John J. Sweeney, AFL-CIO president, delivered a petition to Bush's Labor Department demanding the development of a new ergonomics standard. He was joined by Democratic members of Congress and injured workers.

The petition was signed by dozens of union, occupational safety and health, public health, civil rights, religious, women's and other organizations, according to the AFL-CIO.

In March, the Republican majority in Congress passed and President Bush signed a bill in March that canceled the Clinton administration's ergonomics standard. Organized labor had fought for more than a decade to get the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue the ergonomics rule to protect workers against repetitive stress injuries, such as carpal tunnel syndrome.

At a press conference on Capitol Hill, Sweeney said there "is an urgent need for a new standard....The 1.8 million ergonomic injuries and illnesses each year are the nation's biggest workplace safety and health hazards. Annually, they cost companies between $45 billion and $50 billion in compensation costs, lost wages, and lost productivity.

"It's a national scandal that this administration and Republican congressional leaders continue to drag their feet on this matter," Sweeney said.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) said if repetitive stress "injuries affected CEOs, we would see change tomorrow. But these injuries harm average workers – computer operators, waitresses, truck drivers, office workers – the people who keep America going every day."

Noting that women make up the majority of victims of repetitive stress injuries, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said repeal of the ergonomics rule means that GOP lawmakers "say to women workers: 'You don't count.' Well, we've got news for them from the women of America: You're not going to use them up, wear them out, and throw them on the trash heap."

In congressional testimony the day after the petition was delivered, Labor Secy. Elaine L. Chao outlined five principles she said would guide her department's development of a new ergonomics standard. She said the principles are prevention, sound science, incentive driven, flexibility, feasibility, and clarity.

"Ergonomics injuries are real," Chao told members of the Senate Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. However, Chao stopped short of promising a new proposed standard. She said OSHA is in the process of "investigation" – a process which the agency spent 10 years on until the Clinton administration issued a final ergonomics standard in November.

Other lawmakers at the press conference announcing the petition included Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.).