Dear FRONTLINE,As deeply disturbing as this story was, I felt a sense of inevitability for such a workplace to develop and prosper in the current political environment. The rise of the Republican party upon the message of "less government interference with the marketplace" and the apathy of the average American voter in electing representatives who truly advocate for the needs of workers and the environment by providing adequate funding for the oversight agencies in place will make McWane's more and more common. It is not surprising that the Bush administration made steel tubing products a "protected" product and raised tariff's on imports of these materials over the protests of our trading partners. From criminal accounting frauds that robs the average worker of his retirement to laws that make union organization more and more difficult, the legacy of the Republican party is being written in the hardships that the average working man and woman are only now beginning to see.
William Raymond
jacksonville, fl
Dear FRONTLINE, Thank you Frontline for being a voice for industry workers! What scares me the most is that for every one McWane Corp. exposed is the notion that several more exist. Maybe not in size but in mentaility. I have just been let go from a company in Boonville, MO that reeks of the same ideals as McWane. They are just not as large, and hopefully they never will be. It is time for the Amercian people to assert themselves!! When you see something wrong, Get up; Stand up . . . for your rights!
Tim Allen
columbia, mo
Dear FRONTLINE, I found the show to be very well written, however it only covered the tip of the ice berg. I worked for Tyler Pipe years ago, before it was purchased by McWane. Injury and death were a constant threat to all who walked into the plant. However having lived with the before McWane and after, the after is 100 times worse. The plant is like a huge vampire that sucks the life out of the men who walk into it. The men had tried to join a union but the majority of them were afraid that if they voted pro union and the union didn't get in that their jobs would be in jeopardy. Seems as if these plants feed off the poor and uneducated workers, people who are honest and want to work but never had a chance for higher education. It's time America did something to protect those who can't protect themselves.
dallas, tx
Dear FRONTLINE, Excellent Report! However, I was and still am devastated by the graphic images. We have so many attorneys in the country, where were/are they? Where was/is OSHA? Frightening.
I kept telling myself, is this in America? Your show certainly brought to light my niavete. I have never watched your program before, but I will from now on.
janne boswell-weir
orlando, florida
Dear FRONTLINE, Thank you McWane for giving Birmingham yet another bruise to her reputation. The Frontline report has outraged me and revealed a McWane that I was unaware of, and I am a lifelong resident of Birmingham. The steel industry is dangerous (all of my uncles can tell you that) but McWane should be prosecuted for not making their plants as safe as possible. They funded a museum in downtown Birmingham. They can keep their museum - give us a clean Village Creek!!!
birmingham, alabama
Dear FRONTLINE, Another fine show. But use of fines as enforcement is just dumb. Basically the only winner in a court case where a fine is assesed is the government. The government gets the money and the offender(s) get a stiff reprimand, sometimes with a concommittant mandate for random inspect by OSHA officials. According to your show, this method does not work. Any fine levied should not go to the government but should go directly to practical solutions to the problem. Not to some criminally priced 'consulting agency,' not to some government committee on the environment. We know how to fix most of these problems, we know how to find most of the abusers, we need to do that and not simply have money transferred from one corporate account to another corporate account.
Jason Day
tampa, fl
Dear FRONTLINE, A powerful program! One McWane is too many for American industry. As a plant manager, I feel that the answer is not as simple as OSHA enforcment and tougher regs. It must be a very upfront, direct, and business approach that will not threaten industry, but offer something to encourage improvments. Engineering, technology, and knowledge (e.g. job hazard analysis) exists & requires extensive communication and involvment by industries and commitment of $xxxx to the plant(s) for such efforts. Once rolling, the dividends are "ummeasurable". The conclusion like more ACIPCO's is very possible and is achieveable if Plant Managers (with Executive support) work for it & include realistic employee ideas. Ask Charles Jeffress about his successes with his cooperative industrial efforts (early 90's) during his tenure as OSHA chief, it worked for him.
Robert Webster
kailua, hi
Dear FRONTLINE, There is a real easy way to solve this problem. McWane makes sewer pipe, sewer pipe that is likely purchased by local, state or federal governments. Those governments should require their procurement processes be provided a copy of the OSHA 200 (reportable incident logs) for all divisions of the supplier and parent company - the safety records should then be assigned a weight (higher than price) in the decision process. A similar process could be included to evaluate the environmental record. Many private industries require this of subcontractors (including the major oil companies). This will ensure that the products purchased with our tax dollars are manufactured in a safe and responsible manner. As an Professional Engineering working as an environmental consultant I was deeply disturbed by the reported lack of teeth OSHA claims. In the environmental realm, corporate officers can be held personally liable and fined $25,000 per day per violation - jail time is also possible. I have personally witnessed several cases where the fines were levied by state environmental departments for extremely minor paperwork violations (where no environmental harm was done) for the same amount McWane was fined for killing and maiming its employees. Any Professional Engineer at who worked at McWane facility PE liscence should be investigated for failing to comply with the ethical requirements to protect health and safety. The buck has to stop somewhere. Ultimately it should be McWane's corporate officers, but you have to start somewhere.
mark bastasch
portland, or
Dear FRONTLINE, What a great report, about work place Saftey Violations. American Corporations, no longer care or give a damn about, the workers who help make them profitable, its a sad situtation !!! .. but if you think that industry is bad, which it is,.. I would like to invite you to do an investigation into the trucking industry, especially the "over the road" or "long haul" trucking aspect of this industry. The abuses in the trucking industry are equal to your report on this comp~~~ if not worse, and there is very little compliance if ~~~, the DOT, and OSHA are out to lunch on this issue, and more often than not, try to pass the buck, as to who's to enforce what, where and how !
kansas city, missouri
Dear FRONTLINE, I worked for a cement plant in California for 10 years and while our plant wasn't as unsafe as the ones showed on your program, we had some supers that always tried to put production above people's safety. As a union person I had the right to refuse the job if I thought it was unsafe! I thank you for showing the program and I hope workers everywhere will band together to work safely and lookout for each other as solidarity is all we have.
Bob Reilly
san francisco, calif
Dear FRONTLINE, Thank you for this enlightening documentary. I am now going to contact my congresspersons, OSHA, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Labor and the White House while copying the McWane Company in all of my correspondence. This indifference to human suffering is outrageous and I do not intend to stop contacting these entities about effective legislation until something is done.
John Briscoe
alameda, ca
Dear FRONTLINE,
I've been following the series in the Times, and thought your program was an excellent and very graphic follow-up. As a career employee in industry, I have always regarded OSHA as a nuisance at best. It is clear from this story that they are not even that. One is left with the impression that they exist to provide the public with the comforting impression that "someone is doing something." In terms of EFFECTIVE regulation and enforcement they are eunuchs, and were always meant to be. Under the Bush administration, we can expect them to be less effective than ever, I'm afraid.
Richard Wasteneys
port townsend, wa
Dear FRONTLINE, Who are McWane's customers? Where does the company sell its product? I'm canvassing all the government purchasing offices where I live to find out if local or state government support this kind of occupational carnage with our tax dollars. And I'll work to put a stop to it, if we do. It worked with ivory and now elephant herds in Africa are beginning to recover. It worked with South Africa practiced apartheid, and now they don't practice it any more. It has worked with Nike and other sweatshop operators overseas. It wouldn't be too hard, using the Internet, to coordinate nationwide activism against a management style at McWane, that was thought to have disappeared with the Pharohs.
Tom Collier
tucson, az
Dear FRONTLINE, Thank you for taking the time to look at the safety side of
the equation in the workplace. As one who has edured some criticism for my own awareness of safety issues, I am encouraged.
However, I must say that all too often workplace safety has been treated in a reactive way. Someone always has to die or be severely injured before anyone takes notice. And although now employers will encourage people to take note of hazards and tell supervisors, there is still a risk that doing so will bring you into conflict with those who are apathetic, many of which are your own fellow workers. People who are safety concience I have heard described as "Safety Bob" or as someone who is overly careful or paranoid or even weird. Sometimes this can be communicated in other ways. Once I was talking to a coworker about some safety devices used in lockout/tagout proceedures that I had found stored in abox. "Oh yeah", He said, "some guy got them to order that stuff. They finally got rid of him". So, as most of us on the frontlines know, this will be a continual battle we must be involved in and hopefully others will become more willing to help us in the fight.
minneapolis, mn
Dear FRONTLINE, Your documentary really hit close to home. I had been employed by the United States Pipe and Foundry Co. located in Burlington New Jersey. Ironically their main office is in Birmingham Alabama where they have another pipe foundry just like McWane. In the seventeen years I was employed with U.S. Pipe there were two fatalites and numerous serious injuries; some that, I would say, were a direct result of the company's negligience. Though I must say that the emphasis on safety at the foundry had improved tremendously over the last couple years. Safety in this industry requires a constant vigilience. After watching your progam it made me grateful and almost happy I was let go due to downsizing back in October 2002. So much in your program rang true to me. It is a dangerous business but it doesn't have to be.
beverly, new jersey
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