FDA REVERSES COURSE ON NEEDLESTICK PROPOSAL

The Food and Drug Administration in September withdrew an advance notice of proposed rulemaking regarding a ban on some nonsafety needles. The agency said that while it is concerned about the significant health risk posed by needlestick, it believes that its actions, along with actions taken by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), are addressing the issue adequately.

The AFT is very concerned that there is no process to ensure the safety of products the agency regulates, says AFT health and safety expert Darryl Alexander. “It’s outrageous that they have withdrawn the ban. It is a serious blow to all healthcare workers.”

In 2001, the FDA considered a petition submitted by Public Citizen’s Health Research Group along with other organizations. The petition, supported by the AFT and other healthcare unions, requested that the FDA act to further reduce the risk of needlestick injuries to healthcare workers. It sought a ban on blood collection devices, glass capillary tubes and other devices.

“In response to the petition, the agency acknowledged the dangers associated with needles and began the process of addressing them. Now, the agency has retreated in the face of industry pressure,” says Peter Lurie, deputy director of Public Citizen.

Healthcare workers sustain 600,000 needlestick injuries each year, exposing them to hepatitis B, hepatitis C and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS.

“Data now indicate that the appropriate use of needlestick devices, especially in comprehensive prevention programs, significantly reduce the incidence of needlestick injuries,” says Lurie. “By allowing considerably more dangerous devices to stay on the market when equally, safer alternatives are available, the FDA has endangered the lives of hundreds of thousands of healthcare workers in this country.”

“Our hope is that all healthcare unions will get together and keep discussion on this issue alive. These are safeguards we want our facilities to have,” says Alexander.

STATE EMPLOYEE PAY SLUGGISH FOR SECOND STRAIGHT YEAR, AFT REVEALS

The salaries of state-employed professionals showed sluggish growth for the second straight year, according to the 2005 AFT Public Employees Compensation Survey, the only national survey that tracks such trends. The report released in September further finds that state-employed professionals are significantly underpaid compared to their private sector peers.

The sixth annual survey by the AFT Public Employees division shows that salaries in the private sector are, on average, almost 30 percent higher than those in the public sector. One factor that helps reduce the public/private sector salary gap is collective bargaining, the survey finds. For 43 of the 45 occupations surveyed, the average salary in collective bargaining states exceeds that in states where public employees are denied collective bargaining.

The median salary increase across the 45 jobs surveyed was just 1.19 percent from 2004 to 2005, significantly below the inflation rate of 3.15 percent for that period, the survey reveals. From 2002 to 2005, the median cumulative increase was only 4.6 percent, which compares to an inflation rate of 8.11 percent.

Recognizing the importance of competitive salaries in recruiting and retaining a highly skilled public sector workforce, the report warns that the two-year slowdown in salary growth rates could threaten the quality of public services, many of which have already been strained in recent years due to deep cuts in budgets and personnel. Without significant state workforce investments, the report concludes, essential public services ranging from bridge maintenance to environmental protection to economic development are likely to suffer.

“Years of layoffs, hiring freezes and salary freezes have resulted in public services being stretched to capacity, with public employees asked to do more with less,” AFT president Edward J. McElroy said in response to the report’s release. “While public employees have risen to the challenge, some relief is now in order—not only for their sake, but for the sake of all of us who rely on the services they provide.”

AFL-CIO: IN WAKE OF HURRICANES, AMERICA NEEDS A NEW DIRECTION

The AFL-CIO is urging a new national emphasis on building strong communities, good jobs and a just economy across the country—starting in the hurricane-swept Gulf Coast region. The federation’s America Needs a New Direction initiative calls for investment in national priorities such as affordable healthcare as well as “attention to community needs” in rebuilding the region.

AFL-CIO president John Sweeney called for “restoring our country as one where everyone has a genuine chance at the American Dream,” declaring that this won’t be achieved by suspending prevailing wage standards and affirmative action requirements, awarding no-bid contracts or tolerating cronyism in appointments.

The AFL-CIO had been particularly critical of President Bush’s suspension of Davis-Bacon wage protections following Hurricane Katrina, and under pressure from labor and others, the president at press time reversed his decision. The Economic Policy Institute recently reported that with some of the region’s construction industry wages already near or below the poverty line, the suspension of Davis-Bacon would have put even more families at risk.

The road to recovery for families devastated by the hurricanes, says the AFL-CIO, lies in fostering good jobs and in providing real supports such as adequate unemployment compensation, quality education, job training and other public services.

“Our top priority in the Gulf Coast and in our nation has to be restoring fair play to Americans in every walk of life, rather than catering to the rich and the big corporations,” said AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer Richard Trumka.

Rebuilding the region’s schools should be one of those priorities, said AFT president Edward J. McElroy, who noted that the condition of many schools in the region, especially those in New Orleans, were abysmal prior to being damaged by the hurricanes.

Nationally, the initiative also calls for state-level campaigns to pass affordable healthcare legislation, raise the minimum wage and demand that elected leaders not cut programs for working people in order to finance the Gulf Coast rebuilding.

The union movement has responded to the needs of the hurricane victims with more than $10 million in donations, seven worker centers throughout the South to aid disaster victims, and teams on the ground to help survivors.