Date: 2010-04-27
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

I thank the gentlewoman for yielding and I thank the subcommittee chair for all of her work on behalf of workers in our country and her leadership on not only worker issues but also family issues as workers struggle to keep family and the workplace together and in sync from time to time. I also want to thank Congresswoman EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON for her introduction of this resolution for Workers Memorial Day and to all of the members of the committee who have supported it. to Mr. PETRI for his support. This is the 21st annual Workers Memorial Day. a day to honor workers who have lost their lives or become sick or injured because of the unsafe and unhealthy workplaces in the past year. Our Nations workers have had a tough year. Last Sunday. our Nation paused to remember 29 fallen miners in the Upper Big Branch mine. the worst U.S. coal mining accident since 1970. Upper Big Branch was not the only horrific workplace catastrophe this year. Last week 11 workers died in an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Three days before the blast at Upper Big Branch. seven workers perished in an explosion at a refinery near Seattle. This comes after a devastating explosion at a power plant under construction in Connecticut. which cost six workers their lives. These explosions are a reminder that while we have made some strides in workplace safety. unacceptable risks still remain for our workers. Fourteen workers die on the job every day. We have to do better. Take the Upper Big Branch mine: 2 months ago. my committee learned about how many mine operators managed to avoid some of the tougher sanctions implemented after the Sago mine explosion. While some have made safety a priority. others have responded by indiscriminately challenging nearly every safety citation. By flooding the system with unwarranted appeals. these companies have been able to avoid full accountability for their actions. The consequences of these delays can be deadly. Last August. the Mine Safety and Health Administration identified 48 mines that were able to escape the possibility of tougher scrutiny because of these unresolved appeals. Upper Big Branch mine was one of them. So was the nearby Pocahontas mine. where a worker was killed last week. Loopholes in our safety laws arent exclusive to mining. Sadly. penalties for companies that violate health and safety laws are woefully outdated. Multimilliondollar corporations often face little more than a slap on the wrist for potentially fatal violations. Without effective enforcement. its easy for bad actors to become repeat offenders. Without adequate whistleblower protections. workers who want to report hazards often live in fear of retribution. According to the New York Times. one Upper Big Branch foreman recalled. "I have had guys come to me and cry." because they were too afraid to report concerns about high methane levels in the mine. Workers shouldnt have to choose between losing their lives and losing their jobs. These tragedies call for immediate reforms that will make all workplaces safer. First. we must allocate funding that will start to clear the backlog of the mine safety appeals. Second. we need to look at outdated and ineffective laws that continue to allow companies to put workers in harms way. In 2008. I authored legislation that would have strengthened the mine disaster prevention efforts. improved emergency responses. and reduced longterm health risks to miners. The SMINER Act passed the House. but died in the Senate because of a veto threat. We dont know yet if it would have prevented the Upper Big Branch tragedy. but it certainly could have helped. Finally. Congress should pass the Protecting Americas Workers Act. This bill will modernize safety protections for workers across all industries through stronger penalties. effective whistleblower protections. and meaningful accountability when employers break the law. Four years ago. I made a promise to the families who lost a loved one in the Sago. Darby. and Aracoma Alma mine disasters. I told them we would do everything we could to heed the lessons of those disasters and keep miners safe. Unfortunately. Ive had to make the same promise to families at the Crandall Canyon mine disaster and now the Upper Big Branch mine disaster. This has got to stop. On this Workers Memorial Day. its time to live up to this promise for all the families of workers who have lost their lives on the joband all working men and women across this country. We cannot afford to let another year go by without meaningful reform.