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    OSHA has been out to lunch during the pandemic

    Joe Maniscalco, DC Report @ Raw Story
    November 17, 2020

    Thanks for your support!

    This article was paid for by reader donations to Raw Story Investigates.

    (Photo: Shutterstock)

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    Joe Maniscalco, DC Report @ Raw Story

    Donald Trump’s super-spreader rallies heading into the Nov. 3, election were egregious acts of idiocy that only helped to worsen the coronavirus crisis nationwide — but his team's dismissing workplace safety and abandon whistleblowers in the era of COVID-19 has been fueling the virus’ spread since the start of the pandemic.


    The Occupational Health & Safety Administration (OSHA) is supposed to protect workers forced to work while sick or brave enough to blow the whistle on unsafe working conditions. The Trump Administration, however, has defanged and defunded the nearly 50-year-old agency to such a degree that it now takes an average of 279 days for OSHA to wrap up a single whistleblower investigation — leaving workers especially vulnerable.

    One in eight workers surveyed reported 'possible retaliatory actions by employers against workers in their company who have raised health and safety concerns during the pandemic.'

    That’s because “COVID does not stay in the workplace,” Jessica Martinez, co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (COSH), told me. “Once a worker has been exposed to unsafe working conditions, you are potentially putting the entire community at risk. That worker has to travel — they could be using public transportation. Many farmworkers, too, are living in confined housing conditions where there are a lot of people — these are all risks that increase the spread of COVID-19.”

    Nationwide, coronavirus fatalities—which Trump has lately dismissed as being fraudulently inflated so that doctors and hospitals can make more money—now stands at more than 247,000 dead Americans and rising.

    Going After Whistleblowers

    Complaints of illegal retaliation against whistleblowers shot up 30% during the first four months of the pandemic alone, while the number of OSHA inspectors sent to investigate cases actually dropped from 126 to 120.

    “OSHA, has been an under-sourced agency for as long as we know it,” Martinez says. “However, under Trump’s leadership, there have been significant decreases in resources to the agency itself.”

    Milagros Barreto, Immigrant Worker Center Director with the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety & Health (MassCOSH), told me that her group wants the community to have a good relationship with OSHA, but that investigators have been known to improperly pry into the immigration status of whistleblowers and even disclose worker identities to employers.

    “It’s not supposed to be that way — it’s not the process,” Barreto says.

    Left in Limbo

    OSHA also has a way of keeping whistleblowers in a state of limbo after filing retaliation complaints.

    One Walmart worker from Ft. Worth, Texas, who spoke to me on condition of anonymity, said that the total disregard for social distancing and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at her workplace compelled her to file an OSHA complaint about two months into the pandemic. Since then, however, she has had little if any communication with OSHA, and has no idea what action, if any has been taken on her behalf.

    “I don’t know,” she said. “I never really heard back from them.”

    OSHA maintains that it is committed to conducting whistleblower investigations in a “timely and efficient manner.”

    “Those related to COVID-19 have been consistent with previous investigations, which traditionally are closed within nine months,” a U.S. Dept. of Labor spokesperson told me via email.

    No Oversight of Employers

    Back in June, the National Employment Law Project (NELP) surveyed 1,100 workers nationwide and found one in eight reported “possible retaliatory actions by employers against workers in their company who have raised health and safety concerns during the pandemic.”

    Martinez says, “Employers are getting the green light to sort of do their own policies in the workplace, in terms of whether they want to provide health and safety protections.”

    According to OSHA, the agency screened and closed 1,641 whistleblower complaints out of the 3,269 they received from Feb. 18, through Oct. 27. “On average, about 65 to 70 percent of all whistleblower complaints are closed by OSHA for various legal reasons," according to the Labor Dept. spokesperson. "Those related to COVID have been consistent with this average.”

    “Employers are and will continue to be responsible for providing a workplace free of known health and safety hazards,” the spokesperson I contacted added. “OSHA has preexisting requirements and standards that not only remain in place and enforceable, but also apply to protecting workers from the coronavirus.”

    Minorities Targetted

    The nation has seen 883,827 new coronavirus cases in the last seven days alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The highest death rates nationwide, have occurred in Black, Latino and Indigenous communities — and Black workers are more than twice as likely as their Caucasian counterparts to blow the whistle on acts of employer retaliation.

    "That isn’t coincidental,” Martinez says. “COVID-19 is not an equal opportunity destroyer. Illegal retaliation is a problem for all workers — but especially for immigrants, non-English speakers and other vulnerable populations — Black workers, Indigenous workers, these are the folks that are working what we have now titled under this pandemic as ‘essential workers.’ They’re working the high-hazard industries. High hazard industries have the most exposure to unsafe working conditions.”

    Last month, the County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors compelled the County Counsel and the Department of Public Health to investigate worker claims that a McDonald’s outlet in Boyle Heights intimidated and ultimately terminated employees with the temerity to blow the whistle on unsafe working conditions.

    Weak Safeguards

    Worker advocates say that despite an increase in whistleblower protections, the systems safeguarding workers are weak. Whistleblowers can’t take their cases to court and they must file an OSHA complaint within 30 days of any adverse action.

    After endless appeals, offending companies often escape with minuscule fines amounting to little more than a slap on the wrist. For instance, JBS Packerland’s failure to implement safety precautions against the spread of COVID-19 at its Wisconsin meatpacking plant led to more than 300 people falling ill. OSHA’s fine amounted to less than $15,000.

    In 2009, President Barack Obama appointed Dr. David Michaels as the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Health & Safety. Dr. Michaels then went on to serve as OSHA’s longest-serving director prior to becoming a professor at the George Washington University School of Public Health in Washington, D.C.

    Dr. Michaels told me that, “In the midst of a pandemic that has killed hundreds of workers, OSHA needs to greatly increase its efforts to defend workers who have suffered retaliation for raising safety concerns and make it well-known to the nation – employers and workers - that retaliation is illegal. Yet under Labor Secretary Gene Scalia, OSHA has done neither, and has allowed OSHA’s whistleblower protection program to remain under-staffed.”

    That willful silence, according to Dr. Michaels, will have a profound impact on OSHA’s ability to execute its duty to protect American workers for many years to come.

    “By treating these COVID-related complaints of retaliation as business as usual and making no effort to treat these cases as emergencies or even to increase staff, complainants will wait years before OSHA even gets to their cases, and OSHA will not be even less able to help future whistleblowers,” he said.

    This article was paid for by Raw Story subscribers. Not a subscriber? Try us and go ad-free for $1. Prefer to give a one-time tip? Click here.

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    Orthodox church suspends Ohio priest after he participated in the Capitol invasion: report

    Matthew Chapman
    January 21, 2021

    On Thursday, Newsweek reported that an orthodox priest in Ohio has been suspended over his role in the Capitol riots — and could be booted out of the church altogether.

    "Rev. Mark Hodges, an archpriest affiliated with several orthodox churches in southwestern Ohio, was temporarily barred from fulfilling his usual duties after participating in the January 6 rally that preceded the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol came to light," reported Emily Czachor. "His suspension from priestly responsibilities is due to last three months, and could result in his 'defrocking,' a term to denote permanent removal from his status within the church."

    "Hodges claims the disciplinary action stemmed solely from his presence at the rally, where protesters baselessly challenged the presidential election's outcome, according to an email originally dispatched to the archpriest's family and friends, which he sent to Newsweek on Thursday afternoon," said the report. "However, in additional comments, a spokesperson from the Diocese of the Midwest told Newsweek that its decision was motivated by a collection of factors."

    "Hodges, whose official Facebook page prominently showcases anti-abortion rhetoric, homophobia, transphobia and racism, in addition to unfounded claims related to election fraud," continued the report. "A supporter of Donald Trump, the archpriest has posted countless articles that made clear his alignment with the former president's unsubstantiated allegations that President Joe Biden's election victory was illegitimate."

    In recent weeks, a number of prominent businessmen and community leaders have lost their jobs over their involvement with the invasion, which resulted in the death of five people — and dozens face a number of federal and state charges.

    BUSTED: Republican caught trying to bring gun onto the House floor

    Bob Brigham
    January 21, 2021

    One of the Republicans in Congress who voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election after the deadly insurrection of Trump supporters was shown to be a security risk on Thursday.

    "New security measures outside the U.S. House chamber prevented a Republican lawmaker from bringing a gun onto the House floor Thursday. Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), who has repeatedly flouted the magnetometers that were installed near the House chamber after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, set off the metal detectors while trying to enter. When an officer with a metal detector wand scanned him, a firearm was detected on Harris's side, concealed by his suit coat. Police refused to let Harris in, and the officer signaled a security agent that Harris had a gun on him by motioning toward his own firearm," HuffPost correspondent Matt Fuller reported Thursday.

    "HuffPost witnessed the interaction and later confirmed with a Capitol official that Harris was carrying a gun. HuffPost watched Harris try to get another member to take the gun from him so he could go vote. The member, Rep. John Katko (R-NY), told Harris he didn't have 'a license' and refused to hold the weapon for him," the publication reported. "Harris then left on the elevators and 10 minutes later returned to the House chamber. He placed his cellphone and keys on a desk to the side, did not set off the magnetometer and was allowed to enter the House floor to vote on a waiver to allow retired Army Gen. Lloyd Austin to serve as President Joe Biden's defense secretary."

    Harris isn't the only Republican who may be a security risk.

    "During a security briefing with Democratic members early last week, some lawmakers suggested that members should have to go through a metal detector to get on the House floor. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) has said she'll carry a gun around D.C., which does not allow the open carrying of a firearm, and Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) told his local paper that he was armed when insurrectionists stormed the Capitol," HuffPost reported. "On Thursday, HuffPost saw Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Rick Allen (R-GA) and Boebert all refuse to be wanded down after setting off the magnetometer."


    Anyway, I’ll also note that Andy Harris almost got into a fight with some Democratic members on the House floor the… https://t.co/7mbWX5I4I1
    — Matt Fuller (@Matt Fuller)1611276087.0


    Shocking new analysis reveals the extensive military experience of Capitol insurrectionists

    Matthew Chapman
    January 21, 2021

    In an analysis on Thursday, NPR revealed the extent to which current and former military were embedded in the invasion of the U.S. Capitol.

    "NPR compiled a list of individuals facing federal or District of Columbia charges in connection with the events of Jan. 6," reported Tom Dreisbach and Meg Anderson. "Of more than 140 charged so far, a review of military records, social media accounts, court documents and news reports indicate at least 27 of those charged, or nearly 20%, have served or are currently serving in the U.S. military. To put that number in perspective, only about 7% of all American adults are military veterans, according to the U.S. Census Bureau."

    "Some veterans who allegedly stormed the Capitol are still serving in some capacity," continued the report. "Jacob Fracker, 29, was an infantry rifleman in the Marine Corps and deployed to Afghanistan twice, according to the Pentagon. He now serves in the Virginia National Guard, according to widespread news reports, though he was not among the service members deployed to Washington ahead of the inauguration. He is also a police officer in Rocky Mount, Va. With him at the Capitol on Jan. 6 was his colleague from the Rocky Mount Police Department, Thomas Robertson, 47, who is an Army veteran also facing charges."

    The rioters appear to have ties to groups like the Oath Keepers, a far-right paramilitary group that includes many retired military and law enforcement personnel. Some of those arrested from a military background are being investigated as domestic terrorists.

    The riot, which left five people dead and grew out of a pro-Trump rally protesting the certification of the election, has resulted in the impeachment of former President Donald Trump. The Senate has not yet determined when the trial will start.

     
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