chemicals must comply by May 27, 1986. Randal P. Schumacher, head of the Chemical Manufacturers Assoc iation's office of health, safety & chemical regulations, says CMA is generally pleased with the regula tion. "It ensures uniform and ade quate protection for workers wher ever they're found," he says. That this rule pre-empts diverse state and local right-to-know rules with a sin gle federal regulation is considered a weakening of the rules by some OSHA critics, but the industry is convinced it improves the workers' protection. D
Congress denies funds for binary weapons The House has had its way on bina ry chemical weapons. The final ver sion of the Department of Defense's fiscal 1984 appropriations bill does not contain $124 million requested for production of binary chemical weapons, and it is the funding con tained in that bill that the checks are written against. The authorization for production, which was approved earlier this year, is now moot. President Reagan is expected to sign the bill, which provides about $249 billion for DOD, including $26.7 billion for research, develop ment, test, and evaluation activities. It looked for a while like the ap propriation bill would go the way of the authorization bill, with funding for binary production re jected in the House, approved in the Senate with a tie-breaking vote by Vice President George Bush, and approval of the Senate position by the conference committee. But this time the House, by a sub stantial majority, instructed its con ferees to hold firm and not accept the Senate position. As a result, there was little discussion o( production funding in the conference. Anoth er reason for that might be that the Senate Appropriations Committee, from which Senate conferees were drawn, also had rejected funding for binary chemical production. However, the House conferees did have to give a little to get their position accepted. Some $14 mil-
Glass fiber channels laser light to robot Researchers at General Electric have worked out a way to channel the in tense beam of light from a stationary laser through a needle-thin glass fiber, such as that being examined here by Marshall G. Jones, manager of the laser technology program at GE's R&D center in Schenectady, N.Y. In a dem onstration of the technique, a fiber optic cable carried a laser beam of more than 10,000 W of peak power— 400 W average—from a neodymiumyttrium-aluminum-garnet laser to an in dustrial robot more than 25 yards away. The machine was able to cut intricate patterns in steel, titanium, and nickelbased alloys at speeds of up to 10 inches per minute. Jones explained to the recent International Conference on Lasers & Electro-Optics, held in Los Angeles, that previous attempts to transmit high-power laser light through fiber-optic cables led to damage of the fibers' glass or silicone protective
lion was added to the House allow ance for research on chemical weap on defenses and the $15.5 million for lethal chemical munitions con cepts that the House had deleted from the budget request also was put back into the bill. D
Labor scene probably quiet in 1984 Despite some major labor negotia tions including the Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers contract with the oil companies, 1984 likely will be a fairly quiet year on the labor front, according to the Conference Board. The New York City-based busi ness group's labor outlook panel says that despite a continuing economic recovery, rising competitive pres sures will hold down wage increases for virtually all employees. With many companies still fighting for survival, according to the panel, av erage hourly earnings are expected to rise a modest 5% in 1984. Firstyear wage and benefit increases in major union contracts also are expected to increase 5%. The panel says that unions will
cladding. The GE researchers worked around this problem by developing a proprietary "input couplsr," an optical assembly that reduces the threequarter-inch-diameter laser beam to the 1000-μηι size of the glass fiber in the cable. At the cable's output end, a lens assembly focuses the laser ener gy onto a tiny spot on the workpiece.
face continued economic pressures in 1984. Panel member Robert Neylan, vice president of employee rela tions at Gould Inc., says, "Union bar gainers in 1984 are still going to proceed cautiously because of the very real threat of unemployment. The same restraint will apply to non union workers. Business still will have idle capacity restraining price increases which would result in loss of market share." This hesitation to raise prices will make firms reluc tant to accept cost hikes, including wage raises. And an abundance of labor, including a growing influx of part-time workers, will put addi tional pressure on union gains. D Runoff ballots mailed Ballots for the ACS national runoff election for 1984 president-elect were mailed Nov. 10. If you have not re ceived a ballot, you may request that a duplicate be sent via first-class mail by calling the ACS Office of Assistant Secretary at (202) 872-4510 no later than Dec. 12. Deadline for receipt of all marked ballots at ACS headquar ters is Dec. 2 1 .
November 28, 1983 C&EN
5
