FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 16, 2010

CONTACT: Amy Weiss for Change to Win, 202-203-0448

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, the Workforce Protections Subcommittee of the House Education and Labor Committee held its first hearing on legislation to modernize workplace health and safety penalties. Eric Frumin, Health and Safety Coordinator of Change to Win, testified in favor of the bill entitled Protecting America's Workers Act (PAWA), which would increase penalties against employers that are indifferent or worse in complying with the health and safety laws.

In his testimony, Frumin made clear that, "the OSHAct’s enforcement program is too weak to deter employer misconduct, particularly in comparison with environmental and other safety laws.

"Serious violations of the OSHAct -- hazards that can very seriously injure, sicken or even kill workers -- carry a maximum penalty of only $7,000.  

Frumin explained, "the typical initial penalty in fatality cases was just $5,900.  Worse, after negotiation and settlement, the final penalty for workplace fatalities was typically reduced to only $3,675.

"Not surprisingly," he stated, "such miniscule penalties fail to deter misconduct. Consequently, OSHA continues to find and cite repeated violations at many employers. Stronger sanctions are clearly necessary to make employers fix dangerous conditions the first time, rather than see workers suffer needless additional injury.  

"The problem of recidivist behavior is not limited to small employers. Major employers in particular refuse to get the message.

"For instance, at the Cintas Corp., only after a tragic and preventable worker death, multiple worker complaints, many months of OSHA inspections and a nearly $3 million penalty in 2007, Cintas finally agreed to fix all its 106 locations in 36 states across the country with similar hazards. But the first citation and penalty in 2005, for a deadly hazard that was already well known to the employer, should have been sufficient to trigger action across the company.

"Only a small handful of OSHA cases with 'willful' violations involving fatalities are prosecuted for criminal violations. And the worst penalty these criminals face is a six-month sentence -- a mere misdemeanor,” Frumin stated.  

"The message to employers, workers, their communities and corporate shareholders is pretty clear: workers' lives don’t mean much, and corporate executives have little to fear from the Secretary of Labor under the current law.

"Environmental laws have explicit criminal sanctions -- with jail terms of up to 15 years – for knowing violations of environmental protection regulations and knowing endangerment of workers.

"Under the OSHAct, there is nothing resembling justice for the families and co-workers of those who suffer or die at the hands of negligent employers.

"PAWA’s updated penalties and criminal sanctions will begin to give government inspectors and civil and criminal prosecutors the essential tools they need to more effectively deter abusive employer conduct.

"We respectfully call upon Congress to modernize and strengthen OSHAct’s penalties, as soon as possible," Frumin concluded.

Frumin's complete testimony can be found in Adobe PDF format here.

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About Change to Win
Change to Win is a 5.5-million member partnership of five unions founded in 2005 to represent workers in the industries and occupations of the 21st century economy. Change to Win is committed to restoring the American Dream for a new generation of workers – wages that can support a family, affordable health care, a secure retirement, and the opportunity for the future. The affiliated unions are: Service Employees International Union, United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Laborers' International Union of North America, and United Farm Workers of America.