[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 90 (Wednesday, June 22, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H4369-H4370]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       PROTECT OUR WORKERS FROM EXPLOITATION AND RETALIATION ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Chu) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. CHU. I rise today to announce the introduction of legislation 
that will finally provide protection to immigrant workers from 
exploitation, the Protect Our Workers from Exploitation and Retaliation 
Act, the POWER Act.
  Too often, unscrupulous employers threaten or retaliate against 
workers who complain about illegal working conditions. Today, employers 
can use a worker's immigration status and threaten them so that they 
will fear reporting them to the authorities. The abuse of these 
vulnerable workers undermines working conditions and wages for all U.S. 
workers.
  The POWER Act protects these workers. Under current law, the U visa 
provides temporary status for immigrants who are victims of crimes, 
including domestic violence and rape. The POWER Act ensures that this 
visa protection is also provided to these workers who risk everything 
by reporting to authorities the employers who break the law by 
committing serious labor violations.
  Today, such workers are silent out of fear, but silence can mean the 
difference between life and death. Take the case of Mr. Asuncion 
Valdivia, a farmworker who came from Mexico seeking a better life. One 
day, during the hot summer months, he picked grapes for 10 hours 
straight in 105 degree temperatures. Then he fell over, unconscious and 
ill. Instead of calling an ambulance, Giumarra Vineyards told his son 
to drive Mr. Valdivia home. On his way home, the father started foaming 
at the mouth and died of a heat stroke. A son had to witness his father 
die, a preventible death, at the age of 53.
  After hearing about this tragedy, I had to act. For 15 years, the 
farmworker advocates had petitioned Cal OSHA for minimal health 
protections for the workers who perished and died working in heat, but 
they were always ignored. So I carried a bill in the California 
legislature that required that farmworkers and all outdoor workers have 
basic protections from the heat: water, shade, and rest periods. It 
passed and became the first law of its kind in the Nation.

[[Page H4370]]

  A decade after that law, I am in Congress. And while some farms obey 
the heat protections, others are flagrantly violating it. The POWER Act 
will stop these violations. It would have let someone like Asuncion go 
to the authorities without fear of retaliation. It would have let him 
continue to work while he cooperated with Cal OSHA to take Giumarra to 
court and would have ensured that Giumarra treated all their workers 
fairly from then on. And I hope that because of the POWER Act, a son 
will never have to watch a father die in this way again.

  The POWER Act will bring abused workers out of the shadows. It will 
give employees the courage to stand up to the world's biggest and 
strongest companies. The POWER Act will fundamentally change the very 
structure of workers' rights in this country. It supports every honest, 
hardworking employees across the country, protecting them. It's time 
that exploited workers were able to come out of the shadows, leave 
cruel conditions, and find jobs where they are treated with the dignity 
and respect that every employee in America deserves. It's time for the 
POWER Act.

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