
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 18, 1992                   TAG: 9203180344
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

RULES HELD UP

WOULD YOU rather have a job or a safe place to work? The White House seems to think you can't have both. The Office of Management and Budget has rejected a Labor Department proposal for stricter air-pollution standards for thousands of workers because it might make them unhealthier.

OMB's rationale is interesting: Stricter standards could cause employers to lay off workers and stop giving hazard pay; people who make more money tend to eat more nutritious foods, smoke and drink less, and get more protective health care. In contrast, people without jobs or with lower pay tend to have poorer health. Therefore . . .

You get the idea. Regulation is bad not just for employers but also for employees. Until now, we never knew how bad.

Actually, most of the protections the Labor Department had sought for workers in agriculture, construction and maritime industries already are provided for workers in other industries - miserable wretches.

You probably know some of the protected workers already: They're recognizable from their chronic smoking coughs, bulbous noses from drinking too much, heavy-lidded eyes from staying up late and carousing. Their employers, staggering under burdensome regulations, can't afford to pay them enough to go to doctors; and they wouldn't bother anyway.

But look at just one of the unprotected workers, the migrant fruit-picker. Lack of regulation enables the employer to pay princely wages, which the picker spends on leisure activities; no butts or bottles for him/her. That hazard pay, by the way, is used to buy a health-care insurance policy, one of the things the camp boss sells. It's a great life, although you can beat the hours.

From the OMB's reasoning, it's only a step to the conclusion that the U.S. economy is slumping because work places are too safe. Let's introduce a little danger, some excitement; wake up workers. We'll show those Japanese what Americans can do - while they're still alive.

by CNB