In recent years labor unions have become more and more interested in problems in the work environment. In Denmark unions have initiated research into social and medical problems related to work. Their goal has been to make the workplace safe for their members and to track down work-related health hazards and illness...
Tag - occupational health
I had been to China in February '72, and I spent two years giving lectures on China. When I talked to people about worker control of the factory, their eyes glazed over. But when I talked about a health care system which was run by the community and in which many of the people doing health care work identified...
A COSH group is a “committee on occupational safety and health.” It’s a regional coalition of workers, trade unions, and health and legal specialists.
Farmers like George Neary feel that the objectivity of these scientists is being compromised by the close financial ties to chemical manufacturers. The allegation is backed by some scientists within the land-grant establishment. “Chemical companies are brazenly buying University goodwill,” said the late Robert van den...
The scope of sexual harassment is staggering. It ranges from propositions and sexual innuendo to rape. It is just as pervasive in universities as in blue collar jobs, in police forces as in acting schools, in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as in unions The Women’s Legal Defense Fund estimates that “more...
The Politics of Cancer is his contribution to the debate over the future of the environmental health movement. In it he has pulled together a monumental amount of information on specific carcinogens, on the scientific background to cancer, and on the “scientific” and “non-scientific” opposition to regulation. He...
Death on the Job is a relatively short (196 pages) reference for workers, health professionals, and lay advocates, summarizing what everyone — industry, government, unions — is doing about occupational health and why. Berman's original research and radical perspective combine to make this a valuable work for those of...
What can be done? Research aimed at identifying hazards of jobs employing large numbers of blacks is sorely needed, as are efforts to train black workers in the recognition and control of job hazards. Black health professionals and physicians need to be trained to identify occupational diseases, take work histories...
In an unequal set of economic relations as exist within American industry, scientists must work extremely hard to see that on matters of health all sides are considered equally. This means they will have to forge links with workers and progressive unions who are struggling over occupational health issues. They will...
The label mass psychogenic directs scientists to look to workers' psyches for causes and solutions, meanwhile ignoring potential physical workplace hazards and stressful conditions. It allows scientists to translate their investigative inadequacies into "respectable" jargon and lets industry off the hook. Poor...