Latest news with #CathyTinney-Zara
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Advocates for NIOSH picket as deadline to restore jobs looms near
MORGANTOWN, (WBOY) — More than a month after roughly 100 NIOSH workers in Morgantown received their 'reduction in force' letters, workers and other supporters of NIOSH are still making one last push to restore more of the agency. The American Federation of Government Employees sent representatives to speak with congressional staff in Washington, and in Morgantown picketers tried to make their voices heard. The AFGE says a diminished NIOSH will make it harder to keep workers safe, and in the long run, this will cost the government money. Cathy Tinney-Zara, President of AFGE Local 3430 and also a NIOSH worker impacted by the RIF, argued that preventing injuries, accidents, and illnesses saves the government money in the long run. NIOSH might prevent a worker from getting so injured that they have to enroll in Social Security. Furthermore, with a diminished NIOSH, employers could see higher costs from workers compensation fees, and society could see higher healthcare costs. Randolph County superintendent says new policy that conflicts with WV Code is 'inaccurate' State Senator Mike Oliverio said while he believes the federal government must make cuts, NIOSH should not be one of them. 'There's nowhere else in the country that does what NIOSH does here in West Virginia, and so it's not like other federal facilities where you can cut here or trim there, and somebody else can pick up the slack,' Oliverio said. 'This is the place in the country that is designed to protect workers, everything from head to toe, whether it's a helmet, a respirator, steel toe boot, everything in between.' While some NIOSH employees have returned to their positions, most of them remain on the chopping block, with the official termination date being in early June. Unless a reversal happens by then, the jobs will be permanently lost. 12 News will continue to keep you up-to-date with developments with NIOSH as the deadline approaches. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Some NIOSH personnel returning temporarily
Apr. 29—MORGANTOWN — 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, 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.
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
More than 200 jobs eliminated during DOGE cuts at Morgantown's NIOSH facility
The NIOSH Coal Worker's Health Surveillance Program offers periodic black lung screenings at no cost to coal miners in the U.S. On Tuesday, it was announced that more than 200 people at NIOSH would be losing their jobs because of DOGE cuts. (NIOSH | Courtesy photo) Approximately 200 federal jobs are being eliminated at the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health facility in Morgantown, an official of a union representing workers there said Tuesday. Hundreds of the facility's lab animals are expected to be euthanized. Cathy Tinney-Zara, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 3040, said she'd received word that all 185 bargaining unit employees will be part of a reduction in force. In addition, management officials at the office have been put on administrative leave and will be part of the reduction in force, she said. She estimates that altogether, 210 staff positions have been eliminated. 'It's devastating. People will die,' Tinney-Zara said of the effects of the cuts. Officials at the facility were told the cuts were because the services there were not needed or were duplicative, she said. 'There is no one else in the government that does occupational safety and health,' she said. 'There's no one else in the U.S. We're the only group, NIOSH, that does occupational safety and health. We do the research to make everyone's job safer.' According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control, which oversees NIOSH, will decrease its workforce by 2,400, in accordance with President Donald Trump's 'Department of Government Efficiency' Workforce Optimization Initiative.' Overall, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will reduce staffing from 82,000 to 62,000 and consolidate 28 divisions into 15. Staffing cuts are expected to save $1.8 billion per year. The changes will improve Americans' experience with the agency by making it more responsive and efficient, while ensuring that Medicare, Medicaid, and other essential health services remain intact, the organization said in a statement. 'Over time, bureaucracies like HHS become wasteful and inefficient even when most of their staff are dedicated and competent civil servants,' Secretary Robert F. Kennedy said in the statement. 'This overhaul will be a win-win for taxpayers and for those that HHS serves. That's the entire American public, because our goal is to Make America Healthy Again.' The Morgantown facility had 674 mice and 37 rats for use in studies that will likely be destroyed, Tinney-Zara said. Law requires the facility to have a veterinarian when working with the animals. The veterinarian was let go, she said. Some of the studies have been going on for decades, but are being ended. 'All of our animals, it appears, will have to be euthanized,' Tinney-Zara said. 'And to make matters worse, there was a shipment of animals that came in today that the CDC DOGE person approved the purchase of these animals. They just came into the facility. They're going to have to be euthanized.' Tinney-Zara spoke with West Virginia Watch Tuesday afternoon as she cleaned out her office of more than 30 years. She said she received notice around 5 a.m. Tuesday that she was being fired and that she'd lose access to the facility by midnight. 'Everyone's running around here with tears in their eyes and yeah, it's just been an insane day,' she said. An original notice last week listed administrative roles that were to be affected. 'Then, all of a sudden it was our whole entire facility,' she said. Tinney-Zara said the Morgantown cuts will have a far-reaching effect on the economy in the city and the rest of the state. 'Let's see, take approximately 210 people that many of them have Ph.D.s and are scientists, and have years of experience and new researchers coming on board and take them out of the market, take all of their tax dollars, and it will have a drastic economic impact,' she said. 'And that can be both local and statewide.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
