Workforce Protections Subcommittee
This hearing examined whether the Department of Labor is doing enough to enforce U.S. child labor laws and will explore the impact of child labor on families.
Archived Webcast »
Witnesses:
- Norma Flores » Former child worker Chicago
- Sally Greenberg » Co-Chair Child Labor Coalition
- Alexander Passantino » Acting Wage and Hour Administrator U.S. Department of Labor
- David Strauss » Executive Director Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs
This hearing examined the Department of Labor’s last-minute proposal that would dramatically weaken future workplace health standards and further slow their enactment. The department allowed only 30 days for comment on the proposal and would not hold public hearings.
Archived Webcast »
Witnesses:
- Randel Johnson » Vice President U.S. Chamber of Commerce
- Celeste Monforton, PhD, MPH » The George Washington University School of Public Health
- Margaret “Peg” Seminario » Director of the Department of Occupational Health and Safety AFL-CIO
- Leon Sequeira » Assistant U.S. Labor Secretary for Policy
-
Jared Bernstein »
Director
Living Standards Program
Economic Policy Institute -
Diana Furchtgott-Roth »
Senior Fellow
Center for Employment Policy
Hudson Institute - Robert Greenstein » Executive Director Center on Budget & Policy Priorities
- Nell Minow » Editor and Co-Founder The Corporate Library
- Donna Dolan » Chair New York State Paid Family Leave Coalition New York, New York
- Julienne Condos » Director of Program & Development for Rehabilitation St. Charles Hospital Rocky Point, New York
- George Blekas » Outside Field Technician Verizon Manorville, New York
- Barbara Wankoff » Director of Workplace Solutions KPMG Montvale, New Jersey
The Workforce Protections Subcommittee of the House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing on Immigration and Custom Enforcement workplace raids and the effects of the raids on local communities, including the impact on children, most of whom are American citizens. Witnesses explored how immigration enforcement could be improved in order to protect children.
Archived Webcast »
Witnesses:
- Kathryn Gibney » Principal San Pedro Elementary School San Rafael, California
- Janet Murguia » President National Council of La Raza
- Simon Romo » Chief Counsel New Mexico Child Protective Services
-
James Spero »
Acting Deputy Assistant Director
Office of Investigations U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
The Workforce Protections Subcommittee of the House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing on the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s lack of adequate enforcement and oversight of workplace safety and health conditions within large, multiple-facility corporations.
Witnesses explored events at the Cintas Corporation, the largest uniform supplier in North America. In 2007, a worker died at the company’s Tulsa facility despite previous evidence, known to both OSHA and Cintas, of similar hazards at other Cintas facilities and industrial laundries. The death resulted in the largest service sector fine in OSHA’s history and was followed by additional citations of similar problems at other Cintas facilities.
-
Randy Rabinowitz »
Member
American Bar Association Occupational Safety and Health Law Committee - Ron Taylor » Partner Venable LLC
- Emmanuel Torres » Son of Eleazar Torres-Gomez who died at Cintas’s Tulsa facility in 2007
-
Frank White »
Senior Vice President
Head of Health, Safety, and Environmental Practice ORC Worldwide
- The Honorable Victoria Lipnic » Assistant Secretary for Employment Standards U.S. Department of Labor Washington, D.C.
-
The Honorable Pat Schroeder »
Former U.S. Representative (D-CO)
Original sponsor of the Family and Medical Leave Act Washington, DC - Chante Lasco » New Mother Easton, Maryland
- Jennifer Hunt » Airline Attendant Richmond, Virginia
- Brenda Cossette » Testifying on behalf of the Society for Human Resource Management Alexandria, Virginia
- Debra Ness » President National Partnership for Women and Families Washington, DC
-
Eric Frumin »
Director
Occupational Safety and Health Program UNITE-HERE New York, New York - David Socolow » Commissioner New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development Trenton, New Jersey
- Charles Wowkanech » President New Jersey State AFL-CIO Trenton, New Jersey
- James W. Stanley » President FDRsafety, LLC » President FDRsafety, LLC on behalf of the Uniform and Textile Service Association Arlington, Virginia
- Rick Engler » Director Work Environment Council Trenton, New Jersey
-
Craig Becker »
Attorney for Evelyn Coke
Association General Counsel Service Employees International Union - Manuela Butler » Home Health Care Worker Brooklyn, New York
- Henry Claypool » Washington Office Director Independence Care Systems
- William A. Dombi » Vice President for Law National Association for Home Care
- Alfred B. Robinson, Jr. » Shareholder Ogletree Deakins LLP
- Dorie Seavey » Director of Policy Research The Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute
- Honorable Christopher Dodd » U.S. Senator for the State of Connecticut
- Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton » U.S. Senator for the State of New York
- Honorable Darrell Issa » U.S. Representative for the 49th District of California
- Sarah Wade » Chapel Hill, North Carolina
-
Jessica Perdew »
Deputy Director
Government Relations National Military Family Association Alexandria, Virginia - Christine Vion-Gillespie » Society of Human Resource Management Cary, North Carolina
- Debra L. Ness » President National Partnership for Women & Families Washington, D.C.
-
Kevin Stricklin » Administrator Coal Mine Safety and Health »
Administrator
Coal Mine Safety and Health Mine Safety and Health Administration
Department of Labor Arlington, Virginia - Dennis O’Dell » Safety and Health Director United Mine Workers of America Fairfax, Virginia
- James L. Weeks, ScD, CIH » Potomac, Maryland
-
Mike Wright »
Director
Health, Safety and Environment United Steelworkers Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Paul DeCamp » Wage and Hour Administrator Department of Labor Washington, DC
- Bob Williams » Fed-Ex Employee Berlin, MA
- Sara Stafford » President Stafford Construction Services Inc.
- Christine Walters » Consultant Five L Company Glyndon, MD
- David Socolow » New Jersey Commissioner of Labor
-
Dr. Evelyn Murphy »
President
WAGE Project, Inc.
Resident Scholar Women’s Research Center
Brandeis University Boston, Massachusetts - Joseph Sellers » Partner Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, PLLC Washington, DC
- Marcia Greenberger » Co-President National Women’s Law Center Washington, DC
- Camille A. Olson » Partner Seyfarth Shaw, LLP Chicago, Illinois
- Maria McFarland » Principal Specialist on Colombia Human Rights Watch
- Daniel Kovalik, Esq. » Associate General Counsel United Steelworkers
- Edwin Guzman » Former Sergeant National Army, Republic of Colombia
- Francisco Ramirez » President Sintraminercol
- Ambassador Otto J. Reich » President Otto Reich Associates, LLC
Transcript:
Protection and Money: U.S. Companies, Their Employees, and Violence in Colombia »
Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions & Subcommittee on Workforce Protections Joint Hearing with the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight & Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Protection and Money: U.S. Companies, Their Employees, and Violence in Colombia »
Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions & Subcommittee on Workforce Protections Joint Hearing with the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight & Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere
Thursday, June 28, 2007
- Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro » Third District of Connecticut
- Congresswoman Judy Biggert » Thirteenth District of Illinois
- Missy Quarberg » Amery, Wisconsin
-
Barbara Wankoff »
Director
Workplace Solutions KPMG Montvale, New Jersey - Melissa Lindsay » Bookkeeper Marlin Steel Wire Products Baltimore, Maryland
- Kristen Rowe Finkbeiner » Co-Founder Moms Rising Kirkland, Washington
-
Dave Fillman »
Executive Director
AFSCME Council 13
Vice President
AFSCME Harrisburg, Pennsylvania - Casey Jones » Widow of Municipal Worker Daytona Beach, Florida
- David Sarvadi » Attorney Keller and Heckman Washington, DC
-
Jon Turnipseed »
Safety Supervisor
Municipal Water Department
Representing the American Society of Safety Engineers City of San Bernardino San Bernardino, California
- Jeffrey Wigand » Mt. Pleasant, Michigan
- John Simon » Lake Villa, Illinois
- Richard Fairfax » Director of Enforcement Occupational Safety and Health Administration Washington, DC
- Richard Moberly » Assistant Professor University of Nebraska College of Law Lincoln, Nebraska
- Lloyd Chinn » Partner Proskauer Rose New York, New York
- Tom Devine » Legal Director Government Accountability Project Washington, DC
-
Edwin Foulk »
Assistant Secretary
Department of Labor
Occupational Safety and Health Administration Washington, D.C. -
Eric Peoples »
Former Employee
Victim of Bronchiolitis Obliterans (Popcorn Lung) Victim of Bronchiolitis Obliterans (Popcorn Lung) Carthage, Missouri - Scott Schneider » Director of Occupational Safety and Health Laborers’ Health and Safety Fund of North America Washington, D.C.
- Daruch Fellner » Attorney Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher Washington, D.C.
- Frank Mirer » Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Hunter School of Urban Public Health New York, New York
- Catherine Ruckelshaus » New York, New York
- Cliff Horn » A. Horn, Inc. Barrington, Illinois
- John J. Flynn » President International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Washington, D.C.
- Richard R. Shavell » Shavell & Company, P.A. Boca Raton, Florida