Day 158.
All through the campaign and ever since he took office, our beloved leader has promised to create millions of new jobs. If you were watching very closely, you will have noticed that his promise is not just a pipe dream. He really will create those jobs. Well, it may seem like that at first glance.
What he is really going to do is cull the workforce from those lazy bastards that already fill up employment rolls and replace them with new workers who will be overjoyed to finally have a “good paying” job. And, he has already taken the first steps to make all of that happen.
While you were watching him stumble and bumble his way through these first three months, our beloved leader was quietly signing bills placed in front of him by his politburo Republican Congress and his Department of Labor was quietly changing rules. These bills and rule changes only affected simple things like workplace safety.
See, if you do away with all of those expensive workplace safety rules, then people will get injured to the point of permanent disability and maybe even die. That will open up millions of jobs over the next four years for anyone who wants them. New job creation accomplished.
The first thing he did was to sign two bills from Republicans that make it harder to track workplace injuries, illnesses, and deaths. The first one undoes a rule requiring federal contractors to fully report all labor violations. The second one undoes a rule to strengthen employer’s workplace illness and injury record-keeping requirements. The Republicans call these regulations – job killers.
In case you may be wondering why these are important rules, it is simply because they allow OSHA to monitor what is going on in the workplace, find out what is really behind workplace safety, and help to fix the problem to protect workers. So, you can see how much the industries would hate such bills and/or rules. They just might be required to protect their employees while at work.
Then we have the Department of Labor delaying two very important rules. The first one deals with silica dust. Silica dust is a very hazardous carcinogen that causes lung cancer and death. There has been an outcry about Silica since the 1930s. A rule was passed in the 70s, but it was called inefficient. Then last year the Obama Administration placed more restrictive rules on the amount of Silica dust that could be present.
The industry howled about the administration being intrusive in their businesses. The new rule would force employers to install new ventilation systems and provide better respiratory protection devices for their employees who work in that environment. And, in fairness, it would cost a lot of money.
So, hearing his buddies cry about the new rule, the DOL placed a three-month hold on the rule. The industry is gearing up for a lobbying attack to make sure they kill the rule completely. But, even if it were put in place after the three-month delay, it is estimated by health experts that up to 600 people will be affected to the point of getting lung cancer and even dying from breathing in the Silica Dust in that three-month period.
The Department of Labor (DOL) has also twice postponed implementation of its rule updating standards for workers’ protection from carcinogenic beryllium dust. Like silica, exposure to beryllium, used in construction, shipyards, foundries and industries that use the metal to make electronics, aerospace, defense and other components, causes incurable lung disease and lung cancer.
“OSHA estimates that when fully implemented it [the rule] will save 94 lives a year. Every four days of delay in the implementation dates costs the life of one American worker,” wrote Michael Wright, director of health, safety and environment at United Steelworkers, in comments submitted to the DOL.
Of course Republicans hate the rule and want it killed as well. They call this rule a “midnight rule”. They claim that it was rushed through at the last-minute. However, in fact, the rule results from actions that go back to 2002.
Also delayed are Environmental Protection Agency rules to prevent emissions of formaldehyde, a carcinogen and serious respiratory hazard, from manufactured wood products, to increase safety at industrial plants that use and store highly hazardous chemicals and to increase protections for pesticide applicators.
Then we have beloved leader’s proposed budget which will all but eliminate OSHA. One of the things being eliminated under his budget is something called the Susan B. Harwood training grants. “The Harwood grants include very important training programs to reduce occupational illnesses, like grants that go out to train workers in nail salons and beauty parlors,” on exposure to hazardous chemicals, explained David Michaels, George Washington University professor of environmental and occupational health and Obama administration Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA.
The budget to OSHA to enforce workplace safety laws will be slashed dramatically as well. OSHA is really an enforcement agency. It is tasked to investigate injuries at the workplace, make recommendations to see it doesn’t happen again, and even levy fines to the company if warranted.
Not only that, but the cuts will hamper the agency from updating things like their outdated chemical safety standards. This may all seem obscure, but these standards do not just affect those working at chemical plants, but the surrounding area as well. It puts everyone’s life in jeopardy.
So, as you see can beloved leader really does have plan to create millions of jobs. What he isn’t telling you is that won’t be “new” jobs, you will simply be filling jobs of people who were made disabled or killed due to poor workplace safety. But, what the hell, a job is a job according to beloved leader.
This administration wants to take us back in time when corporations controlled our entire lives. They want to see “company towns” where you were forced to live and purchase everything from the “company store”. The administration believes just like the employers that “workers are a dime a dozen so if someone is hurt, disabled, or killed no big deal. We can replace him easy enough.”
Remember, if you don’t pay attention to the little things that go under the trump stupidity meter in the media, you will find yourself on the outside looking in just like your grandfathers. If you think trump cares about the average person, just look at what he is doing to your safety in the workplace. If that is caring for me, please start to hate me instead. At least I would know your true intentions were to get rid of me.
And, the shirts keep marching along.