Sunday, March 27, 2011

Hijacking a tragedy is a travesty

Just 100 years ago this week, the worst industrial loss of life in American History occurred;  The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.   This tragic fire took the lives of 146 workers, almost all of whom died because of a series of horribly bad and dangerous decisions about how that facility should be run.  In it's wake, the labor movement of the day rallied for safer facilities and many more protections for workers.

Now, a century later, the labor movement of the day is trying to convince workers that we still need THEM to protect us in the workplace.  Yes, labor played a big role in getting workplace safety laws implemented, but they are now the law of the land.  No less than 5 governmental agencies oversee the safety of workers (OSHA, NLRB, State Fire Marshals, Municipal Fire & Safety Inspectors, and State labor standards officials), yet Unions would have you believe that if not for their interaction, tragedies like the Triangle Shirtwaist fire would be commonplace.  

We can all appreciate the role unions played in establishing the laws, but let's be clear here - ALL employees benefit from these protections WITH or WITHOUT being members of a union.  Dont let a union organizer try to claim your workplace safety as the sole domain of a union.