One of the country's biggest labor organizations is calling on the federal government to take control of South Carolina's occupational safety administration.
South Carolina is one of the 22 states allowed to run its own OSHA program. SC-OSHA is managed by the State Department of Labor.
The federal law that allows that stipulates the state's occupational safety and health regulations are -- the words of the statute --"as least as effective" as the federal system.
The Service Employees International Union argues that is not the case in South Carolina, where its lawyer says a subpar enforcement program and “skeletal inspection force” are failing to protect workers and preventing accountability.
The Union's petition asks federal regulators to take control of SC-OSHA. The Union has been lobbying for that for a long time, particularly targeting fast food employees as well as warehouse workers and retail personnel to support their effort and consider union representation.
A large crowd of workers showed up at a rally Thursday in Columbia.
