Edwards Sets Work Safety Plan By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD, NYTimes

Accusing the Bush administration of failing to protect workers, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina will announce a plan to decrease workplace deaths and injuries by strengthening laws and hiring more federal safety personnel, his campaign said Tuesday. …

”George Bush did not enact new laws or increase funding to protect our workers,” Mr. Edwards said in remarks released by his campaign on Tuesday for delivery in Iowa on Wednesday. ”He did not push employers to better protect their employees. He did the exact opposite. He rolled back worker safety standards, and made them voluntary. He proposed cutting OSHA’s work force by 77 people. And he continues to ensure that breaking existing laws amounts to nothing more than a slap on the wrist.”