AFGE congratulates Douglas Parker on being confirmed by the Senate to lead an important workplace safety agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
The position, which was left vacant the entire Trump administration, is especially important during a public health crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic.
In our meeting with OSHA’s Office of Federal Agency Programs this week, AFGE will be sharing with agency leadership our priorities for safer workplaces.
Here are 3 things we’re asking OSHA to focus on:
The COVID-19 emergency temporary standard is only in effect for six months and will expire in December. We need these protections to remain in effect, but the permanent standard should be a more general standard to protect against both COVID and other infectious diseases.
We have pushed for this for years, first joining with other health care unions to petition OSHA to develop a standard to protect workers from violence at the workplace. OSHA has started working on such a standard, but work was halted during the previous administration.
We generally don’t see OSHA inspections unless workers and locals file complaints, and even then it may not be a workplace inspection but a review of documents.
Other areas that can be improved:
A discovery that remote workers at an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) facility in Ann Arbor, Mich., were about to get kicked out of the bargaining unit led an AFGE local to spring into action and save the employees’ workplace rights.
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Representatives of the AFGE Law Enforcement Officers Steering Committee were invited to the White House to attend a presentation of the Medal of Valor on May 17 during National Police Week.
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AFGE is proud to celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month!
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