Speech #1090136196

But these increased fines and penalties. while important. are not enough. We also need to take stronger steps to ensure that current laws are being enforced and violations are being detected and remedied. Vigilant enforcement is particularly important in occupations with high percentages of immigrants who often see large numbers of violations of health and safety and wage and hour laws. It can be difficult to enforce the law in such occupations where workers often dont know their rights or are afraid to report violations. That is why we need targeted enforcement efforts to ensure that guest workers rights are protected and our high American labor standards are being maintained for all workers in this country. The Kennedy amendment will serve this important goal by requiring that 25 percent of all fees collected under the guest worker program be dedicated to enhance enforcement of the Fair Labor Standards Act. OSHA. and the labor protections of the immigration bill in industries that have the highest percentage of violations and the highest percentage of guest workers. Another key step in protecting both American and immigrant workers is to end the economic incentives that employers have under the current law to abuse undocumented workers. The Supreme Courts decision in the Hoffman Plastic case was a major setback for American workers. By ruling that undocumented workers are not entitled to back pay when their rights are violated. the Supreme Court left millions of workers without meaningful recourse when they are fired for trying to organize a union. Unfortunately. this terrible decision has been applied to other labor laws as well. making undocumented workers even more vulnerable to exploitation because their employers can violate their rights with relative impunity. This decision also hurts American workers in several ways. It encourages employers to hire undocumented workers by making them less expensive and easier to intimidate. Businesses take advantage of the situation by hiring undocumented workers and cutting legal corners. Under the Hoffman case. unscrupulous employers are rewarded for this unlawful behavior. Congress should not allow employers to use immigration laws as a shield for unlawful and abusive behavior. All workers should be entitled to the protections of our labor laws regardless of their immigration status. Finally. our workplace standards will not be effective until workers have the security. knowledge. and means to enforce them. The best way to provide workers with these resources is to give them the ability to freely and fairly choose a union.