By Jim Bissett
The Dominion Post
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A number of furloughed scientists and researchers from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health are set to trod some familiar turf this morning.
They’re going back to work—at least temporarily.
The scientists and researchers are part of the agency’s coal miner and firefighter safety divisions, Cathy Tinney-Zara said.
Tinney-Zara is a NIOSH public health analyst and president of Local 3430 of the American Federation of Government Employees, the union representing the bulk of the targeted researchers and other employees.
While she doesn’t know the exact number of people ordered in the call-up, any NIOSH worker on the job, she said, is good for American workers, in general.
“It’s encouraging because we’ll be able to complete some of our data, " she said, referencing the several safety studies that were ongoing when the layoffs were announced April 1.
Not counting support workers, the cutbacks ordered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources is directly affecting 185 workers here — with 10, 000 other scientists in total being idled at other NIOSH facilities in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Spokane, Wash.
“Our hope is that this is a movement in the right direction, " Tinney-Zara said.
U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R- W.Va., who broke the news Tuesday morning in a social media post, agreed, saying what is now temporary should be made a permanent reinstatement.
“I am encouraged that some NIOSH functions for coal miner and firefighter safety are slated to resume with some staff returning to work this week, " she said, “but my understanding is that this is temporary.”
Capito earlier wrote a letter earlier to Health and Human Resources Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., calling on him to rescind the cuts.
She said Tuesday she will continue to press HHS and its leader for the same.
Tinney-Zara said she appreciates the senator’s efforts.
NIOSH needs to be at a fixed spot in government, she said, since it watches out for those who toil underground in coal mines and on the shop floors—where an accident at both can mean serious injury or death.
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