Progress in MontCo on Worker Safety?

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
In a move welcomed by labor, Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett -- together with Councilmembers Valerie Ervin and George Leventhal – is asking to meet with Maryland officials to figure out how the county and state can join forces for worker safety. The action, spearheaded by Ervin, may help pave the way for implementing the Montgomery County Worker Health & Safety Initiative, which labor unions and worker advocates had urged county agencies to move forward (Pressure Increasing for Montco Worker Safety 1/25 UC). A key part of the plan calls for training county inspectors to work with the state's OSHA program to identify and act against workplace hazards. Over a year ago the initiative won the backing of the county's Commission on Health. CWA member Jim Grossfeld, one of the three unionists on the Health Commission who sponsored the proposal, said "we're not where we need to be, but we may finally be moving in the right direction."