Postscript on Iranian Couple Fired By NIOSH

It's kind of heartwarming to read about the the Afshari's faith in America after a court reversed their dismissal by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health for allegedly failing some kind of background check.

Shahla Afshari said the settlement has helped restore her faith in America.

“I believe that people from the Middle East, there are so many things they go through. Most of the time they are scared and don’t say anything,” she said.

“For those people, I have a message. You have to have faith in God. If you haven’t done anything, you have to fight for your integrity. You have to fight for your rights.”

Maybe. But I'm still having trouble getting past the fact that this happened in the first place, particularly now that more information has been released, and why it went on for so long after it was obvious to everyone that the government had screwed up -- big time.

The Afsharis’ lawsuit revealed that:

• The Federal Bureau of Investigations had decided the Afsharis were not a threat long before they were fired. A local FBI agent already had conducted a routine check and closed their file.
• A government official was forced to recant her sworn testimony about the couple. At first, she said she recommended to Howard that they be fired. Later, she said that her sworn testimony was “not consistent” with her current "recollection of matters.”
• The government officials in Atlanta who recommended their firing never interviewed their neighbors, co-workers or supervisors in Morgantown. They never talked to the local FBI agent, either.

For two years, the federal government tried to hide behind national security concerns, Karlin said. But earlier this year, a federal judge forced them to hand over documents about the firing, which helped lead to a settlement.

NIOSH Director John Howard says the firing was a mistake, although it was done "in good faith" at the time. Huh? Good faith for whom?

I know John Howard. He's a good, decent person. So if someone like him can get swept up in anti-immigrant (particularly anti-middle eastern) fever, what does that say about this country's defenses against flagrant and unfounded violations of people's rights -- even if they don't happend to be American citizens yet?

Related Articles

• Iranian Couple, Fired By NIOSH, Win Lawsuit, December 19, 2006
• Fighting For Freedom: Iranian Couple Still Trying To Get Their Jobs Back At NIOSH, December 10, 2006
• Terrorists in NIOSH? Someone Seems to Think So, December 13, 2004
  
  

NIOSH Reorganization: Bad Idea, According to Everyone Except CDC

The Washington Post covered the debate over CDC's controversial reorganization of NIOSH today. Although CDC Director Julie Gerberding argues that "the change will increase NIOSH's value by bringing efficiencies that will free up administrative funds for research," everyone else in the world seems to disagree:

The move has drawn protests from virtually every occupational health and safety organization in the country, including some representing labor and others more aligned with corporate management -- groups that usually are at policy loggerheads but that have shared interests in good science.

Opposition also crosses party lines. Letters opposing the change have been signed by every living former NIOSH director back to the Nixon administration and by assistant secretaries for labor and health from both Republican and Democratic administrations.

"This may be the first issue in the last decade that all the worker safety and health stakeholder groups agree on," said Frank White, a Reagan administration labor official who is now vice president of Organization Resources Counselors Inc., an international management and human resources consulting firm that advises on occupational health issues for 150 large corporations. "It's hard to see a reorganization like this making NIOSH more effective."

Gerberding has met with opposition groups, but according to UAW health and safety director Frank Mirer, She expressed real concern and passion for NIOSH....But in the end, he said, "the message to us was 'Get over it. This is a done deal.'"

Republican Senator Arlen Specter (PA),chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over the CDC, disagrees and plans to hold hearings on the change before it's implemented.