Public Employee Press

Clarification

An article in the July/August issue of the Public Employee Press may have given some readers the mistaken impression that District Council 37 opposes the Dept. of Education's program of replacing hazardous fluorescent lights.

Replacing the light fixtures, which contain PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), and the bulbs, which contain mercury, is important for the safety of students and employees, because both PCBs and mercury are toxic, according to Lisa Baum of the DC 37 Safety and Health Dept.

The article, "Toxic bulbs threaten school workers and kids," explained that Local 924 and DC 37 are protesting DOE's failure to train members in handling the fragile, mercury-laden bulbs, supply safe containers to take them away in or provide personal protective equipment for the Laborers who handle the bulbs.