The POWER Act Would Thwart Bad-Apple Employers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, June 15, 2011

CONTACT
Adela de la Torre, NILC, (213) 674-2832; [email protected]

The POWER Act Would Thwart Bad-Apple Employers

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Rep. George Miller (D-CA), and Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) yesterday introduced the POWER (Protect Our Workers from Exploitation and Retaliation) Act, legislation that that, if passed, would expand the right to organize and offer key protections to all workers. Below is a statement from Emily Tulli, policy attorney with the National Immigration Law Center:

“For too long, bad-apple employers have taken advantage of the broken immigration system by reporting workers who assert their labor rights to immigration enforcement officials, hurting organizing efforts for all workers. The POWER Act would put an end to the unfair advantage unscrupulous employers currently enjoy by closing the legal loophole between immigration and labor law. In doing so, the POWER Act will finally level the playing field for employers who play by the rules and respect workers’ rights. We hope colleagues of Sen. Menendez, Rep. Miller, and Rep. Chu will follow in their footsteps and pass this much-needed legislation.”

The text of the Senate and House bills is available from http://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas.php. The bill numbers are:

  • S.1195 (Senate bill)
  • H.R.2169 (House bill)

See a NILC summary and analysis of the bill (PDF).

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