THE RIGHT TO A SAFE WORKPLACE!
Under federal law, you are entitled to a safe workplace. Your employer must provide a workplace free of known health and safety hazards. If you have concerns, you have the right to speak up about them without fear of retaliation. You also have the right to: Training, safe machines, safety gear, to be protected from toxic chemicals, request an inspection, report injury or illness, see copies of workplace injury and illness log, review records of work-related injuries and illnesses and get copies of test results done to find hazards in the workplace.
As union women we know that many have fought and died in the struggle to achieve better working conditions for us all. With the passing of the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970, these rights become the minimum standard for working people in the US.
While the Teamster Women's Committee of local 638, our Executive Board, the IBT and members of CHSP committees ("Lifesavers!") are busy organizing for the upcoming SAFETY SEMINAR on Feb. 20, 2016 (find out how you can attend below) , we thought we would share with you how women have pioneered and paved the road for better & safer working conditions.
How did one woman make a difference in the lives of working Americans? Why did she crawl over open coal pits, ride down mine shafts in open cages, and climb up ladders? How did she connect the dots for workers getting poisoned at work? She was named Time Woman of the Year in 1956 so why in the 1960's, when she was in her 90's, was the FBI still keeping tabs on her?
Meet Lifesaver Alice Hamilton! (1869-1970)
Alice Hamilton was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1869 to a prominent family. In 1893, she graduated from medical school at the University of Michigan. In 1897, she started teaching at the Women’s Medical School of Northwestern University and she moved into Hull House.
While at Hull House, Hamilton operated a well-baby clinic for neighborhood residents. Under the direction of the State of Illinois and later the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, she began to investigate occupational illnesses (also called industrial medicine) and soon became a pioneer in the field. Her most well-know investigations were her studies of carbon monoxide poisoning in steelworkers, mercury poisoning in hatters, and a debilitating hand condition developed by workers using jackhammers.
It was common in many dangerous trades at the turn of the twentieth century, the risk of taking an industrial job. There were no laws to protect workers in factories, no OSHA, no workers’ compensation. Dr. Alice Hamilton wanted to take on the problem of industrial poisoning. When Alice Hamilton began her work in the new field of industrial toxicology, few worried about chemical hazards at work. Many victims were recent immigrants afraid to complain. Most did not know the risks. "The poor must take dangerous jobs, or have no jobs at all," she wrote.
Part of a generation of progressive women who took active roles in changing society for the better she got involved in the labor movement, working with the Factory Girls. With Florence Kelley in the 1920’s she worked with the Consumers’ League to help the "Radium Girls" who were dying from their work with radium-laden paint. These women asked for the League’s help when state health departments refused to do anything. They fought for compensation and safety regulations
Her first article on occupational disease was published in 1908. Dr. Hamilton was appointed in 1910 by the governor to a commission to investigate occupational diseases in Illinois. When she began her work with a small group of physicians and student assistants, she called it a journey of exploration.
She went to watch workers sand-papering the lead painted ceilings of Pullman cars. In smelters on the south side laborers shoveled white lead from the drying pans and breathed the deadly dust. To prove these toxins killed employees, she visited 300 workplaces, interviewed workers, and went to their homes to speak to them or to surviving relatives. She researched death records. She found Cook County Hospital filled with victims of industrial poisoning. The American Federation of Labor helped pressure for safety and compensation laws.
American medical authorities had never taken this type of health problem seriously before. Employers too were ignorant and indifferent. Dr. Hamilton recalled the manager of a lead plant who was shocked when she suggested that he was responsible when workers got lead poisoning there. He thought of himself as an enlightened, caring employer.
In 1911 Illinois passed a first attempt at compensation for industrial diseases caused by poisonous gases, fumes, and dust. It required safer workplaces and monthly medical exams for lead and arsenic workers. The law was overturned by the Supreme Court and not replaced until 1936. The National Association of Manufacturers opposed safety legislation as they opposed shorter hours and ending child labor.
During World War I she investigated munitions plants and found them in constant danger of exploding. She discussed this with then Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Franklin Roosevelt. Munitions workers’ health became a matter of national concern.
Dr. Hamilton became a committed New Dealer, serving as consultant to the United States Division of Labor Standards. Her work contributed to reforms in industrial hygiene laws like the Fair Labor Standards Act. Dr. Hamilton said she was most pleased that laborers were no longer submissive or ignorant about workplace hazards. They became willing to demand better conditions for themselves. She felt this attitude was critical in maintaining safety gains.
"I began to see the working world through the workers’ eyes."
Dr. Alice Hamilton is considered a lifesaver and the mother of Occupational Health and Safety.
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