[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 193 (Wednesday, December 6, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2300-E2301]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   FEDERAL WORKPLACE SAFETY STANDARDS

                                 ______


                            HON. LANE EVANS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 6, 1995

  Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, today, I am pleased to introduce legislation 
to ensure that U.S. Federal contractors comply with the laws that 
protect working men and women from unfair management practices and 
unsafe conditions in the workplace.
  Every year, the Federal Government awards billions of dollars in 
contracts to corporate America. While these recipients provide jobs to 
local areas, some also violate their employees' right to bargain 
collectively, organize, and work in safe environment.
  A recent Government Accounting Office [GAO] report cited that 13 
percent of the fiscal year 1993 contracts went to 80 violators of the 
National Labor Relations Act [NLRA]. Six of those violators were among 
the largest Federal contractors, ranking among the top 20 firms 
receiving Federal contract dollars.
  Some of the most egregious violations include interrogating workers 
about union membership, promising workers a pay raise if they oust the 
union, increasing benefits to nonunion employees, threatening workers 
with discharge because of their union activity, and threatening to 
withhold a wage increase because workers selected the union as their 
collective bargaining representative.
  Federal contractors who violate Occupational Safety and Health Act 
[OSHA] standards also continue to receive billions of dollars in 
contracts. A February 6, 1995 Wall Street Journal article cited that of 
50 public companies with the largest Federal awards in fiscal 1993. 70 
percent were cited by OSHA for a total of more than 1,100 willful or 
repeated safety violations in the previous 5 fiscal years. At a time 
when more than 55,000 Americans die on the job each year, we cannot 
afford to conduct business with contractors who willfully 

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jeopardize the lives of their workers for the sake of the bottom line.
  While big business, in the face of record profits, continues to 
ignore its responsibility to its workers and U.S. law, we cannot turn 
our backs on the hard working men and women of this country.
  For this reason, I urge my colleagues to sponsor both pieces of 
legislation which will debar companies from receiving Federal contracts 
if a company demonstrates ``a clear pattern and practice'' of violating 
the NLRA and OSHA respectively.
  These bills are steps toward improving compliance and ensuring that 
the Federal Government does not subsidize egregious labor and workplace 
safety standards.

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