Politics as usual and another jobsite fatality

One of our ironworker brothers was killed on the job today when he fell 20 stories at the Vantage Pointe project downtown.  This comes just weeks after the explosion at the Hilton Hotel.  Some of our IBEW 569 members are working in Las Vegas, where earlier these week, they joined thousands of building trades workers and staged a walkout after yet  another on-the-job death there last week.

The Bush/ Terminator governments have not adequately staffed and funded OSHA and CalOSHA.   Inspections are few and far between.  That, combined with economic pressures in a construction economy that has come to a near halt, are dangerous for workers.  In San Diego County, jobs are being bid with slim and sometimes no profit, and workers are laboring and competing at a furious pace.

I was told that Perini, the General Contractor at the City Center project in Vegas, has begun to implement neglected safety measures.  But only after workers who had finally had enough, shut down the project  by walking-off the site this past Monday.  Why should it take so many deaths and injuries to bring compliance?

This year’s AFL-CIO report, “Death on the Job” pointed out that the committment to protect workers from injuries, illness, and death are no longer a priority for OSHA.  The report also showed that for many working people, jobs are becoming less safe.  This sentiment certainly seems to be bearing out in the San Diego construction market. 

Despite the fact that not many building permits have been pulled and many projects have been stalled or halted, injuries and even death on construction sites has been quite visible in the local media.  But don’t expect the antiUnion Tribune to do any real reporting about OSHA and the political context of workplace safety, especially in an election year.  The reality is that injury and death on the job, like the financial debacle that has crippled construction, is just another tragic legacy of the Bush administation, under which dozens of safety and health standards were pulled.  Construction work is dangerous, especially for ironworkers, but the loss of life on the job demands we probe deeper than the pages of the UT  to the politcal roots of the problem. 

~ by jenniferbadgley on June 13, 2008.