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June 3, 2002

Milt Jenkins
612 Court Street #1
Sioux City, Iowa 51101

Dear Milt:

Thank you for contacting me. It is always good to hear from my fellow Iowans.

I would like to apologize for the delay in getting back to you.. As you likely know, last fall, Senator Daschle's office received a letter tainted with anthrax which resulted in a long process to remediate and decontaminate the Hart Senate office building. In an effort to prevent a repeat of such an incident, public safety officials have put in place a lengthy process of irradiation, of all mail arriving at Congressional Offices. While this process is necessary to insure the safety of all those handling the mail, it has caused a significant delay in receiving your letter and thus in my response.

I want to emphasize how important it is to me that I keep in contact with you. Therefore, I am encouraging all Iowans to call, fax, or email their concerns to my state offices listed below or my Washington, D.C., office.

Now allow me to address your concerns. I've been working on the ergonomics workers safety rule since former Secretary of Labor Elizabeth Dole first addressed the issue 10-years ago under the previous Bush Administration. After a decade of research, debate, proposals, public hearing and rule-making, I am extremely disappointed that the Senate repealed the ergonomics rule under an obscure provision. I appreciate hearing of your interest in this matter and I will keep your thoughts in mind, should Congress address this matter again.

The 56-44 vote was done under the Congressional Review Act's (CRA) resolution of disapproval. The CRA is an extreme measure that had never before been used. The congressional intent of this law was to repeal rules that either were hastily issued without scientific basis or that clearly overreached an agency's mandate.

The ergonomics rule doesn't fit into either category. it certainly was not hastily issued. It was 10 years in the making, based on hundreds of scientifically-backed studies, including two by the National Academy of Sciences. We have study after study that show 1.8 million of America's workers suffer from repetitive strain disorders each year and 600,000 of them suffer from injuries so serious that they've lost time at work. These injuries drain $45-$50 billion a year from American business.

Secondly, this rule clearly falls under OSHA's mandate to protect America's workers from workplace injuries. Nearly a third of all serious job-related injuries are musculo-skeletal disorders (MSD's), and women workers are hardest hit. Women make up 46 percent of the workforce, but they accounted for 64-percent of repetitive motion injuries and 71 percent of reported carpal tunnel syndrome cases in 1998.

As you know, I voted against this measure. I disagree with using this extreme measure when opponents of ergonomics have two other avenues they are using to modify and even repeal the rule. They can request that the new Administration review and/or repeal the rule and they also have judicial review. In fact, opponents of the rule have filed 31 petitions contesting it in the U.S. Circuit Court.

I did not feel it was appropriate to jump the gun with an up-or-down vote without amendments and with only limited debate. This resolution will essentially prevent any similar rule from ever being issued unless Congress mandates it. I believe it violates the original intent of the CRA and it has violated the spirit of bipartisanship in the Senate.

This rule may not have been perfect, but wiping it out all together with one vote was areal blow to worker safety. The 15-page ergonomics rule was complaint-based and flexible according to each workplace and job. It would have saved employers billions of dollars every year by preventing these debilitating injuries to their workers.

Again, thanks for sharing your views with me. Please don't hesitate to let me know how you feel on any issue that concerns you.

Sincerely,

Tom Harkin
United States Senate