Johnny Isakson, United States Senator

Johnny Isakson's Position Statement on Jobs and the Workplace

As a businessman who has worked with hundreds of employees over more than 30 years, I have and will continue to work to ensure full and fair enforcement of all the employment laws designed to protect American workers. At the same time, it is imperative we don’t overburden America’s entrepreneurs and small businesses with job-killing, European-style employer mandates.

Throughout my time in the Senate, it has been my privilege to serve as the senior Republican on the Employment and Workplace Safety Subcommittee, a key Subcommittee of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. The Subcommittee has jurisdiction over a variety of laws governing the workplace, including the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the National Labor Relations Act, and the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act.

Minimum Wage

I have voted to increase the minimum wage, but only as long as the increase is offset with tax breaks and other incentives so as to not hinder the hiring of lower-skill workers.

Labor Union Secret Ballot (also known as “Card Check”)

Labor unions across the country are pushing Congress to take away the right of American workers to cast a secret ballot in deciding whether to join a union. Legislation to do just that - a bill deceptively named the Employee Free Choice Act - easily passed the House in the 110th Congress and fell only nine votes shy of passing in the Senate. Now, with proponents holding a larger majority in both chambers, the threat of this anti-worker legislation becoming law looms large. We must not let this happen.

The Employee Free Choice Act actually deprives employees of their free choice by replacing secret ballot elections - the method by which most workers join unions - with publicly signed union petitions. Labor leaders enthusiastic support for this legislation is predicated on the fear that, if left to their own devices in the privacy of a voting booth, American workers might choose not to join a union. They want to prevent such a possibility. Instead, the proponents want to impose a system where union organizers could show up at your home and refuse to leave until you sign a public petition allowing union bosses to be your sole representative in the workplace.

There are areas where Democrats and Republicans can work together to get this economy moving again, but under no circumstances could I support negotiation on this profoundly anti-worker legislation. Bipartisan compromise can only occur when both sides share a common goal. I cannot and will not support even a watered-down version of this brazen attempt to deprive American workers of the right to cast a secret ballot during unionizing campaigns.

Balancing Work and Family

I firmly believe the best ideas on how to help American workers balance their jobs and families do not emanate from the halls of Congress, but rather flow from the creativity and ingenuity of the American people. In our 21st Century economy, working families are faced with countless new challenges and opportunities. Today, new industries are born overnight. Living rooms are workplaces. International negotiations are conducted from coffee shops. This ongoing modernization of our workplace forces me to oppose European-style labor law changes that needlessly hinder the free-flow of commerce.

We must reexamine some of the decades-old labor laws that simply have no relevance in this day and age. I support allowing employers to offer bonuses to hourly employees without the needlessly complex paperwork that is required under current labor law. Private-sector workers should have the option to enter voluntarily into arrangements whereby they can transfer up to 10 hours of work over a two-week period. Similarly, I support allowing workers to “bank” overtime hours for up to a year to be taken whenever they choose, whether to see a child’s soccer game or take a vacation.

Our modern economy features a highly diversified workforce collaborating and cooperating to provide goods and services faster, better, and cheaper. This is the reality for working families in the 21st Century, and our workplace policies should reflect it.

Pension Preservation Act of 2006

I co-authored the first sweeping reform of defined benefit pension laws in a generation to help ensure that promises made by employers to employees are kept. This law included targeted re-amortization of airline pensions that allowed Delta Air Lines – one of the largest employers in the state of Georgia – to meet its obligations to thousands of employees. Congress carefully crafted this legislation to protect our nation’s workforce while imposing the smallest burden on our nation’s employers who voluntary provide pension plans to their employees.

Among many other provisions, the Act requires employers and unions to fully fund pension plans within seven years, ensures the viability of the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation, allows for professional, high-quality investment advice for workers, mandates increased disclosure about the health of defined benefit pension plans, and protects taxpayers from being forced to pay for broken pension promises.

Combustible Dust

I will continue to work on behalf of the 14 victims of the February 2008 massive explosion that occurred at the Imperial Sugar facility in Port Wentworth, Georgia. Just days after the explosion, I toured the facility and viewed the absolute devastation wrought by the disaster. At the same time, I witnessed the unbelievable spirit of family and resilience amongst the employees of the company. I heard stories of great heroism, including accounts of employees going back into the burning plant to rescue their fellow workers after the initial explosion. As we met with Imperial’s employees, I pledged the full resources of the Senate to assure a thorough and exacting investigation led by the federal government’s best occupational safety experts. I implored the company’s executives to cooperate to the fullest extent possible with all investigators, so we could maximize what we could learn from this horrific event to help prevent future tragedies. They promised me they would do just that.

On July 25, 2008, investigators from the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety & Health Administration concluded that Imperial Sugar “egregiously and willfully” violated numerous safety and health standards. OSHA officials believe the employer in this case was aware of the hazard and did little to abate the problem. The agency charged Imperial Sugar with violations of both existing standards and the “general duty clause,” the section of the Act that obligates employers to maintain safe workplaces, free from recognized hazards.

Days later, I held a hearing of the Subcommittee on Employment & Workplace Safety to focus on methods of preventing future such tragedies. Just as there are stand-alone, vertical safety rules targeted to coal mines and grain operations, solutions designed to address the hazards associated with sugar dust must be tailored specifically to the sugar industry. As I continue to work with Labor Department experts on the prevention of combustible dust tragedies, I will make decisions based on sound science, not rush to score political points as a result of this horrible tragedy to a Georgia community. Those who died in the sugar plant disaster deserve no less.

Mine Safety

In the wake of the disaster at the Sago Mine in West Virginia in 2006, I held a series of hearings on the disaster and heard hours of testimony on the latest innovations in mine safety technology that would protect this nation’s 378,000 miners and prevent the loss of life in future similar situations. I coauthored a sweeping, bipartisan piece legislation called the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response (MINER) Act of 2006, first significant reform of mining safety law in a generation. This law established timelines for new and better mine safety technology, required mines maintain and continuously update emergency response plans, and raised the criminal penalty cap as well as the maximum civil penalty for flagrant violations of mine safety regulations.

Asbestos

I have been and continue to be a strong proponent of regulations that ensure the safety of workers at their worksite, especially when it comes to the deadly hazard of asbestos. When inhaled, asbestos is known to cause diseases including a cancer called mesothelioma. Despite this hazard, the substance is not banned by federal law.

In 2007, I crafted legislation to permanently ban the production, manufacture, and distribution of asbestos, and the Senate passed this legislation unanimously. Unfortunately, this legislation was blocked by the House of Representatives in 2008. One of my highest priorities for 2009 is working to see this legislation signed into law by President Obama.