By Doug Cunningham

Worker safety for people cleaning up in the aftermath of the hurricanes along the Gulf Coast continues to be a pressing issue for unions and labor's political allies. Senate Labor Committee leaders Ted Kennedy and Michael Enzi, a Republican from Wyoming, are pushing legislation that would strengthen the hand of OSHA to better protect worker health and safety programs. It provides more money for agency inspections and other enforcement actions for the worker safety and health portion of the National Response Plan. The bill is expected to come up on the Senate floor within a few days. It's called the Katrina Worker Safety and Filing Flexibility Act of 2005. It instructs OSHA to collect and store records on the identities of recovery and rebuilding workers. It also provides for close oversight by Congress to make sure these workers are better protected than the workers who responded to the 9/11 attacks.