Working With the Strategy Master—Dr Michael Silverstein MD,MPH [1945–2024]

In late 1983, Dr Michael Silverstein and the United Auto Workers International Union (UAW) union started a program to train and educate workers about the dangers and prevention of cancer-causing exposures in the workplace. I was hired to work on this education program for UAW members. Together, we and others produced a worker training curriculum about hazardous chemicals in workplaces.

This training provided tools for workers and union leaders to demand improvements to clean up toxic working conditions. Michael navigated the minefield of funder and corporate obstructions to make the programs successful. This helped the union embrace health and safety as an influential issue to organize workers.

Although Michael had pedigree academic credentials [Harvard, Stanford, University of Michigan] his ability to gain respect and authority in the union was hard won. Union culture is defined by shop floor smarts and personal relationships, which Michael navigated to earn his beloved title “UAW Doc” or “Doctor Mike.”

When I first met Michael he had just published the monumental worker education booklet of the era—“The Case of the Workplace Killers: A Manual for Cancer Detectives on the Job (Detroit, 1980) ¹ —a guide for workplace safety activists on how to conduct cancer investigations. It was a powerful tool to fight deadly exposures. The booklet modeled a worker-led investigation into cancer cases connected with the use of highly carcinogenic chemicals in the electroplating operations that produced chrome parts for General Motors (Figure 1).

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Figure 1.

Michael Silverstein at American Public Health meeting 2019.

This booklet continues to be the best resource for activists fighting a danger that still claims hundreds of thousands of workers’ lives each year. It identifies the steps for workers to document cancer clusters among their ranks and to sound the alarm. Dr Silverstein employed scientific methods to use union records and worker stories to produce a deadly body count of those exposed to hazardous materials. This kind of research has been likened to “finding a needle in a haystack.” “Workers will know the real stories of how these operations ran and who got exposed to them” Michael would say.

Silverstein's work produced evidence and results. ² His methodical research, publications and educational programs supported many union campaigns to demand protective programs and benefits for workers. Soon workers around the country were raising hell about cancer clusters in automotive, industrial, and other workplaces. Some of these included colon cancer in design fabrication, brain cancer in electronic plants, and cancer from machining operations.

Michael would go on to work in many high-level positions in Occupational Health and Safety after his time at the UAW. These included The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (DL&I). (Here is a link to an excerpt from a WA DL&I video in which Michael asserts the Department's goals. ³ ) His leadership in Washington State created innovative standards such as one for ergonomics, the leading cause of worker injuries in Washington State. This was in spite of the powerful corporate lobby that defeated a standard at the federal level. He was a task master extraordinaire, but always with his eye on the prize of concrete wins.

Michael knew the mission could best be accomplished by collaboration with kindred spirits. He saved my ass [and my job] several times by being cool when I was hot or by being strategic when I was not. When I was a young rabble-rouser raising cane for all the worker safety injustices, Michael calmed the seas when I overstepped into being on the verge of being fired. I once produced a banner pleading for companies to “stop murdering workers.” Another time I encouraged union safety representatives to work around protocol by writing letters to the union president to make safety a higher union issue. Michael always won the argument that I was “learning the ropes” about and deserved another chance.

In 2008, Michael and I served together on the new Obama administration OSHA Advisory board [NACOSH]. Michael was chair and I was one of several members who collaborated with him to figure out how to make an advisory board take on the role of advocates. We passed resolutions and made press statements. Later, Michael presented a workshop at the National COSH conference as “Doctor Mike.” He was always a strong supporter of the COSH-led grassroots health and safety movement, both locally and nationally.

Michael Silverstein's legacy inspires us to fight and win, because he knew that's what counts in the end! His powerful and impactful career says a lot about our movement to build power for workers around health and safety issues. Our history and movement are driven by a passionate community of activists who share knowledge, inspiration, and action. His successes have been a foundation for the collective accomplishments of our movement—and there is a lot of work ahead of us.