A LIFETIME OF SERVICE

Fighting for Workers' Rights and a Fair Minimum Wage

Senator Kennedy spent his career standing up for the rights of workers, the backbone of America's economy, battling for workplace safety, mine safety, fair wages, the right to organize and more.

Raising the Minimum Wage

Senator Kennedy was the leading Congressional proponent of a fair minimum wage, which was increased 16 times during his nearly half century of Senate service. While serving as Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Senator Kennedy's most recent efforts culminated in 2007 with the first increase in the federal minimum wage in a decade. Thirteen million American workers, including the parents of more than six million children, benefitted from the raise, which increased the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour in three phases.

Strengthening Unemployment Insurance

Senator Kennedy led the charge to ensure that laid-off workers receive extended unemployment benefits while they search for new jobs. As a result of his efforts, Congress approved legislation last year to provide 20 additional weeks of compensation to out-of-work Americans, plus 13 more weeks for workers in high unemployment states. Senator Kennedy recently joined fellow Democrats in increasing unemployment benefits by $25 per week and extending the program of emergency benefits through the end of 2009, as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Kennedy has long fought to ensure that all unemployed people in Massachusetts and nationwide have the tools they need to get back on their feet. His legislation to overhaul and modernize the unemployment insurance system was also included in the economic recovery legislation - it provides strong incentives to states to cover more laid-off part-time and low-wage workers. This will help ensure many more unemployed workers can feed their families and keep a roof over their heads.

Protecting Workers' Pensions

Senator Kennedy was a constant champion for workers whose pensions are at risk. He was keenly aware of the way workers suffer when companies dump their pensions in bankruptcy and executives walk away with millions in bonuses, as seen with the tragic case of Polaroid in Massachusetts. He has championed legislation to reform our bankruptcy laws to protect workers and retirees and ensure that corporate executive cannot line their pockets while workers have their retirement dreams destroyed.

Through the years, Senator Kennedy worked to build bipartisan consensus to strengthen our pension system. He was a lead sponsor of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, the largest reform of the nation's pension system since 1974. Designed to enhance Americans' retirement security, this consensus legislation recognized the need to require companies to keep their pension promises to workers by strengthening the financial condition of pension plans. It also empowered workers by giving them more information about the true financial state of their pensions and prohibited companies from forcing workers to invest their pensions in company stock, as happened in the Enron case. Additionally, it built further retirement security by increasing workers' retirement savings through encouraging automatic enrollment in 401(k) pension plans and providing investment advice to workers with retirement accounts. Finally, the new law has enhanced women's retirement security by helping divorced and widowed spouses.

During the recession of 2008 - 2009, Senator Kennedy helped lead the charge to pass temporary, targeted pension relief to help workers and businesses weather the economic storm. This legislation would give single and multiemployer pension plans more time to recover from unprecedented investment losses and help businesses avoid bankruptcy.

Helping Americans Meet the Needs of Work and Family

Millions of working Americans find there simply aren't enough hours in the day to manage the competing demands of their jobs and their families. Senator Kennedy tirelessly pursued policies helping working men and women manage these competing responsibilities. He has called consistently fought for legislation that not only help workers earn a decent living, but also assure them time to meet obligations to their families and communities.

In the early 1990s, Senator Kennedy fought to pass the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which allows workers to take unpaid leave to care for a new baby, their own serious illness, or the serious illness of a child, parent or spouse. Since the law's passage, more than 60 million workers have been able to take time off from work to care for a loved one or get medical treatment without fearing that they would lose their jobs. Senator Kennedy joined his colleague Senator Dodd, in the fight to defend these essential protections.

Building on the success of the FMLA, Senator Kennedy was the leading proponent of legislation to provide workers with paid sick days to address short-term health care and family caregiving needs. Most Americans assume that paid sick days are a right, but they're not: Half of private sector workers don't have even a single paid sick day that they can use to care for themselves or a family member who is ill. These employees must choose between the jobs they need and the family they love. Senator Kennedy believed that hard-working Americans deserve better, which is why he introduced the Healthy Families Act. The legislation would guarantees workers up to seven days of paid sick leave each year to care for their own medical needs and those of their family members.

Caring for family also means taking time to care for a child or sick relative in need. These needs often require flexible work schedules--but many workers are afraid to ask for flexible arrangements for fear of jeopardizing their jobs. Senator Kennedy introduced the Working Families Flexibility Act to ensure workers have the right to request flexible work arrangements so they can both meet family obligations and do their jobs.

Fighting for Equal Pay for Equal Work

Senator Kennedy consistently fought for the rights of women, including the right to equal pay for doing the same jobs as their male counterparts. In 2009, women earned only 78 cents for every dollar earned by men. Women of color fared worse - African-American women received 67 cents and Latinas 56 cents. As Senator Kennedy has said, "Working women must have a paycheck that works for them. Economic security cannot be achieved without paycheck security, and paychecks should reflect the fair value of the job performed. For women, this means equal pay for equal work. Without it, they are less able to provide an economic safety net for themselves and their families, less able to purchase a home, less able to go to college, or send their children to college."

In 2007, the Supreme Court's decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire Company made it more difficult for workers to challenge all forms of pay discrimination, including discrimination based on race, sex, religion, national origin, age, or disability. Senator Kennedy was a leader in passing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to restore a fair rule for filing pay discrimination cases. The Act became the first major legislation signed by President Obama.

Enhancing Worker Safety

Senator Kennedy was a long-standing champion of worker safety. America has made major progress toward guaranteeing every American worker a safe working environment, but too many employees are still being injured or killed on the job. In 2007, 80 workers in Massachusetts alone lost their lives on the job.

Senator Kennedy wrote and introduced legislation to honor the memory of workers who died in the workplace by requiring companies that fatally endanger their workers to pay significant penalties. In 2008, he issued a strong report documenting the failure of current law to make employers take worker safety seriously. The bill expands current safety laws to cover employees who are not currently protected, increases penalties for employers who put their employees at risk, and protects the public's right to know about unsafe workplace violations.

Senator Kennedy also took a prominent role in improving safety for the nation's miners. After the tragedies at the Sago and Alma Mines in 2006, Senator Kennedy successfully championed bipartisan mine safety reform legislation, the MINER Act, which became law later that year. The Act was the most sweeping reform of the nation's mine safety law in a generation. It guarantees miners updated mine technology, stricter safety standards, and tougher enforcement.
But after that legislative victory, Senator Kennedy continued to lead the fight to protect miners. He pressed for additional mine safety reforms and serious investigations of mine safety disasters. His investigation of the 2007 Crandall Canyon mining disaster was the first to reveal the serious lapses by both the mine operator and the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration that led to the deaths of nine miners and rescue workers.

Protecting the Right to Organize and Associate Freely

Senator Kennedy believed strongly that protecting workers' voices on the job is essential to the survival of the middle class. Unfortunately, too many unscrupulous employers do not respect their workers' basic right to form a union and bargain for fair wages, decent benefits, and safe working conditions. In 2007, almost 30,000 U.S. workers lost pay or benefits because their employer broke the law and violated these rights.

Senator Kennedy led the battle to restore fairness to the workplace by introducing the Employee Free Choice Act, which will protect the right of workers to organize and join a union, and stop the epidemic of employer anti-union violations. Support for this important legislation continues to grow--in 2007, the bill passed the House, and a majority of the Senate voted to begin debating this vital legislation, but the bill was halted by a Republican filibuster. Kennedy reintroduced the bill in 2009.

In addition, Senator Kennedy was a cosponsor of bills to restore collective bargaining rights to groups of workers who were stripped of their rights by the National Labor Relations Board, including millions of nurses, construction workers, and graduate student teaching assistants.

Kennedy also strongly supported the collective bargaining rights of public safety officers, such as police officers and firefighters. He was a leading proponent of the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act, bipartisan legislation that public safety workers the right to form and join a union and bargain with their employers over wages, hours, and working conditions under state law. Enabling these workers to bargain collectively increases their safety, reduces costs, for state and local communities, and improves life-saving services for communities across the nation.

Compensating Energy Employees

Senator Kennedy was a key sponsor of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Act of 2000, which compensates men and women who, in helping to build our nation's defenses, were often unknowingly exposed to radiation and other toxic substances. He helped to push through key reforms to the program in 2004 to ensure that nuclear workers and their surviving family members receive the compensation they are owed. By 2009, the federal government had paid out more than $5 billion in benefits to more than 73,000 workers and survivors nationwide, including over $13 million in compensation and medical benefits to workers who were employed at facilities in Massachusetts.

Protecting the Rights of Federal Employees

Senator Kennedy was always a champion of the rights of federal employees, and was a leading opponent of the Bush Administration's efforts to privatize the jobs of federal workers without fair competition or demonstrated cost savings. In January 2008, under Senator Kennedy's leadership, Congress passed legislation to substantially restrict the privatization of federal jobs, including prohibiting the outsourcing of federal work to private contractors that do not provide adequate health benefits to their employees.

Senator Kennedy was also a longstanding advocate for federal employee collective bargaining rights. He fought hard against proposals by the Bush administration to change federal personnel rules and effectively eliminate the ability of federal employees at the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security to engage in collective bargaining. This dangerous proposal would have undermined the rights of more that 6,400 defense employees in Massachusetts alone. Two federal courts have now ruled that this proposal violates the law, and in January 2008 Congress took substantial steps advocated by Senator Kennedy to restore collective bargaining rights to national security personnel.

Preventing Genetic Discrimination

For the first time, humans possess the ability to decode the very building blocks of human life. This window into our genetic blueprint holds great promise for mankind in the treatment and prevention of myriad illnesses and diseases. However, these treatments and innovations will never be realized until people feel confident that they are safe from potential misuse of their genetic information.

Senator Kennedy was a pioneering and ardent supporter in the fight for federal laws to prevent genetic discrimination. He led the 13-year fight to pass legislation protecting the privacy of genetic information and banning discrimination in health insurance and employment based on genetic information. Last year these efforts resulted in the first major civil rights law of the new century, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. This pioneering legislation will open to door to modern medical progress for millions and millions of Americans, ensuring that people can take advantage of genetic tests and seek treatment without fear of losing their health insurance, their jobs, or their privacy.

Helping Massachusetts Fishermen

In 2006, Senator Kennedy successfully included $5 million in the budget to assist fishermen in New England who were prevented from catching shellfish by a massive red tide outbreak. And in 2008, he successfully advocated for additional assistance---$2 million for Massachusetts shell-fishermen---in response to another red tide outbreak that summer.

In 2008, Senator Kennedy secured $13.4 million to provide essential relief to Massachusetts fishermen struggling under strict reductions to the number of days-at-sea they may catch cod and other groundfish.