Re: Re: Great article about Val and her workplace!!!!

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,

That is a great article!!!!!

Sharon

Living, breathing, working

Air quality tops list of workplace health and safety hazards that union

members are addressing

By Virginia Myers

Madeska leans over a microscope, trying to peer down at the sample

fixed to her slide. She is wearing a mask over her nose and mouth, but it is

not your typical lab technician’s gear. It is an unwieldy respirator. She has

adjusted it to accommodate the microscope, but the mask makes her so hot her

face is covered with sweat, and now the respirator is damp and irritating on

her skin. Her chin burns where a boil has developed from chafing; her glasses

fog up; she feels as though she’s breathing through a straw. When she looks

up to speak to her students, the mask muffles her words.

But Madeska, a clinical lab technician, doesn’t dare remove the cumbersome

contraption and risk illness, which has already knocked her out of work for 12

weeks of disability.

Madeska suffers from exacerbated asthma, Meniere’s Syndrome (with symptoms

including vertigo as well as pressure and ringing in the ears), sinus

infections and lung infections. Why? Because the building where she works,

Gleeson

Hall at Farmingdale State University of New York, has a recurring mold

infestation that affects the air quality in her office. Her work is making her

sick.

Luckily, Madeska’s activism resulted in her local chapter of United

University Professions/AFT forcing the college to investigate air quality, after

numerous water spills and leaks through the ceiling and elevator created what

proved to be a significant infestation of mold, a troublesome allergen and

poison. Mold has become an increasingly visible problem due to delayed building

maintenance. Mold and the toxins it can produce are widely known irritants that

can cause symptoms ranging from skin rashes, wheezing, nasal congestion and

lung disease, and some people believe they are linked to neurological disease

and possible cancer.

At Farmingdale, 10 years after mitigation supposedly rid Madeska’s building

of mold, she still has difficulty breathing. With the help of her union, she

worked out a schedule that limits the time she spends in the contaminated

building, where much of her work as a laboratory technician is based. The school

pays for the ventilator mask she must wear, and, at the union’s urging,

administrators are working on getting her out of the building entirely, so they

can eradicate the mold once and for all. Madeska is not the only employee who

suffers from poor air quality, but she suffers the most. “They call me the

canary in the coal mine,†she says.

Problems at the SUNY State College of Optometry, in Manhattan, are more

insidious. “It’s been a horror here since we moved into the new building,â€

says

Kim Oliver, a member of the UUP local who works as assistant to the dean. “

They’ve been renovating and renovating and renovating.†Oliver and her

co-workers had to abandon the floor where they work while dust and toxic fumes

swirled. The worst part was when maintenance workers began to remove

asbestos—a

building material once touted for its fire resistance but that, when broken up,

creates a dangerous dust proven to cause respiratory disease and cancer.

Employees like Oliver, whose offices were in the demolition area, were given no

warning of the project. “We were sitting in the middle of an asbestos removal

zone,†says Oliver. “We all walked out.â€

Because of the actions of Oliver and other workers, the employees were moved

to another area of the 18-floor building for nine months or so, until the

removal project was completed.

But Oliver says she still has to keep the vents in her office closed to keep

dust from sifting in. She and her co-workers have “constant complaintsâ€

about working conditions. “We have dry eyes, we’re always sneezing, we’re

always

sniffling,†she says. “They keep telling us it’s okay,†but Oliver

worries: “I keep wondering what disease I’m going to come down with. I’ve

developed

asthma since I started working here. We’ve all developed allergies.†UUP

continues to monitor the case and in October secured environmental inspectors

and air quality monitors to protect its members.

Asbestos and mold, sanitation and smoke

Whether it is asbestos abatement, mold or, as in one case at Stonybrook

Health Sciences Center, exhaust fumes from outside vehicles getting into the

air

intake system, air quality is a recurring health issue in many university and

college buildings. Deteriorating structures and deferred maintenance,

sometimes a result of budget limitations, keep the work environment at

institutions

of higher education dicey at best. Even 10 years ago, the Association of

Higher Education Facility Officers documented pervasive underfunding of

facility

maintenance, estimating chronic postponement piled up so that some $26

billion in repairs were needed, with $5.7 billion urgently required. Crowding,

demand and marketing compel colleges and universities toward building new

structures, while old ones are neglected. The results are leaking roofs, broken

heating and air conditioning systems, and resulting air quality issues that

make

the workplace toxic to faculty, staff and students.

Older structures present the most problems. At Bronx Community College,

faculty member Yom, sitting in his office, encountered a loose ceiling

tile

above his head and when he poked it to see whether it might tumble down,

found a dead rat. After a delay, building services personnel informed Yom that

loose tiles and rodents were the least of his problems—the tiles contained

asbestos, as did the tiles on the floor. His union, Professional Staff

Congress/AFT, insisted on testing the air for asbestos. Levels were found to be

just

under the allowable threshold—but tests were taken on a weekend, when foot

traffic that might stir up asbestos dust from floor tiles was at a minimum.

“There is no known safe level of exposure to asbestos dust,†PSC health and

safety committee co-chair Dave Kotelchuck told the PSC’s newspaper, Clarion.

“

We must treat asbestos dust as hazardous at all levels of exposure, and

avoid all unnecessary exposure, even at low levels.†The union is continuing

to

meet with administrators to be sure the problem is addressed properly. Yom has

moved to another office, and the tiles are scheduled for removal over spring

break.

“AFT Higher Ed affiliates more and more have to remind institutions that it

is their legal obligation to provide a safe and healthful workplace,†says AFT

senior associate director of health and safety Darryl . According

to , when institutions are not responsive to complaints and concerns,

unions have had to rely on agencies such as the National Institute for

Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to intervene and investigate work-related

health complaints. Hazards are not always cloaked in mold and asbestos, as

pervasive as these twin threats can be. At Wisconsin’s Milwaukee Area

Technical

College, roofing work involved the installation of a concrete slab right next

to an air intake vent—and faculty and staff had to be evacuated while fumes

from sealant inundated the building. During the process, members of Local

212/AFT noticed there were no accommodations for evacuating people in

wheelchairs, and realized administrators had no emergency plan for the college.

The

union helped form a task force—with administrators, construction services,

operations personnel and the college health and safety coordinator—to write

an

emergency plan. “Now we have a standing health and safety committee,†notes

Ruggles, co-chair of the joint indoor air quality committee. “That

gives

us a little more clout.â€

More mundane but perhaps equally important is Milwaukee’s staff shortage and

the resulting dearth of cleaning services. “We get constant complaints about

restrooms not being cleaned,†says Ruggles. When cafeteria services were

consolidated into one building, not enough restrooms were provided; and with

just one plumber, problems arise quickly when any sort of malfunction occurs.

Ruggles blames underfunding; there is not enough budget to hire a sufficient

number of cleaning staff to clean the number of bathrooms needed. Even the

health and safety coordinator’s hours have been reduced to 10 a week. With

filthy

restrooms and inadequate health and safety oversight, Ruggles says, “We may

be forced into filing a grievance.â€

Ruggles’ union was already successful in securing smoke-free entrances for

campus buildings. With a large population of smokers, a ban seemed

unreasonable, so Ruggles considers designated nonsmoking entrances “a huge

victory.â€

Beyond the air you breathe

Health and safety are not always about air quality. Other issues that

frequently surface involve toxic chemicals and biological and radiological

substances in laboratories, though often these are regulated by government

agencies

like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). At community

colleges in particular, vocational education presents hazards like paint and

solvent exposure in auto shops.

Other hazards include work-related violence, which can be especially acute in

the registrar’s office and campus bookstore; lack of access and exit for

people with disabilities; and ergonomic problems associated with long hours

sitting at a computer or for those who work in campus warehouses and in grounds

and maintenance. Repetitive strain injuries from computer use are also common,

as wrist braces become a recognized indication of carpal tunnel syndrome, a

condition that causes nerves in the forearm and wrist to compress due to

overused and irritated tendons.

Campus security is another issue, which was recently addressed in the new

contract for the Graduate Employees Organization/AFT at the University of

Illinois at Chicago. Because of its urban location, the campus population was

faced with muggings, sometimes more than one each month. GEO managed to include

language in its contract that holds the university responsible for making every

effort to protect its employees. Specifically, administrators have clustered

classes in a few buildings, rather than spreading them out, so that faculty

and students will be among other people and feel less isolated. Security

officer escorts also are available. Access to individual buildings has been

made

easier as well, so faculty, staff and graduate workers needn’t wait for long

periods until campus security personnel come to let them into their

buildings.

Count Me In: Members Rise Up Against Hazardous Conditions

Just as union members were able to make provisions for campus security at

the University of Illinois, so PSC activists at Queens College moved several

issues forward. Overheated offices and classrooms, poorly ventilated work

space, adversarial relations with building and grounds staff all affected

health

and safety on the Queens campus, says Bette Weidman, PSC committee chair for

health and safety. But with persistence, some of these issues are being

addressed.

After several labor-management meetings with the college president—each

well-attended with the support of the whole executive committee—a soaked

carpet

in the library was replaced. Committee members also facilitated action on poor

ventilation and negotiated with campus security about improving handicapped

parking by increasing parking spaces closer to buildings. Successful

strategies in winning attention for health and safety issues have included

tenants’

meetings for various campus buildings, and walkthroughs with the experts in the

central union office. Weidman works to build alliances with building staff,

noting that union members can help them get the resources they need to do

their jobs properly.

“On the whole, we find that for everyday issues, from mold to pigeon

droppings, our alerting the administration’s officer and then returning to him

regularly until the work is done, is sufficient,†she says. Weidman has been

appointed to the Enhancing Campus Facilities Committee, further indication, she

says, that “the union voice is being included in planning.â€

Other strategies, laid out by the AFT’s Darryl , include bargaining

for health and safety contract language, conducting contract campaigns that

focus on working conditions, and forming coalitions with community groups.

Union members can also step up and act as catalysts for health and safety

committees—and secure a place on them—ensuring that the union voice will be

heard. Using existing OSHA regulations helps lend credence to union campaigns

and

provides a valuable tool for setting standards for workplace safety.

Complaints filed with OSHA also are effective in getting employers to make the

changes necessary to keep the workplace safe. In the past, the AFT also has used

NIOSH to document disproportionate rates of asthma in school staff, and to track

the impact of violence and mandatory overtime on healthcare workers.

In New York City, the PSC has “environmental watchdogs†on each of 19

campuses, and some 200 members are actively involved in reporting suspicious

odors

and fumes or other irregularities involving health and safety. PSC also

recently established a series of three training sessions for members on indoor

air quality.

Indoor air quality is especially important there, where the city is still

recovering from the September 11 attacks. When the World Trade towers fell, they

left gaping holes and rained toxic dust and particles all over the Borough

of Manhattan Community College. Five years later, the 15-story building still

stands, waiting for decontamination before it can be demolished and replaced.

Faculty, staff and students have been moved to temporary trailers and rented

space with partitions to delineate different classrooms and offices.

Of course this aftermath of the attacks is less wrenching than the lives lost

in the actual collapse. Health and safety issues can be devastating

nonetheless, and they require vigilance and persistence to address—exactly

the

qualities active members bring to their unions.

“We think this is a primary organizing issue for new members and old,†says

Joan Greenbaum, health and safety committee co-chair. “Too often people just

think, ‘Oh, this is the way things are.’†Not at the PSC, and not for AFT

members. “Everybody must have some awareness of their environment,†says

Greenbaum—and they must act on it if it is not safe.