Harry L. Williams
12410 Buttermilk Road u Knoxville, Tennessee 37932
Voice: 865-693-7249 u Cell 865-661-9550 u Email:
harry.williams2@att.net
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September 2,
2004
FAX LETTER
Representative
John Duncan
2267 Rayburn
Office Bldg.
Washington, D.
C. 20515
FAX:
202-225-6440
Dear Mr.
Duncan:
I am writing to
share my disagreement on the position you and Rep. Wamp have taken on the
Energy Employee Amendment - specifically the effort to transfer Subtitle D away
from the Department of Energy (DOE) into the Department of Labor (DOL).
I am going
re-introduce myself to you. I am a constituent of yours and a disabled sick
worker from the Oak Ridge K-25 and Y-12 Plants. I am one of the leaders of the
local sick worker effort to hold DOE accountable and correct the inequities of
the law.
A group of
local sick workers and myself started this effort in the Coalition for a
Healthy Environment in 1997. In 1999, we met with then Assistant Secretary Dr.
David Michaels, in Oak Ridge, on his second day on the job. We stated our
cause, the conditions we worked in, and the impacts on the worker community. We
led the worker efforts to style this program. We have been to Washington many
times in support of justice. I can remember a couple of years ago when
Representative Wamp and you and others stated your concerns for the delays by
DOE in processing claims. I remember the sense of the Congress in wanting to
establish a non-adversarial program which DOE and DOL would help advocate for
the worker in filing their respective claims. The DOL program has accomplished
this for the most part. DOE set up a bureaucratic, adversarial program that
sick workers can’t deal with.
As you know, we
have worked for years to expose the horrible conditions we suffered through in
the DOE workplace while being assured we were in a safe environment. In fact we
were covertly being exposed and there was a lack of proper safety controls and
equipment. This all happened with DOE’s knowledge. Then the DOE ducked for
cover behind the government’s legal rule called "sovereign immunity"
that prevented the worker community from settling this in court with our
private contractor employers who, in my opinion, had improper and unethical
protection by DOE. No other large, private corporations enjoy this protection
from legal recourse by the U. S. Government We had to settle for the EEOICPA
instead, not an equitable settlement. In my opinion the workers have had
enough. We want the waste, fraud, and abuse in the DOE program to stop and the
program be transferred to DOL. DOE has spent a total of $95 million. Very few
claims have been processed. And there has been back room contracting in a
no-bid contract with a vendor who virtually has no experience in setting up
worker compensation programs and has charged the taxpayers for work that was
not a part of their contract. Why do you believe that letting DOE continue to
run this program is the appropriate action?
The GAO, the
GSA, and the Senate Energy and Commerce Committee have criticized DOE. The
program is broken. In my opinion, there will be no significant delays
processing claims, as you fear. DOE has a vested interest in complicating and
obstructing this program to limit the impact on investigations into DOE’s
culture and treatment of its contractor work force. Commonsense dictates a
change. Not one worker or claimant has expressed to me a concern that
transferring this program will cause significant delays.
We have talked
with you and your staff and always gotten a good reception. We know you care.
We have always appreciated your support of our efforts and we look forward to
your support in the future.
Sincerely:
Harry L.
Williams