Every year two million people suffer from repetitive stress injuries. More than $500 million in “Honest Graft” killed an eleven-year effort to establish ergonomics regulations that would have helped end the suffering.

How 'Honest Graft' Killed Relief for Injured Workers 

Relief seemed so close for the two million people victimized each year by tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome and similar job-related injuries.

It was Aug. 30, 1990 when Elizabeth Dole, Secretary of Labor under President George Bush, stepped to the podium and called for new OSHA regulations to cover the single-largest cause of workplace injuries in America. She wanted OSHA to require changes in tools, workstations and processes, so workers would no longer be forced to twist, strain and damage their hands, backs and limbs simply to perform their jobs.  

Her announcement launched 11 years of political infighting, scientific studies and public hearings before OSHA’s long-awaited “Ergonomics Standard” was finally issued on January 16, 2001.

But the fighting only escalated as the U.S. House and Senate took immediate and extraordinary action to repeal the new regulations. On March 20, 2001 a signature by Republican President George W. Bush killed the OSHA protections his father’s Republican administration had first proposed.

What happened to cause such a dramatic reversal? Money happened: more than one-half billion dollars in political cash. The IAM Journal has traced the political contributions made by major business groups, trade associations and corporations opposed to the ‘Ergo Standard.’ We did not try to track every political dollar spent by these groups during the 11-year battle. Instead we looked at the period from Feb. 1, 1999 (when OSHA issued its draft Ergonomics Standard) through March 20, 2001 when Bush signed its death certificate. Nor did we try to track the spending of every group opposed to the measure. Instead, we looked at 272 companies and associations that were most publicly involved in the “Anti-Ergo” campaign ― the groups that “lead the charge.”

Even this sharply limited snapshot demonstrates how oceans of political money can drown out the cries of millions of injured Americans.

The Anti-Ergo groups pumped a whopping $533,120,397 into the political money machine during the crucial months when the Ergo Standard was published, enacted into law and then crushed. Collectively, they poured $36,728,848 into the campaign coffers of Congressional incumbents and wannabes, and they spent a mind-blowing $496,391,549 to lobby the Congressional members and staff, White House officials and government regulators.

The 63 leading members of National Coalition on Ergonomics alone (see box below) accounted for more than $100 million of the total monies spent during that period.

The IAM Journal also examined PAC contributions by the 272 companies and associations to key Congressional players. Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO), who led the House campaign against the standard, pocketed $322,819 from the Anti-  Ergo forces during the period in question.