On Workers Memorial Day 2024, Injured Workers Demand Justice at CA State Oakland Building

On 2024 Workers Memorial Day, injured workers and their supporters rallied at the California State Buidling in Oakland. They spoke about the struggle of injured ILWU longshore and other workers who are still fighting for their benefits and treatment.

The California AFL-CIO refuses to challenge and confront Newsom about the fact that there are less than 200 OSHA inspectors in California with 18 million workers and have made no statement about the collapsing CA-OSHA agency. There are less than 1,000 OSHA inspectors in the United States with 158 million workers.

Workers also reported on the systemic corruption of the workers compensation system including the capture of the Admistrative Judges and other agencies by the insurance industry and the corporations including SSA and other shipping companies.

Previous Governor Brown outsourced part of the workers compensation system to the Maximus corporation in a no bid contract which has anonymous doctors who are not even licensed in California making determinations about whether injured workers should get their medical treatment. This system according to workers has stalled their treatment and made many injured workers permanently disabled by the failure to get prompt treatment.

Additional Media:
Injured Longshore Workers Speak Out & Rally Against Corrupt Workers Comp System & Corporate Crimes
https://youtu.be/K8QY3JhqJ4E

Seriously Injured CA Workers Can't Get Healthcare As Outsourced Maximus Denies Care Using IMR’s
https://youtu.be/iVpPVRIHNWA

Injured Workers Face Stacked Deck During Workers Comp Appeals
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Injured-Workers-Face-Stacked-Deck-During-Workers-Comp-Appeals-Process-Critics-Say--391202731.html

OSHA, Whistleblowing, Racism, Workers Comp & Systemic Corruption with SLO Park Ranger Reginald Fagan
https://youtu.be/H4xrdBO8ny4

Destruction of Cal-OSHA, The Pandemic, Newsom, The Democrats &The Working Class with Cal-OSHA Industrial Hygienist Charles Rachlis
https://youtu.be/5oftItpGbwY

1,000 Cal/OSHA Inspectors NOW! Workers Over Profits Rally At Oakland OSHA Office
https://youtu.be/rqhW5CtxaoE

"Regulations Written In Blood" Charles Rachlis At 2011 Workers Memorial Day In San Francisco
https://youtu.be/eASTs_2ydz8

CAPS, State Workers And How To Fight Back And Defend Labor By Charles Rachlis
https://youtu.be/JnublujbnaA

Profit Over Lives At JBS: Covid, OSHA and Life & Death With UFCW 7 President Kim Cordova
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhLSqAeFKgQ

The Foster Farms Covid-19 Deaths & The Community With Deep Singh of The Jakara Movement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYWZbkdnQds

Covid, Death & Capitalist Crimes In California's Central Valley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdhVkIoRWNo&t=11s

The Covid Pandemic & Central Valley Agricultural Workers
https://youtu.be/wUp42Eqb7R8

Workers, Liability, The Hero's Act and Health and Safety On The Job With UFCW Local 7 President Kim Cordova
https://youtu.be/ezmEDOiR9s0

Covid, Death & Capitalist Crimes In California's Central Valley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdhVkIoRWNo&t=11s

Investigation: Counties With Meatpacking Plants Report Twice the National Average Rate of COVID-19 Infections
https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2020/05/ewg-map-counties-meatpacking-plants-report-twice-national-average-rate

America’s Largest Food & Retail Union Confirms Growing COVID-19 Impact on Frontline Workers
http://www.ufcw.org/2020/06/25/covidupdate/

Covid & The Staffing Crisis At Cal/OSHA With Garrett Brown MPH, CIH Retired From Cal/OSHA & Researcher
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JBRHGoJSLA

Tesla, Covid-19, Elon Musk, Cal-OSHA & Gov. Gavin Newsom-Interview With Tesla Worker Carlos Gabriel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx9fRymBiqk

'We Need A Safe Workplace! Tesla Worker Carlos Gabriel Speaks Out For Safety In Elon Musk's Tesla Plant
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGLb61Iy5VQ

Jail Tesla Billionaire Elon Musk & Defend Health & Safety: Workers Speak Out At Tesla Fremont Plant
https://youtu.be/GBB5y5Q6cZI

Elon Musk "He Thinks He Is Above The Law" Rally at Tesla plant
https://youtu.be/rzPl6tm3k7U

TESLA Employees COVID-Positive, Gov.Newsom Responsible-June 12 Protest In Sacramento
https://patch.com/california/sacramento/calendar/event/20200612/838884/tesla-employees-covid-positive-gov-newsom-responsible

Protesters Outside Fremont Tesla Plant Demand Improved COVID-19 Safety For Workers
https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/06/15/protesters-fremont-tesla-plant-demand-improved-covid-19-safety-workers/

Workers Comp Drags Out Medical Care For Injured Workers
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/Workers-Comp-Drags-Out-Medical-Care-Injured-Workers-and-their-Doctors-Say-390979441.html

Maximus Threatens Injured Workers
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/MAXIMUS,_Inc.

Cal Fed Helping "reform to cut costs" & Hurting Workrs
http://www.calaborfed.org/index.php/page/sb_863_real_workers_comp_reform_to_reduce_costs_and_help_injured_workers
https://www.workcompcentral.com/columns/show/id/14caa0e496fa5f167278810758d7b4d4fb27e506

Production of Labor Video Project
http://www.labormedia.net

Chief of California’s OSHA program steps down as agency vacancy rate reaches historic levels "The report also included updates on his recent travels and photos of his dog (which some employees have described as “tone-deaf” amid a staffing crises)"
https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article283365483.html#storylink=cpy
BY MAYA MILLER
UPDATED DECEMBER 21, 2023 1:37 PM
Jeff Killip, the current chief of the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, will step down from his position with the Department of Industrial Relations in late January. His resignation comes as the division he leads, which is also known as Cal-OSHA, faces a historic staffing shortage.
A top division chief with the California Department of Industrial Relations will step down from his role next month after only two years in the position. Jeff Killip, the chief of the Division of Occupational Health and Safety (also known as Cal-OSHA), announced his resignation Wednesday night in an email to all Cal-OSHA staff. His final day will be Jan. 19. Killip will return to Olympia, Washington, to take on the role of Executive Director of the Washington State Utilities and Transportation Commission. He told staff that after Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed him chief in January 2022, the move from Washington to the Bay Area has been “harder on our family life than we anticipated.” “Despite adjustments and trouble-shooting possibilities, I could not sufficiently improve our situation,” he wrote in the email obtained by The Bee. “I have strong mixed feelings about the decision despite its clarity.” The resignation comes at what some have characterized as a tumultuous time for Cal-OSHA.
Among the more pressing issues that Killip inherited — and has yet to resolve — is a chronic staffing problem. The entire department lost its hiring authority in 2018 after an audit revealed former DIR director Christine Baker engaged in unfair hiring practices. The department earned back its ability to hire in 2021. But ever since, the human resources team has been hyper vigilant about ensuring every hire is merit-based — a practice that current Director Katie Hagen admittedly told The Bee earlier this year might have “over-corrected” the situation and led to sluggish hiring. Hiring and retention became a central mission of Killip’s during his time as division chief. He encouraged hiring managers to block out one day a week to focus on hiring.
He would send a progress report on hiring every week as part of his regular email blasts to Cal-OSHA staff. The report also included updates on his recent travels and photos of his dog (which some employees have described as “tone-deaf” amid a staffing crises).
Despite his verbal commitment to hiring, the numbers don’t show incredible progress. Killip presented data at a November Cal-OSHA advisory committee meeting that showed a nearly 35% vacancy rate among site safety inspector classifications. The data also showed the attrition rate for those jobs outnumbered external hires for a net loss of 36 people. “I wish it would go faster, but we’re making progress, and we’re definitely encouraged by that,”
Killip said at the November meeting in his remarks about hiring progress. He pointed out that the division has made a number of hires in the legal and consultation departments, as well as the Cal-OSHA administrative team. “We’re flying the plane while we’re building it so we can get more people on board more quickly.” The resignation comes amid an ongoing Sacramento Bee investigation into the consequences that Cal-OSHA’s high vacancy rate poses for workplace safety, the ability to hold employers accountable for serious injuries and deaths, and overall morale within the department. Garrett Brown said the timing of Killip’s resignation was too perfect to not have some connection to the staffing issues and persistently high vacancy rate.
Brown, a former special assistant to past Cal-OSHA Chief Ellen Widess, has been an outspoken advocate for staffing up Cal-OSHA ever since he first retired from the division in 2014 (he returned as a retired annuitant in 2020 to assist with the pandemic workload).
“I think there’s been growing pressure on the agency to do a better job at hiring and reducing the vacancy rates.,” Brown said. “And whatever efforts he’s made in that regard, which I believe are genuine, have not succeeded. “It wouldn’t surprise me that in seeing the writing on the wall — that this has become a political issue no doubt of concern to the governor’s office and certainly to the director of the Department of Industrial Relations.
He might’ve sought an off-ramp back to Washington rather than be a sacrificial lamb for the inability of Cal-OSHA and DIR to hire.”
Killip on Wednesday declined to comment further beyond the remarks in his email. “I am immensely grateful for my privileged time here with Cal/OSHA and super proud of the great work we have done together,” he wrote in the all staff email. “Cal/OSHA and California are amazing.”

Dangerous hollowing out of Cal/OSHA enforcement staff continues-Governor Newsom & Legislature Continue To Allow Destruction of CA OSHA
https://insidecalosha.org

Dear Colleagues:

The latest available data on Cal/OSHA’s field compliance inspector levels documents a dramatic and dangerous hollowing out of the worker protection’s agency capacity to enforce workplace health and safety regulations.

An office-by-office head count of filled and vacant compliance health and safety officer (CSHO) positions as of July 1, 2023 (not released by the Department of Industrial Relations until September 5th) reveals Cal/OSHA has 95 vacant field inspector positions for a vacancy rate of 35%. If the additional fully funded 14 vacant CSHO positions being held in reserve are included, there are 109 vacant CSHO positions for a rate of 38%.

The senior manager positions for Region 3 (San Diego, Santa Ana and San Bernardino) and the Process Safety Management (PSM) unit are vacant.

There are three District Offices without managers – Fresno, Van Nuys, and Santa Ana LETF offices – and four offices without any clerical staff – American Canyon, Los Angeles, Concord PSM Refinery, and Concord PSM Non-refinery units.

There are 10 District Offices that have CSHO vacancies of more than 35% of enforcement personnel:

- San Francisco, 67%
- San Bernardino, 62%
- Bakersfield, 50%
- Long Beach, 50%
- Fremont, 45%
- San Diego, 45%
- Van Nuys, 45%
- Sacramento, 42%
- PSM Refinery unit, 40%
- PSM Non-Refinery unit, 40%

The PSM Refinery unit has only 10 positions – four of which are vacant – leaving only six CSHOs to inspect the state’s 15 operating oil refineries. The PSM unit has no regional manager and Cal/OSHA does not use all the funds generated annually by a fee on the refineries’ production.

Overall, Cal/OSHA’s inspector to worker ratio is 1 inspector to every 110,000 workers in the state. This compares to ratios of 1 to 27,000 in Washington state and 1 to 26,000 in Oregon. Surely the workers of California deserve the same level of protection as workers in Oregon and Washington.

Other notable aspects of the most recent staffing data include:

- There are only 16 field enforcement inspectors at Cal/OSHA that are certified in speaking languages other than English;

- There is a vacancy rate of 32% (12 attorney positions) in the Cal/OSHA Legal Unit which handles employer appeals of citations, rulemaking, and legislative analysis;

- The Consultation unit (which provides free service to employers) has a vacancy rate of 28% in field consultants, and four of the seven Consultation Area Offices do not have an Area Manager.

Despite publicized efforts to fill these Cal/OSHA vacancies by the Department of Industrial Relations, the failure to do so over a period of years now means California cannot effectively protect the health, safety, and lives of the state’s 19 million workers.

Garrett Brown