HARRISBURG, PA — This week, hundreds of Pennsylvania union representatives joined elected officials in a significant gathering to advocate for state-wide workplace safety standards. A rally cry heard throughout the Commonwealth, the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO and various union leaders stood in unison with state legislators on Monday supporting Public Sector Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) protections.
Having been previously passed by the PA House of Representatives in 2023, the Public Sector OSHA legislation is projected to be the labor force’s top legislative initiative in 2024. Senate Bill 93, a parallel initiative to House Bill 299, is thus being championed by the likes of Senators Jay Costa and Tina Tartaglione as well as labor union leaders Angela Ferritto, Arthur Steinberg, and Felicia Wilkerson.
These proposed bills aim to set clear regulations on workplace health and safety for public employees, akin to those currently governing the private sector. They seek to entrust powers to the Secretary of Labor and Industry, establish a Pennsylvania Occupational Safety and Health Review Board, authorize workplace inspections, and enforce penalties for non-compliance.
Senator Jay Costa expressed his support passionately: “Our workers deserve workplaces free from known dangers so they can return to their families safe and healthy. I look forward to continuing to raise my voice for our public sector workers until we win.”
Senator Christine Tartaglione, the primary sponsor of SB 93, addressed the need to rectify the disparity between the public and private sector, stating protections should be uniform, regardless of whether a worker is “blue collar or white collar, union or non-union, Eagles fan or Steelers fan.”
Named in memory of Erie resident Jake Schwab, a victim of fatal workplace injuries in 2014, the proposed legislation will attempt to extend crucial safety standards to nearly 600,000 public sector workers, aiming to establish a workplace environment free from potentially fatal hazards.
“While over half of US states, including Maryland and New York, have extended such protections to public sector workers,” said Angela Ferritto, president, PA AFL-CIO, “Pennsylvania has not. This is not a political issue, it’s a policy issue, and quite frankly, it’s a moral issue too.”
The intended result of these efforts is not just to honor those who have lost their lives to workplace tragedies, like the 91 PennDOT workers memorialized at the AFSCME conference center, but to prevent future workplace mishaps by putting adequate protections in place.
RN Neal Miller from SEIU Healthcare PA, a victim of patient assault, said, “The rules of the industry are written in blood. It takes far too much blood to write the regulations we need to protect the people at the sharp end of the stick.” As Pennsylvania’s public sector workers continue their fight for equality in workplace safety, many hope such a statement will no longer ring true.
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