Change to Win Health and Safety Coordinator Eric Frumin Available For Comment

TRENTON, N.J., April 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Change to Win Health and Safety coordinator Eric Frumin will be available for comment before and after the scheduled sentencing hearing.

WHAT:

Four NJ-based executives of the Birmingham, AL-based McWane Corp. are scheduled for sentencing in Federal District court after a 30-count conviction on conspiracy, obstructing a federal investigation, and environmental violations. Former Plant Manager John Prisque was convicted on four separate counts, including all facets of the conspiracy indictment which alone allows a maximum imprisonment of 5 years.

WHO:
Federal District Court Judge Mary L. Cooper

McWane Corp. is one of the world's largest manufacturers of steel pipe. A 2003 Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation of massive OSHA and environmental violations at McWane plants in five states revealed some of the worst examples of criminal employer misconduct in the 35-year history of the OSHAct as well as multiple environmental laws. The resulting federal investigation sparked a 33-count indictment at McWane's Phillipsburg, NJ subsidiary Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe. According to one of DOJ's lead prosecutors, McWane was "one of the worst and most persistent violators of our nation's environmental and worker safety laws." At the time of the verdict, the Justice Department said that "Atlantic States and these defendants committed heinous crimes against workers and New Jersey's environment."

WHEN:
Monday, April 20; the sentencing hearing begins at 10am

WHERE:
US District Court, 402 East State Street, Trenton, NJ.

WHY:

Despite a worker death, massive worker safety and health violations, and corporate obstruction of the investigation by the US Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Justice Department was able to effectively prosecute Atlantic States pipe company and its executives only by using environmental law where applicable, and using general federal criminal law. Severe violations involving employer misconduct, worker deaths and severe injuries remain often unpunished, and employers remain unafraid of sanctions due to the lack of any serious deterrent in the OSHAct itself. The US Congress will soon consider new legislation to close the severe loopholes in the OSHAct.

About Change to Win

Change to Win is a partnership of seven unions and six million members founded in 2005 to organize workers of the new American economy. Change to Win is committed to restoring the American Dream so that all workers have a paycheck that can support a family, affordable health care, a secure and dignified retirement, and the opportunity for the next generation to be better off. The seven affiliated unions are: Service Employees International Union, UNITE HERE, United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Laborers' International Union of North America, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America and United Farm Workers of America.

Source: Change to Win

CONTACT: Eric Frumin of Change to Win, +1-212-352-4720, +1-646-734-2656

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Profile: labor-news