BP threatens to fire cleanup workers who wear respirators

News is breaking from the Gulf of Mexico that cleanup workers — who are really just contracted fishermen — are being told they will be fired if they wear protective gear. BP is not providing the gear, but if workers wear respirators they secure for themselves, the company says they will be fired, according to Louisiana Environmental Action Network and a local environmentalist who just returned from the Gulf.

Reports of illness among the workers began almost as soon as the cleanup did. But the government-run health clinics where they are being treated are among areas the federal government has deemed off limits to reporters. The feds also barred press from oiled wildlife and booms in a move that makes them look an awful lot like the PR crew for the British oil giant.

A coalition including commercial fishermen's groups, environmental groups and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is petitioning the government to force BP to provide respirators for workers. In its first three hours, the petition has garnered more than 16,000 signatures.

Link