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"Compassionate Conservatism" at Work —
OSHA's New
Ergonomics Rule Destroyed

With the elections safety behind them, most House and Senate Republicans (and a smattering of Democrats) lost no time in shedding their cloak of "compassionate conservativism" on March 6th and 7th, telling hundreds of thousands of workers to "go suffer." 

As payback for a multi-million dollar investment in the last election, these anti-worker lawmakers handed big business a big victory, voting to overturn OSHA's new ergonomics standard, which had just taken effect on January 16th, 2001 after a decade-long struggle to get the standard in place. Less than two weeks later, President Bush put the final nail in the new standard's coffin, signing the repeal on March 20th.

Six Democrats joined Senate Republicans, in a 56-44 vote, to overturn the measure under the never-before-used Congressional Review Act (CRA); in the House 16 Democrats joined all but 13 Republicans in a vote of 223-206 (see how your Senators [note: Senate link may be out of date] and Representative voted). Worse, under the CRA, OSHA is now prohibited from trying to issue any similar rule in the future without permission from Congress.

COMPASSIONATE?

Never mind that up to 1.6 million repetitive stress injuries per year could have been curbed. Never mind that an employer would not have been required to take any action until a worker suffered a documented case of work-related musculoskeletal disorder — and even then, remedies could have been both simple and inexpensive. Never mind the suffering. Never mind the lost productivity. Never mind even the costs to business.

Never mind that, on January 17, the day after the new standard took effect, the National Academy of Sciences released a report confirming that musculoskeletal workplace injuries are caused by exposure to ergonomic hazards and such injuries can be prevented.

"Each year, these disorders affect about 1 million workers and cost the nation between $45 billion and $54 billion in compensation expenditures, lost wages, and decreased productivity," reports the Academy. "Americans make more than 70 million trips to physicians' offices each year seeking treatment for musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)," said a National Academy press release. "But the problem can be reduced with well-designed intervention programs" (see: National Academy of Sciences Press Release; 1/17/01).

Despite the suffering and the costs to the economy, big business and its congressional allies vowed to continue their decade-long fight against the regulations. Both the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and National Association of Manufacturers called repeal of the standard a top legislative priority. 

IRONY?

The ultimate irony, perhaps, is that the new standard might even have saved business money through lower compensation costs and higher productivity. Instead, employer groups spent time in Washington telling legislators one exaggerated horror story after another about how the new standard would put them out of business. This not withstanding the fact that they've historically tried to fight OSHA regulations with exactly these kinds of exaggerations that were later proven to be untrue (see sidebar).

Make no mistake, the real reason for this opposition is not cost, but control. Bosses simply can't stand the thought that they can't do what they want, when they want and in the way they want to do it. Even to the point of shooting themselves in the foot.

One thing is clear: we won't hear about hear about "compassionate conservatism" from members of this Congress until they face reelection again. Maybe by then, voters will see that line for exactly what it is: a consultant-inspired election gimmick designed to obfuscate the mean-spirited, anti-worker actions they have taken to win millions of dollars in political contributions from business.