150 SW 13th Avenue, Miami, FL  33135
Phone  (786) 264-1708;  Fax  (786) 264-1859
interfaith@sfiwj.org
Occupational Safety and Health
Worker Centers, National Coalitions Join Forces with Labor Department to Protect
Rights

Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ) publicly offered its support for improving health and
safety for Latino workers, along with more than 50 worker centers, coalitions on
occupational safety and health, and grassroots community organizations, at the U.S.
Department of Labor's historic National Action Summit for Latino Worker Health and Safety
in Houston, Texas last week.

IWJ's worker center network  pledged to reach out to Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) investigators to build new community partnerships, train workers
on their rights to safe working conditions, and engage the religious community in
challenging unethical employers who steal wages and injure and maim workers.

"I am honored to join with other faith leaders in expressing my deep concern for our
Hispanic brothers and sisters who so often are exposed to unsafe working conditions in
construction projects and as they clean our workplaces and homes, cook the food in our
restaurants and perform the myriad other services that make the lives of the rest of us
more comfortable," said retired Archbishop Joseph A. Fiorenza of the Galveston-Houston
Archdiocese, at a plenary session of the DOL conference.

"OSHA can't enforce the laws by itself," said Dianne Enriquez, IWJ's Worker Center
Network Coordinator. "OSHA needs community partners like worker centers and
occupational safety and health committees to reach out, train and support Latino workers."

"Following the mining disaster, President Obama noted the gaping holes in our nation's
workplace health and safety laws," said Tom O'Connor, director of the National Council for
Occupational Safety and Health (COSH). "We commit ourselves to supporting the President
in addressing those gaps."
In the News:

"Federal Court Sentences PA Contractor for Lethal Safety Lapses", In These
Times, June 28, 2010

"MMS Moving to Mandate Safety Standards for Rig Workers", The New York
Times, June 23, 2010

"IWJ Condemns Targeting of Immigrant Mess", IWJ Press Release, June 11, 2010

"Pesticide found in South Miami-Dade private wells", Miami Herald, May 27, 2010

"State to rethink 271 charges in Ag-Mart case", Raleigh News & Observer,
February 18, 2008

"Judge faults case against Ag-Mart", Raleigh News & Observer, October 9, 2007

"Unrepentant Ag-Mart", Palm Beach Post, September 4, 2006

"Tomato grower wants $184,500 fine slashed to $500", Palm Beach Post, August
31, 2006

"Ag-Mart doesn't learn", Palm Beach Post, August 17, 2006

"Ag-Mart fined in new pesticide case", Raleigh News & Observer, August 10, 2006

"Study: Immigrant workers endure hazardous conditions, abuse post-Katrina", June 7,
2006