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Originally posted by Thorfinn:
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The employers, not the government, chose to expose employees to toxins and other death-causing incidences so much the workers were forced to form unions and the government was forced to implement OSHA.
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NO! The employees chose to take on a job that was unsafe. If not for the fact that the gov't has sucked off so much of the business profits, and did not restrict entry into the market with things like licensure, there would be a bidding war for employees, and businesses would find it in their interests to be offer a safe workplace since employees will certainly figure their safety as a part of the total compensation package.
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You make good points, Thorfinn, especially regarding payroll taxes. However, I can tell you for a fact that companies do not inform employees of the dangers.
Take asbestos for instance. I have represented plaintiffs in these toxic cases, and have shown up at work to discover my client had died by opening a package that was on my desk which contained his lung. None of these folks working in construction in the 1940's, 50's, and 60's were ever told that they should even wear masks even though scientific reports dating back to 1898 found the lung disease problems of asbestos and silica dust. In fact, in the book "Outrageous Misconduct," you will find a thorough delinieation of how the industry KNEW as early as 1930 that cancer and lung disease resulted from asbestos exposure yet PURPSOSEFULLY hid the information from the press, the gov't, and doctors.
In short, the companies, Johns-Manville chief among them, CHOSE to risk worker deaths. Let's not forget that after the heavily-supported-by-industry Worker's Comp law was passed, there was a absolute max cap on worker injuries. Thus, the companies knew that even if they did kill the employees, they would only be liable for the employee wages at most. Industrial Health Officers in most companies admit this is a license to treat employees as guinea pigs.
Oh, and if you've ever met a mother and daughter who are also suffering mesothelioma or some other nasty lung disease simply because they washed those snow-white asbestos-laden work clothes during the 60's, you will be especially angry. [img]graemlins/1pissed.gif[/img]
No, friend, the corporations choose to do this to workers. If they are unchecked, that is. Besides, if there was no control, we would all work dangerous jobs, as no other jobs would exist. You referenced the Davis case. Well, in the 1920s after corportations had for decades used the "right to contract" as justification for child labor and 14-hour work days, the Supreme Court finally said such a notion was bullsh*t. The decision is called Lochner, and is very famous.