Should unions support workers' OSHA protections?

Federal OSHA provides work safety protections for private sector workers. Also some low risk industries are partially exempt. States are allowed to adopt their own OSHA plans with expanded protections. I work in Minnesota as an educator.

I reviewed the MN OSHA plan. I also contacted the state's Department of Labor and Industry for confermation. Both checks confermed that Public School Education workers are covered by Minnesota OSHA.

First my union told me that we were not covered by OSHA. Then I informed them and provide recources confirming that we are covered by OSHA. The union has gone silent on the issue. Why would a labor union want to prevent thousands of workers each contributing hundreds of dollars a year OSHA protections?

Maybe it is embarrassing for the union that they did not know we had OSHA protections, but that is irrelevant because it is worse for district leadership,

Maybe the union is more focused on contract negotiations, but fixing OSHA problems would get more support for the union.

Maybe the union leadership has been flipped and is now fighting against worker protections, but this seems too sinister to be true.

What does the union gain by not backing worker OSHA protections?

Submitted April 04, 2018 at 07:02AM by SchoolSafetyCampaign https://ift.tt/2HajYDs