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OPA News Release: [02/07/2005] Contact Name: Jane
Norris or Yvonne Ralsky Phone Number: 202-693-4676 Release Number:
05-0216-NAT
Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao Unveils FY 2006
Budget
More Resources for Protecting Workers, Job
Training Innovations
WASHINGTONU.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao
today outlined the President's Fiscal Year (FY) 2006 budget for the Department
of Labor. The President's budget provides added resources for enforcement and
compliance assistance to protect workers' health, safety, pay, benefits and
union dues. The budget also proposes new job training reforms to make
federal-state training programs more flexible and effective. The budget also
calls for passage of Association Health Plan legislation and other legislative
initiatives related to the Department's agencies and programs.
This budget strengthens our ability to protect workers and prepare
them for good jobs in the 21st century economy, said Secretary
Chao. Additional resources will enable us to continue our record-breaking
enforcement of worker protection laws, and innovative job training measures
will put valuable training options directly in the hands of workers.
Details of the Department's FY 2006 budget include the following:
Worker Safety, Health & Child Labor
The Department will spend $747.5 million to protect workers' safety and
health. The FY 2006 increase of $4.2 million for the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA) and Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA)
will enable these agencies to build on last year's health and safety
milestones. In 2004, OSHA inspections exceeded its aggressive targets by nearly
4%, and mining industry fatalities fell to an all-time low. Work-related
fatalities among Hispanics, which had been rising for several years, have been
reduced by over 11% since 2001, due in part to an intensive compliance
assistance focus on these workers and their employers.
The FY 2006 budget recommends that Congress increase civil penalties for
child labor law violations that result in the death or serious injury of a
youth, nearly quintupling them to $50,000 from the current $11,000; it proposes
that civil penalties for repeat and willful violations rise to $100,000. The
budget also calls for substantially increasing the fine for egregious mine
safety violations to $200,000 from $60,000.
Workers Rights: Pay, Benefits & Union Dues
Back wages collections by the Wage and Hour Division totaled nearly $200
million, for 265,000 workers, in FY 2004. The Department also guaranteed
overtime pay protection for 6.7 million workers through its new Overtime
Security rule, and the FY 2006 budget will ensure sufficient resources to
enforce the stronger standards on behalf of eligible workers, increasing the
budget of the Wage and Hour Division by $2.9 million.
The FY 2006 budget includes the Administration's new pension security
proposal as well as a $5.8 million increase for the Employee Benefits Security
Administration (EBSA) to protect the health benefits and retirement savings of
workers. Last year, EBSA secured more than $3 billion on behalf of workers'
health and retirement plans a 121% increase over the previous year. The
FY 2006 budget also re-proposes Association Health Plans, which would help
small businesses join together and purchase affordable health benefits for
workers. More information on the Administration's new pension security measures
may be found on EBSA's website, www.dol.gov/ebsa.
Protection of union members' dues and rights will be enhanced by a $7.1
million increase for the Office of Labor Management Standards (OLMS),
rebuilding the agency after deep cuts in the agency during the previous
decade.
Veterans' Re-Employment Rights & Assistance
The Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS) is allocated $224.3
million in the FY 2006 budget to continue ensuring that veterans returning home
are re-employed with the same seniority, status, pay and benefits they had when
they were deployed. The Department recently initiated a rulemaking to
strengthen and clarify veterans' rights and employers' responsibilities under
USERRA, the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. The
budget also supports job training to help veterans qualify for good civilian
jobs. The budget also calls for a $1.5 million increase to help homeless
veterans find work and integrate into society, and other purposes.
Job Training Innovations
The FY 2006 budget includes the Administration's new job training reform
proposal to consolidate four major Department of Labor programs and allow
states to add consolidated grant resources from other federal job training and
employment programs. This reform is designed to create greater state
flexibility in exchange for increased accountability in preparing people to
find and keep good jobs with growing wages.
The FY2006 budget transfers the $59.7 million YouthBuild program, which
targets training to 16-24 year olds for construction jobs, from the Department
of Housing and Urban Development to the Department of Labor. The second year of
the President's four year Prisoner Re-Entry Initiative is budgeted for $75
million, with $35 million allocated to the Department of Labor, $25 million to
HUD and $15 million to the Department of Justice. These reforms, along with a
$250 million community college job training initiative, will offer flexible,
effective training options to more workers than before.
The balance of the Department's FY 2006 budget is comprised of benefits
payments, including unemployment insurance and workers' compensation. Under the
President's budget, total Department of Labor budget authority (discretionary
and mandatory) for FY 2006 would be $54.5 billion, up from $50.7 billion in FY
2005.
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