Illegal activities of Southern Bosses for the weeks between Friday, February 28, and Friday, March 7
There continues to be no new enforcement actions or resolutions of enforcement actions at the EEOC, OSHA, MSHA, and DOL.
Texas Killer
You’ll remember that a couple weeks back I told yall how an electrician at a Tesla plant in Texas died on the job. OSHA investigated, and concluded their investigation, but at the time refused to make the results of the investigation public.
The death happened on August 1, while the worker was inspecting electrical panels. The family subsequently filed a wrongful death lawsuit, alleging “negligence and argu[ing] that the panel was supposed to be inactive but had already been powered up, resulting in Gomez’s electrocution” according to Reuters.
Because of the atypical nature of the secrecy, Texas Representative Greg Casar, a Democrat who represents the district that the plant is located in, demanded the results of the investigation be made public, saying on Twitter: “An electrician’s death cannot be ignored simply because the CEO he was working for is Elon Musk. I’m demanding the release of the results of the investigation into the death of Victor Joe Gomez Sr., who was electrocuted while working at Elon’s Gigafactory in my district.”
Those results have now been made public, although OSHA doesn’t have a press release about the incident, which would be normal.
OSHA issued a citation of $49,650 against Tesla in late January. This is the total of three $16,550 “serious” violations, all at the maximum level for a serious violation.
Jordan Barab, a former OSHA official who maintains a workplace safety newsletter that can be found at jordanbarab.com/confinedspace, explained the violations:
One violation was for lack of personal protective equipment, stating that an “employee was working in close proximity to energized parts without wearing appropriate personal protective equipment.”
A second violation stated that “Employee(s) were permitted to work in proximity to electric power circuits that were not protected against electric shock by de-energizing and grounding the circuits or effectively guarding the circuits by insulation or other means. The “employee was performing an inspection on an Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) cabinet without it being de-energized.” OSHA has a standard, commonly known as the lockout-tagout standard that requires hazardous equipment to be “de-energized” or “locked out” before any maintenance is conducted.
The final item was a violation of an electrical standard, stating that “quality control employees were exposed to electrical hazards while performing tests and inspections on newly installed electrical equipment without prior hazard analysis, warning signs, and communication of safe work procedures.”
Before work began the employer did not ascertain by inquiry or direct observation, or by instruments, whether any part of an energized electric power circuit, exposed or concealed, was so located that the performance of the work could bring a person, tool, or machine into physical or electrical contact with the energized electric power circuit. The employer did not post and maintain proper warning signs where such a circuit existed. The employer did not advise employees of the location of such lines, the hazards involved, and the protective measures to be taken.
There is no indication that Musk has contested the citation, although the citation is still listed as “open.”
As we mentioned last time, Tesla is notorious for violating workplace safety rules. Just last year, OSHA fined the company for multiple issues just last year and you can look at the cases online right now. Those violations involved lacking protections from chemical hazards.
Union Busters
Brought to you by LaborLab: The nation’s leading watchdog standing with working families to stop employer coercion and intimidation. Visit www.laborlab.us for more info.
This segment of Boss Watch – union busters, covering national updates – is sponsored by LaborLabor. LaborLab is an employer watchdog organization. They are committed to safeguarding the right to organize through unions, collective bargaining, and mutual aid. They do this by combing through reports that union busters are required to file with the Department of Labor
- Citizen Access Residential Resources (Olympia, WA) hired Action Resources for $3,950/day
- Citizens Access is a non-profit that supports adults with developmental disabilities
- Action Resources (which sometimes also goes by the name Team Optimal Employee Relations) is owned by by Alex “Alejandro” Casillas
- Action Resources sub-contracted Lighto Labor for $2,000/day
- Luz “Luzo” Slim is the President of Lighto Labor and a senior consultant at Action Resources, and she is a former union representative for HERE Local 11 (prior to the merger with UNITE), and only two years before her transition to union busting work, organized alongside Cesar Chavez. Workers alleged in a hearing that Slim and other labor consultants targeted and tricked Haitian and Latino workers, in part by telling religious workers that “the union was the work of the devil.” She has also been delinquent on various statements of information required to be filed annually, According to the California Secretary of State
- A union campaign is ongoing
- EDP (Burnsville, MN) (which does business as Quality Propane of MN) hired Independent Center for Worker Education for $350/hour
- Rian Wathen is president of the Independent Center for Worker Education, which also does business as “The Labor Educators.” Wathen is a former union organizer, having worked for UFCW for 15 years starting in 1990.
- Workers lost the union election 2-6
- Vacuum Truck Rentals (Richland, MS) hired LRI Consulting Services for $425/hour
- Amazon DSD5 (Vista, CA) hired Keith Williams via RoadWarrior Productions for $2,000/day
- Amazon DJZ4 (Kearny, NJ) hired Keith Williams via RoadWarrior Productions for $2,000/day
- Clean Harbors (Stockton, CA) hired Action Resources for $3,750/day
- Optum Health (Chappaqua, CA) hired YSA Consulting in 2023
Due to a lack of enforcement, some labor relations consultants may disregard the law and fail to report their activities to the U.S. Department of Labor. Therefore, it’s crucial for organizers and workers to report suspected “persuader” activity to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS).
It’s crucial for organizers and workers to report suspected “persuader” activity to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS). You can reach them via email at OLMS-Public@dol.gov, by calling (202) 693-0123, or by contacting your nearest OLMS District Office.
For assistance, please contact LaborLab at contact@laborlab.us.