Let's Pass the Protecting America's Workers Act

Question: How do you get away with murder?
Answer: Hire your victim.
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Click on "16 Deaths Per Day" under Labor Links on your right to view a moving five minute film. Then email your congressional representatives to ask them to vote for the Protecting America's Workers Act.
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There are 16 workplace deaths in the United States every day. Most companies are never prosecuted for negligence, even after repeated warnings that their workers were in danger.
Under current Federal law, willfully contributing to the death of an employee is a misdemeanor that carries a maximum prison sentence of six months and a maximum fine of $70,000. Even with these weak penalties, the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) rarely refers such cases to the Department of Justice for prosecution, so those employers that knowingly allow their employees to work under dangerous conditions are rarely held accountable. In fact, current laws are so weak that millions of dollars of penalties to victim's families have not been paid -- in those rare cases when violators are penalized at all.
Working families need the Protecting America's Workers Act.
Authored by Senator Ted Kennedy and Representative Lynn Woolsey, the Protecting America's Workers Act will:
Expand workplace protections to state, county, municipal, and federal employees who are not currently covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Act
Increase financial penalties for those who kill or endanger workers
Strengthen criminal penalties to make felony charges available for willful negligence causing death or serious injury
Expand OSHA coverage to millions of employees who fall through the cracks (like airline and railroad workers)
Provide protection for whistleblowers
Give employees the right to refuse hazardous work that may kill them
Improve the rights of workers and families, requiring OSHA to investigate all cases of death
Prohibit employers from discouraging reporting of injury or illness