Why Didn't They Speak Out Earlier?

[EASlavin@aol.com]

Dear Bill:

Do you know a good labor economist in your area?  You might want to compare 
and contrast basic economic indicators. There are few goodpaying jobs in East 
Tennessee for people without advanced degrees, except in the nuclear weapons 
plants.  It is a fact of life of DOE labor economics that every single one of 
these plants was built outside a major metroplitan area, without strong 
unions, without alternative highpaying jobs.  Eastern Washington, Eastern 
Tennessee, New Mexico, West Kentucky, etc. are low wage areas where people 
are tied to their families and cultural heritage, and where people were 
immobile, fatalistic and grateful to get high paying jobs, and to do it for 
their country's national security.  DOE profited from the location of its 
plants in areas with docile workforces --- workers did not complain, they did 
not ask questions, and they did not go on strike.  People were grateful to 
have a job "at the plants."

DOE/AEC/ERDA knew this.  Like clockwork, four times a year, press releases 
have gone out from Oak Ridge for half a century, announging the amount of the 
payroll, county by county, and the number of jobs, as if to say, keep your 
mouths shut, we're all in this together.  In addition, no nepotism rules 
exist, as in normal industry. A worker in an Oak Ridge plant knows if they 
blow the whistle on environmental, health and safety issues, they, their 
spouse and their entire family -- to include brothers, sisters, mothers, 
fathers, cousins, uncles, aunts, in laws -- working at the plants could be 
harassed, intimidated, fired, laid off, sent to psychiatrists for fitness for 
duty examinations, and the whole range of control in Oak Ridge.  People in 
Appalachia are described by socioligists as very loyal to their families, a 
feature of the Scotch-Irish heritage.  See, e.g., Harry Caudill, My Land is 
Dying, etc.

I tried and settled cases in California in the 1990s, and dearly loved all my 
time there.  Your State would be one of the largest economies in the world if 
it were a separate country.  It is often called the land of milk and honey.  

 If you have lived in California any length of time and did not grow up in a 
less fortunate area of the country, you may not fully appreciate the extent 
to which this country still has areas that function as less developed 
countries, with low wages, Taft Hartley Section 14(b) (right to work laws), 
outside exploitation of mineral resources and undertaxation, immobile work 
force, underfunded schools, little or no history of worker and environmental 
activism, no unions, and no progressive newspapers. Why, the people of Oak 
Ridge had to go clear plumb to Nashville to find someone who would print the 
news.  Would that were alternatives!   If Ms. Dyer ahd quit her HP job, where 
else could she go? What would happen to her family?  People like Ms. Dyer and 
her colleagues are heroes, whom too few outsiders appreciate.

When husband and wife Delbert Lynn and Linda Jayne Cox co-chaired the first 
public environmental meeting in Oak Ridge in 1996, they were laid off shortly 
thereafter, as were a number of other K-25 workers, in a layoff that affected 
only 300 workers.  Workers have always feared to blow the whistle in Oak 
Ridge, a fact that DOE and its contractors are responsible for by their 
actions and inactions.  Workers in Oak Ridge were never told of their 
whistleblower rights by DOE and their contractors.  It was not until 1991 
that a worker exercised his whistleblower rights, and newspaper articles 
informed local workers that they had them.  Thus, the accomplishments of the 
workers in Oak Ridge are a collective act of heroism that the radiation 
protection community should applaud and support in every way possible.  We 
appreciate your interest and concern.  Please let us know if you have any 
other questions.

With kindest regards,

Ed Slavin

In a message dated 04/06/2000 9:55:37 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
sandyfl@earthlink.net writes:

<< 
 I would ask though, if so many there were so aware of the many 
 unsafe practices occurring, and the number of individuals were 
 supposedly exposed to levels way above the limits (values not 
 provided), then why did so many continue to work there? I can't 
 believe that there weren't other jobs in the area that these 
 individuals could not have quit, and gone to work elsewhere. 
 Nobody held a gun to their heads and said, you MUST work here. If 
 there were individuals not trained to perform their jobs, why are we 
 only hearing about this now, and not years ago? Were all of these 
 workers simply puppets, acting as mindless inanimate objects? 
 Why did it take so long for someone to stand up and speak out?
  >>
Subj:    RE:  Bill Miller - TN Illnesses
Date:   04/06/2000 9:55:37 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From:   sandyfl@earthlink.net (Sandy Perle)
Sender: radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
Reply-to:   radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
To: radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu (Multiple recipients of list)

Ms Dyer provides a lot of information. I don't know enough to 
question the validity of her statements, or her memory of the 
occurrences she refers to. 

I would ask though, if so many there were so aware of the many 
unsafe practices occurring, and the number of individuals were 
supposedly exposed to levels way above the limits (values not 
provided), then why did so many continue to work there? I can't 
believe that there weren't other jobs in the area that these 
individuals could not have quit, and gone to work elsewhere. 
Nobody held a gun to their heads and said, you MUST work here. If 
there were individuals not trained to perform their jobs, why are we 
only hearing about this now, and not years ago? Were all of these 
workers simply puppets, acting as mindless inanimate objects? 
Why did it take so long for someone to stand up and speak out?

Again, I am not questioning the veracity of Ms. Dyer. It just strikes 
me that there is this hysteria now. One group questions their 
treatment, and all of a sudden, the flood gates appear to have been 
opened. Is this just coincidence? Is it safety in numbers? I don't 
know, but I think some need to address why they took what they 
did for so long, when they believed that they were in danger during 
their entire employment.


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Sandy Perle                 Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100                 
        
Director, Technical             Extension 2306                      
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Division        Fax:(714) 668-3149                    
            
ICN Biomedicals, Inc.               E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net               
                           
ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue       E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com               
        
Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Personal Website:  http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com
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