HOUSE OKS TEEN-AGER USE OF BALERS

JOYCE BARRETT

WASHINGTON (FNS) -- A provision long-sought by supermarket operators to permit teenagers to use cardboard balers was included in a massive $60.9 billion appropriations bill approved Aug. 4 by the House.

Also included in the controversial bill, which sets funding levels for the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, was a provision prohibiting the Labor Department from issuing regulations on ergonomic, or repetitive motion, injuries, in fiscal 1996. In addition, the measure cut funding designated for enforcement of safety regulations by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration by 33% and slashed funding for the National Labor Relations Board by almost 20%.

The action now moves to the Senate, where its version of the bill is to be drafted in September. The battle, however, has just begun, since President Clinton has vowed to veto the House bill and the House did not muster the two-thirds margin needed for a veto override.

Originally slated to be considered by the House in September as part of a newly inaugurated Corrections Day, the provision to repeal a prohibition against minors loading baler machines was tucked into the controversial spending bill by Rep. Thomas Ewing, R-Ill.

During floor debate on an attempt to strip the provision from the bill, Thomas said it would "encourage supermarkets to start hiring teen-agers again without fear of huge fines. It will also make the workplace safer for all grocery store workers by providing an incentive for grocers to get rid of any old machines that are still in use and replace them with the modern, safe machines."

Tom Wenning, senior vice president and general counsel for the National Grocers Association, Reston, Va., said the original baler bill is still needed. The language in the appropriations bill only prohibits the government from enforcing the regulation, while the original provision would change the statutory language, he said.

The Food Marketing Institute here, which also backs the original baler provision, opposed an unsuccessful effort by Democrats to strike the baler language from the bill. In a letter to Ewing, Harry Sullivan, FMI senior vice president and general counsel, said that by lifting the ban, supermarkets would be encouraged to buy new balers that meet safety standards.

Kevin Burke, vice president of government affairs for the National-American Wholesale Grocers' Association, Falls Church, Va., said the ban on ergonomics regulation was needed because there was no scientific evidence of the causes behind the repetitive motion injuries and because it would be difficult to write law to apply to all industries.