How Corporate Democrats Undermined Workers' Health and Safety in California

Background and Objectives:  In January 2011, Democrat Jerry Brown succeeded Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor of California.  Within three years, the state’s workplace health and safety agency – Cal/OSHA – had fewer staff and resources under Brown than under Schwarzenegger.  The presentation’s objective is to identify the underlying ideological and political goals that generated this decline and prevented an effective response by union officials and labor lobbyists to defend workplace protections.

 Methods: The presentation will outline the statistical decline in resources and describe the pressures on Cal/OSHA managers to “go easy” on politically-connected employers and corporations in several case studies.  Efforts by labor and occupational health and safety professional organizations to counter-act these pressures and trends will be described.

 Results: Over the course of Jerry Brown’s first term, budget resources and political support for enforcing workplace safety regulations on California employers declined, and there was no effective overall response by labor.  Persistent efforts by individual labor activists and OHS groups, however, has led to additional resources and staffing for Cal/OSHA being promised at the start of Brown’s second term.

 Conclusion:  The ideology and policies of corporate Democrats in California undermined protections of workers’ health and safety in California from 2011-14.  An ineffective response by labor officials and lobbyists was unable to counteract this trend.  Ongoing publicity and campaigns for effective workplace protections are necessary for making political promises in 2015 a reality.