NATIONAL NEWS

Union alleges neglect in South Carolina safety inspections

Apr 4, 2023, 3:52 PM

Sersie Cobb, a forklift operator, speaks at a strike outside a Ryder System Inc. warehouse in Colum...

Sersie Cobb, a forklift operator, speaks at a strike outside a Ryder System Inc. warehouse in Columbia, S.C., Tuesday, April 4, 2023. The Union of Southern Service Workers filed a federal complaint Tuesday accusing the South Carolina Occupational Safety and Health Administration of neglecting to plan inspections of industries with predominantly Black workers. (AP Photo/James Pollard)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

(AP Photo/James Pollard)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina agency tasked with ensuring occupational safety is accused of racial discrimination by failing to routinely inspect disproportionately Black workplaces in a federal complaint backed by a new union that seeks to boost labor organizing across the South.

The civil rights complaint filed Tuesday marks an escalation of the efforts by the Union of Southern Service Workers, an outgrowth of the Fight for $15 campaign’s southern branch, that launched last fall with pledges to leverage the collective power of retail, fast food and warehouse employees.

According to the group’s analysis, the South Carolina Occupational Safety and Health Administration neglects industries staffed predominantly by Black employees compared to fields filled largely by workers of other races. The complaint said the agency conducted zero programmed inspections from 2018 to 2022 of food/beverage and general merchandise retailers — where Black people make up 45.9% and 37.9% of workers, respectively. One such inspection was allegedly done across the food service industry, a workforce that is two-fifths Black.

Construction — where Black people compose less than a tenth of workers — received 237 programmed inspections during that period, according to the complaint. The union said the other industries had the same if not greater rates of nonfatal injuries and illnesses compared to construction.

“SC OSHA selects sites for programmed inspections in a manner resulting in the disparate exclusion of black workers,” Mary Joyce Carlson, the union’s legal counsel, wrote in the complaint. “Moreover, this discrimination leaves thousands of low-wage black workers vulnerable to preventable injury and illness.”

The complaint asks the U.S. Department of Labor to investigate the state agency’s process for deciding where it conducts planned, or “programmed,” inspections.

Lesia Kudelka, the communications director for the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, said in a Tuesday email that the South Carolina Occupational Safety and Health Administration is reviewing a copy of the complaint.

Between chants of “safe jobs now,” striking workers described hazardous conditions at a Tuesday rally of about 40 people outside a Ryder System Inc. warehouse in Columbia, South Carolina. The Union of Southern Service Workers said hundreds of workers in South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia participated in the group’s first multi-state strike since the launch.

Fast food workers reported filing Occupational Safety and Health Administration complaints after getting burned on the job. Amber Biggs said she has been burned six times in her six months working at Popeyes, where her store lacks splash shields and long gloves. Trish Anderson said she got burnt when fryers at a Wendy’s caught fire and she was told to stay on the clock.

Sersie Cobb, a Ryder forklift operator since November 2022, said 100-foot-tall (30-meter-tall) stacks of pallets containing pasta packages block fire exits and often collapse. Cobb said workers say wood and parcels fall so frequently that they’ve taken to calling the occurrences “pasta parties.” When Cobb picks up the cases, he has no company-provided protective gear like hard hats or safety goggles, he said.

The concerns prompted Cobb and other employees to file complaints with the state Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Warehouse workers said inspectors came last week. Cobb hopes their arrival will bring changes but said they should have arrived sooner.

“South Carolina OSHA also has to be held accountable for being here routinely doing these routine inspections. It shouldn’t be on the worker to go above and beyond to seek safety,” Cobb said. “I shouldn’t have to come into my job and see unsafe things and drive a wedge between me and my other coworkers.”

In a statement Tuesday, Ryder System Inc. acknowledged the allegations and said it is working closely with the occupational safety agency. The company said it has “well established” mechanisms to “prevent, detect and/or correct any concerns about employee health, safety, and security in all of our facilities.”

Local leaders celebrated Tuesday’s action as an example of a revitalized labor movement. Charles Brave Jr., the president of the South Carolina AFL-CIO, said there’s a “new wave” in the state with the lowest reported unionization rate in the country.

Organizers looking to turn high levels of union approval into on-the-ground victories have been drawing cross-sector support in the months following the launch. The Union of Southern Service Workers joined the only two full-time workers at a Dollar General outside Columbia earlier this year, The Post and Courier reported. In Tuesday’s filing, the union said the state Occupational Safety and Health Administration closed a complaint of mold and infestation at that store after officials shared photos of a different location without the alleged violations.

The union plans to continue filing complaints as organizers intensify their focus on workplace safety. Carlson said the legal team is looking into how safety regulations are enforced throughout the Southeast, where many of the named corporations have big operations.

“We want to start taking them seriously,” Carlson said.

South Carolina is one of 22 states that has its own agency overseeing occupational safety in the private sector. The complaint asks federal officials to ensure the state’s compliance or undertake regulation themselves.

___

James Pollard is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

National News

Associated Press

Baltimore bridge collapse puts the highly specialized role of ship’s pilot under the spotlight

The expert pilots who navigate massive ships in and out of Baltimore’s port must often maneuver with just 2 feet (0.6 meter) of clearance from the channel floor and memorize charts, currents and every other possible maritime variable. The highly specialized role — in which a pilot temporarily takes control of a ship from its […]

2 hours ago

Associated Press

California man convicted of killing his mother is captured in Mexico after ditching halfway house

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California man convicted of killing his mother as a teenager was captured in Mexico a week after he walked away from a halfway house, violating the conditions of his probation, authorities said. Ike Nicholas Souzer, 20, was arrested Wednesday in the coastal city of Rosarito by U.S. Customs […]

2 hours ago

Associated Press

Oklahoma judge rules death row inmate not competent to be executed

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma judge ruled Thursday that a death row inmate is not competent to be executed for his role in the 1999 slayings of a mother and son. Pittsburg County Judge Michael Hogan issued an order in the case involving 61-year-old James Ryder in that county. “The court could go on […]

4 hours ago

Associated Press

Law enforcement executed search warrants at Atlantic City mayor’s home, attorney says

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — A lawyer for Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small said law enforcement officers visited the mayor’s home Thursday morning to execute search warrants, but would not reveal further information, including whether anyone was taken into custody. Edwin Jacobs confirmed that officers went to Small’s home with search warrants, but would not […]

4 hours ago

Associated Press

Massachusetts joins with NCAA, sports teams to tackle gambling among young people

BOSTON (AP) — Top Massachusetts officials joined with NCAA President and former Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker on Thursday to announce a new initiative aimed at tackling the public health harms associated with sports gambling among young people. Baker said those harms extend not just to young people making bets, but to student athletes coming under […]

4 hours ago

Associated Press

Older Florida couple found slain in their home; police believe killer stole their car

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Florida police are seeking the public’s help in finding a car stolen from an older couple who were found shot to death in their home. Fort Lauderdale Police on Thursday reissued an all-points bulletin for a red 2014 Ford Fusion that belonged to Major Melvin, 89, and his 87-year-old wife, […]

5 hours ago

Union alleges neglect in South Carolina safety inspections