NEWS: Sanders, Baldwin Introduce Legislation to Finally Update Half-Century-Old Workplace Safety Laws, Protect American Workers

WASHINGTON, April 28 - Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), and Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) today introduced the Protecting America's Workers Act to commemorate Workers' Memorial Day. This legislation would comprehensively reform the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which has not been meaningfully updated since it was passed in 1970.

According to the AFL-CIO's Death on the Job Report, 140,000 workers die every year in the United States from workplace hazards. Unfortunately, the Occupational Safety and Health Act lacks the teeth to protect workers. Today, there are only five OSHA inspectors for every one million workers - the lowest in at least 45 years. This record low means each workplace can only be inspected once every 191 years.

Earlier this month, an Amazon warehouse worker in Oregon collapsed on the job. It is reported that Amazon workers were told to stop life-saving emergency care and get back to work. It was over an hour before emergency medical services arrived and too late to save their life. The Protecting America's Workers Act would ensure other workers are protected and that companies like Amazon are punished for this outrageous misconduct.

Amazon's choice to put profits ahead of people is well documented. A 2024 HELP Committee report on the dangerous working conditions at Amazon's warehouses revealed that Amazon knew that its productivity standards were the reason workers are so frequently injured, yet they refused to make any changes, instead putting profits over safety of their workers.

"In America today, it is unacceptable that large, profitable corporations like Amazon are routinely violating our nation's health and safety laws," Sanders said. "Even worse, when corporations are found liable for workplace fatalities and injuries, no one is held accountable for breaking the law and the fines are so meaningless that CEOs treat them as simply the cost of doing business. That must change. Corporations in America should not be allowed to endanger the health and safety of workers with impunity. When a dangerous worksite leads to a serious injury or death, corporate bosses who are responsible for harming workers must face substantial jail time and pay a significant fine for breaking the law."

"Wisconsin workers power our state's economy: building, brewing, and growing the Made in Wisconsin products that put our state on the map. That's why I'm committed to ensuring every Wisconsin worker is guaranteed the dignity and respect on the job that they've earned. This bill will strengthen and expand employees' rights, improve safety, and hold bad actors accountable when they break the law and hurt American workers," Baldwin said.

The Protecting America's Workers Act:

• Imposes meaningful monetary penalties for those who break the law, including through criminal charges for especially egregious violators so that there is justice for the victims and their families of workplace injuries and deaths.
• Protects workers who blow the whistle on unsafe conditions in the workplace by ensuring they can come forward without fear of retaliation.
• Enhances the public's right to know about safety violations by mandating the Department of Labor investigate all cases of workplace deaths or serious injuries, gives workers and their families the right to meet with and provide evidence to DOL investigators, and requires employers to inform workers of their right to a safe workplace.
• Extends health and safety protections to millions more workers by expanding OSH Act coverage to public employees, including federal, state and local workers.

Joining Sanders and Baldwin on this legislation are Sens. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.,) Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.).

The Protecting America's Workers Act has been endorsed by 15 organizations, including the AFL-CIO, United Steelworkers (USW), Communications Workers of America (CWA), United Mineworkers of America (UMWA), American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), International Association of Machinists (IAM), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA), Government Accountability Project (GAP), United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers (UE), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), United Autoworkers (UAW), International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART), Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW).

Read the bill text here.

Read a summary here.

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