Basic Health and Safety Rights

After years of hard fighting, the labor movement has achieved certain basic rights (in the law and in our contracts) for workers and unions when it comes to health and safety. Those basic rights are listed below.

  • The right to a workplace free of recognized health and safety hazards. (OSHA)

  • The right to establish a union health and safety committee with total facility access and investigative authority, including release time. (contract language)

  • The right to any and all health and safety information, including monitoring and medical surveillance information, to allow the union to carry out its duty of fair representation. (OSHA and NLRB)

  • The right to bring outside experts into the facility to conduct inspections and evaluations. (NLRB, contract language)

  • The right to file OSHA complaints and have OSHA inspections. (OSHA)

  • The right to refuse unsafe work (under limited conditions). (OSHA, contract language and NLRB)

    Hazardous Materials Workbook, OCAW/ Labor Institute
    New York, Apex Press, 1996, p.377.