Under the "Workers' Comp Deal" workers are now forced to choose from a pool of doctors approved by the employers. In reality, workers comp will only be given to only the obviously maimed or dead. This is an astounding betrayal of workers rights by the AFL-CIO.

The employers and their government are cutting costs by punishing workers for the high rates charged by the very profitable insurance companies. In the State of Washington, the State handles workers comp for much lower rates.

A Labor Federation should insist of workers safety and develop their own program for workers safety and form worker safety committees in every union, instead of being in a "partnership with capital" defending profits for the "good employers," and applauding the Demcratic Party.

Every year, more than 60,000 people in the United States die from preventable diseases caused by exposure to chemicals and other agents in the workplace; about 7,000 of these individuals are Californians. Of the 900,000 people who are diagnosed with an occupational disease each year, 135,000 live and work in California. Workers in the state of California face not only a growing danger on the job but also attacks on worker's comp rights and protections and, even more workers are killed or fatality injured due to negligence by employers and thousands more workers are being seriously injured due to stress on the job, poor ergonomics and other safety conditions.

The death rates and maimed rates will only get higher as it now becomes for more profitable for the employer not to be safe.