Union Review

20/05/2021

Don’t miss this wonderful article and podcast about Dr. Alice Hamilton, pioneer workplace health professional and advocate from the last century! They used one of my photos of her statue in Ft. Wayne, Indiana.

Alice Hamilton’s investigations into toxins in Chicago’s factories led to some of the first workplace safety laws in the country.

30/04/2021

This is Worker Memorial Week – a time for remembering workers who died, were injured, or made sick on their jobs, especially from the coronavirus, in this past year. I am posting films this week from the beginning of OSHA, fifty years ago. Today’s film is titled, More Than a Paycheck, and was produced by OSHA in 1978. This film addresses the work-related cancer. It features the late Dr. Irving Selikoff and is narrated by John Wayne – an amazing pairing! OSHA went into effect on April 28, 1971, after the tireless efforts of the labor movement, who drew major attention to work-related deaths and injuries, organized for safer working conditions and demanded action from their government. In the 50th year of OSHA, we must focus on the need to renew the promise of safe jobs for all of America’s workers. On Workers Memorial Day, April 28, please remember the victims of workplace injury and illness and to keep fighting for the promise of safe jobs for all workers.

A wonderful 1978 film, dealing with the issue of work-related cancer, was produced by the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). It feature...

29/04/2021

This is Worker Memorial Week – a time for remembering workers who died, were injured, or made sick on their jobs, especially from the coronavirus, in this past year. I’m posting films this week from the beginning of OSHA fifty years ago. Today’s film clip is from an interview with
Eula Bingham, former head of OSHA and advocate for worker health and safety, recalling her nomination to that post in 1977. Dr. Bingham was interviewed by the Center for Construction Research and Training in 2016. OSHA went into effect on April 28, 1971, after the tireless efforts of the labor movement, who drew major attention to work-related deaths and injuries, organized for safer working conditions and demanded action from their government. In the 50th year of OSHA, we must focus on the need to renew the promise of safe jobs for all of America’s workers. On Workers Memorial Day, April 28, please remember the victims of workplace injury and illness and to keep fighting for the promise of safe jobs for all workers.

Eula Bingham (July 9, 1929 – June 13, 2020), toxicologist and former head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, looked back over her long car...

28/04/2021

This is Worker Memorial Day – a time for remembering workers who died, were injured, or made sick on their jobs, especially from the coronavirus, in this past year. I’m posting films this week from the beginning of OSHA fifty years ago. Today’s film, is a clip from remarks at the signing ceremony on why OSHA was needed. It was during the tenure of DOL Secretary James Hodgson that the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 was passed by the Congress and signed by the Republican President Nixon. Years later, former Secretary Hodgson, a life-long Republican, wrote "Although OSHA has been roundly condemned in many quarters, I regard its passage as the most satisfying step forward -- both for American industry and its more than 100 million workers -- that occurred during my tenure at the U.S Department of Labor." In his remarks at the signing ceremony, he gives two reasons for the passage of the OSHA law -- first because the US is a progress-minded nation and second because it is part of the new environmental concern in the US -- what environment is of more concern to workers than that of their workplace? OSHA went into effect on April 28, 1971, after the tireless efforts of the labor movement, who drew major attention to work-related deaths and injuries, organized for safer working conditions and demanded action from their government. In the 50th year of OSHA, we must focus on the need to renew the promise of safe jobs for all of America’s workers. On Workers Memorial Day, April 28, please remember the victims of workplace injury and illness and to keep fighting for the promise of safe jobs for all workers.

It was during the tenure of DOL Secretary James Hodgson that the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 was passed by the Congress and signed by the Repu...

27/04/2021

This is Worker Memorial Week – a time for remembering workers who died, were injured, or made sick on their jobs, especially from the coronavirus, in this past year. I’m posting films this week from the beginning of OSHA fifty years ago. Today’s film, is a 1972 speech by Frank Wallick, labor editor and activist, at the first conference organized by the Occupational Health Project of the Medical Committee for Human Rights (MCHR) for workers and unions. The first COSH Group, the Chicago Area Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (CACOSH) grew out of this conference. COSH groups are private, non-profit coalitions of labor unions, health and technical professionals, and others interested in promoting and advocating for worker health and safety. Today’s National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) is a federation of local and statewide "COSH" groups – Committees / Coalitions on Occupational Safety and Health. In 1972, Wallick wrote the book The American Worker: An Endangered Species, as a primer on how to promo te and create a healthy workplace. The book was praised by union activists and health and safety professionals as serving as a catalyst for the then-nascent movement for occupational health and safety. In 1984, his book was republished and expanded as Don’t Let Your Job Kill You. Wallick had helped lead the fight for passage of the 1970 Occupational Safety and Health Act, along with Tony Mazzocchi, Jack Sheehan, George Taylor and Sheldon Samuels. As Editor of the Washington Report for the United Auto Workers, he publicized workplace hazards and encouraged legislators in Washington to do the right thing. He was a mentor to a whole generation of young health and safety advocates in the trade union movement. He helped build a network of activists and encouraged their work. He led fifteen health and safety tours to Sweden and other Nordic countries, during the 1970s and 1980s, for groups of union members, activists and scholars to study workplace safety conditions. Thanks to Peter Orris for providing this video from this 1972 conference.

Frank Wallick, labor editor and activist, was an early leader of and an inspiration to the occupational health and safety movement in the United States. This...

26/04/2021

This is Worker Memorial Week – a time for remembering workers who died, were injured, or made sick on their jobs, especially from the coronavirus, in this past year. I’m posting films this week from the beginning of the OSHA fifty years ago. Today’s film, from 1972 is titled, Man from OSHA, and was made by the Fred James Insurance Company aimed at business executives. It is the earliest film I’ve found of an employer view of OSHA, with much fearmongering and misleading information. OSHA went into effect on April 28, 1971, after the tireless efforts of the labor movement, who drew major attention to work-related deaths and injuries, organized for safer working conditions and demanded action from their government. In the 50th year of OSHA, we must focus on the need to renew the promise of safe jobs for all of America’s workers. On Workers Memorial Day, April 28, please remember the victims of workplace injury and illness and to keep fighting for the promise of safe jobs for all workers. https://youtu.be/1Oel6XXffDQ

This film, aimed at business executives, is the earliest film I’ve found of an employer view of OSHA. The film mentions the history of the Act, define its s...

25/04/2021

This is Worker Memorial Week – a week for remembering workers who died, were injured, or made sick on their jobs, in this past year. I’m posting films this week from the beginning of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fifty years ago. Today’s film, Good Morning ... We're From OSHA (9 minutes) is from 1977 and is the earliest I've found, from OSHA, describing its mission, staff, and work. OSHA went into effect on April 28, 1971, after the tireless efforts of the labor movement, who drew major attention to work-related deaths and injuries, organized for safer working conditions and demanded action from their government. In the 50th year of OSHA, we must focus on the need to renew the promise of safe jobs for all of America’s workers. On Workers Memorial Day, April 28, please remember the victims of workplace injury and illness and to keep fighting for the promise of safe jobs for all workers. https://youtu.be/XUqgxizt9Ds

OSHA has been one of the most controversial programs in the Department's history. Early on, inspectors attempting to enforce privately developed safety and h...

24/03/2021

Thirty-two years ago, on March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez collided with Bligh Reef, a well-known navigation hazard, near Valdez, Alaska and spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into the pristine waters of Prince William Sound. The Exxon Valdez had left the port of Valdez with almost 54 million gallons of crude oil on board from the Alaska Pipeline. Exxon Corporation owned and controlled this supertanker. The result was catastrophic. Although the spill was radioed in shortly after the collision Exxon’s response was slow. The oil eventually extended 470 miles to the southwest, contaminated hundreds of miles of coastline. More than one in ten oil spill cleanup workers were injured or became ill from the work cleaning up after the Exxon Valdez oil spill. This cleanup was the first done under OSHA's then recent Hazwoper regulation and maybe the first time an OSHA program went into voluntary compliance mode (like the agency later did during the World Trade Center cleanup and Katrina). I was living in Alaska at the time and worked with the Alaska Laborers Union on occupational health and safety concerns during the cleanup. For a detailed federal government review of worker health and safety issues, read the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) report, Alaska Oil Spill Health Hazard Evaluation (HETA 89-200 & 89-273-2111), published in May 1991 and available on the NIOSH website.

More than one in ten oil spill cleanup worker were injuried or became ill from the work cleaning up after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, This cleanup was the f...

19/03/2021

Don't miss this Safety Justice League podcast honoring Women's History Month. We discuss women in safety history, including Mary Abraham and Mary Peterson, the first women factory inspectors in Great Britain in 1893, Dr. Alice Hamilton, Francis Perkins, Dr. Harriet Hardy, Eula Bingham and Dr. Linda Rosenstock. These are just a few of the many amazing women in the past and today, working to improve health and safety in workplaces across the world.

Since we have one of the most innovative women in modern safety history as a co-host, it just made sense to take a journey back in time to learn about some of the most influential women in our career field. Fan-favorite Mark Catlin is back to take us on a history lesson unlike any other. You WILL le...

02/03/2021

Today I am celebrating 40 years working in occupational and environmental health and safety! March 2, 1981 was my first day on my first job in occupational health and safety working for the Allied Industrial Workers of America International Union (AIW) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I was hired by Milan Racic, then the AIW's Health and Safety Director. Milan had been the first industrial hygienist hired by OSHA in Wisconsin in the early 1970s and told great stories of his years during OSHA's first decade. AIW President Dominick D'Ambrosio was a wonderful labor leader and headed an early Labor / Environmental Alliance in Wisconsin. Dom is speaking on this video, welcoming the 1990 National AFL-CIO Occupational Safety and Health Conference to Milwaukee. At the AIW, I was fortunate to work with amazing colleagues, including George Daitsman, Ken Germanson, and Anne Bingham in addition to Milan. I also worked with great folks with the still existing Wisconsin Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (WisCOSH), one of almost 20 nonprofit COSH Groups in the USA, including Jim Albers, Mark Schulz, Steve Cupery and Belinda Thielen. It has been an amazing 40-year journey of good work and great friends and colleagues. Thanks to everyone along the way ... and more to come!

26/02/2021

In observation of Dr. Alice Hamilton's birthday tomorrow, listen to this podcast I did recently for the wonderful folks at the Safety Justice League.

In observation of Dr. Alice Hamilton's birthday tomorrow, we caught up with Mark Catlin for today's new podcast episode. Mark is a safety video historian...

21/02/2021

This clip is from the 1966 film, Airborne transmission of tubercle bacilli, from the Communicable Disease Center (CDC) and Public Health Service. Many respiratory diseases are likely spread through the air, including the coronavirus. The question of transmission by droplet vs airborne routes has major implication for which public health control measures are needed to protect workers and the public. Following a precautionary approach, every potentially important pathway to slow the spread of COVID-19 must be addressed. The measures that should be taken to mitigate airborne transmission risk include: provide sufficient and effective ventilation (supply clean outdoor air, minimize recirculating air) particularly in public buildings, workplace environments, schools, hospitals, and aged care homes. This matter is of heightened significance now, when countries are reopening following lockdowns: bringing people back to workplaces and students back to schools, colleges, and universities. For more on this debate, read, It is Time to Address Airborne Transmission of COVID-19 by Drs. Morawska and Milton. This clip shows the mechanics involved in airborne transmission, from the expiration of the pathogen by the positive case, through the transmission of these bacilli in drops of mucus, and on to the subsequent inspiration of the microscopic particles by a susceptible person.

This clip is from the 1966 film, Airborne transmission of tubercle bacilli, from the Communicable Disease Center and Public Health Service. This clip illust...

07/02/2021

C-Span interviewed me for this introduction to their broadcast of three 1980 Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) films that were created during the Carter administration, then recalled by the Reagan administration in 1981. I used the films as training tools in the early 1980s, and helped preserve and make them available to the public as part of my YouTube channel devoted to worker history and safety films. Check C-Span's Reel America series for viewing over the next week. The broadcast will also be added to their YouTube channel afterwards, I have a playlist of this interview, the films shown and related films on my YouTube channel. Enjoy!

Occupational & environmental health & safety consultant Mark Catlin discusses three 1980 Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) films that were created during the Carter administration, then recalled by the Reagan administration in 1981. Mr. Catlin used the films as training tools in t...

03/02/2021

This Saturday evening, C-Span American History TV marks the 50th anniversary of OSHA by showing three OSHA films censored in 1981. I was interviewed for their introduction. A short 3-minute preview can be seen at: OSHA 50th Anniversary - 3 Censored Films on Reel America (Preview) https://youtu.be/3FpYkihX3lo :
Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970 and President Nixon signed the bill into law. We mark the anniversary with three OSHA films released in 1980 by the Carter administration, which were later recalled by the Reagan administration in 1981. We begin with occupational safety and health consultant Mark Catlin, who helped preserve the films and make them available to the public.
Showtimes: Saturday February 6 at 10 pm ET, repeated Sunday February 7 at 4pm ET and Monday February 8 at 2am ET on C-SPAN3.

Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970 and President Nixon signed the bill into law. We mark the anniversary with three OSHA films r...

02/02/2021

This video is in memory and honor of John Sweeny, who passed away Monday February 1, 2021. In the 1980s, no group pressed the EPA on asbestos harder than the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which represented custodians and other types of building-service personnel. In 1983, the union filed suit against the EPA in an attempt to force the agency to establish minimum regulations on how to remove asbestos properly. This video is clipped from the 1983 SEIU Action Alert: Asbestos. In 1980, John Sweeney had been elected president of the national SEIU. Under Sweeney's tenure, SEIU made rapid gains in membership. The union also began pushing for stronger federal laws in the area of health and safety, sexual harassment, and civil and immigrant rights. SEIU hired its first health and safety professional and began efforts to protect workers from asbestos, blood-borne pathogens, tuberculosis and many other hazards. Sweeny was later elected as President of the AFL-CIO in 1995 and served until 2009.

In the 1980s, no one has pressed the EPA on asbestos harder than the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which represented custodians and other typ...

30/01/2021

This clip on the asbestos tragedy is from Abby Ginzberg’s 1989 award-winning documentary which traces the history of the struggle to rid the workplace of occupational hazards. Dr. Irving Selikoff is responsible for bringing the irrefutable dangers of asbestos to national attention and changing the world’s perception of the so-called “miracle mineral.” Selikoff died of cancer in 1992. In the asbestos prevention community, Selikoff is regarded as a hero, but during his life, the doctor was vilified by industry insiders in medicine, academia, and the press. His research on the health risks of asbestos exposed a dangerous truth that companies wanted to be covered up. Because of his quest to promote safety for workers, Selikoff found himself in a head-to-head battle with a deep-pocketed asbestos industry that would stop at nothing to keep its products on the market. Stubborn, media-savvy, and whip-smart, Selikoff refused to back down. His story began in the clinic Selikoff opened in Paterson, New Jersey. As he began to treat workers from an asbestos plant, he noticed that a relatively large number of them had supposedly rare illnesses. He monitored these workers and tried to treat them, but “it became clear as we were following these people that they were dying of cancer,” Selikoff said. He began studying the impact of asbestos on lung health and mortality. He orchestrated larger and larger studies, including a groundbreaking survey of 17,800 asbestos insulation workers, which confirmed the deadly connection between asbestos and deadly lung disease. Even before Selikoff started calling for the regulation of asbestos, the companies that sold asbestos knew about the associated respiratory risks. As early as the 1920s, executives at major asbestos corporations had clear medical evidence that their workers were getting sick. In 1964, Selikoff organized an international conference on asbestos in New York City. He gathered the foremost researchers on the subject, and while there was little new scientific evidence presented, the conference raised widespread public awareness about the dangers of asbestos and mesothelioma. For more information on asbestos hazards and their elimination, go to the website of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) and support their good work. Thanks to filmmaker Abby Ginzberg for permission to post clips from her wonderful 1989 film, Those Who Know Don’t Tell.

This clip on the asbestos tragedy is from Abby Ginzberg’s 1989 award-winning documentary which traces the history of the struggle to rid the workplace of occ...

27/01/2021

This video clip describes the successful union-based internship program established in the 1970s by Tony Mazzocchi, a former leader of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union (OCAW). In collaboration with the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Montefiore Hospital, student interns investigated health and safety problems while immersed with workers in labor unions during the summer. Many of these former interns have become leading occupational and environmental health experts and credit their internship experience as formative in choosing their career path. The Montefiore and OCAW Internship Program ended in the early 1980s. In 2004, the Occupational Health Intern Program (OHIP) was created on the OCAW model and continues today. Do you know a student who is interested in learning more about occupational health -- a student currently in the public health, nursing or medicine track or an energetic and curious student interested in economic and social disparities or environmental issues? Help to recruit these students to apply for the Occupational Health Internship Program (OHIP). This is the 17th year of this field-based learning experience in occupational safety and health. Teams of two students are placed with labor unions or community-based organizations to work on projects that investigate job-related health and safety issues among workers, often of new immigrant groups, employed in an under-served or a high hazard job. The program is open both to undergraduates (3rd and 4th year) and graduate students with an interest in occupational health or related fields. A stipend is provided for the 9-week experience. Students can apply to work in any of the following cities, regardless of where they now reside: San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and New York City. Supervision and mentorship are provided by senior occupational health researchers and their host organizations. Due to COVID-19, summer projects will be remote or “hybrid mode.” The deadline to apply is February 12, 2021. More information about the program, and how to apply, can be obtained at the OHIP website at www.OHIPintern.org. Thanks to filmmaker Abby Ginzberg for permission to post clips from her wonderful 1989 film, Those Who Know Don’t Tell.

This video clip describes the ongoing lack of occupational health training in US medical schools. Currently most medical students receive less than eight ho...

23/01/2021

This week, OSHA is considering issuing an emergency temporary standard to define minimum workplace protections from COVID-19. This clip is a reminder of the power of OSHA standards to change employer policies and behavior that results in protecting worker. In the 1980s, 17,000 healthcare workers used to contract and literally a planeload (300) of healthcare workers died every year from hepatitis B. The nickname for Hepatitis B during this era was the "healthcare workers" disease. In 1991, OSHA issued its Bloodborne Pathogen Standard (BBP) after a 5-year campaign by organized labor and public health advocates. By 1995, the incidence of occupational hepatitis B infections had declined dramatically, from more than 17,000 cases in 1983 to 400 in 1995 — a 95% decline and an amazing example of an OSHA success. This is clipped from the 1992 OSHA video, As It Should Be Done: Workplace Precautions Against Bloodborne Pathogens. The entire video is available on the OSHA website and at the Internet Archive.

In the 1980s, 17,000 healthcare workers used to contract and literally a planeload (300) of healthcare workers died one at a time essentially in silence ever...