On June 15-17, 2006, District 3 and the Occupational Safety and Health
Department conducted the District's Occupational Safety and Health
(OSH) Retreat. Organized for the primary purposes of bringing local
OSH health activists together to:
· Discuss, coordinate, and develop tactics, and strategies focused
upon identifying, preventing, and/or resolving member workplace
safety and health hazards and related illnesses and injuries and
fatalities,
· Share information on successes and failures, and
· Establish and further communication and networking
between and among national, district, and local OSH activists.
There were forty-nine OSH activists and CWA staff participating in the
retreat:
· Thirty-four activists came from 16 telecommunications locals.
· Nine activists participated representing four IUE-CWA locals
and one AFA activist representing one AFA-CWA local.
In addition Noah Savant, District 3 Vice President, Booker Lester,
Administrative Assistant to Vice President Noah Savant; David LeGrande
and Charlie Barrett from the CWA Safety and Health Department and
Candace Kolander from the AFA-CWA Air Safety, Health, and Security
Department, participated in the retreat. Noting the diversity of CWA,
presentations focused upon and participants represented the
telecommunications sector, the AFA-CWA and the IUE-CWA.
Noah Savant welcomed local safety & health activists on Friday morning,
stress. Following his remarks, the Hazardous Materials/Emergency Response
training was conducted. This training included the health & safety hazards
faced by our members doing recovery work during and after Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita. This training was provided through a grant from the
National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). Led by Ken
Oldfield, University of Alabama at Birmingham, this training was provided
through a grant awarded to CWA and the Center for Labor Education and
Research, University of Alabama at Birmingham. After the training session
there was an escorted tour of the hurricane devastation area set up by CWA
Local 3410.
The retreat was held on Saturday, June17th at the New Orleans Sheraton.
The discussion was very lively during all the panels. The District 3 Safety
and Health Retreat focused upon the following topics in the panel discussions:
· The Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) ruling to allow once
prohibited items, such as blades and scissors, back onto airplanes
· Indoor Air Quality issues faced by Bell South members; especially
coal tar fumes at a Bell South call center:
· Emergency evacuation issues faced by CWA members at a USAirways
Call Center:
· Chemical and ergonomic hazards faced by IUE-CWA manufacturing
locals:
· Examples of effective union and joint union/company safety & health
committees:
· Hazards faced by manufacturing and telecommunications members
during and after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The tour on Friday
brought home many of these issues.
Presentations and discussions of the above issues emphasized the
importance of developing and using local union occupational safety and
health committees, working within the collective bargaining process, and
coordinating information regarding tactics and strategies in identifying
and resolving/preventing workplace safety and health hazards and
problems.
The district retreat successfully accomplished its primary objectives, i.e.,
to identify local union needs, develop and continue the use of ongoing
safety and health networks, and coordinate safety and health projects
with the Union’s leaders and safety and health activists. These goals
were primarily achieved through the delivery of ten presentations b
selected OSH activists during three defined panel sessions as well as
follow-up discussions involving all retreat participants. Presentations
targeted real-life, day-to-day activities of CWA leaders, members,
and OSH activists.
In the future, in coordination with CWA’s Occupational Safety and Health
Department, District 3 Headquarters will work with local union leaders
and OSH activists to further develop and implement identification and
resolution/prevention occupational safety and health efforts. Where
possible, these activities will occur within the collective bargaining
environment. We will be conducting quarterly conference calls to coordinate
safety and health activities in D3. Future efforts will include several identical
and important issues such as indoor air quality, hurricane recovery safety
and health issues and emergency evacuations.
Attached are the retreat agenda and a list of participants.
CWA District 3 Occupational Safety and Health Retreat
and
Emergency Response/Hazardous Materials Training
June 15-17, 2006
Sheraton New Orleans Hotel
New Orleans, LA
Thursday, June 15, 2006
7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. Reception
Friday, June 16, 2006
7:00-8:00 a.m. Breakfast (Provided)
8:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. Emergency Response/Hazardous Materials Awareness Training
12:00-1:15 p.m. Lunch (Provided)
3:00 p.m.- 6:00 p.m. Tour of Hurricane Katrina Devastation & Recovery Area
Saturday, June 17, 2006
7:30-8:30 a.m. Breakfast (Provided)
8:30-9:00 a.m. Welcome and Introduction
Noah Savant, CWA Vice President, District 3
9:00-10:30 Ready for the Future: Occupational Safety and Health
10:30-10:45 Break
10:45-12:00 p.m. Local Union Issues (Local Union Panel)
Sharon Moss Bonner, AFA-CWA MEC Safety Chair, Atlantic Southeast
Airlines “Flight Attendant Workplace Safety and Health Issues”
Mike King, IUE-CWA Local 83792
Bettye Hilton & Charles Farris, IUE-CWA Local 83655
“Manufacturing Safety & Health Issues”
12:00-1:15 Lunch (Provided)
1:15-2:30 Using Joint and Union Occupational Safety and Health Committees
to Identify/Resolve Safety and Health Issues (Local Union Panel)
Sheila Beller and Judy Bruno, CWA Local 3406
“Indoor Air Quality”
Jerry Carney, IUE-CWA Local 83761
"Working Through the Joint Union-Management Committee on Safety
& Health Issues”
Tracey Binkley, CWA Local 3640
“Call Center Safety & Health issues”
2:30-2:45 Break
2:45-4:00 Hurricane Katrina/Rita Safety & Health Issues (Local Union Panel)
Jerry Lewis, CWA Local 3410
“Communications Safety & Health Issues in Louisiana”
Steve Sarnoff, CWA Local 3179
“Communications Safety & Health Issues in Florida”
Barry Comarbelle, IUE-CWA Local 83105
“Manufacturing Safety & Health Issues”
4:00-4:30 Closing Remarks
