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BARACK OBAMA: WOULD PROTECT WORKERS' SAFETY AND HEALTH

Obama Voted for Harsher Penalties Against Employers That Violate OSHA and Wage Rules. Obama supported making “willful” or “grossly negligent” violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) a criminal felony, providing back pay to undocumented workers in cases of employer wage-and-hour violations and increasing fines for wage-and-hour infractions and OSHA violations. (S.Amdt. 4106 to S. 2611, Vote 141, 5/23/06)

Obama: We Must Do Everything We Can to Protect America’s Workers. Obama says, “We must do everything we can to protect America’s workers and prevent terrible accidents….It’s long past time that OSHA issue a standard to prevent these kinds of accidents, and if the agency will not do so, then Congress must legislate one as soon as possible.” (Obama Press Release, 7/29/08)

Obama Co-Sponsored the Protecting America’s Workers Act. Obama co-sponsored the Protecting America’s Workers Act to strengthen OSHA enforcement, make criminal OSHA violations a felony and expand OSHA coverage to public-sector workers, flight attendants and other workers not covered by the law. It also would increase protections for whistleblowers and increase penalties for certain violators. (S. 1244, 4/26/07)

Obama Voted for Workers’ Compensation Insurance Standards. In the Illinois Senate, Obama voted to require out-of-state construction contractors to carry valid Illinois state workers’ compensation insurance. (H.B. 1587, 1999)