WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the House Education and Labor Committee, Chaired by Rep. George Miller, holds oversight hearings this morning on protecting the health and safety of workers impacted by BP's Deepwater Horizon explosion and ensuing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Kimberly Freeman Brown, Executive Director of American Rights at Work, released the following statement:
   
"I commend Rep. Miller and the Education and Labor Committee for further investigating the impact that BP's disaster has had on America's workers and for raising a spotlight on their everyday struggles.
   
In the wake of this preventable disaster, we cannot forget that the first, worst result of BP's negligence was the loss of 11 workers and the devastation their families have suffered.  Now, BP must be held accountable to protect the 27,000 men and women working to clean up BP's mess.
   
As members of the Committee ask questions about oversight, accountability, regulation, and enforcement of oil rigs and cleanup operations, I call on the Committee to keep the memories of the workers killed by the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig, and the safety of all oil industry and cleanup workers, in the front of their minds today."

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Resources:

•    Hearing notice from the House Education and Labor Committee, "Worker Health and Safety from the Oil Rig to the Shoreline":
http://edlabor.house.gov/hearings/2010/06/worker-health-and-safety-from.shtml or http://bit.ly/cWicjr

•    Petition for BP to pay for proper safety equipment and respirators for cleanup workers, sponsored by American Rights at work and Firedoglake: http://action.americanrightsatwork.org/aaraw/notice-description.tcl?newsletter_id=30106906

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American Rights at Work – http://www.americanrightsatwork.org – is the nation's leading labor policy and advocacy organization dedicated to educating the American public about the barriers that workers face when they attempt to exercise their rights to freely and fairly form unions and engage in collective bargaining.