The standard may be dead, but the pain lives on. Even though Congress has killed OSHA's ergonomics standard, repetitive strain injuries caused by poorly designed workplaces are still disabling more than a half-million workers every year. The UFCW is carrying on the fight to stop the pain, with or without an ergo standard.

After Congress killed the ergo standard, UFCW President Doug Dority and five UFCW workers affected by repetitive stress injuries met with Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao to discuss how to protect workers from repetitive strain injuries.

Three workers recounted the work processes that caused their repetitive strain injuries. Julio Gonzalez, who worked for eight years at the Northern States Beef (ConAgra) packing plant in Omaha, Neb., described the disabling shoulder injuries that forced him to quit. Twenty-year Local 400 member Jennifer Hunter, a poultry worker at Tyson Foods in Glen Allen, Va., told Chao about the constant pain in her wrist, shoulder, and elbow that plant managers claim is not job-related. Grocery cashier Carolyn Shebora, a Local 400 Executive Board member, talked about the carpal tunnel syndrome that started as a tingling and numbness in her fingers and eventually required surgery in both hands and a shoulder.

Then Chao heard from workers who have experienced firsthand how ergonomics programs prevent musculoskeletal disorders. Local 222 member Carmen Hacht, who worked at the IBP meatpacking plant in Dakota City, Neb., for more than 25 years, was one of 18 monitors for the company's ergonomics program, set in place in 1988 through an OSHA enforcement action. She discussed her monthly walkarounds in which she would talk with other workers and send out questionnaires to pinpoint problems to be addressed at the Joint Labor/Management Ergonomics Committee meetings. "IBP's program is one of the best," said Hacht. "It has helped lower injury rates, raise productivity, and ensure a better quality of life for workers."

Local 544 member Ken Demaray who works at the Excel beef plant in Friona, Tex., told Secretary Chao that his contract provides an excellent ergonomics program. "The company loves it," he says. "It saves them a fortune and protects workers."

Later, UFCW President Dority called on Secretary Chao to begin work on a standard to protect workers against ergonomic hazards. Dority also asked the Labor Secretary to take immediate action under the occupational safety and health law's general mandate to provide every worker with a safe workplace. He advised Chao that under the general duty clause of the workplace safety and health law, the UFCW will be filing complaints with OSHA in all work locations with ergonomic hazards.

"We expect, and workers will demand,OSHA enforcement action," said Dority. "Our 1.4 million members are committed to winning the fight for health and safety in the workplace."