Bush Administration Threatens Worker Health and Safety...Yet Again

In yet another example of the Bush administration failing to protect public health, the Washington Post reported yesterday on a proposed rule that would make it harder to regulate workplace exposure to toxic chemicals. If the proposed rule were to pass, it would add an extra step to the rule-making process for regulating chemical exposures workers. In other words, the new rule would give corporations more ways to delay and derail safety regulations. The rule has not yet been published in the federal register.

Peg Seminario, AFL-CIO's health and safety director, said: "This is flat-out secrecy. They are trying to essentially change the job safety and health laws and reduce required workplace protections through a midnight regulation." Senator Kennedy (D-MA) and Representative Miller (D-CA) agreed: in a letter to the Secretary of the Labor Department, the lawmakers accuse the department of trying "to slip through a rule that may have a profound negative impact on the health and safety of American workers."

As my friend Elizabeth said, how can someone actually want their legacy to be that they have made it easier for corporations to poison their workers? Perhaps Gina Johnson was right- maybe I should have made this website eatmyassgeorgebush.com.