Your Union News
April 2004
AFGE Local 2578 News

Vol. 3, No. 2

 

 

Health & Safety Coordinator Jeannine Swift and AFGE Council 260 Shop Stewards Deborah Edge and Jennifer Allday at Union Training, Feb. 2004.

 

 

Health & Safety Feature:

The Scoop on Legionella

 

As you all know, evidence of Legionella bacteria were discovered as part of routine maintenance at Archives I.   Though the Legionella were not found to be active, general information on the bacteria might help members understand the situation. 

 

There are over 30 different species of Legionella, many of which can cause disease.   Legionella pneumophila  is the most prevalent  disease-causing species, specically causing  the illness commonly known as Legionnaires’ disease.  Legionnaires’ disease is an infection of the lungs that is a form of pneumonia.  A person can develop Legionnaires’ disease by inhaling or drinking water or water vapor contaminated with Legionella.  Legionella bacteria are commonly found in low levels throughout the environment--- in lakes, streams, and ponds.  In these small quantities, however, the chance of causing Legionnaires’ disease is slight.  Problems occur when high concentrations of the bacteria grow in water sources.  Warm, stagnant water provides the ideal conditions for growth.  The bacteria can multiply at temperatures between 68 and 122 degrees F.  Rust, scale, and other microorganisms can promote the growth of Legionella.  At most risk for contamination are water mist from cooling towers, or evaporative condensers, evaporative coolers, humidifiers, misters, showers, faucets, and whirlpool baths.

 

When someone is exposed to water contaminated with Legionella bacteria, if the disease is going to develop, the symptoms generally appear within 2 to 10 days.  It is thought, however, that fewer than 5 percent of persons exposed to water contaminated with Legionella will develop Legionnaires’ disease.  Those people, though, who have a lower resistance to disease in general, are more likely to contract the illness.  Some of the factors that can increase the risk of getting the disease include: organ transplants, age, heavy smoking, weakened immune system, certain drug therapies (corticosteroids) and heavy consumption of alcoholic beverages. 

 

Early symptoms of the disease are much like the flu.  After a short time (in some cases a day or two), more severe pneumonia-like symptoms may appear.  Some of these common symptoms are a high fever (102 to 105 degrees F), cough, difficulty breathing, chills, and chest pains.  The pneumonia caused by Legionella is not easy to distinguish from other forms of pneumonia, although there are a several tests that enable a physician to identify the disease.  The disease is treated usually treated with antibiotics, at present Erythromycin is the drug of choice.   Early treatment reduces the severity of the disease and improves the chances for recovery.  In many cases this antibiotic may be prescribed without certainty that the disease is Legionnaires.’ because Erythromycin is effective in treating a number of types of pneumonia.

 

As mentioned above, Legionella bacteria can cause other diseases.  In addition to Legionnaires’ disease, the same bacteria also cause a flu-like disease called Pontiac fever.  Pontiac fever will occur in approximately 90% of those exposed.  The incubation time for the disease is generally one to three days after exposure.  Unlike Legionnaires’ disease, which can be serious and deadly, Pontiac fever produces flu-like symptoms that may include fever, headache, tiredness, loss of appetite, muscle and joint pain, chills, nausea, and a dry cough.  Full recovery occurs in 2 to 5 days without antibiotics.  No deaths have been reported from Pontiac fever.

 

The information for this article was taken from the OSHA Technical Manual-Section III: Chapter 7.  We hope you find this information helpful.

--- Jeannine Swift, Health & Safety Coordinator

 

Senator Barbara A. Mikulski and Representative Chris Van Hollen Vow to Keep Fighting for Federal Workers

In 2003, Senator Mikulski and Representative Van Hollen led the effort to make the process fair by which Federal jobs are competed for privatization. Thanks to their vigilance, language was included in the Transportation-Treasury Appropriations Bill that would have eliminated some of the advantages contractors are given by the current process. Unfortunately, most of these provisions were stripped from the Transportation-Treasury Appropriations Bill, without the vote of a single member of Congress, when it was included in the FY 2004 Omnibus Appropriations bill.

Here are just a few examples of Federal services that could be given to private, for-profit contractors if Bush Administration officials have their way:

  • providing health care to our nation's veterans
  • guarding dangerous prisoners
  • supervising housing contractors
  • safeguarding the borders
  • processing Social Security checks
  • repairing the machinery necessary to defend our homeland

With pressure from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), agencies are increasing their privatization targets, so the number of Federal employees under attack may soon approach 1,000,000. Recently OMB modified its policy on quotas, but unfortunately the OMB Privatization Quota is Alive.

Senator Joseph Lieberman recently wrote to OMB to outline how the OMB quota is illegal. Not surprisingly, OMB replied to the letter but failed to respond to Lieberman's concerns (see report cited in OMB Letter on AFGE Privatization Page, www.afge.org).

The AFL-CIO, at its Executive Council meeting in Chicago last August, passed two resolutions in support of AFGE:

·        Stop Wasting America's Money on Privatization

·        Support AFGE's Fight Against Bush Administration Efforts to Erode the Civil Service

 

John J. Sweeney, President of the AFL-CIO, will call all public worker unions together to develop a coordinated approach to preserve the civil service system and the rights of government employees to join unions and bargain collectively. Sweeney vowed to fight efforts to sell the government to the President's corporate contributors.

--- AFGE Privatization Webpage, http://www.afge.org/Index.cfm?Page=Privatization

 

Factoid of the Month: The wealthiest 1% of all households control about 38% of national wealth, while the bottom 80% of households hold only 17%. The ownership of stocks is particularly unequal. The top 1% of stock owners hold almost half (47.7%) of all stocks, by value, while the bottom 80% own just 4.1% of total stock holdings.

--- Economic Policy Institute, The State of Working America, 2002-03; http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/books_swa2002_index

 

Office Hours at WNRC: We are pleased to announce that the Local will begin keeping office hours at the Washington National Records Center in Suitland.  Office hours will usually be on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month from 11 am to 1 pm.  You can meet with your union representative in the visiting archivist's room on the ground floor near the DOJ project area.  Call the union office for more information, 301-837-0901, or contact Principal Representative Greg LaMotta by email or at 301-837-1898.

 

Local Meeting:  The next meeting is scheduled for Tues., April 27, 2004.  Teleconferencing capability will be provided for most AFGE Local 2578 locations.

 

AFGE Council 260, AFGE Local 2578

8601 Adelphi Road, rm. 1920; College Park, MD  20740-6001

(301) 837-0901, afgecouncil260@yahoo.com

Local 2578 Executive Board: Vernon Early, President; Peter Jeffrey, Executive Vice President; Nkenge Sims, Treasurer; Ted Hull, Secretary; John Powers, Chief Shop Steward

Newsletter Editor: Katherine Coram

Please feel free to share Your Union News with other Bargaining Unit employees … encourage them to join AFGE! See http://www.afgecouncil260.org/join.html