During May 19-20, 2006, the District 9 Occupational Safety and Health
(OSH) Retreat was conducted in Manhattan Beach, California. The retreat
was held 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,
· Share information on successes and failures, and
· Establish and further communication and networking between
and among national, district, and local OSH activists.
Fourty-seven OSH activists and CWA staff from 21 locals, District 9
Headquarters (Larraine Darrington, Administrative Assistant to Vice
President Tony Bixler), CWA Headquarters (David LeGrande, Charlie
Barrett, and Candace Kolander, AFA-CWA) and COPS (Bill Hemby)
participated in the retreat. Noting the diversity of CWA, participants
represented and presentations focused upon the telecommunications
sector, AFA-CWA, COPS-CWA, IUE-CWA, NABET-CWA and UPTE-CWA.
Linda Delp (Director of the Labor Safety and Health Program, LOSH,
at UCLA) made a presentation on participatory methods in adult
education and discussed the resources at LOSH that are available to
CWA local unions and safety and health activists.
The OSH Retreat targeted a variety of issues including:
· Workplace ergonomics and related activities with SBC-AT&T,
· Radio frequency radiation emissions from and the placement
of cellular telecommunications equipment,
· Toxic exposures involving UPTE-CWA and community members
at the University of California at Berkeley-Richmond Field Station,
· The U.S. Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) ruling to allow
passengers to take once-prohibited items (e.g., blades and scissors)
on airplanes,
· IUE-CWA member exposures to hazardous substances such as jet
fuels and radiation at the U.S. Naval Air Station, Fallon, Nevada,
· Electrical hazards experienced by NABET-CWA broadcast
technicians, and
· Workplace hazards experienced by police officers (COPS-CWA
members).
The OSH Retreat was preceded by a one-day training session on Hazardous
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) to the Center
for Labor Education and Research-University of Alabama at Birmingham
and CWA’s Occupational Safety and Health Department, the training
focused upon issues such as the identification and avoidance of hazardous
materials, the role of emergency responders, and the use of hazardous
materials in terrorist activities.
The district retreat successfully achieved its primary objectives, i.e., to
identify ocal 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 by selected OSH activists during four 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.
Going beyond the District retreat, in coordination with the Union’s
Occupational safety and Health Department, District 9 Headquarters
will work with local union leadership and OSH activists to develop and
implement identification and resolution efforts. Where possible, this
work will place emphasis upon identifying and resolving workplace
safety and health concerns/problems within the collective bargaining
environment. We will continue the quarterly conference calls and work
with coalition partners such as WORKSAFE, the Labor Occupational
Health Program (LOHP) at the University of California/Berkeley and the
Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program (LOSH) at the University
of California/Los Angeles on issues such as heat stress and electrical
hazards.
Attached are the retreat agenda and a list of participants.
CWA District 9 Occupational Safety and Health Retreat
and
Emergency Response/Hazardous Materials/Anti-Terrorism
Awareness Training
Manhattan Beach Marriott
Manhattan Beach, CA
May 19-20, 2006
Friday, May 19, 2006
8:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. Emergency Response/Hazardous Materials/
Anti-Terrorism Awareness Training
7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. Reception
Saturday, May 20, 2006
8:30-9:00 a.m. Welcome and Introduction
Tony Bixler, CWA Vice President, District 9
9:00-10:30 Ready for the Future: Occupational Safety and
Health
Dave LeGrande (CWA Occupational Safety & Health
Department)
10:30-10:45 Break
10:45-12:15p.m. Local Union Issues (Local Union Panel)
John T Young (CWA Local 9509)
Workplace Ergonomics
Joan Lichterman (UPTE-CWA Local 9119)
Occupational and Environmental Safety and Health
Hazards at the University of California at Berkeley
Richmond Field Station
Candace Kolander (AFA-CWA Air Safety, Health, and Security
Department)
Airline Occupational Safety and Health Issues
12:15-1:30 Lunch
1:30-2:45 Using Joint and Union Occupational Safety and
Health Committees to Identify/Resolve Safety and
Health Issues (Local Union Panel)
Louie Rocha (CWA Local 9423)
CWA-SBC Joint Committee on Occupational Safety and Health
(JCOSH) Activities
Eric Benjamin (IUE-CWA Local 89118) Manufacturing Sector
Issues
David Putnam (NABET-CWA Local 59057)
The Cal-OSHA Electronic Newsgathering Standard
2:45-3:00 Break
3:00-4:30 Developing Occupational Safety and Health
Education and Training Activities/Programs
Linda Delp (Labor Occupational Safety & Health Program
(LOSH)/UCLA)
David Hurlburt (CWA Local 9410)
California Public Utility Commission General
Order 95
Bill Hemby (COPS-CWA)
Public Safety Officer Hazards and Education and Training Issues
Charlie Barrett (CWA Occupational Safety & Health Department)
4:30-5:00 Closing Remarks
