Following up on an earlier article by the Washington Post on Elaine’s last-minute attempt to reduce workplace toxin regulations, The New York Times today slammed the Department of Labor over its latest move to screw workers from workplace safety and protection:

As time runs out on a do-nothing agency, the proposal is now listed as the department’s top priority, hurriedly leapfrogging ahead of such earlier concerns as workplace risks from silica, beryllium and other dangerous substances, and the growing problem of construction crane accidents.

It’s pathetic to discover President Bush’s team investing its closing months on one more sop to industry. It signals that the regulatory mess facing the next president continues to grow, since the stealth games at Labor are likely being duplicated in other agencies.

Perhaps if Elaine and her minions had to work jobs where they were exposed to toxins that can have permanent debilitating effects on one’s health, they would have a change of heart and stand up to their big industry cronies.

One wonders how they sleep at night.

Appalled by reports of widespread injuries and neglect in the poultry industry, members of a Senate subcommittee yesterday cited OSHA’s repeated failures in protecting workers and preventing on-the-job injuries.

Subcommittee Chair Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) pointed out what we already know - under Elaine’s watch, the Labor Department has been asleep at the wheel when it comes to worker safety:

“I am very concerned because the evidence shows that in the last seven years, OSHA has been dangerously ineffective.”

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