Back tomorrow to discuss how a storm created a new export economy and transformed the Northwest timber industry.

This post borrowed from Sara Dubow, Ourselves Unborn: A History of the Fetus in Modern America. This is an excellent book which you should all read.

Unfortunately, the ability of OSHA to protect workers became restricted as soon as 1980 and has never really recovered thanks to the rise of the corporate dominance that hates agencies such as this.

The 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act helped alleviate the unjust policies of corporations such as American Cyanamid.

This was an intentional strategy on the part of American Cyanamid. Paying a bit of money to settle sex discrimination lawsuits was a lot cheaper than making work safe.

American Cyanamid settled for $200,000, not much at all when split between the defendants, plus lawyer fees. Moreover, American Cyanamid never accepted responsibility for the dangerous workplace and instead, rhetorically blamed the women workers for wanting to poison their own children.

The Coalition of Labor Union Women, a group within the AFL-CIO fighting for women’s rights both within and outside of the federation, ripped American Cyanamid for “focusing on dangers of the workforce, not dangers of the workplace.”

The American Public Health Association joined CRROW because exposure to toxic substances endangered the fertility health of men and women.

“to defend the employment rights and reproductive freedom of workers who are exposed to toxic chemicals and other hazards; to combat exclusionary employer policies; and to fight for the reproductive health of male and female workers exposed to hazardous substances.”

Citing the American Cyanamid decision in its founding manifesto, the CRROW said it’s mission was...

Unions, environmental organizations, health organizations, and feminist groups created the Coalition for the Reproductive Rights of Workers in response to this and other similar cases.

The outrage over this led to an appeal and then a broader lawsuit the ACLU helped file. American Cyanamid’s strategy led to a lot of anger among progressive communities.

Even the moderate OSHA fine was appealed by the company and set aside in 1981.

The year before, it had tried to bar women from working with dangerous chemicals in its Linden, New Jersey plant but after strident opposition from the United Steelworkers of America, who represented that plant, it retreated.

OCAW filed suit with OSHA. Turns out if was part of a systemic policy for American Cyanamid.

Interestingly, Mazzocchi reached out both to feminist groups and to anti-abortion groups, although I don’t see much evidence the latter responded.

.....Women who have been able to enter these jobs as a result of their own struggle are now being confronted with the dismal choice of relinquishing their right to have children or their jobs.”

....It’s an outrageous situation and American Cyanamid is not the only company that is trying to force women out of the workplace rather than clean it up.....

He stated, “These women were forced to make a Draconian choice that nobody should have to make. We are seeking to mobilize as broad a coalition on this one as we possibly can.....

Mazzocchi was outraged when he found out what was going on at American Cyanamid.