Sen. Franken reintroduces Protecting America’s Workers Act

Washington – Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) on Workers Memorial Day (April 28) reintroduced legislation that would update the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

The Protecting America’s Workers Act (S. 1112) has been introduced during several congresses, and proponents of the legislation assert it is necessary to modernize the 45-year-old law.

The bill would:

• Expand OSHA coverage to millions of public-sector workers
• Increase penalties, including making felony charges available for certain repeat or willful violations
• Guarantee workers and families the right to meet with Department of Labor investigators

“We’ve made no real updates to our workplace safety laws, even though thousands of workers die every year on the job,” Franken said on the Senate floor, referencing several recent and deadly large-scale industrial disasters. “We owe it to those who have died and to their surviving families to learn from those accidents, and to try to stop them from happening so that other families don’t have to suffer the same loss. Good jobs are safe jobs, and I believe this bill will help us create safer workplaces.”