The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) has been the first to step up to the plate and lobby for the rights of US citizens working on US Government projects overseas. They recently published this article “IBEW Urges Electrical Safety At U.S. Bases” (pg 3) in their monthly national magazine The Electrical Worker. It has nearly 1 Million subscribers. Woo Hoo!!! Getting the word out!
Most people do not realized that once you leave this country OSHA, NEC and labor laws do not apply. Any implementation and oversight is voluntary. I worked on a US project in China. There was no government safety oversight. It was all up to the contractor. So, you can just imagine how safe that job was.
U.S labor organizations, for the most part, do not have jurisdiction outside the US and Canada. Regardless, the IBEW supports US citizens working for US contractors on US Government funded (your tax dollars) projects overseas. These projects may include the construction and modification of U.S. Military Facilities, U.S. Embassies and U.S. Consulates to name a few. The IBEW feels these US citizens should be afforded the same rights as their Stateside counterparts. They fully understand the importance of workplace safety and worker rights.
This is how I look at it. If it’s important enough for me to have a Top Secret security clearance to work on a specific construction job for the US Government in some God forsaken third world country, then it’s important enough that I have OSHA protection, OSHA oversight, a damn OSHA inspector on site!!!! I would like to have some labor law protection. No more threats to be fire if I don’t shut up about safety violations!! It would be great if the National Electrical Code (NEC) applied and was actually enforced.
I am convinced if these laws had already been in place, electricians and other workers would have had some recourse and the electrical catastrophe in Iraq would be non-existent.
My personal “THANK YOU” to Joe Esmonde at my IBEW Local 48 and to Dan Gardner at the IBEW International Office in Washington DC for their continued support and encouragement to “press on”!
It’s time for other Labor Organizations to get involved. Email me.
Ms Sparky
