Employee Free Choice Act
EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT
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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Chairman, I thank my friend for yielding.
I want to congratulate GEORGE MILLER, to start out with, as the chairman of the Education and Labor Committee. GEORGE MILLER has been, throughout my career, all 26 years that I have been here, he and I have served together. He has been one of the most courageous, emphatic and faithful speakers on behalf of working Americans that we have in this House.
I want to thank my friend, ROB ANDREWS, who has been an indefatigable advocate of making sure that working Americans had opportunities in our country.
Mr. Speaker, this bipartisan legislation, the Employee Free Choice Act, is simply about establishing fairness in the workplace and providing America's workers with a free choice to bargain for better wages, benefits and work conditions.
I think that is absolutely essential if we are going to stop this growing disparity between the very wealthy and the haves and the increasingly have-nots.
America is a great and strong country because of its middle class. That is shrinking. That is a challenge to our country. This is an effort to address that.
The fact of the matter is the current system for forming labor unions is badly broken and undemocratic. Far too often, employers intimidate, harass, coerce or even fire workers who support a union.
To address this blatant unfairness, this legislation simply allows workers to form a union if a majority signs cards saying they want a union. Under current law, workers may use the majority sign-up process only if their employer agrees.
In contrast, the Employee Free Choice Act would leave this choice, whether to use the National Labor Relations Board election process or majority sign-up, with the employees, not the employer.
It is simply a red herring to claim that the legislation abolishes the NLRB election process. Although I will say as an aside that the delays, the underfunding, the rule complication essentially abolishes in some respects the NLRB's intent. In any event, it does not abolish the NLRB. The NLRB process is still available if workers choose it.
We all know what is really going on here today. It is no secret. The administration and many in the Republican Party have a long-standing, deep-seated animosity toward the organized labor movement, despite the fact that working men and women are the backbone of our economy and have built this country into what it is today.
Now, I am a strong proponent of the free market system. I am a strong proponent of business and those who grow businesses and create jobs. I say all over this country, the Democratic Party is the party of workers. If we are going to be the party of workers, we have to be the party of employers, but we need to make sure there is a balance.
We are not the representatives of either. What we are representatives of is the American people. We need to make sure that it is a fair opportunity.
Over the last 6 years, the administration, among other things, has dropped an ergonomic safety standard, tried to eliminate Davis-Bacon protections, denied collective bargaining rights to Federal employees. 800,000 Federal employees, we have denied bargaining rights, 800,000 Federal employees. Now, there are about 1.8, 1.9 million civilian Federal employees, and we just reached in and said, oh, no, if you are a DOD, Defense Department employee or a Homeland Security employee, you cannot have collective bargaining rights.
I asked the Office of Personnel Management to cite me one instance in the last half a century where collective bargaining rights have put at risk any national security issue. They could not name one in the last half century, not one. I have the gentleman there pointing at himself; I can name you one. Well, this administration's Office of Personnel Management could not.
It is no surprise today that they would oppose this legislation, which seeks to give workers a meaningful choice in selecting their representation and stiffen penalties for discrimination against workers who support a union.
Madam Chairman, hardworking families today are increasingly squeezed by stagnant incomes and the rising costs of education, health care, transportation, food and housing, and there is not an employee who is on even footing as an individual. I say that. Perhaps that is not correct.
I was with Alonzo Mourning just the other day. He is almost 7 feet tall. He may be on equal footing because his employer needs him very, very, very badly, and there may be some few like that, but if you are 6 foot 2 you may not be in that position.
American workers deserve to be fairly compensated for the dedication, loyalty and skill they bring to their jobs, and this legislation will help restore fairness to the workplace.
I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle not to be pro-labor or pro-business but to be pro-worker, pro-middle class, pro-growing America. Vote for this bill.
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