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| Labor Throughout my tenure in Congress, I have fought for workers rights and increased opportunity for working families. I am working to strengthen workers' retirement viability through legislation to encourage small businesses to offer pensions to their employees, increase pension portability to help workers changing jobs, strengthen pension protection laws and provide greater pension equity for women. My commitment to labor's values and ideas has earned me a 96% lifetime rating from the Illinois AFL-CIO. I co-sponsored legislation which became law to improve the pensions of workers who belong to multi-employer pension plans by exempting such plans from compensation-based limits. I am also a co-sponsor of legislation, thus far blocked by Republican leadership in Congress, to increase the minimum wage by $1.50 over the next three years, bringing it to $6.65 per hour. I will continue to stand with labor in the fight to protect pension benefits, raise the minimum wage, provide funding for job training under the Workforce Investment Act, retain high Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards and provide high-quality affordable healthcare to employees. To that end, I introduced legislation that would bar persons or entities who violate federal labor and safety laws from obtaining federal contracts. This bill, the Federal Procurement and Assistance Integrity Act, S. 1339, would improve the integrity of the federal procurement process by ensuring that the federal government does business with responsible contractors and participants. The bill would allow the Secretary of Labor to suspend a company from receiving federal contracts or assistance if it seriously violates labor, employment, health and safety or veterans hiring preference laws. I was pleased when the Clinton Administration implemented regulations to accomplish similar goals, but the Bush Administration recently began the process of repealing these important labor standards. I have written a letter to Bush's Office of Management and Budget Director Mitchell Daniels asking the Administration not to repeal these rules. I believe in fair trade and think the government must closely monitor trade to ensure that American companies are not injured by cheap imports. I worked with Illinois steel companies to fight illegal dumping by testifying before the International Trade Commission and pressed the Bush Administration to provide a strong Section 201 remedy for the embattled domestic steel industry. I am also seeking a long-term solution by supporting legislation to lower the threshold for bringing U.S. cases against illegal dumping of products like steel. |
SENATOR DICK DURBIN'S LEGISLATIVE
AGENDA |