Portland, OR
The Clinton Administration has been engaged in efforts to change the way government operates through its "Reinventing Government" initiatives. The AFL-CIO has worked to insure that these initiatives not erode important government responsibilities, particularly regulation and enforcement, and not take away rights and protections guaranteed to workers and the public.
At a number of regulatory agencies, including OSHA and EPA, cooperative programs undertaken in the name of reinvention have resulted in reduced emphasis in enforcement inspections. Congressional budget cuts and the shutdown of the federal government also left their mark at OSHA, where inspections fell to a record low in 1996.
The administration has pointed out that its initiatives focus on the reduction of injuries and fatalities as measures of enforcement effectiveness. We share the goal of eliminating work injuries, but we have grave concerns that without a high level of inspections these strategies cannot work. New approaches to enforcing the Occupational Safety and Health Act should, in any case, first be proven on a test basis before being implemented as standard operating procedure.
Partnership programs which offer employers enforcement relief in exchange for cooperation with the government should only be established with the full involvement of affected unions or concerned members of the public, and not be exclusive arrangements between government and employers.
Reinvention has promoted negotiated rulemaking as an alternative to the traditional rulemaking processes. While this process can be effective in some situations, in other cases such as at the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), it appears that the process is being used by agencies to avoid responsibility to set strong standards that protect workers and the public.
Some programs and regulations have been eliminated in the name of "reinvention." The administration zeroed out funding for the Chemical Accident Safety Board established by the Clean Air Act to investigate major chemical accidents and eliminated OSHA regulations for construction safety, merging these protections into general industry standards despite strong opposition from labor and management.
The AFL-CIO calls upon the Clinton Administration to re-examine its reinventing government initiatives and to take the necessary action to assure that workers and the public are protected and that the laws are strongly enforced.