XXXX Voted Against Requiring Parties to Fast-Track Trade Agreements to Uphold Basic Labor and Environmental Standards. In 2002, XXXX voted against requiring parties to trade pact agreements considered under fast-track procedures to uphold their domestic labor and environmental standards, under penalty of trade remedy laws. The amendment that McConnell opposed also said that countries enforcing international environmental agreements should be protected from trade-related penalties. [HR 3009, Vote 113, 5/15/02; Congressional Quarterly Daily Monitor, 5/15/02] XXXX Voted to Repeal Ergonomics Regulations. In 2001, XXXX voted to repeal a workplace regulation designed to prevent injuries from repetitive motion. Republicans argued that the regulation would cost businesses billions of dollars. However, in the long run, the regulations would save companies money. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which wrote the regulations, said that it would cost businesses $4.5 billion to implement, but would save $9 billion through increased productivity and reduced sick days. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1.8 million ergonomic injuries are reported each year. [S J Res 6, Vote 15, 3/6/01; Congressional Record, 3/6/01] XXXX Voted to Gut Ergonomics Rules. In 2001, XXXX voted to pass a resolution that gutted ergonomics rules submitted by the Labor Department during the Clinton Administration. The resolution passed 223 to 206. Big business lobbied extensively to kill the rules, which would have required them to take steps to prevent work-related, repetitive stress disorders such as carpal tunnel syndrome. Ergonomic injuries are one of the nation’s worst workplace safety problems, causing more than 1.8 million injuries and costing approximately $50 billion each year. Labor groups have supported the ergonomics regulations for 10 years. [S J RES 6, Vote 33, 3/7/01; Washington Post, 3/7/01, 6/13/01; New York Times, 4/6/02; AFL-CIO web site] XXXX Voted Against Prohibiting Funds For Ergonomics Standards. In 2000, XXXX voted an amendment that would add that none of the funds made available in the Act could by used by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to promulgate, issue, implement, administer, or enforce any proposed, temporary, or final standard on ergonomic protection. The amendment was agreed to, 57-41. [Vote 143, 6/22/00] XXXX Voted To Cut Funding for Workplace Safety Inspections. In 1999, XXXX voted to cut $17 million in funding for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) workplace inspections and transfer the funds to OSHA’s programs that help businesses comply with the agency’s regulations. [Vote 304, 9/30/99] XXXX Voted Against Requiring Worker Safety. In 1995, XXXX voted to kill the Kennedy amendment to S.343, which was an amendment to exempt occupational safety and health regulations and mine safety and health regulations from the risk assessment and cost-benefit analysis requirements of the bill. S.343 was a bill to require federal agencies to conduct risk-assessment and cost-benefit analysis on new regulations with an expected annual economic impact of $100 million or more. [Vote 307, 7/14/95] UNIONS AND BARGAINING XXXX Voted To Disapprove Of NLRB Board Changes To Airline And Railway Union Elections. In September 2010, XXXX voted for an Isakson, R-Ga., motion to proceed to consideration of a joint resolution that would provide for congressional disapproval of a National Mediation Board rules change regarding airline and railway union elections under the Railway Labor Act. [CQ; Vote 239, 9/23/10] XXXX Voted To Allow Public Safety Personnel to Unionize. In May 2008, XXXX voted to consider a bill that would give public safety personnel nationwide the right to unionize. The bill aims to give police and firefighters the right to unionize in any municipality with a population that exceeds 5,000 — a long-overdue guarantee for the nation’s first-responders, supporters say. The measure would not override stronger state laws on collective- bargaining rights. [CQ Today, 5/13/08; Vote 126, 5/13/08] XXXX Voted Against Granting Homeland Security Employees Collective Bargaining Rights. In 2002, XXXX voted against an amendment to establish a Department of Homeland Security and allow employees 235