WHEREAS:
The virus known as avian flu already has caused over 230 deaths in humans, with a human case fatality rate of approximately 63 percent. If a moderate or severe pandemic were to break out, it could mean 10 million hospitalizations and an estimated 200,000 to 2 million deaths in the United States; and

WHEREAS:
Preparedness at the federal, state and local levels is crucial to maximizing survival rates and preserving civil society; and

WHEREAS:
President Bush’s budget for FY 2009 provides no funding for state and local pandemic preparedness activities, and as of August 2008, federal funding for these activities will end; and

WHEREAS:
Without federal pandemic influenza preparedness funding, at a time when many states are facing budget shortfalls, states may be forced to eliminate public health worker jobs, halt the purchase of supplies and equipment to protect healthcare and emergency response workers, eliminate training and severely limit resources to local jurisdictions; and

WHEREAS:
A failure to continue funding for state and local preparedness will place at risk any progress made through the initial investment; and

WHEREAS:
If health care workers, law enforcement, emergency medical services and other categories of first responders are expected to answer the call when an outbreak occurs, states, local governments and workplaces must provide these workers with the resources and equipment they need to both protect themselves and avoid infecting their families when they go home; and

WHEREAS:
Bush’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)  has rejected the petition from AFSCME and a coalition of unions calling for an Emergency Temporary Standard for Pandemic Influenza Preparedness to protect the upwards of 15 million essential first responders from occupational exposure to pandemic influenza; and

WHEREAS:
The administration’s various voluntary guidelines are woefully inadequate because they do not require employers to implement any safety and health measures to effectively protect workers at high risk from occupational exposure to the pandemic influenza virus; and

WHEREAS:
The Institute of Medicine has issued a report finding a paucity of research on the transmission of pandemic influenza and the need to develop the next generation of personal protective equipment to prevent health care workers from workplace exposure, which is critical to prevent the progression of a pandemic; and

WHEREAS:
The Bush administration budget for FY 2009 cuts funding for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which is the premier federal entity responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related illness and injury; and

WHEREAS:
Current law requires the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to  develop a National Health Security Strategy, which in 2009 must include a plan to establish an effective and prepared public health workforce and identify strategies to protect the workforce from workplace exposures during public health emergencies; and

WHEREAS:
The degree to which health care employers have developed consistent and comprehensive exposure control plans to protect their employees from workplace exposure to pandemic influenza is unknown; and

WHEREAS:
Our union has a unique obligation to call upon our government and employers to better prepare for pandemic influenza and involve union representatives in advance of an outbreak.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:
That AFSCME call upon Congress to support a reliable annual federal investment in state and local pandemic preparedness activities, and to ensure that worker representatives have a meaningful opportunity to participate in preparedness planning; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
That AFSCME urge Congress to reject President Bush’s budget cuts for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and provide NIOSH with adequate funds to conduct research on the transmission of pandemic influenza and to develop effective protective technology for workers at high risk of exposure; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
That AFSCME call upon other unions and organizations to advocate for an Occupational Safety and Health Act standard on Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and advocate that other effective strategies to protect health care workers from workplace exposure be included in the National Health Security Strategy plan; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:
That AFSCME educate members at high risk for workplace exposure to pandemic influenza on the importance of comprehensive workplace exposure control plans, zealously advocate for the development of such plans with the involvement of union representatives, and provide assistance in developing and implementing plans where needed.
 
 
SUBMITTED BY: John A Lyall, President and Delegate
AFSCME Council 8
Ohio