Single-issue activism can be ineffective, and it’s particular noteworthy in April, when people commemorate both Earth Day and Workers Memorial Day, when people urge prevention as the best action against trouble, on global and personal scales.
For labor, if the environment deteriorates, where will we work?
For environmentalists, if work is unsafe, how can society be sustained?
Instead of focusing exclusively on ecology or labor rights, involved citizens might mimic the late Chicago’s Cardinal Joseph Bernandin, who embraced a “seamless garment” approach to issues of life, opposing not only abortion, but the death penalty, euthanasia and war.
On April 22, it’s expected that more than 1 billion people around the globe will participate in the 42nd annual Earth Day and “Mobilize the Earth,” as Earth Day Network says.
“People of all nationalities and backgrounds will voice their appreciation for the planet and demand its protection,” the organization adds. “Together we will stand united for a sustainable future and call upon individuals, organizations and governments to do their part.”
People are encouraged to attend some local Earth Day event and perhaps join with that group’s campaign to collect “A Billion Acts of Green” to elevate the importance of environmental issues around the planet.
Events are scheduled for Washington, D.C., plus Chicago, St. Louis, Rantoul, Morris, Des Moines, Oak Park, Highland Park and Peoria – where the Peoria Area Green Party will take part in the local 8th Annual Earth Day Celebration from 11:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 21 at Forest Park Nature Center.
It promises to be an “opportunity to ‘think globally, act locally’,” says the Greater Peoria Progressive Coalition web site. “Peruse the numerous booths, locate local resources, and learn what you can do to make a difference. Enjoy great local food, educational materials and hands-on demos, kids’ crafts and face painting, and much more. Register to win door prizes, and enjoy the annual Earth Day Sale.”
Live music will include Patchouli, featuring singer-songwriter Julie Patchouli and guitarist Bruce Hecksel, scheduled to play 11:00 -11:45 a.m.
“Today, our beautiful and beneficial lands face an unparalleled group of legislative attacks,” says the Wilderness Society “From a proposed mine near the Grand Canyon, to releasing tens of millions of acres of our wildest lands to irresponsible developers, to drilling the Arctic Refuge, these attacks endanger the places we cherish.”
Days later will be Workers Memorial Day, with its tried-and-true slogan “Mourn for the dead, fight for the living.” Started in 1984 in Canada, Workers Memorial Day was adopted in 1989 in the United States, plus in Europe, Asia and Africa. It’s usually marked on April 28, but because of schedule conflicts, the west-central Illinois commemoration will be at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, April 23, when people will gather at the Peoria Labor Temple, 400 NE Adams, and walk to the Workers Memorial Monument at City Hall, 419 Fulton St.
Why? Every year more people are killed at work than in wars. The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates than more than 2 million women and men die as a result of work-related accidents and diseases worldwide annually. In the United States, 4,500 Americans are expected to perish on the job this year, according to the AFL-CIO. Most don’t die of mystery ailments, or in tragic “accidents” but because an employer decided safety wasn’t a priority.
In Illinois, 158 workers died in 2009, the most recent year statistics are available. That’s 2.7 out of 100,000 workers; 3.5 of a mere 100 workers were injured or sickened due to their workplaces.
This year the struggle continues to create good jobs that are safe and to ensure workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain for good working conditions as well as wages and hours.
“Business groups and the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives are attacking [proposed] stronger measures, falsely claiming they kill jobs,” says the AFL-CIO. “They are pushing legislation to make it difficult, if not impossible, to issue needed safeguards to protect workers and the public.”
The labor federation’s objectives are as simple as environmentalists’ goals of a clean and sustainable world, including:
Defend safety and health protections and workers’ rights from industry attacks.
Require employers to find and fix hazards and prevent injuries, illnesses and deaths.
Prohibit employers from discouraging people reporting workplace injuries.
Protect workers from ergonomic hazards that cripple and injure more workers than any other workplace hazard.
Ensure workers’ right to have a voice on the job, and to freely choose to form a union without employer interference or intimidation.
Today, despite Republican claims that business is “over-regulated,” safety laws are rarely enforced, on the state or federal level. First, there are too few inspectors. The 77 inspectors assign to oversee workplace safety and health in Illinois would need 94 years to inspect each workplace in the state once, according to the most recent AFL-CIO report “Death on the Job.” (The ILO says that the benchmark for adequate inspections for Illinois is 555 inspectors.) Also, the overworked inspectors tend to focus on obvious workplaces such as construction sites.
“Farm and factory workers are four times less likely to have an inspector look after their safety,” says reporter John Ryan of KUOW public radio in Washington state. “Employees of other injury-prone industries get even less attention. The safety of health-care workers [is] largely ignored.”
On Capitol Hill, obstructionist Republicans seem to say that it’s more important to let employers voluntarily police themselves than it is to give workers protection when they point out unsafe practices.
U.S. Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.) told Bloomberg’s Daily Labor Report that House Republicans will reject President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2013 OSHA budget, saying they’re particularly against $4.9 million for whistle-blower protection and a $3.2 million cut in the voluntary employer compliance program.
“You see efforts on [Democrats’] part to increase whistle-blower opportunities, increase penalties, increase the number of inspectors, increase the number of inspections and pull back from voluntary participation programs,” Kline said.
The AFL-CIO Executive Council last month argued, “Some employers, such as Massey Energy and BP, cut corners and flagrantly violate the law, putting workers in serious danger and costing lives.”
Indeed, the penalty to an Illinois employer for a serious violation of OSHA was just $991 in FY 2010, the AFL-CIO noted. Criminal penalties are rare and only 84 workplace safety criminal cases have been prosecuted since 1970 (that’s 41 years, or about 2 per year).
And “voluntary compliance” exposes the myth of the benevolent market, which supposedly needs few, if any, regulations to operate. In reality, self-policing employers tend to relax adherence to the law, like at UCLA – where 23-year-old research assistant Sheri Shangji died in 2008 as a result of a fire in a lab that wasn’t safe. The university and a professor were arraigned on felony charged last month.
Prevention would have been preferable.
The 178-page “Death on the Job” is online: http://www.aflcio.org/Issues/Job-Safety/Death-on-the-Job-Report