more reasons to get new OBAMA leadership
No Friend of the Workers
It should surprise no one, at this point, that an arm of the Bush administration charged with protecting Americans’ rights or safety is not doing its job. Even so, a government report and a Congressional hearing this week painted a disturbing picture of a Labor Department that simply is not standing up for workers.
President Bush has filled top posts across his administration with people who do not agree with the missions of their organizations. His Environmental Protection Agency has failed to protect the environment; his Justice Department has promoted injustice.
To lead the Department of Labor, Mr. Bush appointed Elaine Chao, who took office in 2001 arguing that states should be able to opt out of the federal minimum wage — a terrible idea that would drive down wages for the lowest-paid employees. For more than seven years, Ms. Chao has run a department that has tilted toward employers and failed to properly enforce labor laws.
In a report released this week, the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office took a close look at a sampling of cases handled — or, rather, mishandled — by the Wage and Hour Division of the Labor Department. It found that the division failed to adequately investigate complaints that workers were not paid the minimum wage, were denied mandatory overtime or were not paid their last paychecks.
In one case, a delivery truck driver complained that he was not being paid for overtime that he had earned. The complaint languished for more than 17 months before an investigator was assigned. Then, the case was soon closed because the statute of limitations was about to run out.
The division dropped another case, in which disabled children were allegedly being paid cash by a trucking company to operate large machinery in violation of child-labor laws, because its investigators could not locate the employer. The G.A.O. had little trouble finding a company that appears to be the one cited in the complaint.
The G.A.O.’s findings suggest that the government is not doing its job of going after employers who “cheat their employees out of their hard-earned wages,” said Representative George Miller, the California Democrat who chairs the committee that held this week’s hearing.
The Labor Department responded, as The Times’s Steven Greenhouse reported, that the “Wage and Hour Division is delivering pay for workers, not a payday for trial lawyers.” The department has it exactly backward. By failing to enforce the law, it is creating more work for trial lawyers, who can turn what should be simple administrative procedures into full-blown lawsuits.
Attacking trial lawyers is a classic Republican talking point. Its use in response to complaints from hard-working Americans that they are being cheated is a giveaway that the real problem at the department is not one of competence, but of ideology.
The first step in getting the nation’s laws enforced again will be entrusting enforcement to people who believe in them. We hope the next president will do that.
nytimes.com
And now MORE PROOF...how many CRANES ARE KILLING AMERICANS!
Crane collapses at Houston refinery, killing 4
From Associated Press
July 18, 2008 4:51 PM EDT
HOUSTON - The largest mobile crane in the nation collapsed at a Houston refinery Friday, killing four contract workers and injuring six others, a company vice president said.
The crane, capable of lifting 800,000 pounds, fell over at a LyondellBasell refinery in southeast Houston about 2 p.m. The casualties were in the area of the crane, but officials still aren't certain whether they were on the crane or under it, said John Roecker, the company's vice president for refining.
Three of the injured were treated and released at the scene, said Houston Fire Department Assistant Chief Omero Longoria. Two severely injured workers were taken by helicopter to Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center hospital and the other injured worker was taken to a hospital by ambulance.
The crane, whose exact dimensions were not immediately available, belonged to Deep South Crane & Rigging. It was delivered in pieces and assembled on site about a month ago. It was brought in to remove large drums from inside a coking unit whose roof had been cut off to allow the crane access, Roecker said.
But the crane was not scheduled to do any work Friday. Roecker said, however, that the crane's engine was idling after it hit the ground.
Roecker said he'd seen the crane lift 800,000 pounds during a test run last week, and described it as the nation's largest mobile crane.
The large crane fell on or knocked a smaller, nearby crane. A picnic table under a tent was also nearby, but authorities said they didn't know yet if the cranes hit it or whether anyone was inside. "This is a traumatic experience for all of us. We have to focus on the safety and health of our employees," Roecker said.
About 1,500 contract workers are employed at the refinery, he said.
Mattie Graham stood with her husband, Deep South worker Horace Graham, at the plant near the scene of the accident.
"I'm thinking about their families. He could have been there today," she said, gesturing to her husband.
Roecker said all personnel at the plant were accounted for, and the plant was operating as usual.
Texas led the nation with 26 crane-related fatalities in 2005 and 2006, according to federal statitics. Cranes in Texas operate without any state or local oversight, leaving that job to federal regulators.
Texas is one of 35 states that do not require crane operators to be licensed. Earlier this year in Dallas, city officials found that eight of 23 cranes being used across the city had uncertified operators at the controls.
OSHA standards require cranes to undergo annual inspections, but it is a self-policing mandate for crane owners. Federal law requires that inspection records be kept, but not submitted.
Roecker said OSHA and other regulatory agencies had been notified of Friday's accident.
The Houston refinery is one of the world's largest for processing high-sulfer crude oil. The facility itself covers about 700 acres along the Houston Ship Channel at the city limits of Houston and Pasadena.
Lyondell Chemical, a U.S. company, and the Dutch firm Basell were rivals until they announced a $12.1 billion deal last July to create one of the world's largest chemical companies.
On the chemical side, Lyondell produces ethylene, a crucial precursor to a range of other chemicals, as well as propylene oxide, which is also used in producing a variety of chemical products.
Basell focuses on polyolefins, common types of plastic.
East Texas Crane Academy president Joe Bob Williams, whose company has certified crane operators for Lyondell, said it's unusual for such cranes to fail because of the number of people involved in their maintenance.
"It's really odd for these cranes to have any issues because there are so many eyes looking in," Williams said.
Crane safety has been getting extra scrutiny in recent months because of an alarming number of crane-related deaths in places such as New York, Miami and Las Vegas.
In New York City, two crane accidents since March have killed nine people - a greater number than the total deaths from cranes over the past decade.
An Associated Press analysis in June found that cities and states have wildly varying rules governing construction cranes, and some have no regulations at all, choosing instead to rely on federal guidelines dating back nearly 40 years that some experts say haven't kept up with technological advances. |
