Health and Safety

Health and Safety . . . .

Top Union officials seldom mention the unhealthy stresses Members face each workday. That's because they have no idea what production workers are forced to deal with. Below, we will review the issues workers endure, to pay the International officers their huge salaries, and finance their numerous fun filled trips.

     The Syndrome

Carpal Tunnel - the Assembler's badge of courage. Almost every Assembler has experienced a flare up of Carpal Tunnel at one time or another, during their line humping career. A serious issue that needs to be addressed. Many retirees currently suffer from C.T.

       Caution! No Breathing

Inhaled Pollutants - silent but deadly. Inhaled toxins are posioning thousands of Auto Workers every day. Top Union officials don't care about inhaled toxins, they aren't exposed to the airborne chemicals we breath --- exhaust fumes, fibers, atomized oil, second-hand smoke, unfiltered air. DEADLY STUFF!

   Repetitive Damage

Repetitive Stress Injuries - jobs that require repetitive motions cause damage to our bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves, and joints. The UAW is NOT protecting Members from the dangerous ergonomic abuses on present day assembly lines.

    Ambulance? Where?

Call 911? - all of us know how long an emergency medical team takes to reach a victim in the shop. It's a shame, because people can die waiting for help. "Response Teams" were promised with the new National contract, where are they? Seconds cost lives!

It starts on the Shop floor

The tragic, Ford River Rouge accident, will not be soon forgotten. We're always saddened when lives are lost because of corporate America's negelect. The American laborer is an expendable machine in the eyes of the corporations, just another number on their books.

We cannot bring back the lives lost at River Rouge, nor mend all the injuries that occured. Words alone cannot say how much sorrow the families and friends affected by that accident feel.

However, another problem exists, the problem of slacking Union officials. Conditions should never get to the point of danger that causes such horrific tragedies.

General working conditions are negelected beyond safe boundaries. Union officials watch films, and discuss accidents at Saftey Conferences. All the while, Union Members labor in sub-standard conditions across America.

Officials have attended Health and Safety Conferences for years. Yet, the Rouge Members still lost their lives. The conferences are failures, workers continue to die.

Why? NEGELECT, that's why.

Cigar puffing officials, shuffling around on conference room floors, do not save lives. Those meetings are not a fix for safety. Nor do they change anything the workers face concerning basic everyday Health and Safety issues.