David Obey: “Every time I tour a plant in my district I run into workers, especially women, who are wearing wrist braces. When I ask…”

“Every time I tour a plant in my district I run into workers, especially women, who are wearing wrist braces. When I ask them about their problem, the answer over and over again is the same: carpal tunnel syndrome. Where does carpal tunnel syndrome or many of those other injuries come from? They come from workers having to do the same thing hundreds of times and thousands of times without properly designed equipment and work stations. And workers I see are not isolated examples. Repetitive motion injuries affect 650,000 workers each year. That is more than the number of people who die each year from cancer and stroke. Those injuries account for more lost workday injuries than any other cause, especially for women workers. Nearly half of all workplace injuries for women are due to repetitive motion problems. Now, there are those in this body who say there ought to be more delay in protecting those workers, but they are virtually alone in the world. Every industrialized country has recognized that there is more than enough evidence to move forward on a repetitive motion standard. Most progressive businesses recognize it is their duty to protect workers and to protect their stockholders from the economic impact of huge amounts of lost work time. But a powerful band of economic royalists in this country and in this Congress continue to fight that protection, and it is time to get on with it.”