Trump’s Labor Department Eviscerates Workplace Safety Panels

As usual but to unimaginable extremes, Republicans and Trump and working daily on behalf of corporate interests instead of the American workers.  THIS IS THE SWAMP.  Hundreds of recent lobbyists on corporate payrolls are now running our government agencies that exist to work ON OUR BEHALF.

Five expert committees advised the federal government on ways to improve workplace safety and enhance whistleblower protections. Under Trump, their work has stopped and their recommendations are now stalled.

Last October, Gregory Junemann received a brief email from an official at the U.S. Department of Labor firing him and 15 others from a volunteer gig helping the government reduce hazards to workers.

Junemann, a labor union president, was a member of the Federal Advisory Council on Occupational Safety and Health, first established by President Richard Nixon. It is one of five panels created by law to advise the labor secretary on how to improve health, safety and whistleblower protections in nearly every facet of the workforce.

But under Trump, the boards have been mothballed or outright killed.  Trump issued an executive order disbanding the board Junemann served on a few days before the members received the email thanking them for their service.

If Trump wasn't busy burning down our society every day, this would be in the headlines.  THIS SHOULD BE HEADLINE NEWS BECAUSE IT WOULD STOP REPUBLICANS FROM EVER WINNING ANOTHER ELECTION.

• The Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health was in the process of recommending ways to prevent workers from being killed by large trucks backing up.
• The Maritime Advisory Committee for Occupational Safety and Health was about to start working with shipyards to implement new rules....that limit the amount of beryllium shipyard workers can be exposed to....to prevent workers....from developing lung disease and cancer from the widely used metal....
• The National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health spent three years creating a report for OSHA on how to better train and monitor temporary workers — a group that is especially susceptible to death and injury on the job. 
• ....a nuclear advisory board to help sick workers get medical benefits....lapsed.... a laundry list of the board’s recommendations remain in limbo....

Why does all of this matter?  Why were these panels created?  TO SAVE LIVES.  LITERALLY TO SAVE LIVES.

In 2016, nearly 5,200 workers died on the job and another 2.9 million suffered serious workplace-related illness, injuries or disability, according to OSHA data.

“The boards are tremendously important for the functioning of OSHA. Each one is vital,” said David Michaels, a professor at the George Washington University School of Public Health and the assistant labor secretary in charge of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration under President Barack Obama. “Clearly the Department of Labor doesn't value expert advice. That is the message here.”

This is why many Americans have little faith in government.  But they often don't realize this is why.  Most think government fails them because their taxes are too high or "free stuff" given to the poor.  In reality, actions like this are what crushes our people and our society.

Source: https://www.propublica.org/article/trumps-labor-department-eviscerates-workplace-safety-panels