VIDEO LINK: Udall’s questions begin at 1:09:20 here.
WASHINGTON—
Today,
U.S. Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.),
senior member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation pushed back on Senate Republican plans to protect corporate profits over worker health and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. Udall pressed transportation industry representatives on corporate liability shields and worker safety during the Commerce Committee’s hearing on the COVID-19 pandemic and American surface transportation.
Senate Republicans have publicly stated that liability protections for manufacturers, trade associations, industry groups and others against lawsuits or damages as a result of COVID-19 exposure are a precondition for negotiating any supplemental COVID-19 relief package desperately needed by millions of Americans.
“Generally if a state or the federal government is giving liability protections, there is a strong safety standard that industry needs to meet to benefit from that kind of protection,” Udall said. “Otherwise it simply gives business a huge incentive to take unreasonable risks in pursuit of profits. We are hearing calls from some industries that they want to be protected from paying damages to their employees and customers who get sick due to lack of COVID protections. What specific and binding safety and consumer protection standards are appropriate if Congress were to consider limiting liability?”
“At least from our perspective, the liability limitations that we’re talking about should be and need to be targeted and limited and related to this set of issues and the concerns that we have related to COVID-19,” said John Bozzella, President and CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation. “In no way should they be related to acts of gross negligence or companies that act in a reckless manner. What we really want to focus on is getting the right balance between avoiding numerous lawsuits and restarting the economy in a safe manner…we are working from a very robust and strong set of standards from the get-go.”
“Our industry…is on the forefront of safety each and every day,” said Randy Guillot, Chairman of the Board of the American Trucking Associations. “We are very concerned with following the guidelines as issued by the CDC and OSHA. The limited liability protections that we are referring to are similar to what Mr. Bozzella has just made comment on. If there happens to be a bad actor, we’re not asking for protection for a bad actor. We’re asking for limited protections for people who are acting in good faith trying to follow all these guidelines that are coming out.”
Udall turned to address Larry Willis, President, Transportation Trades Department, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) on worker health as American transportation workers return to work in greater numbers. “New analysis published in the medical journal the Lancet, examined 172 studies and found that N95 and other respirator masks offer 96% protection while surgical masks only provide 77% protection against the coronavirus. We know that medial workers and other essential workers should have access to these masks, but supplies are still extremely limited,” Udall said. “What specific actions should the Administration take to provide those masks to workers and businesses across America so that they can return to work with confidence?”
“I think you’re right,” Willis responded. “N-95 masks, given the nature of this virus, should be provided to transportation workers in many situations. The problem, quite frankly, is that many healthcare workers and other first responders are not able to secure those today. And again, I think this is really a failure of the administration to get in front of this….Using the Defense [Production] Act in a better manner, using the buying power of the federal government, recognizing that there’s a lot of masks out there that are advertised to do things that, quite frankly, they don’t do. I think the federal government has to take the lead on that as opposed to states or ind agencies. Getting that equipment out has got to be a priority, especially as we try to reopen this economy and see more density in the transportation space…We’re committed to doing that,”
“I don’t think there’s any doubt that if the president had used the Defense Production Act, we’d be well down the line of having more protective equipment and having people go back to work knowing that they would be protected,”
Udall concluded.
