NUMMI workers win study of plant’s welding operations

Management at the New United Motors Manufacturing Inc., assembly plant in Fremont, Calif., doesn’t require welders to wear respirators because fume exposures are “in compliance” with OSHA. But Phillip McCall and about half the other welders in the body shop are not taking any chances on the air quality: They demanded and received respirators.

Photo: LETICIA QUESADA / UAW LOCAL 2244

Welder Phillip McCall and other UAW Local 2244 workers are keeping the issue of air quality out front at NUMMI.

McCall and his fellow workers soon will have some hard data to prove or disprove that assertion about compliance. The local bargaining committee, with the aid of the UAW Heavy Truck and Health and Safety departments, won contract language that will determine if previous attempts to fix poor air quality in body and paint have succeeded or whether further improvements should be made.

The contract NUMMI workers won in August funds a $150,000 study by the University of California-Berkeley to follow up an earlier pilot study. The pilot, published in the prestigious Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, concluded, “Welders and painters in this plant appeared to have increased risk of respiratory health effects compared with assembly workers.”

The air quality issues at NUMMI, which manufactures the Toyota Corolla, Toyota Tacoma pickup truck and the Pontiac Vibe in a joint venture between the Japanese automaker and General Motors, are typical of the industry and permitted by OSHA.

But long-term, continuous attention by union health and safety representatives in the plant and by local leadership at the bargaining table means the issue will not just blow away like the dangerous fumes from the welding process, and will provide scientific evidence to get exposures lowered all through the industry.

“We’re still working on some areas,” said Victor Quesada, shop chairman.

“All they are doing is blowing the toxicities around,” McCall, the welder, said.

Dr. Kathie Hammond, a professor of environmental health sciences at U-C Berkeley, runs the follow-up study. Her team will map particle concentrations with instruments that show exactly what is in the air. Testing will be done at different times and during different shifts.

The study team will also be asking workers what types of respiratory and other medical problems they have.

“I think this is a wonderful story of how the union makes a difference and what a union can do,” Hammond said.

Vince Piscopo