Union alleges neglect in South Carolina safety inspections

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina agency tasked with ensuring occupational safety is accused of racial discrimination by failing to routinely inspect disproportionately Black workplaces in a federal complaint backed by a new union that seeks to boost labor organizing across the South. The civil rights complaint filed Tuesday marks an escalation of the efforts by the Union of Southern Service Workers, an outgrowth of the Fight for $15 campaign’s southern branch, that launched last fall with pledges to leverage the collective power of retail, fast food and warehouse employees. According to the group’s analysis, the South Carolina Occupational Safety…