Over the past year, American parents rebuffed foreign-made toys when they contained leaded paint, poisonous cadmium beads or the “date rape” drug.

These toxic toys created a scandal as it became clear that the Bush administration’s deliberately stripped down Consumer Product Safety Commission was not protecting American children and families from dangerous imports. Republicans eschew government regulation, but its absence has allowed our supermarkets to sell us imported tainted toothpaste and deadly dog food.

Now, the National Labor Committee (NLC), which often works with the United Steelworkers to combat sweatshop labor conditions internationally, has released an investigation of the Kai Da Toy Factory in Shenzhen City, China, where the Sesame Street Kid K’Nex Ernie construction kits are assembled, that raises a moral question for American parents: Are they willing to rebuff toys that are toxic to other people’s children? Read the rest of this entry »

Today, the national minimum wage increases by 70 cents, from $5.85 per hour to $6.55 per hour. I am proud to say that this is the second of three increases due to take effect under the Fair Minimum Wage Act, enacted by this Democratic Congress and signed into law on May 25, 2007.

The increase in the minimum wage comes at an important time for the millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet. Real incomes have dropped since 2001, while the costs of gasoline, health insurance, and attending college have skyrocketed. With today’s increase, Americans who most urgently need a pay raise will get a badly needed boost. Read the rest of this entry »

You would think that with the steady flow of pessimistic reports news about the struggling economy that sooner or later you’d encounter a headline that proclaimed, “New Government Regs to Hamper Economy, Hurt Consumers.”

But the regulatory burden keeps building, the economic harm keeps mounting, and still no headline, no “Added Rules to Slow Growth, Benefits Unclear.” It’s an aspect of the regulatory world that sure needs to be reported. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday, I had the privilege of testifying before the International Trade Commission on behalf of more than 500 union workers I represent from Freeport, Illinois, who make the best Off-The-Road tires in the world but have been getting hammered by Chinese companies who have been illegally selling those tires into the United States at below market rates. For the past three years, those Chinese companies have been receiving illegal subsidies from the Chinese government and dumping those products in the United States at a fraction of the price of what it costs the American companies to make the same tires.

Thankfully, we have Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duty laws to penalize foreign companies that do not follow the rules of fair trade. Both the ITC and the U.S. Dept. of Commerce issued preliminary determinations that the 15 Chinese companies had broken our trade laws and materially injured Freeport’s Titan Tire company and the United Steelworkers who brought the trade cases on behalf of themselves and thousands of other tire workers in America. And yesterday, the Commerce Department issued a final determination that confirmed the dumping and illegal subsidies and set tariffs up to 210 percent on Chinese OTR tires coming into the United States. If the ITC follows suit and issues a final determination that the American companies and United Steelworkers were harmed by the unfair trade practices, the new tariffs will take full effect and the Chinese will face major long-term penalties for their illegal actions. Read the rest of this entry »

In these increasingly hard economic times, America’s working families are struggling under the stubborn refusal of the GOP to extend a helping hand.  The House of Representatives passed an extension of unemployment benefits to provide relief for workers that have lost their jobs and are struggling in today’s sagging economy last week, yet 137 House Republicans voted against this extension and President Bush has threatened a veto.  President Bush needs to sign this important unemployment benefit extension into law and support America’s working families as they struggle to make ends meet with rising food and energy costs.

In May, the national unemployment rate jumped from 5 percent to 5.5 percent, the biggest one-month increase in over 20 years.  Working families need our help now, similar to the unemployment benefits extension that President Bush signed into law in 2002.  The extension of unemployment benefits would target those workers who have exhausted the 26 weeks of regular benefits and are still looking for work is much needed and overdue.  Extending unemployment benefits is not only the right thing to do for workers impacted by President Bush’s failed economic policies, but is also a cost-effective and fast-acting economic stimulus.  Every $1 spent generates $1.73 in new economic demand. Read the rest of this entry »

To the Republican members of Congress who live in a Washington bubble, it might seem like everything is fine with the U.S. economy right now. But to American workers, we’re in a recession. Over 300,000 American workers have lost their jobs since the start of the year, and there are 8.5 million workers who want a job but don’t have one. Making matters worse, workers and their families must cope with rising energy and food costs and the fallout from the housing crisis.

For laid-off workers, the paychecks stop coming, but someone still has to put gas in the car to drive to school and church and run errands. Paycheck or no paycheck, someone still has to buy groceries, and someone still has to pay the mortgage. House Republicans apparently don’t care about any of that. They apparently don’t believe that workers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own deserve some help making ends meet while they look for new employment. And they apparently don’t understand that helping workers also helps the economy by injecting demand into it.

With the unemployment rate rising quickly, there are many American families who need this assistance. Democrats in Congress will not stop pushing until workers get the help they need in these difficult times. It is the right thing to do for workers and it’s the smart thing to do for the economy.

Workers in the Bush economy are being kicked while they’re down. Their jobs are being shipped overseas. Their productivity is up, but their wages remain flat. And they are grappling with record high costs of health care, groceries, gasoline, and college tuition.

The Emergency Extended Unemployment Compensation Act would provide up to 13 additional weeks of government unemployment benefits and even more support in those areas with the highest jobless rates. Relief would run through March of 2009. We have a moral obligation to provide assistance to workers that lose their jobs through no fault of their own. Read the rest of this entry »

The seven unions and six million members of Change to Win applaud Reps. Rob Andrews (D-N.J.), Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), Michael Michaud (D-Maine), and Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.), for introducing the Employee Misclassification Prevention Act of 2008. This legislation will go a long way in protecting workers from unscrupulous companies that misclassify their employees as independent contractors in order to deny them legal wages and benefits, and will help restore the American Dream for America’s workers.

Workers who are misclassified are cheated out of their basic rights to minimum wage and overtime pay, as well as unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation. Misclassification allows low-road employers to undercut and underbid responsible employers. And every year, all levels of government are cheated out of billions of dollars in revenue, which means law-abiding employers and taxpayers end up paying more than their fair share.

Change to Win and other advocates for workers have long believed that misclassification of workers as independent contractors is already a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Read the rest of this entry »

On Thursday, the House of Representatives extended a helping hand to Americans who are struggling in today’s economy by passing an extension of unemployment benefits for those workers who have exhausted the 26 weeks of regular benefits and are still looking for work.

In California, this help is sorely needed. The average unemployment rate in California has risen above six percent and in East Lost Angeles it passed eight percent. But these job losses are happening across the country. For four consecutive months, the U.S. economy has lost jobs. In total, 260,000 jobs have disappeared. 800,000 more Americans are looking for work than a year ago.

In addition, the number of long-term unemployed — 1.35 million workers — is higher now than when Congress last extended unemployment benefits in 2002. Read the rest of this entry »

Sen. Enzi is ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.

Today I received a report, which I requested along with Senator Kennedy and Senator Murray, from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on the efforts of community colleges and one-stop training centers to meet the needs of the 21st century workplace.  This report confirms the need for Congress to renew and improve the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), a high priority of mine, so that all Americans have access to education and training opportunities that will prepare them for new, rewarding careers.

Community colleges and one-stop training centers provide vital opportunities for many Americans to receive the education and training they need to prepare for the high skills, high growth, high wage jobs being created every day.  Congress needs to renew and improve the Workforce Investment Act to make sure that these programs continue to help our workers succeed in the 21st century, global economy.

However, as long as Congress continues to delay WIA reauthorization, these programs will face funding instability, and they will not be able to keep pace with the increasing skill demands of today’s workforce. Read the rest of this entry »