Bush administration hopes all the reporters' hands fall off

And anyone who actually has to work for a living, he doesn't care about them either way.

"David LaGrande, health and safety director for the Communications Workers of America, the Guild's parent union, argues the Bush administration and its congressional allies succeeded in burying the issue by preventing the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) from promulgating ergonomic standards. The precipitous drops in reported MSD injuries in industries such as meat-packing and telecommunications, he says, are evidence only that employers are no longer required to document these kinds of injuries.

Union priorities have shifted, too. LaGrande notes that two of the Guild locals most active on ergonomics, Philadelphia and San Jose, Calif., have been preoccupied more recently with preserving jobs under the old and new owners of their members' biggest newspaper employers."