Labor upset over Tomblin's cuts in workplace safety (never been fully funded)

[Omaha Steve]

http://sundaygazettemail.com/News/201104020886

April 2, 2011
Labor upset over Tomblin's cuts in workplace safety
By Paul J. Nyden

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, acting as governor, recently cut funding by 75 percent for the Occupational Safety and Health program that inspects and regulates working conditions for state employees.

Created in 1987, the state OSHA program has never been fully funded. This year, state legislators voted to increase financial support for the program.

Earlier this year, state Labor Commissioner Dave Mullens said his agency needed $800,000 in startup money for OSHA enforcement, including salaries for 11 new field safety inspectors, office furniture and computers.

The House of Delegates passed legislation including that $800,000. The Senate reduced it to $400,000. Then Tomblin's line-item veto cut it down to $98,500, none of which can be used to hire safety inspectors.

Kenny Perdue, president of the West Virginia AFL-CIO, recently applauded House of Delegates Speaker Rick Thompson, D-Wayne, and other legislators "for their vision in funding the existing state employees' OSHA program.

FULL story at link.