Labor union asks federal regulators to oversee South Carolina workplace safety program

abcnews.go.com:

One of the largest labor organizations in the United States wants the federal government to wrest workplace safety oversight from South Carolina regulators

COLUMBIA, S.C. — One of the largest labor organizations in the United States petitioned the federal government Thursday to wrest workplace safety oversight from South Carolina regulators accused of failing to protect service employees.

South Carolina is one of 22 states allowed to run its own ship when it comes to enforcing occupational safety in most private businesses — as long as the programs are “at least as effective” as their federal counterpart. Service Employees International Union argues that is not the case in South Carolina, where its lawyer says a subpar enforcement program and “skeletal inspection force” are preventing real accountability.

“Make our workplace safe. Because y'all need us at the end of the day,” said Shae Parker, a former Waffle House employee who spoke Thursday at a Union of Southern Service Workers rally.

Workers with the group, an SEIU affiliate that grew out of the Fight for $15 campaign’s southern branch, have been mobilizing colleagues across fast food chains, retail stores and warehouses to push for stronger protections. The USSW backed complaints this summer from Waffle House staff in South Carolina's capital city over a faulty air-conditioning system and other concerns. Parker said heat exhaustion grew so severe among cooks and servers that someone vomited.

The USSW sent multiple follow-ups about the location's conditions to the South Carolina Occupational Safety and Health Administration before getting a conference that ended in five minutes, the petition said, an example of the state program's “overt hostility.”

The South