FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 5, 2014

Contact: Hugh Baran, 646-200-5331, hugh.baran@berlinrosen.com

Center for Popular Democracy FOILs SUNY-Albany’s Rockefeller Institute Over Debunked Scaffold Safety Law “Study"

FOIL Probes Debunked Industry-Funded Study That Rockefeller Institute Director Called "Really Just Awful”

Freedom of Information Request Seeks Original RFP & Other Communications with Front Group That Spent $82,800 Commissioning the Research

ALBANY — The Center for Popular Democracy announced this morning it has filed a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request with SUNY-Albany’s Rockefeller Institute over their now-debunked study of the Scaffold Safety Law, as first reported in today’s Albany Times-Union. 

The FOIL comes after Institute Director Thomas L. Gais recanted its study last week, telling The Chronicle of HIgher Education that the now-debunked study suffers from "really big weaknesses," that "he considers the report as not officially a product of his institute,” and that a key section is "just really awful” — yet insisting no bias influenced the report’s findings. Days later, the Institute released a statement insisting that, "The funder did not attempt to influence the development of the research design, collection or analysis of data at any time during the study."

CPD’s FOIL aims to force transparency about the creation of the original Rockefeller report. Read the full FOIL request here.

"When industry funds bogus research in hopes of undercutting New York's critical worker health and safety laws, the public needs to know” said Connie Razza,  Director of Strategic Research at the Center for Popular Democracy. "We take very seriously the fact that industry dollars were used to finance a 'study' that puts forward the incredible assertion that New York's scaffold law, which protects workers working at a height, actually causes worker injuries. The Center for Popular Democracy and New York Committee on Occupational Safety & Health already issued one report that shreds the credibility of the Rockefeller Institute study.  We are now turning our sights on the money trail that financed this bogus work.  Industry should not be allowed to try to buy credibility from institutions like SUNY.”  

Specifically, the FOIL seeks the following documents related to the Institute’s now-debunked study, The Cost of Labor Law 240 on New York’s Economy and Public Infrastructure: 

• All documents received by the Rockefeller Institute from the New York Civil Justice Institute (or the Lawsuit Reform Alliance of Nw York) in connection with a request for proposal for a research study on New York Labor Law Section 240 (the “RFP”). 
• All documents submitted by the Rockefeller Institute to the New York Civil Justice Institute (or the Lawsuit Reform Alliance of New York) in response to the RFP.
• All other written and electronic communications between the Rockefeller Institute and the New York Civil Justice Institute (or the Lawsuit Reform Alliance), since the beginning of 2013, pertaining to New York Labor Law Section 240. 

The Cost of Labor Law 240 on New York’s Economy and Public Infrastructure was released last month by the Rockefeller Institute at SUNY-Albany, commissioned by an $82,800 check from the "New York Civil Justice Institute," a front-group whose address is the same as the Lawsuit Reform Alliance, which has worked for years to weaken laws that make it possible for people to assert rights against abusive or negligent landlords, employers, and other business interests. The LRA itself has frequently been criticized as being a front group for the construction industry and other corporate interests. 

The Scaffold Safety Law is a critical safety protection for construction workers, who are increasingly Latino and immigrant. In fact, an earlier review of construction site accidents by the Center for Popular Democracy, published in an October 2013 report entitled "Fatal Inequality," starkly illustrated how important the Scaffold Law is because of the ongoing rates of injury in construction in New York, and notably, how the risks are disproportionately borne by immigrant workers and workers of color: 

• In 60% of those fatalities, the worker was Latino and/or immigrant, disproportionately high for their participation in construction work.
• In New York City, 74% of fatal falls involved Latino and/or immigrant workers.

CPD & NYCOSH also released a new one-pager last month explaining how the Scaffold Safety Law works. Read it here.

ABOUT THE SCAFFOLD SAFETY COALITION

The Center for Popular Democracy is a proud partner in the newly launched Scaffold Safety Coalition. The Scaffold Safety Coalition is a diverse group of workers, advocates and organizations committed to protecting construction workers in New York State, creating a unified front in the fight to defend New York’s Scaffold Safety Law from industry-backed efforts to gut the law. On behalf of more than 1.5 million New Yorkers, the coalition has also pledged to push for increased enforcement of New York’s construction safety standards. More information and a full list of partners in the Scaffold Safety Coalition is available at the coalition website: www.scaffoldsafetylaw.org. 

ABOUT THE CENTER FOR POPULAR DEMOCRACY 

The Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) promotes equity, opportunity, and a dynamic democracy in partnership with innovative base-building organizations, organizing networks and alliances, and progressive unions across the country. CPD builds the strength and capacity of democratic organizations to envision and advance a pro-worker, pro-immigrant, racial and economic justice agenda. More information is available at CPD’s website: www.populardemocracy.org.