Pasadena, TX - Congressman Al Green (TX-09), today, joined colleague Congressman Gene Green (TX-29), members of the Harris County AFL-CIO and United Steel Workers, as well as, family members of victims of the BP Refinery Tragedy to announce the reintroduction of his Equal Protection for All Workers Act. This bill is supported by the AFL-CIO.

Press Conference on Equal Protection for All Workers Act
Monday, May 21, 2007

On March 23, 2005, a tragic explosion occurred at the British Petroleum (BP) refinery in Texas City killing 15 contract workers and injuring more than 100 other people.

Prior to this fatal event, BP had been repeatedly fined in conjunction with multiple fatalities and a separate explosion in September 2004.

Unfortunately, the U.S. Attorneys office was of the opinion that it could not take legal action on behalf of the families of the victims because the victims were employees of contract firms, not employees of BP.

Under current OSHA law, any employer who willfully violates OSHA law and whose violation causes the death to any employee, shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of up to $10,000 or by imprisonment for up to six months, or by both.

This penalty is increased in the case of multiple offenses.

While this law provides a crucial measure of safety for employees, it does not explicitly cover employees of contract firms.

This is why tomorrow, I will introduce the Equal Protection for All Workers Act.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, if an employer willfully violates a provision of the Act and its violation causes death to “any employee,” the employer could be subject to criminal sanctions.

My common sense legislation would specifically include employees of a contract firm in the statute so that any employer that willfully violates OSHA standards unequivocally may be held criminally accountable if the violation leads to the death of any employee under contract.

I am proud to be joined by my colleague Gene Green, as well as our neighbor Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.

When we introduce the bill tomorrow, we will be supported by the co-chairs of the Congressional for Labor and Working Families Caucus.

Our bill is supported by the AFL-CIO.

According to an AFL-CIO report released last month, “Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect,” more than 349,000 workers now can say their lives have been saved since the passage of the OSH Act in 1970.

Despite the strides we have made to protect our workers, today an American worker is killed on the job every 96 minutes – between 5,000 and 6,000 are killed every year

Contract workers make up to ½ of the refinery workforce

This means that significant numbers of America’s workers could be considered unprotected.

OSHA has forwarded this case to the Justice Department. Our hope is that we can pass this piece of legislation to make certain that the government has the legal authority take whatever action it deems necessary.

It is time to protect all America’s workers equally. Employers should not be allowed to ignore the real issue of improving overall safety by simply hiring a contract worker to do a dangerous job.

HOW WE WOULD AMEND CURRENT LAW:

Current Law – 29 U.S.C. 666(e)
Any employer who willfully violates any standard, rule, or order promulgated pursuant to section 655 of this title, or of any regulations prescribed pursuant to this chapter, and that violation caused death to any employee, shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or by imprisonment for not more than six months, or by both; except that if the conviction is for a violation committed after a first conviction of such person, punishment shall be by a fine of not more than $20,000 or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or by both.

Equal Protection For All Workers Act

Section 17(e) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (29 U.S.C. 666(e)) is amended by inserting “including any individual employed under contract,” after “employee,”.

The current lack of inclusive language has led to significant litigation regarding the responsibility of employers to contract workers, even when a contract worker is killed as a result of a willful violation of an OSHA safety regulation. Ultimately, this may create an incentive system by which employers hire contract workers to do the most dangerous jobs because they believe there will be fewer repercussions if the contract worker is killed than if an employee is killed.

Congressman Al Green's Pictures from the Press Conference