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Copyright 1999 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.  
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

August 4, 1999, Wednesday, THREE STAR EDITION

SECTION: NEWS, Pg. A1

LENGTH: 698 words

HEADLINE: CONGRESS DEBATES DELAYING REPETITIVE STRESS RULES;
BUSINESSES SAY RESEARCH IS INADEQUATE; LABOR CALLS FOR RELIEF FOR WORKERS;
CLINTON VOWS TO VETO MEASURE

BYLINE: Stephanie Hanes; Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau

DATELINE: WASHINGTON

BODY:


A key labor-business battle began Tuesday in the House, as members debated whether to prohibit new federal regulations on repetitive stress injuries until a federal study on the issue is completed.

The House legislation is sponsored by Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; a similar bill by Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., is pending in the Senate.

The debate has been simmering, both in and out of the Capitol, for months.

On one side are business groups and their supporters who say that employers could be forced to spend millions of dollars to meet sketchy regulations of dubious value.

Opposing this stance are labor groups and most congressional Democrats who say the hundreds of thousands of workers suffering from repetitive motion injuries should have relief as soon as possible.

"It is the safety and health vote of this session of Congress," said Peg Seminario of the AFL-CIO. "It is really a vote as to whether members support protection for workers or they don't."

Many business and labor groups said members' votes Tuesday would significantly affect future campaign endorsements.

Blunt's bill would prevent the Occupational Safety and Health Administration from moving forward with its plan to require employers to limit repetitive stress injuries. The bill would freeze action on the new rules until the National Academy of Science completes its two-year study of the issue. Supporters of the legislation said it wouldn't make sense to require expensive controls before there was adequate scientific information on the issue.

"There is tremendous lack of clarity and agreement on these issues," Blunt said. "We need to be sure when we talk about people's jobs, we're talking about certain and specific facts."

Labor groups and their congressional supporters countered that significant research on the study has already been completed, and that congressional support of the new ergonomics study was never intended to derail regulation. The opposition to OSHA's efforts, they said, was simply a way of postponing any regulations indefinitely - or at least until the next administration takes office.

"This really isn't about the science," said Peg Seminario, the safety and health director for the AFL-CIO. "It's a tactic for further delay."

The legislation would push off any stress injury regulations until 2001 - the projected finishing date of the million-dollar study, when a new administration will be in the White House.

"How odd, how unfortunate, that the first significant labor bill to come to the floor of this Congress attempts to strip working people of their rights instead of enhancing them," said Rep. Bill Clay, D-St. Louis, who, as the ranking member of the House Education and Workplace Committee, led the fight against the legislation. "This bill says a good deal about the misguided priorities of the majority."

The Bureau of Labor statistics reported in 1997 that more than 600,000 employees lose work days because of the stress injuries resulting from repetitive motion, such as typing, straining over an assembly line or lifting files or boxes. More than 20,000 of these cases - which can affect workers in almost any occupation - are in Missouri.

"It's just amazing," said James August, the director of the health and safety programs for the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees. "Every time I talk to another occupational group in our union, I learn of another group that has serious problems."

But while some business groups and lawmakers acknowledge the prominence of the stress injuries, they say that at this point there is no sure way to prevent them.

"If we decide the instincts of some bureaucrat at OSHA - who hasn't lifted anything that day heavier than a pencil - should decide what's hard to do at the workplace and somebody's job ends up eliminated because of that, I think that's a serious concern," Blunt said on the House floor.

President Bill Clinton said Tuesday he would veto the legislation should it move through Senate.

Bond's Senate legislation is pending in committee. Bond's office said his bill has garnered 44 co-sponsors - nearly enough to ensure passage.    

LOAD-DATE: August 4, 1999




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