Alliance@IBM/CWA Organizer, Rick White, speaks to CNYCOSH

The Central New York Council for Occupational Safety and Health

at

The Empire Room, New York State Fair grounds, April 28th 2004

The Ultimate Take Away----Your Health

It is an honor to meet you and be asked to speak about a topic as important and as 'front burner'
as toxic chemicals and the effect on workers health; and the communities that are struggling
to deal with all the impacts on their health. Let me share some history on this issue:

In 1979 IBM reported a spill of 4100 gallons of Methylene Chloride at their Endicott facility,
between some buildings and a Conrail train track. I had been employed by IBM for 5 years,
at the time, and was just beginning to become aware of their silent contamination of the surrounding area.
I had already secretly joined a small union movement with my friend and colleague,
Lee Conrad, to attempt to make the employees of IBM Endicott aware of the dangers of
chemicals used in the workplace. IBM Workers United was the name of our secret organization;
and we kept our identities secret for fear of losing our jobs.
Historically; IBM had earned a reputation of a "no need for a union" company.
They provided 'cradle to grave' benefits, vacation up to 5 weeks, country club facilities, and
many other amenities to sway their workforce away from going union. They were successful.
IBMWU's focus was to show the other side of IBM; as a corporate citizen breaking the rules
and conducting themselves as a destroyer of community natural resources.

IBMWU published a flyer, shortly after the spill incident, and had it distributed to
the employees any way that we could, without getting caught.
We even left flyers on Endicott resident porches and inside door ways so that
the village of Endicott could be on notice of IBM's activities.
It was apparent to us that this was a community issue, not just an employee issue.

Here is an excerpt of a flyer we distributed in April of 1981:

"Work --It can be dangerous to your health. In the U.S. there are 390,000 new cases of
disabling occupational disease each year; and that is considered low by some health experts.
With the introduction of more and more chemicals into IBM Endicott, we should all be concerned
with the question, "what is this job doing to me?"
Workers in Bldg 18 are exposed to an assortment of chemicals like Trichloroethylene, Perchloroethylene and various acids. If not properly controlled, Perchloroethylene, for example, can cause liver damage.
Trichloroethylene can cause cancer and affect the central nervous system. Other chemicals used in that plant can affect the heart and blood system.
In other areas, workers have suffered lung damage from working with powdered metal technology, fibrous glass, and high dust levels.
IBMWU can help you by giving you information on toxic chemicals from people who are in business to protect; not hide things from workers. Let us know the problems you face and maybe together we can make things better. Our only hope is to organize ourselves."

The result of the attention paid to the 'Spill' in Endicott gave a truer picture of what the village faced.
More than 71,000 gallons of chemicals (not 4100) had been spilled or incorrectly disposed of
because human error; and utter disregard for the environment had ruled IBM's practices.
All the while IBM was successfully maintaining their credibility with the public and community leaders by implementing programs that appeared to correct the situation; not only to prevent future accidental spills; but "air quality" monitoring and new process development that was supposed to eliminate MC from the manufacturing equation.
IBM proudly announced, in the latter part of the 1980's, that they had successfully
reduced emissions of toxic fumes by changing their processes to a non-MC based material.
They claimed removal of 2 million pounds of chemical emissions from the air.
2 million pounds. IBM received an award for their actions. They were lauded in the press.
What that meant to us was the community and the employees had been breathing in 2 million pounds of emissions for 15 to 20 years, before it was stopped. What could the effects on people have been? That question has yet to be addressed.

As you may have heard, IBM San Jose employees brought a lawsuit against IBM for
allowing the employees to be exposed to toxic chemicals in their workplace without
telling them what the long term dangers of handling those chemicals were.
Although there was a great deal of evidence that employees were sickened and,
in some cases, died from that exposure; the jury delivered a verdict in favor of IBM.

Although this verdict came as shocking and disappointing, there was a more than faint expectation of a verdict in IBM's favor; lurking throughout the IBM communities all over the US.
That expectation comes not from a cynical; but realistic understanding that toxic chemical exposures cannot be directly and scientifically linked to cancer or other maladies suffered by workers in the industries that use these chemicals. Scientists and researchers are getting closer, but no cigar.

This has been an historical, fundamental argument and defense offered up by companies in court rooms for decades. However, mounting anecdotal evidence, that is sometimes collected at risk to one's own job, is beginning to take hold and cull the attention of attorneys, politicians and corporate executives alike. It could be characterized as an ongoing see-saw battle between environmental, occupational safety and health groups vs. the corporations that holler about interference with their business; all while claiming they are innocent of the charge.

The San Jose case:

The San Jose case has national implications and is being watched by both industry and environment and public health activists. To date, more than 250 lawsuits by workers and their families have been filed against IBM in New York, Vermont and Minnesota and several of IBM’s chemical suppliers, notably Kodak and DuPont.
In the first of these cases to go to trial in San Jose, CA, two former IBM workers, Alida Hernandez and Jim Moore, claim their cancers are a result of their exposure to toxic chemicals while working at IBM. They also allege IBM didn't’t inform them about the links between their health problems and their jobs after IBM’s medical team performed tests on them.
What’s unique about the IBM suit is that the company has extensively studied the health of its workers. This means the jury will assess not just if the company knew about the potential health consequences of its manufacturing process, but also whether it withheld that information from its workforce. Since 1969, the company has kept mortality records for nearly all of its employees in the United States-some 30,000 records in total. An independent analysis of these records demonstrated that IBM workers exposed to chemicals on the job die much earlier than non-exposed workers and they also have significantly higher rates of toxic related cancers. Thus, this trial is the furthest anyone has come in making the connection between cancer and the chemicals used in the manufacture of electronics. To date, testimony by toxicologists, epidemiologists and former IBM medical staff all have illuminated a systematic pattern of withholding critical health information from the workers.

As the San Jose case gathered more attention in the Press; and Endicott's plume of spilled
and dumped chemicals were seeping into residents homes as vapors, Alliance@IBM knew
that the employees that had worked inside IBM needed representation and a voice to
get attention to their health problems as much as the residents were getting.
Certainly, over the years, we had been told by many employees, that they had become
sick with cancer, lung diseases, birth defects, and allergies that they believed were a result of their
exposure to chemicals in IBM's workplace.

The Endicott case:

Since the 1940’s, IBM has used solvents containing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at its former 150-acre manufacturing operations at the Endicott Facility located along North Street. Historically, as a result of leaks and spills associated with IBM’s manufacturing operations, the solvents entered the soil and groundwater located 18-30 feet below the ground surface. Contaminant levels in the groundwater are the highest in the facility manufacturing area near the railroad between Watson Boulevard and North Street. The primary groundwater contaminant down gradient of the facility is trichloroethylene (TCE), with 1,1,1-trichloroethane (TCA, also known as methyl chloroform). Breakdown products are also present.
The pollution flows past Washington Avenue in an underground plume to an "extended area" that spans at least 275 acres and encompasses at least 430 homes and businesses. Vapors from the plume are creeping even farther, to some dwellings that are not immediately over the pollution. Researchers are still trying to find the boundaries of what they call "the vapor plume." To date 565 homes in the plume area have been ventilated. Permanent additions to each of those homes are white PVC-like pipes, 4-6 inches in diameter, that have to be run from a dug out area in the basement; up past the roof and into the Endicott air.

I'd like to read an excerpt from a message by Lee Conrad, the national coordinator
for Alliance@IBM. It's entitled, The Ultimate Take Away---Your Health:
"In Endicott, workers for many years suspected that the chemicals they worked with in Buildings 18 and 47 caused health problems. Women employees felt there was a higher than normal rate of miscarriages and birth defects. Many employees complained of lung ailments and skin rashes. Still others suffered with cancers and tumors. All the while management and company doctors tried to convince employees that it was their own individual problem or allergy.
Workers were also told “if you don’t like working here then quit”.
It was clear to employees that regardless of complaints, production would not be disrupted.
In a New York Times article about a lawsuit by former Fishkill IBM employees, the mother of a daughter who died from cancer said “I think our daughter and others have been the byproduct of greed over safety. The company was more concerned with making the dollar than with the safety of their employees. They knew there were hazards but they closed their eyes to them to keep the line moving.” IBM settled that case out of court, for an undisclosed amount. The settlement did not include any admission of wrongdoing or inappropriate actions on IBM's part.

Shortly after issuing this message, Alliance@IBM set out to speak to the community
of former and current IBM employees; contractors and their families.
We prepared and implemented a "Health Focus Survey" on our web site, Allianceibm.org,
and told the Press that we were offering this for the employees, contractors and their families.
Our intention is to forward this information to the authorities, i.e. NYS department of health,
the DEC, Congress, the Governor, Legislators, attorneys and legal investigators.
Our goal is to collect as much anecdotal evidence, as possible, to show to
local and state community leaders that the employees have a voice and a legacy
to share; and that it must not continue to be unknown.

Ladies and gentlemen, the question is: What now? The answer must be obvious.
I believe that it is obvious to all of you because of the concerted effort CNYCOSH has made to
make things right; to inspire communities to stand up and take back all rights to
an environment free of toxic chemical exposure. It is an ultimate take away that we must
fight to take back,...ultimately.
As an organizer and member, and on behalf of Alliance@IBM/CWA, I extend our solidarity to the Central New York Council on Occupational Safety and Health (CNYCOSH) to continue this work.

Thank you very much.