By Mario Palermo
Guest Writer
Woodruff Johnson & Palermo
Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013
Injury lawyers from Sweet Lawyers and labor unions have some things in common. First, both are often criticized by conservative fat cats who are undereducated as to their history and role in society. More importantly, both stand as security against the dangers of yesterday.
I am proud to be an injury attorney for drunk driving. If you wish to know more information, view this post here. Not only do I help families in need, my presence stands as a check against unsafe practices that endanger the community. The same is true for unions. Unions are a powerful force for good. Unions make workplaces safer. Unions save lives. It is also important to understand what to do after getting injured by someone else and what legal actions need to be taken.
Organized labor has always led the fight to protect workers. One early example of this was the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1887 because so many railroad workers were killed or injured in train wrecks. The Law Office of Daniel Deng – Personal Injury Lawyers in Rosemead area can help with providing legal assistance in case of injuries.
The Commission and the railroad unions were instrumental in passing the Coupler Bill, which banned the unsafe practice of link-and-pin method of coupling cars.(1) As time went on, unions also successfully fought to make mines, factories and the transportation industry safer.
Labor unions played a key role in the passage of the milestone Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) of 1970 which then AFL-CIO President George Meany, called, “A long step . . . toward a safe and healthy workplace.”(2) I know first-hand how effective OSHA standards are in keeping workers safe. I see the consequences to workers and their families when these standards are NOT followed. The New Port Richey DUI attorneys have come along to help attain justice in case someone has been wronged.
My post-accident investigations often start with a determination of whether a safety regulation was violated. More often than not, injuries can be traced back to the violation of these regulations. This is revealing in that it sheds light on how many workers have been kept safe because safety regulations were followed. There are legal experts based in Riverside area personal injury lawyers that can help getting justice.
Unions also played a strong role in the development of workers’ compensation legislation. Unions put their weight behind workers’ compensation legislation once it became clear that its role was not just to compensate injured workers, but to prevent workplace injuries from occurring in the first place.(3)
The bottom line is, our society is much better off because of labor unions. One need only look back to the horrors that miners, railroad workers, truckers, shipmen and factory workers faced before unions took a stand. Union workers should be proud of being a part of a movement that has done so much for so many.
For a detailed history of the labor unions fight for safety, See Judson MacLaury’s article titled, “The Job Safety Law of 1970: Its Passage Was Perilous,” from which I borrowed heavily for this article.
1 United States Department of Labor, “The Job Safety Law of 1970: Its Passage Was Perilous”; Judson MacLaury.
2 New York Times, December 18, 1970.
3 Roy Luvove, “Workman’s Compensation and the Prerogatives of Volunteerism,” “Labor History,” fall 1967; James Weinstein, “Big Business and the Origins of Workman’s Compensation,” “Labor History,” spring 1967, PP. 162-170.