Each year, more than 5,000 workers die from job injuries and 135,000 workers die from chronic occupational diseases. Millions more workers are injured on the job.
The situation would have been a lot worse without this little-known agency whose mission is to protect workers from injuries and occupational diseases: the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
As part of his reckless job cuts, Trump dismantled NIOSH, one of the most critical agencies for every worker created by Congress in 1970. Trump had laid off about 1,000 employees over the past six weeks. A number of workers have also left on their own due to the administration’s anti-worker policies and uncertainty.
After facing public backlash and opposition from members of Congress, the administration reinstated approximately 300 employees in Cincinnati, Ohio; Morgantown, W.VA.; and Pittsburgh, Pa. Most of NIOSH, approximately 700 employees at various locations, are still on administrative leave with termination dates of June 2 or July 2.
Programs that remain defunded include NIOSH’s toxicology research, chemical hazard risk assessment, and surveillance of high-risk industries. These functions are not just critical; they are required by law under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970.
Because most employees are still being laid off, the programs we need to protect workers won’t function as NIOSH’s divisions depend on each other to carry out the agency’s mission. NIOSH, for example, can’t issue a hazard review or conduct research with just one division.
Making matters worse, Trump’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the parent agency of NIOSH, is cutting 300 additional jobs to make up for reinstating NIOSH employees. It’s not clear where the cuts will come from.
“Let us be clear: our unions stand united. We will not be divided. We oppose all of these layoffs, whether at CDC or NIOSH,” said Brendan Demich, chief steward of AFGE Local 1916 representing NIOSH employees. “This is a coordinated assault on the public health workforce. Federal workers are being used as pawns in a political game, and the consequences will be deadly for the people of this country.”
We need to reinstate all NIOSH employees permanently so that they can help protect workers along with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).
That’s why NIOSH employees who are AFGE members will be in Washington, D.C. the week of May 20 to meet with members of Congress and union allies. They will hold a press conference and a rally to spotlight their work and how gutting NIOSH hurts the American people.
Here’s why America’s workers need NIOSH:
- NIOSH is the only federal government agency that conducts research on worker safety and health, gathers, and analyzes the information to keep workers safe.
- Workers and employers throughout the world rely on NIOSH’s research and recommendations.
- NIOSH conducted the key research for OSHA and MSHA regulations on asbestos, cotton dust, lead, bloodborne pathogens, silica and black lung, which have saved hundreds of thousands of workers’ lives.
- NIOSH also researches worker exposures to heat and wildfire smoke, workplace violence, back injuries and other chronic diseases, and state-of-the-art technologies that keep workers safe in mines.
- NIOSH is responsible for approving all respirators, and combats fraud from imported counterfeit products, that keep America’s workers safe and protect U.S. manufacturing.
- NIOSH oversees the World Trade Center Health Program that provides 9/11 responders and survivors medical monitoring and treatment.
- NIOSH also oversees a program that compensates Department of Energy workers exposed to deadly hazards from manufacturing, testing, and cleaning up nuclear weapons.
A coalition of labor unions along with a manufacturer of personal protective equipment on May 14 filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for its illegal dismantling of NIOSH.
Help protect America’s workers and save NIOSH by joining AFGE today!
