[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Page 7014]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           WORKER PROTECTION

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, 50 years ago, in August 1963, Martin Luther 
King wrote, ``Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.''
  When a factory full of human beings collapses in Bangladesh, it 
matters in Bucyrus and Boardman and Bellefontaine. When the concrete 
ceiling of a shoe factory crumbles in Cambodia, it matters in Celina 
and Canton.
  Earlier this month we observed Workers Memorial Day. We paused and 
remembered those Americans who had lost their lives on the job. We 
honor their memories by passing laws to help ensure no other child 
waits by the door for a mother or a father who will never return home 
from work.
  Out of the ashes of the Triangle Shirt Waste Factory fire 100 years 
ago in New York City, we fought and won workplace safety reforms that 
have helped save countless lives decade after decade after decade in 
our country. Yet even though we have passed the Occupational Safety and 
Health Act of 1970, even though we have a National Labor Relations 
Board, we still have a moral responsibility to be vocal about 
violations to worker safety wherever it happens--whether it happens in 
Cleveland, in Honolulu, or in Bangladesh.
  We are interconnected with this world. Our economy is linked to the 
women and children--to the people--whose names we don't know, the 
workers we don't know, who sew labels we all know in our shirts and in 
our sweaters. American and European retailers purchase some two-thirds 
of Bangladeshi garment production.
  That is why, Mr. President, in the aftermath of the deadly Rana Plaza 
collapse in Bangladesh and the Wing Star Shoes collapse outside of 
Phnom Penh, we might have expected outraged American companies to take 
action. That is not exactly what happened. Which member of this 
multibillion-dollar industry will speak out for workers who face 
hazardous conditions for a minimum wage--in many cases of just $38 per 
month--making the clothes we wear in this country?
  Today, Leader Reid, Senator Harkin of Iowa, Durbin of Illinois, Levin 
of Michigan, Leahy of Vermont, Murray of Washington State, Rockefeller 
of West Virginia, and I sent a letter to some of our leading American 
retailers. We are urging retailers such as Walmart to sign onto a 
legally binding global accord to help ensure worker safety in 
Bangladesh. We are asking a number of the largest retailers in America 
to sign onto this legally binding global accord to help ensure worker 
safety in Bangladesh.
  Remember, as Dr. King wrote some 50 years ago, injustice anywhere 
threatens our ability to create a more just world. Signing this accord 
from our retailers is one step our leading retailers can take to help 
us usher in a new era of justice in this new century.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cowan). The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. I ask consent to speak for up to 15 minutes as in 
morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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