Hilda Solis shocks everyone, acts like a Democrat
Image via Wikipedia
Soon after she became the nation’s labor secretary, Hilda Solis warned corporate America there was “a new sheriff in town.” Less than a year into her tenure, that figurative badge of authority is unmistakable.
Her aggressive moves to boost enforcement and crack down on businesses that violate workplace safety rules have sent employers scrambling to make sure they are following the rules.
I’m assuming this story got little play because the media has become accustomed to pragmatist Democrats. You know, the party that sells out liberal ideals in the name of corporate donations, 60 votes, and few accomplishments. The public option, full withdrawal from the Middle East, these things aren’t as important as knowing Joe Lieberman is happy.
So it’s weird to see Solis act like a fiery liberal, one who sends Big Business sprinting for cover, shrieking.
Solis made a splash in October when OSHA slapped the largest fine in its history on oil giant BP PLC for failing to fix safety problems after a 2005 explosion at its Texas City refinery.
As you can imagine, this does not make Big Business happy. The AP reports that some business groups say they prefer a more cooperative approach between government and businesses, or as the Bush administration put it, “compliance assistance.” The transition shock is only natural. Those familiar with the industry giveaways dolled out during the Bush administration surely find this concept of regulation and accountability for the John Galt Club positively alien.
Wait, so BP can’t blow up 15 of its employees in a horrific refinery blast, and just walk away? What kind of Socialist paradise has this country become??
This is one case where President Obama followed through on his promises to boost funding for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, increase enforcement, and safeguard workers in dangerous industries.
Without attracting attention, Solis hired 250 new investigators to protect workers from being cheated out of wage and overtime pay. She has started a new program that scrutinizes business records to make sure worker injury and illness reports are accurate, and she is also proposing new standards to protect workers from industrial dust explosions, an effort the Bush administration long resisted.
Does more need to be done to regulate business? Of course. Though there was a decline of workplace injuries in 2008, there were still 3.7 million reported cases of nonfatal injuries and sicknesses, and thousands of fatal workplace injuries. And those were only the reported ones. Undocumented workers, who oftentimes work the most dangerous jobs, aren’t motivated to file OSHA complaints because of the risk of deportation.
But it’s important to reflect upon OSHA under the Bush administration in order to understand the significance of Solis’s changes.
In early 2001, an epidemiologist at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration sought to publish a special bulletin warning dental technicians that they could be exposed to dangerous beryllium alloys while grinding fillings. Health studies showed that even a single day’s exposure at the agency’s permitted level could lead to incurable lung disease.
Simple enough, right? These alloys could lead to lung disease. Employees should know about those dangers. The problems started when the epidemiologist, Peter Infante, encountered a lobbying firm hired by the country’s leading beryllium manufacturer. They demanded changes in the bulletin, and Infante initially complied with their more reasonable demands, but the company kept complaining.
“In my 24 years at the Agency, I have never experienced such indecision and delay,” Infante wrote in an e-mail to the agency’s director of standards in March 2002. Eventually, top OSHA officials decided, over what Infante described in an e-mail to his boss as opposition from “the entire OSHA staff working on beryllium issues,” to publish the bulletin with a footnote challenging a key recommendation the firm opposed.
Current and former career officials at OSHA say that such sagas were a recurrent feature during the Bush administration, as political appointees ordered the withdrawal of dozens of workplace health regulations, slow-rolled others, and altered the reach of its warnings and rules in response to industry pressure.
So when compared to that eight-year-long nightmare, Solis looks downright revolutionary.
I feel like I shouldn’t even repeat these accomplishments lest Solis receive unwanted attention, and immediately bear the negative attention of Republicans.
Run free, Democrat! Keep up the good work.
Post Your Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment
T/S Members
Log in with your True/Slant account.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Ian David, allisonkilkenny and topsy_top20k, topsy_top20k_en. topsy_top20k_en said: Allison Kilkenny: Hilda Solis shocks everyone, acts like a Democrat http://bit.ly/5HPvGS @trueslant #p2 #topprog #politics #labor [...]
A part of me wonders if the media failed to report on the latest goings on at the Labor Department because they forgot it existed. Which member of President Bush’s Cabinet served the entire 8 years of his presidency? Why, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, that’s who! But you never heard boo from her the whole time she was there. At one point I was trying to count the number of times President Bush sent her overseas to represent his administration at the swearing in of foreign presidents and so forth, and it happened so frequently that I lost track. I imagine that the Labor Department was something of a Siberia for most of the aughts, and now we’re going to see the ice thaw a bit.
That’s true. I suppose it will take a while for the media to adjust to things happening inside the Labor Department. Speaking of shell shock, BP certainly didn’t seem to see the regulation coming as they appear to have been totally blindsided by the $87 million in proposed penalties for the refinery blast. We’ll have to see how much of that fine OSHA actually collects, but it’s a hell of a number to throw into the ether. Hopefully, it’s a number meaning, “party’s over, kids.”
In response to another comment. See in context »Ms. Kilkenny,
In the interests of full disclosure, I voted for Ms. Solis every time she ran in my district. Further I used to work for (Cal-)OSHA.
To be fair to the media, protecting the working people of the United States rarely gets much media attention, except when it does not happen and a bunch of coal miners are killed by cave in or poultry packers are burned to death because of locked fire exits. If she is successful, worker safety will get even less coverage. Further, I know this was a really long time ago, Ms. Solis did get a few headlines during her confirmation hearing when conservatives tried desperately to come up with some rational for opposing her nomination. We can now see why they did.
What is she doing to get america’s 20 million illegals out of the work place…….so america’s unemployed citizens can be saved from the Obama recession?
Perhaps it may be news to you, but it was during H.W.’s tenure that Lock-out/tag-out, Confined Space, Haz-Wopr, Bloodborne Pathogens, and Process Safety Management, to name the big ones, became effective. Multi-million dollar penalties have been issued during all the presidencies from Reagan to Obama.
Additionally, the compliance assistance program(s) started under Clinton’s tenure. The OSH act was opened up, reviewed,(incidentally, while the Dem’s were still in charge in Congress!) and re-written to what it is today under Clinton’s watch.
None, and I mean NONE of the employers I am aware of want to do intentional harm to their workers. OSHA is just one of dozens of agencies at the local, state, and federal levels that a given employer has to comply with. It’s tough rowing to keep their doors open. Solis and other Libs seem to not care about this, just “go get ‘em and who cares otherwise”. While it is true that OSHA is the law on safety in the workplace, some assistance is warrented as most of these employers obviously have more than enough on their plates to deal with already.
As anyone who is familiar with Federal agencies, political appointees in charge come and go, but the agency requirements stay relatively unchanged. The bottome line is numbers (i.e. inspections, citations, penalty amounts, etc.), which are tied directly to how the agency and its workers are evaluated. This has always been the case and always will be for OSHA, IRS, EPA, DOE, DOT, etc. I pity the employer that has to deal with of any of these or other agencies that need to “beef up” their standing before the public or Congress. I have witnessed it and it ain’t pretty! I can sometimes empathize with those that just may consider “going Galt” after such incidents!
Hello mikeinthemidwest,
You are correct of course, no employer wants his or her employees to die or be injured on the job. However some employers do not want to spend the time or money to ensure that they do not. There were three extremely bad coal mining accidents between 2006 – 7, Crandall Canyon, Darby #1, and Sago with a total of 26 deaths. All of these deaths were preventable with proper safety procedures (yes I know that this is MSA territory and not OSHA’s but let us not quibble about jurisdiction). The Bush administration was not favorable to putting “undue” burdens upon US employers, including the frequency and effectiveness of worker safety regulations enforcement.
In response to another comment. See in context »Good article. I am concerned about the recent article, “Labor Chief Moves on Job Safety, Workers’ Rights,” By Sam Hananel, Associated Press Writer that made all the national news outlets.
Especially in the first sentence, “Soon after she became the nation’s labor secretary, Hilda Solis warned corporate America there was “a new sheriff in town.”
In contrast,a majority of the manufacturing sector is small businesses (over 70% less than 20 employees), which is middle America, not Corporate America. These facilities do not have full-time EHS on their staff. So CSHO’s receive specialized training on identifying and evaluating combustible dust fire and explosion hazards. Yet, where is the information, education, and outreach for these small businesses?
This is where NIOSH can enter the picture as the Congress mandated in the OSH Act 1970. OSHA/NIOSH should always be mentioned in the same sentience when discussing occupational health and safety for the nation’s workplace.
Lets bring the OSH Act back and have OSHA and NIOSH working in concert together. Just my two cents from the 30,000 ft view
[...] Public Safety officers, a number that USG President … market research, surveys and trends Hilda Solis shocks everyone, acts like a Democrat warned corporate America there was “a new sheriff in town.” Less than a year into her [...]