Activists from Canada and U.S. Unite Around Workplace Justice and Gender Issues
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Yasin Khan with Sheila Moir from the British Colombia Labor Federation
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The theme of this year’s Summer Institute for Union Women, an annual 5-day conference for women in labor, was "Equity. Justice. Reconcili-action: Building Worker Power Through Intersectional Feminism and Activism." Over 300 women from Canada and the United States attended. LOHP’s Yasin Khan traveled to Vancouver, British Columbia and co-facilitated a course on Women and Occupational Health and Safety, together with Sheila Moir from the British Columbia Labor Federation.
The course applied an intersectional feminist lens to topics including menopause, pregnancy, sexual harassment and violence, and discussed them as occupational health and safety issues. The 24 participants from Canada and the U.S. who completed the course came from diverse legal settings and industries, and as Yasin describes, this “enabled our course to become a rich space for exchange of the challenges and successes around gender-specific workplace hazards that they have faced.”
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New Training Resources to Protect Childcare Workers
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At the TOT, leading activity on proper lifting and reducing loads.
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Childcare workers place a great priority on the safety and well-being of the children they care for, and yet they suffer from sprains, strains and tears, bruises, and back injuries because of their work. LOHP collaborated with SEIU’s Early Educator Training Center, the Department of Industrial Relations, and the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation to develop training materials that address center- and school-based childcare workers’ health and safety. Building on SEIU’s existing training curricula, LOHP conducted a needs assessment, adapted activities, and added modules on dealing with aggressive behavior in children and workers’ rights.
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LOHP’s Charlotte Chang describes, “Workers were very interested in the training and learning about their rights, because workers in caring professions often don’t think of their roles as workers and the protections they are entitled to. Our training introduced a variety of hazards including infectious diseases, ergonomics, and cleaning chemicals, using interactive activities that workers found engaging.” This past spring, LOHP carried out two “trainings of trainers” (TOT) programs in English and Spanish for SEIU leaders and childcare providers. The 17 TOT participants have been training center-based childcare workers this summer. Charlotte says, “It was great collaborating with SEIU on this project – they are doing cutting-edge work organizing childcare workers and have made health and safety a clear priority.”
The curriculum and materials will soon be available on the Department of Industrial Relations’ website.
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WOSH Specialist in Action!
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Teo Dumlao, Safety Coordinator for the City of Berkeley, attended the May 2019 WOSH Specialist class in Martinez and told the LOHP trainers that he came away with lots of ideas about how to use the information and skills he gained in the class. One of his first activities was to hold a Safety and Health fair for city employees to promote safe and healthful workplaces. He reported back to LOHP that he received a lot of positive feedback about the fair. Here is Teo working with a PG&E employee on one of the displays for the fair
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The Worker Occupational Safety and Health (WOSH) Specialist course is a 3-day leadership training course for workers to take an active role in improving health and safety conditions.
Click here
for more information.
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Emergency regulation on wildfire smoke goes into effect
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Cal/OSHA’s new emergency standard will require employers to provide training and offer respirators when there are harmful levels of smoke in the air due to wildfires. For more information on the requirements,
click here
. In this next year, LOHP will be offering training to farm workers and others who work outdoors. Cal/OSHA is convening an advisory committee meeting on August 27 for stakeholders to give input on a permanent regulation. To find out about that meeting, visit
https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/doshreg/Protection-from-Wildfire-Smoke/
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At OHIP Orientation, touring an industrial laundry facility
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CERT trainees getting ready to put their new skills into practice.
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Hotel housekeepers learning about ergonomics
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At UC Merced HAZWOPER training
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Here is a glimpse at some of our recent work:
- Co-facilitated training at this summer's Occupational Health Internship Program (OHIP) orientation, with 26 students who were placed with worker centers and unions to investigate health and safety hazards. Mentored the interns working with Street Level Health Project.
- Partnered with UNITE HERE to carry out a Training of Trainers for 27 staff and worker leaders — who are now training hotel housekeepers about preventing ergonomic injuries and using Cal/OSHA's new standard 3345 to improve working conditions.
- Collaborated with Richmond Fire Department and other community groups to conduct the 32-hour Community Emergency Response Training (CERT) with 20 Richmond residents - in Spanish, with a focus on potential emergencies near refineries.
- Conducted a 24-hour HAZWOPER Emergency Response training at UC Merced (UCM) with 28 staff including UCM police, EH&S staff, and supervisors in facilities management. The class helps UC campuses meet the Emergency Response to Hazardous Substance Release requirements in Title 8, California Code of Regulations.
- Facilitated a workshop for the 2019 UC Berkeley Labor Center's Labor Summer cohort of 24 college students.
- Participated in a conference focused on innovative strategies to end sexual harassment in low-wage workplaces, with worker advocates, researchers, and attorneys — hosted by the Urban Institute and National Women's Law Center in Washington D.C.
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