Beth Rosenberg

The Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers International Union: refining strategies for labor.

In a period of declining union membership and severe economic and environmental crisis it is important that labor unions rethink their traditional roles and organizational goals. Responding to some of these problems and reflecting a history of innovative and progressive unionism, the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union (OCAW) has sought to address occupational and environmental health problems within the context of a political struggle. This study suggests that by joining with the environmental movement and community activists, by pursuing a strategy of coalition building, and by developing an initiative to build and advocate for a new political party, OCAW provides a model for reinvigorating trade unionism in the United States.

Can We Still Miss Tetrachloroethylene-Induced Lung Disease? The Emperor Returns in New Clothes

Hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) is a complex syndrome of varying intensity and clinical presentation, and has been described in association with numerous exposures. Early diagnosis is essential to limit irreversible lung damage. We describe a case of HP in a 42-year-old dry cleaner following occupational exposure to tetrachloroethylene (TCE). The diagnosis was suspected based on clinical presentation and radiographic studies, and confirmed by lung biopsy. A review of the literature reveals that HP has not been reported previously as an occupational lung disease in dry cleaners. We conclude that HP should be suspected in dry cleaners presenting with pulmonary complaints, and TCE should be considered as a potential trigger of disease. The spectrum of TCE-related occupational diseases and the diagnosis of HP are reviewed.

Interface Carpet and Fabric Company's sustainability efforts: What the company does, the crucial role of employees, and the limits of this approach

Much has been written touting the environmental achievements of Interface Carpet and Fabric Company, but not much has been said about how this firm has accomplished it goals, using employee participation. This case study documents the importance and benefits of employee participation, employee perceptions of the experience, as well as limits to this approach in achieving the goal of sustainability.

Hooked on a feeling: emotional labor as an occupational hazard of the post-industrial age.

Emotional labor is a subtle but serious occupational hazard that is likely to spread rapidly as the global service economy continues to grow. Emotional labor requires more than just acting friendly and being helpful to customers; the worker must manage his or her emotions to create a company-dictated experience for customers. The practice of emotional labor in an unsupportive work environment produces work-related stress, which has a wide range of potentially serious health effects. Though many employers do not acknowledge the existence of emotional labor, it is a real occupational hazard that may generate life-altering effects on physical and emotional health. While no official regulations or identification standards specify emotional labor as an occupational hazard, some guidelines exist regarding its outcome: occupational stress. Emotional labor should be recognized as an occupational hazard by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), but this hazard does not lend itself to regulation through standards. The business culture that demands its performance is questioned.

Down on the Farm: The Agricultural Extension Service as a Model for Manufacturing?

The decline in manufacturing in the United States has led to calls for more active support and intervention by the government for the manufacturing sector of the economy. Former Labor Secretary Reich, for instance, advocated a pro-active government “industrial policy,” although that term no longer seems to be in fashion [1]. Many agree, however, that the state should provide more structural support to the manufacturing sector and look to the Germans or Japanese as a model of governmental intervention and guidance. Indeed, European and Southeast Asian economies often have been cited as examples of ways in which the U.S. economy can become more competitive in manufacturing and as a rationale for greater government participation in support of industry. In their discussion of the “developmental state,” Ferleger and Lazonick cast a generally approving, although sometimes critical, eye on the model of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Extension Service [2]. Seeking to analyze the impact of government intervention, they review the generally recognized positive effect of the Service on agricultural productivity. “The contribution of federal, state and local governments in the United States to agricultural productivity represents one of the most “successful examples in modern economics history of the beneficial impact of the developmental state on a single economic sector” [2, p. 69]. Implicitly, Ferleger and Lazonick endorse an extension model as a form of state policy, one that would encourage economic growth and the continued relevance and vitality of the manufacturing sector in the United States. Such a policy, however, cannot be promoted without a deeper consideration and critique of the Agricultural Extension model.

Second Thoughts about Silicosis

The decisions that a society makes can lead to workplace and environmental illness and injury. After some years working on the hazards related to exposures to silica and studying interventions to prevent them, the author assesses the results of her efforts. She succeeded in getting silica added to the list of substances regulated under the Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Act, though not easily. And she found some of the obstacles to doing so nonsensical or stubbornly resistant. The next step, she foresees, is leveraging that outcome to ban or limit the use of sand in blasting operations. But in the course of her work, she also has seen that interest in mitigating the dangers of silica, which is strong among medical and public health professionals who rightfully argue that nobody should be made ill today by this completely preventable problem, is tepid among the workers most affected by it. Although they understand the dangers of silica, it is not their main concern, and she understands why. In future work, she concludes, it may be more worthwhile to allow the community of workers to set the agenda and to help them achieve their goals.

“Losing Your Land You Feel Like You’re Losing Your Identity, Like You’re Experiencing Slow Death”: An Interview With Chief Thomas Dardar—Houma Nation

The Houma Nation was a major community hub for the Citizen Science Network seafood sampling conducted as part of the Gulf Coast Health Alliance: Health Risks Related to the Macondo Spill (GC-HARMS) research project. They also managed a clinical cohort to facilitate wellness checkups and collection of biological samples during the project. In this interview, Thomas Dardar, Principal Chief of the Houma Nation, outlines the historical and evolving changes—cultural as well as geophysical—that the Houma Nation must address in an uncharted era of climate-related impacts on weather patterns, sea levels, and sustainable land uses. He explores tribal efforts to cope with cumulative exposures, risks, and outcomes of industrial practices that have led to land loss and deterioration of natural marshlands. These changes challenge the perpetuation of traditional values based on multigenerational ties to their land base, and the bayous and estuarial waters they fish.

“I Remember the Mental Chaos While They Tried To Seal the Well and Clean Up the Oil Spill – How Much Fear and Uncertainty Everyone Felt”: An interview with Marylee and Michael Orr, Louisiana Environmental Action Network

In this interview, Marylee Orr and her son, Michael Orr, of the Louisiana Environmental Action Network (Baton Rouge, LA) recall the massive trauma among fishing families (including those whose boats were used in the clean-up effort) caused by the Deep Water Horizon spill, the state and federal closures of fishing grounds, and the moratorium on oil exploration and production activity during the clean-up efforts. They recount the history of their organization’s vision and growth, their role in regional environmental justice efforts, and outline how they developed an approach to rapid response community empowerment based on colearning, respect, consensus, and action—a vision that parallels the work of Paulo Freire and the practice values of community-based participatory research. They discuss the collaborative seafood sampling site map and toxicology primer they built and archived as a key community partner of the Gulf Coast Health Alliance: Health Risks Related to the Macondo Spill Project.

SOCIAL FACTORS IN OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH: A HISTORY OF HARD HATS

Personal protective equipment (PPE) is the least desirable way to ensure workplace safety, and it is difficult to use consistently. Hard hats are different; they have cachet and are often worn even when they are not required. We investigated the history of this personal protective equipment to see if there were any lessons that could be applied to other forms of PPE. We learned that what makes hard hats special are social factors that are specific to a certain time and place. The importance of social factors illuminates the requirement that cultural and social norms of workers be included in any kind of worker safety and health training.