Morgantown, W.Va. – Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of the US Ministry of Health, has announced in the past few days that about 20 percent of the federal jobs he monitored in about 20 percent of federal jobs, and some workers would keep their work.
It remains unclear whether this would have an impact on the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health Offices and Labors in Morgantown.
Last week, the ax fell on the Morgantown Niosh with 185 trade union employees that their jobs removed and that dozens of more jobs were eliminated for untracting units.
The US Senator Shelley Moore Capito said the office was “cut to the bones” and there are very few workers left there.
Capito spoke to Kennedy about Niosh on Thursday.
“During their discussion, the secretary undertook to review the decision of Niosh and to keep the health and security of our miners in line if they make decisions in the future,” said Kelley Moore, Communication Director of Capito.
Kennedy previously said that the DHHS cuts were made to remedy redundancy between agencies with similar departments. He said the goal was to eliminate layoffs and quote things like more than 100 communication departments, 40 procurement departments and dozens of them and HR departments in the DHHs.
Kennedy described the cuts in response to one that he described as a reduction in the “bureaucratic spread”.
Morgantown Niosh Retiree Anita Wolfe said that the problem is that your former agency is very unique and not only serves workers and employers, but also two other important federal authorities. The functions fulfilled by Niosh are considerably and effective for both the workforce and the employer.
“For employees, employers and our nation to make it safer, healthier and more productive,” said Wolfe. “For employers, Niosh evaluations and solutions lead to safer work environments that can reduce the costs for the remuneration of employees and lost productivity.”
Most of the cuts have gutted in Morgantown- an agency that feeds important research data to the work and security administration (OSHA) and the minor security and health administration (MSHA). The three organizations are significantly different – Niosh defines the standards, while the Osha forces them in the workplace and Msha enforces them in the mining industry, said Wolfe.
“Niosh differs from both the Osha and MSHA because these are the supervisory authorities,” said Wolfe. “The research authorities carried out by Niosh is used to develop their regulations.”
The American Federation of Government Local 3430, 30-year-old Niosh workers, Cathy Tinney-Zara, said they had assurances that no cuts would be made for programs. She said that before the announcement on April 1, they were announced that the cuts would be mainly carried out in administrative areas.
“That it would not have an impact on studies or programs, and this is not the case in Morgantown because there are research that has been interrupted,” said Tinney-Zara.
On the day on which the announcement received, the facility received an animal to continue research, which reports had to be put to sleep, as there were no researchers. Other sectors that analyze the air quality in the workplace and other safety processes were closed, said Tinney-Zara.
“What he says and what actually happens are two different things,” said Tinney-Zara. “We are affected by our research – everything in Niosch is affected.”
Tinney-Zara said she and the American worker and industry could be affected because the around 180 workers who were abandoned on Tuesday are waiting for a final decision by the federal government.
“Everything that is going on at Niosh is affected, and in the long run the workers who are injured will be,” said Tinney Zara.