking, who will be there to 
     comfort her baby?
       Will it be the company she works for? Will it be Secretary 
     Chao? Or will it be George W. Bush?
       I have no further comments.

       

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