This is what you should do an article on," Bill Borwegen, the safety and health director of the Service Employees International Union, tells a reporter. "The safety and health profession has lost a significant number of jobs because industry perceives OSHA as a paper tiger. But the profession is in a state of denial about the need to defend the agency."
Borwegen and other union safety leaders see safety and health professionals as allies in the fight that has raged over OSHA since 1994, when Republicans took control of Congress-and the agency's budget. Powerful industry groups such as the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have chalked up victories-blocking a long-awaited ergonomics standard and convincing the courts to halt OSHA's heralded, new inspection strategy, the Cooperative Compliance Program. "These are dark days for the profession," says Borwegen, and he wonders why professionals aren't up in arms.