Democrats Vow Fight to Save Job Safety Unit

In rousing speeches to labor organizers, Democratic legislative leaders on Tuesday vowed to make life “very unpleasant” for Gov. George Deukmejian in retaliation for his efforts to eliminate state funding of a worker safety program.

Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) was cheered by more than 250 labor organizers when he promised to vote against all of Deukmejian’s appointees to labor commissions until the governor backs away from his proposal to cut off the state’s $8-million financing of Cal/OSHA, the job safety agency.

Under Deukmejian’s proposal, responsibility for worker protections now held by Cal/OSHA would be turned over to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Both Roberti and Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) called the governor’s action an attempt to punish California unions for supporting Deukmejian’s Democratic opponent, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, in the 1986 gubernatorial election.

Joined by Van de Kamp

Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp also joined in the attack on Deukmejian, saying the governor’s proposal would “seriously weaken” worker protections.

Speaking during a daylong rally sponsored by the California Federation of Labor to organize opposition to the proposed Cal/OSHA cut, Van de Kamp warned union officials that Deukmejian’s budget plan could undermine such safeguards as a state ban on the short-handled hoe and requirements that workers be kept informed when hazardous substances are present at a work site.

Van de Kamp and others contended that it has been well documented that federal standards are not as strict as California’s.

The Democratic attorney general noted that the short-handled hoe, while banned in California because of back injuries suffered by farm workers who used it, is allowed in other states under federal law. Van de Kamp also said that the federal government has no “right-to-know” rules about hazardous substances at work sites.

“Trading in strong state standards for weak or non-existent federal protection risks needless injuries, it risks disabilities, it risks deaths,” Van de Kamp told the labor officials.

Roberti predicted “a long, hard, messy, tough, ugly battle.”

The Senate leader said part of the fight will include efforts to block Senate confirmation of the governor’s appointees to various labor commissions. “I pledge to you that every labor appointment that George Deukmejian makes until he changes his mind on Cal/Osha is going to find rough sledding in the California state Senate. I intend to vote no,” he said.

Responding for the governor, Donna Lipper, assistant press secretary, said: “Once again David Roberti is playing petty partisan politics. Our appointees should be judged on their qualifications, not on the budget.”

Assembly Speaker Brown described Deukmejian as “an enemy of organized labor.”

Brown said he and Roberti are meeting weekly in an effort to organize Democratic opposition.

“We intend to do guerrilla tactics, we intend to do whatever is necessary to make life in Sacramento very unpleasant for a man that I should think ought to be a permanent resident of Long Beach,” Brown said, referring to Deukmejian’s hometown.

Both Brown and Roberti predicted that elimination of the state program could lead to a substantial increase in liability insurance premiums for employers.

Words of caution were issued by John Henning, executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO. He noted that because Deukmejian can veto items from the budget, he holds “all the aces. We can’t realize anything by spitting in his face because that would be like spitting in the faces of the workers of California.”