Workplace safety addressed
I am a student and a freshman studying social work, writing in response to an article written by David Weil, an economics professor at Boston University’s school of management. Weil cited that starting in 2006, 240 Pennsylvanians died as a result of workplace injuries. When President George W. Bush took office in 2000, 199 lives were lost in the workplace fatalities.
Unable to pass new standards for workplace policies caused risk, whistle blowers had less protection, and outdated enforcement methods developed in the OSHA and MSHA government agencies.
President Bush is not spending enough money on inspection resources, more penalty policies and studies on health risk from toxic exposures.
I take a personal interest in this subject because my first cousin was killed in Ohio in 1995, due to workplace injury.
Also, a good friend of mine was injured in Connecticut due to lax safety measures in the company; he is now left with only 30 percent usage of his hand.
These policies were enforced during the Clinton administration. Sen. Hilary Clinton likes to take credit for the good things that went on in her husband’s eight years in office.
But she fails to tell us that in the 1990s conditions were deteriorating in the workplace.
There may have been jobs, but they were not safe. The inaction between the White House and Congress kept workers in manufacturing and construction at risk and unprotected, while waiting for safer laws. The industries, especially here in Pennsylvania, suffered.
When Sen. Barack Obama talks about political games in Washington, D.C., and policies are not getting done, these are the business-as-usual tactics he’s telling us about.
Denise Cheatham
Brownsville
House Democrats deliver
“A pretty impressive two days wrapped up the pre-Primary Election Session in the State House,” according to the April 9 edition of “Harrisburg Online,” a publication that monitors events at the state Capitol.
As the House majority leader, I was proud to lead the House in finishing up Spring 2008 the way we started – delivering on the issues that matter
to working families and small businesses.
Our goals for this session were simple:
1. Make sure that you, your family and your friends and neighbors can afford to see a doctor when illness strikes – PASSED the House
.
2. Make it easier for working families and small businesses to afford their energy bills, and work to get Pennsylvania off the Middle-East Oil habit – PASSED the House
.
3. Address the growing mortgage foreclosure crisis instead of sitting by and waiting for federal aid that may never come – PASSED the House
.
4. Save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in potential prison construction costs while still strengthening penalties on violent and repeat offenders – PASSED the House
.
5. Eliminate the Constitutional barricade and prepare the state for total elimination of property taxes – PASSED the House
.
6. Put more tax dollars back in the hands of working families by expanding the successful Earned Income Tax Credit – PASSED the House
.
7. Give the people access to how their government works through historic expansion of Open Records laws – PASSED the House and Senate and signed into law by Gov. Ed Rendell
.
The job is not over. Even though these proposals have all passed the House of Representatives, we need your help to rally the state Senate and make sure all of these bills become law as soon as possible.
You can visit the House Democratic Caucus Web site at www.pahouse.com/action
and add your voice to the millions of Pennsylvanians who have joined the fight for a better tomorrow for every man, woman and child in the state.
We’re not resting on any laurels after this list of achievements. Some lawmakers would look at the House Democrats’ spring success stories and call that a “good session’s work.”
We call it “a good start.”
Bill DeWeese
House Democratic Leader
50th Legislative District
Parks should be smoke free
Some parks are now smoke free. They should not allow profanity, also, which is even more important. It is not good for the environment.
Strict rules must be enforced. Parks need to have an appropriate atmosphere.
Alex S. Partika
Wilkes-Barre