To the Members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives:
The 61 undersigned organizations strongly oppose the Warehouse Worker Protection Act, which would impose long discarded and unworkable regulations on warehouse distribution centers, curtail employers’ due process rights when challenging citations from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and hamstring a critical part of our national supply chain. Despite its narrow sounding title, the legislation would impact workplaces in nearly every industry sector nationwide. Protecting workers is a priority for all employers, but this bill would only impede efficient operations without improving workplace safety.
The Warehouse Worker Protection Act would resurrect OSHA’s long-discarded ergonomics standard. When this regulation was first promulgated a quarter century ago, it was found to be so unworkable that a strong bipartisan majority of Congress voided it in the first-ever use of the Congressional Review Act. Congress was right then and should not revisit this issue now. In addition, the bill would force employers to implement costly remedial measures even before OSHA has proven any violation.
The bill would also establish a highly burdensome system to micromanage the warehousing and distribution industry, which would undermine the efficiency of this vital part of American supply chains.
Finally, the Warehouse Worker Protection Act is opposed by a wide variety of employers and industries, demonstrating the breadth of the bill’s impact and the serious consequences it would have on the economy.
We urge Congress to reject this bill.