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Coalition Co-chair Carol Lerner
countered this by noting that LET’s members had been battling
to keep Wal-Mart out of Mercer for three and a half years.
Lerner said, “It was our ability to draw this battle out
through mass agitation and the prospect of tying them up in
court for months or years that scared them."
LET's ”members held educational
programs, organized rallies, mobilized huge turnouts for
public hearings and meetings, coordinated a living wage
ordinance campaign aimed at large retail employers, and helped
the New Jersey Industrial Union Council (IUC) form its own
statewide Stop Wal-Mart Coalition.
On February 7th
LET’s attorney Bill Potter filed a complaint with the Mercer
County Superior Court challenging the local Planning Board’s
decision to approve Wal-Mart’s application to build on the
Spruce Street property. The complaint claimed that Wal-Mart’s
application to build should have been heard and rejected by
the Lawrence Zoning Board of Adjustment when it was first
submitted in 2004. LET’s said Wal-Mart was not permitted to
use the property because it did not meet the township’s zoning
requirements. The property is zoned for “Highway Commercial”
use. Since Wal-Mart is a “destination store” with a “regional
draw”, zoning on this property would have to be for “Regional
Commercial” use. A week later, Wal-Mart dropped its plans.
LET’s Coalition Co-Chair and WEC Director of Organizing
Valorie Caffee said that “Perseverance does pay off, along
with the solidarity of so many people who are committed to
seeing this behemoth stopped from continuing its exploitation
of workers, taxpayers, and our environment.”
The United Food and Commercial
Workers Local 1360, International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers Local 269, IUC, and Sierra Club also played important
roles.
With Wal-Mart out of the picture,
residents, unions, elected officials and businesses can help
decide what to do with the Spruce Street property. Caffee
said, “We have a chance to see this site redeveloped to
protect the environment and provide a mix of business,
residential, and recreational development that benefits us
all. With the ongoing support of WEC and others, LET’s will
be there to help make this happen.”
WEC Presses for More Action ON Chemical
Safety & Security
In
December 2007, President Bush signed a bill containing
language by Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) stopping US
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rules from potentially
preempting New Jersey chemical security protections.
According to WEC President John Pajak,
“Now
that DHS can’t supersede our laws, it’s time for further
action by New Jersey to protect our jobs, families, and
hometowns.”
Soon
after, WEC, with endorsements from 85 labor, environmental,
and community organizations, formally petitioned the NJ
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Governor Jon
Corzine to:
*
authorize residents to petition management of high-hazard
facilities, triggering a public meeting to discuss safety and
security risks and solutions;
*
improve DEP’s emergency notice rules so residents truly know
what steps to take in the event of a toxic release;
*
require worker-management health, safety, and security
committees to prevent chemical hazards and other dangers;
*
fix problems with current DEP rules designed to
prevent “runaway” reactive toxic hazards;
*
increase fines for
Toxic Catastrophe Prevention Act (TCPA)
violations.
DEP must respond, by law, to the WEC petition under the state
Administrative Procedures Act.
DEP
could adopt the proposed recommendations through rule (not
legislative) changes to TCPA, a 1986 law enacted after a
release at a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India that killed
thousands. TCPA rules “sunset” in July; DEP must readopt the
rules in order to continue enforcing them. TCPA regulates 94
chemical plants, oil refineries, major food processors, paper
mills, and water treatment facilities that use extraordinarily
hazardous substances.
The 85
organizations backing the petition’s recommendations include
the United Steelworkers, Firemen’s Mutual Benevolent
Association, Professional Firefighters of NJ, NJ Education
Association, NJ Sierra Club, and many others. Read
the letter here.
In addition, WEC has learned that DEP’s final rule requiring
TCPA facilities to conduct reviews for the potential adoption
of inherently safer technology will be issued this April.
The Good Jobs, Green Jobs Conference
On March 13-14, a conference unlike any other will take place
in Pittsburgh, PA. The event will launch a nationwide
dialogue about moving our country toward leadership to promote
the benefits of a new green economy.
Good Jobs, Green Jobs: A National Green Jobs Conference
will bring together advocates representing policy makers;
labor; the environment and public health; business; economic
and workforce development specialists; investors; and
scientists and technology experts.
The
conference is coordinated by the Blue Green Alliance, a
partnership of the United Steelworkers and Sierra Club. The
Alliance envisions a confluence of big ideas and innovative
strategies to help jump-start a nationwide green economic
renaissance. Participants will share best practices about how
to revitalize the manufacturing sector, drive green building,
promote safer chemicals, and realize the economic benefits of
global warming solutions.
Conveners include WEC, Apollo Alliance, the national AFL-CIO,
Change to Win, Clean Water Action, Health Care Without Harm,
Greenpeace, and many others. With your help and
participation, we can work together to share the best thinking
about the link between economic opportunities and
environmental solutions.
For the agenda and registration, go to
www.greenjobsconference.org.
Job Safety and Health Notes
* WEC reminds private and public
sector unions that from February 1 to April 30, employers must
post their annual summary of the number of job-related
injuries and illnesses for 2007. This summary is compiled
from the more detailed OSHA Log, and must be provided by
management to unions upon request. These records can point to
hazardous areas or to individuals who may need medical help or
may have a workers’ compensation claim.
Click here to
view a sample request from the WEC
Preventing
Workplace Hazards: An Action Guide for NJ Workers and Unions.”
* WEC has developed a new
poster for public sector unions on the requirements of NJ’s
unique
Public Employee Indoor Air Quality Standard.
For copies, please call DJ Figueroa at (609) 695-7100 or by
email at
dfigueroa@njwec.org.
* Congratulations to the
Health Professionals and Allied Employees (HPAE) and other
healthcare unions for winning two important laws
protecting New Jersey’s healthcare workers and patients. The
Safe Patient Handling Act
requires hospitals
and nursing homes to reduce manual lifting or moving of
patients without the use of assistive devices. The
Violence Prevention Act
requires hospitals
and nursing homes to conduct risk
assessment programs and conduct staff training, as well as
improve security measures. Both laws also cover state
developmental centers and state and county psychiatric
hospitals. A survey commissioned by HPAE found that more than
half of the registered nurses responding said they had been
injured on the job and that lifting of patients and
increasing violence in emergency rooms were key concerns.
* OSHA
has issued a final rule requiring employers to pay the costs
of personal protective equipment required by specific OSHA
standards, with a few exceptions. The issue has been pending
for ten years.
Review the rule and its effective date on the OSHA website.
*
At the invitation of the US House of Representatives Committee
on Education and Labor, WEC Director Rick Engler testified on
needed reforms to the Occupational Safety and Health Act and
OSHA’s employer consultation program. The hearing was held
January 14, 2008, in Linden, in response to the preventable
deaths of two workers at Northeast Linen, also in Linden. WEC
thanks Congressmen Donald Payne, Rush Holt, and Robert Andrews
for their participation in the hearing. UNITE HERE Health and
Safety Director Eric Frumin, NJ AFL-CIO President Charles
Wowkanech, and NJ Labor Commissioner David Socolow also
testified.
Calendar
Saturday, April 5,
The Heat Is On; NJ Environmental Federation’s
22nd
Annual Conference with workshops
on climate change and children’s health, green jobs, etc., 8
AM-5 PM, Rutgers University Law School, Newark, NJ. Contact:
Jenny Vickers, (732) 280-8988 or
jvickers@cleanwater.org
Tuesday - Thursday, April 8-10,
WEC’s
Safe Work, Safe
Care Train-the-Trainer Program for Healthcare Workers,
Rutgers Labor Education Center,
New Brunswick. Contact: Cecelia Gilligan-Leto (609)
695-7100. Pre-registration required. |
