Dear Editor:

They say that safety regulations are written in the blood of workers. While business owners and managers protest that they are concerned about the safety and welfare of their hired hands; they have, through their highly paid lobbyists, done their best to rig the game in their favor over the past few decades.

The worker’s compensation system, implemented in the U.S., state by state between 1911 and 1948, basically created a “no fault” system in which employees are covered for injuries and harm suffered in the workplace. For this insurance guarantee they forfeit the right to sue their employer for injuries. This is a fair compromise.

But over the years employers and their lobbyists have chipped away at this essential protection to workers, citing cost of this insurance and the burden of safety regulations. This is a cost and burden that is cruelly shifted over to injured workers; hardworking people who can least afford this lack of protection.

Now we have an opportunity to correct some of these gaps and weaknesses in the system. Before the legislature are a number of bills addressing the needs of injured workers. Please join me in calling on our legislators to support of the following bills: LD 600, LD 601, LD 758, LD 901, and LD 947. The text of these bills can be found on the internet at https://legislature.maine.gov/LawMakerWeb/search.asp

Let's make America great again by restoring the rights that we workers have earned through our hard labor; the right to safe working conditions and the right to be made whole when we are injured.

Fred Nehring

Boothbay