Union Approach to Health and Safety: - United Steelworkers

hazardous conditions as the key problems that need to be addressed; too often management
views the problem as “careless or inattentive workers” who are not working safely enough
and allow accidents to happen. Unions seek comprehensive worksite health and safety
programs that focus on identifying and eliminating hazards (including hazards associated with
how work is organized and being restructured); too often management seeks programs
aimed at adjusting workers’ behavior – getting workers to work “more safely” around hazards
that really should be eliminated or reduced, and discouraging them from reporting symptoms,
injuries, illnesses and problems.
Union goals for our health, safety and environment efforts include protecting our members by
eliminating/reducing hazards and creating safe and healthful workplaces. Too often,
management is more concerned with their bottom line, and their health and safety efforts
focus on reducing workers compensation claims by discouraging members from filing them or
contesting them once filed; promoting a “good and safe” public image by discouraging
workers from reporting symptoms, injuries and illnesses; keeping production up while
skimping on health and safety protections/precautions (and then blaming workers when they
get injured); and keeping control at all costs.
A Union and “Continuous Bargaining” Approach to Health and Safety
Without a union being well-organized and well-versed in a union approach to health and
safety, it is easy for management to take control (overtly or covertly) of a safety program.
Think about how a union prepares for and goes into another type of “joint labor-management”
activity – collective bargaining. A union works to achieve its goals during negotiations for a
new collective bargaining agreement by engaging in a number of union activities including:
Research and information gathering
Communicating with/involving members
Developing Proposals/Demands
Identifying and Exercising Leverage
It is clear that when labor and management sit down at the bargaining table, they have
different goals. The activities that a union engages in prior to (and during) bargaining helps
the union to build the power it needs to be successful in negotiations.
Unions also need power when it comes to health and safety, especially in getting tough, ongoing
health and safety problems addressed. The same kinds of activities that unions engage
in to prepare for bargaining their contracts are needed to prepare for dealing with
management regarding health and safety issues. Research and information gathering;
communicating with/involving members; developing proposals and demands; and identifying
and exercising leverage are all part of a “continuous bargaining” approach to health and
safety.
In order for there to be a real and meaningful role for the union in dealings with management
in a joint labor-management health and safety committee or program, there are a number of