NC labor officials haven’t had worker safety advice from outside in five years required by law

[Omaha Steve]

X post in Labor & Socialist-Progressive

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article18419555.html

BY MANDY [e-mail]
04/13/2015 3:40 PM

RALEIGH
North Carolina Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry has 11 citizens she can rely on for guidance about worker safety issues.

It’s been five years, though, since Berry and her team called them together for a meeting.

State lawmakers established the State Advisory Council on Occupational Safety and Health when they drafted state workplace safety laws in the 1970s. As commissioner, Berry appoints the members and must select from labor advocates, management representatives, a migrant labor expert and three others with knowledge of worker health and safety issues.

The law is clear: the council “shall hold no fewer than two meetings during each calendar year.”

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article18419555.html#storylink=cpy

FULL story at link.

[yallerdawg]

1. They have to prioritize because of budget restraints (a.k.a. Republican tax cuts):

Not all Labor Department travel stopped in 2010. According to minutes of the final advisory council meeting in 2010, Berry and four of her staff traveled to Charlotte in March 2010 for a ceremony celebrating the safe completion of the NASCAR Hall of Fame building.