(CHEEKTOWAGA, NEW YORK) - After a nearly four-month study of safety records, Worker interviews, a facility walk-through and a review of industry best practices, the Western New York Council on Occupational Safety & Health (WNYCOSH) today (Thursday, July 12th) released its comprehensive assessment of health and safety conditions at the Wendt Corporation Facility in Suburban Buffalo - and it wasn’t good.

During a press conference held outside the plant located on Walden Avenue in the Buffalo Suburb of Cheektowaga, WNYCOSH Representatives were joined by a number of area Labor Leaders and Elected Officials to offer details on the report, which showed serious lapses in training, the lack of operational and administrative controls that creates a heightened risk of occupational illness, injury - and even death.

Those speaking at the news conference said the Wendt Corporation has a “long history of ‘lax’ Worker training, ‘lack of implementation of permanent changes to create a ‘safer’ workplace, and ‘little direct Worker involvement in plant health and safety.’”

In January, WNYCOSH was approached by the Ironworkers Shopmen’s Local 576-represented Wendt Workers - who held their own rally outside the Wendt Plant back in April to publicly push for a safer and fairer workplace - regarding the dangerous working conditions and Wendt management’s lack of willingness to engage with their Workers (For More, Read WNYLaborToday.com’s April 26th Labor News Report, Headlined: Safety & Health Negligence Highlighted At The Wendt Corporation’s Suburban Buffalo Facility On Workers’ Memorial Day).

“Considering the employer’s ‘intransigence over the years,’ the Workers ‘are concerned that they will see little sustained improvement in their working conditions without successfully negotiating a first contract with strong health and safety language.’  ‘Without a contract, Wendt is likely to return to its previous ad hoc safety culture,’” Western New York AFL-CIO Area Labor Federation President Richard Lipsitz (Pictured above, holding the microphone/WNYCOSH Photo) said at the news conference. 

“Wendt ‘has spent more money undermining the Union than they have on welding screens.’  ‘It is clear where their priorities lie,’” James Wagner, who serves as a Community Organizer for the Ironworkers Shopmen’s International.

WNYCOSH Executive Director Germain Harnden said: “Wendt is the ‘perfect example of what can happen if Workers do not have a seat at the table when it comes to health and safety.’”

Wendt Corporation is a Metal Fabricating Facility with a poor safety training record, often relying on Workers learning safe work practices from other untrained Workers, making for a dangerous, potentially life-threatening work environment, the report revealed.

Since WNYCOSH began looking at the health and safety conditions earlier in the year, the company began implementing rudimentary changes focused on basic compliance rather than substantially improving the working conditions in the facility, those speaking at the news conference said.

"Workers across Western New York and the Nation ‘deserve safe and supportive’ working conditions ‘and it's clear that the workers at Wendt deserve better,’" State Senator Tim Kennedy said at the news conference. "I ‘stand alongside’ WNYCOSH and these Workers ‘to demand comprehensive reforms that will make their overall work environment safer, healthier and more inclusive.’" 

State Assemblyman Sean Ryan said: "A ‘safe’ workplace ‘should be the right of every’ Employee.  ‘People’s needs come before profit, and this report shows the hard-working Union Members in this unit are being put in danger on a regular basis.’  I ‘thank’ WNYCOSH and the Members of Ironworkers Local 576 ‘for shining the light on this issue.’  ‘We need to make sure everyone is able to get home safely to their families at the end of their workday and this report is the first step in helping us make sure that happens here."

WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: To Access The Full WNYCOSH Report, Go To: http://wnycosh.org/WendtReport