Change To Win Testifies Before Congress on Dangerous Patterns of Abuse by Large Corporate Employers

[Omaha Steve]

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Safety Expert and Poultry Worker to Address Failures of Large
Corporations to Protect Health and Safety of Workers In the Workplace


WASHINGTON, March 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Change to Win Health
and Safety coordinator Eric Frumin and United Food and Commercial Workers
(UFCW) member Doris Morrow will testify as witnesses at a Senate hearing
tomorrow to address the dangerous pattern of large corporations ignoring or
avoiding their obligations to insure a safe workplace. The testimony will
focus on serious violations at BP, McWane Corp., Cintas Corp., House of
Raeford, Smithfield Foods, AgriProcessors, Waste Management Inc., and
Avalon Bay.

"Employers bear the primary responsibility for protecting workers, but
too often, companies would rather squeeze out extra profit than save
employees' lives," said Frumin. "The price paid by fallen workers, their
families and their communities is unacceptable, and without stronger laws
and enforcement, the tragic human cost of hazardous jobs continues to
climb."

As evidence shows, large corporations make calculated decisions to cut
corners and disregard the risk of injury or illness to their workers in
order to maximize profits. As a result, every day, sixteen workers die on
the job, 134 die from work-related illnesses, and thousands more sustain
workplace injuries.

Tyson poultry worker and UFCW Local 227 member Doris Morrow, who has
worked at the Tyson poultry plant in Kentucky for nearly 12 years, will
testify about the health and safety problems she has witnessed first hand
at her workplace. Tyson is one of the largest poultry processing companies
in the United States.

"There are serious safety and health problems that must be addressed to
protect workers across the country," said Morrow. "I have seen first hand
the injuries of my coworkers from respiratory problems like bronchitis and
pneumonia due to the cold temperatures in the plants, to back and muscular
problems, sore hands, carpal tunnel and other Musculoskeletal Disorders
that workers face. Yet, many of the workers in plants are afraid to
complain about the work conditions because they are fearful they will lose
their jobs. It is time to demand that the government and companies protect
workers and prevent these injuries."

The hearing will also address the failures of the Occupational Safety
and Health Administration (OSHA) to investigate and remedy corporate-wide
health and safety violations as a result of ineffective enforcement tools
and inadequate resources. At present staffing levels, it would take OSHA
133 years to inspect every workplace under its jurisdiction. It has also
been hampered by political appointees who are indifferent or hostile to the
agency's mission, and hamstrung by limits on its legal authority and
available enforcement tools.

"Under the current regulatory structure, corporations make the profits
while workers pay the price with their lives. Congress needs to pass the
Protecting America's Workers Act to increase penalties for egregious
violations and enhance OSHA's capacity to conduct corporate-wide
investigations and impose corporate-wide sanctions," said Frumin.
"America's working families know all too well what will happen if we don't
strengthen OSHA - more workers will die because of exposure to
well-documented hazards and slipshod site management, more workers will
suffer crippling injuries from high production pressures and poor
ergonomics and more companies will go unpunished even when knowingly
putting workers in harm's way. The time to act is now."

The Employment and Workplace Safety Subcommittee hearing "Serious OSHA
Violations: Strategies for Breaking Dangerous Problems" will be held
Tuesday, April 1, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time at the Dirksen Senate
Office Building, Room 430.