Occupational Safety and Health Small Employer Access to Justice Act of 2004

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH SMALL EMPLOYER ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT OF 2004 -- (Extensions of Remarks - June 02, 2004)

SPEECH OF HON. ROSA L. DELAURO OF CONNECTICUT
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
TUESDAY, MAY 18, 2004

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this legislation. The bills before us today do not merely amend or modernize the historic Occupational Safety and Health Act, which put in place critical workplace protections-rather, they undermine it.

One discourages OSHA from citing small employers who would otherwise be in violation of the law, while another weakens the ability of the Secretary of Labor to enforce those laws. Another allows this Administration to stack the OSHA commission for political purposes, while the last gives employers more leeway in challenging OSHA citations.
In every sense, these are blatantly anti-employee changes to existing law, intended to take power away from average working people and put it in the hands of employers in the hope that they will not abuse that power. All of this is being done under the guise of "reducing red tape."

But I suppose we should not be surprised. After all, this is merely another in a long line of anti-employee acts taken by this Administration and majority. First it was throwing out a decade of research that went into those carefully crafted ergonomics regulations-in a day, Republicans sent the American people a clear message that the corporate bottom line was more important than safety in the workplace. Then it was ramming through overtime rules that took away time-and-a-half pay for 8 million workers and endorsing the outsourcing of American jobs to other countries. Now they decimate a historic law to protect American workers from unsafe working conditions.

The American people are increasingly finding themselves at odds with this Administration and its reckless disregard for working people-and it is no wonder. To them, regulations that protect people in the workplace are, quote, "red tape."
Mr. Speaker, tell that to families of the 60,000 employees who die every year from job-related injuries or illnesses. Tell that to the 4.7 million people who are injured each year at work. Because legislation like this not only insults the work the people of this country do everyday-it reveals a total lack of appreciation for the people, the institutions and the values that built this country and made it great. Oppose these unfair, un-American bills.