Screwing Workers
Elaine’s record on the safety and health of workers is negligent at best, and at worst has led to numerous tragedies that could have been prevented. Her policies have also robbed Americans of the fair pay and compensation they deserve.
Mine Safety and Health Administration Failures
The mining industry has rewarded Elaine’s husband Senator Mitch McConnell with thousands of dollars in campaign contributions and in return, Elaine has paid back the favor.
Whistleblower Intimidation: When a mine safety expert criticized the botched investigation into the environmentally disastrous West Virginia coal slurry spill of 2000, his job was threatened. The company responsible for the spill? A campaign contributor to Elaine’s husband Mitch.
Gutting MSHA: Since arriving at the Department of Labor, Elaine has not made the safety and health of America’s miners a top priority.
- Under her watch, MSHA cut roughly 100 safety officers from its ranks, even though mining activity from 2002 to 2006 increased by 9 percent nationally.
- Due to the severe cutbacks in staff needed to adequately inspect the nation’s 731 underground coal mines, in 2006 alone MSHA failed to conduct mine inspections required by law at 107 mines.
- Elaine’s MSHA did not impose fines on nearly 4,000 violations of federal mine safety and health laws, including a mine violation responsible for the death of one Kentucky miner.
Costing Lives: With highly-publicized disasters such as the Sago Mine explosion in West Virginia and Utah’s Crandall Canyon Mine cave-in, it’s no surprise that under Elaine’s leadership on mine safety, or lack thereof, the industry recorded 62 mine deaths as of October 2006, a 41 percent increase from the same time in 2005 and the worst fatality rate in five years.
Slashing Safety
Nixing Ergonomics Rules: In 2001, more than 600,000 workers a year had to take time off from work because of ergonomic-related injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome. Despite convincing evidence on the significance of conditions caused by repetitive motion, Elaine sided with corporations and against worker safety.
- The Food Marketing Institute, a major contributor to Elaine’s husband Mitch, successfully lobbied Elaine to replace federal ergonomics safety laws with “voluntary guidelines” for businesses.
- Stating that the Labor Department favored preventing injury through “compliance and cooperation with business,” Elaine spearheaded the administration’s effort to reverse ergonomics rules decades in the making. [1]
Pay for Your Own Safety Equipment: Elaine failed to issue a rule requiring employers to pay for the protective equipment required under current federal labor laws. According to OSHA’s own estimates, 400,000 workers have been injured and 50 have died because the Department of Labor didn’t stand up to greedy companies who tried passing the cost of protective gear off to their employees.
Nickel and Diming Workers
Elaine has used the Labor Department to dismantle and undermine basic labor laws and programs aimed at helping workers make decent incomes and live the American Dream.
Working Overtime Against Overtime Pay: Elaine has consistently tried to help companies avoid paying workers adequate wages, including overtime pay.
- When President Bush proposed changes to a law guaranteeing workers overtime pay, Elaine became a mouthpiece for the proposal that, if passed, would strip 8 million workers of their overtime pay.
- While advocating for Bush’s new overtime rules, Elaine’s Labor Department gave businesses advice on how to avoid paying overtime by manipulating workers’ hourly wages and salary thresholds. [2]
Ditching Davis-Bacon: Soon after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast, instead of quickly trying to help displaced workers find new jobs, Elaine backed President Bush’s suspension of Davis-Bacon, a wage law that requires federal contractors to pay the local prevailing wage.
Botching Compensation Programs: It took the DOL an incredible seven years to help Cold War-era nuclear facility workers exposed to radiation. The DOL mismanaged the Rocky Flats compensation program and initially denied them the compensation and medical coverage they deserved.
Disregarding the Pay Gap: Elaine opposed closing the pay gap between federal and private sector workers, saying it would be “unwise.” Yet she has remained silent when President Bush raised her own pay.
[1] Cindy Skrzyck, “Chao, Senators Clash on Ergonomics Rules,” The Washington Post 27 April 2001.
[2] Michael Collins, “Labor is sour on Chao,” Cincinnati Post 10 Jan. 2004.
