Wednesday, October 20, 2004

Illinois To Investigate Immigrant Worker Fatalities

Being forced to deal with empty rhetoric and an attempt to turn OSHA into a toothless advisory agency, it's refreshing to see that there are politicians in this country who really care about workplace safety problems, especially among immigrant workers:

In an effort to protect immigrant laborers from unsafe working environments, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has appointed a special panel to investigate the high incidence of work related death rates among Hispanic immigrant workers. The reported rising number of injuries and fatalities among immigrant workers in the transportation, construction, agriculture, retail and service industries
prompted the Governor to create this worker safety panel.

"We are going to do absolutely everything possible to protect our immigrant workers," the Governor commented. "I am appointing these individuals so they can provide recommendations to insure that after a hard day of work, Illinois workers can return home safely to their families."