AllisonSusan

Eric

Unions negotiate contracts◦ Wage and benefits◦ Workplace safety language

Unions enforce contracts through grievance procedures

Local unions may join forces to form national or international unions (e.g. SEIU: Service Employees International Union; IBT: International Brotherhood of Teamsters)

Unions are involved in political action Baker R, Stock L. (2006) Labor Unions: Their role in occupational and environmental health. In

Levy, B et al. (eds.) Occupational and environmental health. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Are involved in occupational health research◦ Center to Protect Workers Rights: Research and

training to prevent illness, injury and death in the construction industry

◦ Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union in San Francisco: contract language to allow labor or management to initiate research on workplace safety

Negotiate for representation on workplace safety committees

Unions are involved in worker training

Unions have been instrumental in getting laws passed that addressed: ◦ Working conditions

Safety Work hours (i.e. 8 hours/day, 5 days/week)

◦ Minimum wage◦ Child labor◦ Right to organize◦ Discrimination◦ Workers’ Compensation◦ Whistleblower protection

Unions have been instrumental in passing laws to protect workplace health and safety:

1968: Mine Safety and Health Act (MSHAct) 1970: Occupational Safety and Health Act

(OSHAct) Extension of OSHA:

◦ Hazard communications (MSDS)◦ Blood-borne pathogen protection◦ Ergonomic protection

WSNA (Washington State Nurses Association) has been instrumental in passage of:◦ 2000: Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act◦ 2002: Law limiting mandatory overtime◦ 2006: Safe Patient Lifting Law◦ 2007: Safe Nurse Staffing Legislation

1983: 20.1 % of US workers 2007: 12.1% 2008: 12.4%

Government workers: 42.2%◦ Includes teachers, police officers and fire fighters

Education: 38.7% Transportation and utilities: 22.2% Telecommunication: 19.3% Construction: 15.6%

◦ From the US Bureau of Labor Statistics

All states in the East North Central, Middle Atlantic and Pacific areas had higher rates of union membership than national average

All states in East South Central and West South Central had lower rates of union membership than national average.

States lowest rates(below 5%): NC, GA, SC, VA, TX, LA

States with highest rates: NY, HI, AKFrom the US Bureau of Labor Statistics

To combat declining union membership and strengthen employee’s abilities to form unions

Would establish stronger penalties for violation of employee rights when workers seek to form a union

Provide mediation and arbitration for contract disputes

Allow employees to form unions by signing cards authorizing union representationFrom AFL-CIO website:

http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/whatis.cfm

Employee Free Choice Act To combat declining union membership and strengthen

employee’s abilities to form unions Would establish stronger penalties for violation of employee

rights when workers seek to form a union Provide mediation and arbitration for contract disputesFrom AFL-CIO website: http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/whatis.cfm

White house initiatives Obama signed executive orders on Friday, Jan. 29 which reversed

several Bush policies which favored management. Bill signed on Thursday, Jan 28 gave workers more time to sue for wage

discrimination.

Made up of labor and management representatives who meet regularly to deal with health and safety issues

First created in 1920s in US and Canada 1977 – In Canada, mandatory for employers

with 20 or more employees to have a joint health and safety committee

2002 – In WA, mandatory for employers with more than 10 employees to have a safety committee

1999 – developed by the healthcare workforce, healthcare employers, and unions

Labor-management (bipartite) governed organization

Mandated to implement evidence-based programs to reduce injury rates in health care◦ Reduced lifting injuries through “no unsafe manual

lifting” policy, govt funded ceiling lifts◦ Prevention and Early Active Return-to-work Safely

(PEARS) – dec. in days lost, workers’ comp costs

Created to provide education and training to JCs to ensure high-quality bipartite cooperation◦ Ensure that committee members understood roles

and responsibilities◦ Increase problem-solving skills of members◦ Improve JC’s ability to ID and resolve health and

safety problems Free one-day workshops to groups of both

management and labor JC members Standardized through entire province

Telephone surveys 7 to 15 months after workshops

Retrospective pre-versus-post intervention survey

Included only those who participated in the workshop that were still JC members◦ This was around half of the workshop participants◦ 93% response rate in this group

More health and safety programs were in place after workshops

More workers and managers were participating in inspections

Cooperation and efficiency of JCs were improved after workshops

Committee roles were better understood after workshops

More managers than workers tended to rate degree of cooperation as “high”

Retrospective recall Only surveyed workshop participants that

were still JC members Others?

Establish common understanding of external pressures

Obtain senior management and union leadership commitment

Identify and acknowledge stakeholder differences and workable tradeoffs – consensus over vote

Create solutions should fit with other initiatives Use external facilitators Share all information Set realistic goals, timeframes and expectations Measure and communicate results

Improved health and safety conditions Fewer injuries Higher job satisfaction Enhanced problem solving expertise

Baker R, Stock L. (2006) Labor Unions: Their role in occupational and environmental health. In Levy, B et al. (eds.) Occupational and environmental health. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Baker, R., Szudy B., Guerriero, J. (2000). Working with labor unions: What occupational health nurses need to know. AAOHN Journal, 48(12), 563-572.

Yassi, A. et al (2005). Joint health and safety committee education and the value of bipartite cooperation in the healthcare sector in British Columbia, Canada. Int J Occup Environ Health, 11, 305-312.

Zelnick, J., Campbell, R., Levenstein, C., Balback, E. (2008). Clearing the air: The evolution of organized labor’s role in tobacco control in the United States. Int J of Health Services, 38(2), 313-331.

Bureau of Labor Statistics – Data on Unions http://www.bls.gov/bls/blsuniondata.htm Canadian Center for Occupational Health and Safety - What is a Joint Health and Safety

Committee? http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/hsprograms/hscommittees/whatisa.html Employee Free Choice Act http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/whatis.cfm UW Health and Safety Committee http://www.ehs.washington.edu/ohssafcom/index.shtm WA L&I Core Rules for Safety Committees and Safety Meetings

http://www.lni.wa.gov/wisha/rules/corerules/HTML/296-800-130.htm WSNA Occupational and Environmental Health and Safety Committee

http://www.wsna.org/Topics/Workplace-Environment-You/Committee/