Our Jobs, Our Lives
Each year thousands of public employees and
other workers are killed or injured on the job.
By Gerald W. McEntee
Whether driving along a highway or shopping in a supermarket, it is all too easy for Americans to overlook the hard work that goes into the public services we use and the foods we eat.
As union members, however, we understand that nothing is produced without the sweat of a worker and that every worker deserves a fair wage and a safe workplace.
The men and women who put strawberries on our table are fighting for these basic worker rights. They work in hot, pesticide-filled fields 10 hours a day, seven months a year for a paltry $8,500 — without any benefits whatsoever. In April, I joined 30,000 AFL-CIO members and supporters who marched in California on behalf of these strawberry workers. They want and deserve the kind of union protections that the United Farm Workers can provide. To pay for better wages and working conditions, the UFW is asking for a five-cent increase in the retail price of strawberries — it’s a small price to pay for decency.
AFSCME members have enjoyed union protections for over 60 years. Nevertheless, we face a constant struggle to preserve our health and safety on the job. In this issue of Public Employee you will meet people who risk their lives every day for the benefit of their communities. You will meet Marie Carmel-Bernard and Franklin Gray Jr., members of Local 420 (DC 37) in New York City, hospital laundry workers who face the risk of exposure to HIV and other diseases.
You’ll meet Richard Todd, a member of Local 403 (Council 47) in Philadelphia, whose work inspecting bridges routinely exposes him to life-threatening falls and other dangers. You’ll also meet Jimmy Rhynes, an Indianapolis sanitation worker and member of Local 725 (Council 62), who works with the constant threat of crippling injury every day.
You will also meet the grieving parents of Tammy Sperle, a member of Michigan State Employees Association/AFSCME Local 5.
On the afternoon of February 5, 1996, the 33-year-old mother of two was found beaten and unconscious in the prison store where she worked at Michigan’s Huron Valley Men’s Correctional Facility. Tammy, a civilian employee, was pronounced dead less than two hours later.
Who killed Tammy Sperle? According to the local newspapers, the prime suspect is an inmate with a history of violence toward women. While it would be easy to point an accusing finger at that inmate alone, in our view he had an accomplice: a state Department of Corrections whose indifference to Tammy’s safety resulted in her death.
Tammy’s union understood the danger she faced at the prison store at Huron Valley. That’s why MSEA asked prison officials to station a trained corrections officer in the store with Tammy. Remarkably, the state refused, saying it wasn’t past practice. The store did have a closed-circuit security camera but it was broken.
It would be one thing if the death of Tammy Sperle were an isolated incident, but the truth is that each year thousands of public employees and other workers are killed or injured on the job. And, like Tammy’s murder, the causes are almost always preventable.
The experience of these workers and others contradicts the foolish claims of those who believe that public workers somehow experience fewer workplace dangers than their counterparts in private industry. Yet it’s exactly this misconception which AFSCME’s opponents have used to exempt many public workers from the protections of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act.
AFSCME will continue to mobilize the political and legislative muscle it takes to make OSHA stronger, even as our opponents try to weaken it. We will continue to fight for the health and safety of our members — and for workers throughout the country.
