Providing for Congressional Disapproval of a Rule Submitted by the National Labor Relations Board

Floor Speech

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Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member, Bobby Scott, for yielding me time.

I am a small business owner, and I am a union member, and I have a union business. The disapproval of the NLRB rule under the Congressional Review Act is an extreme move that would roll back hardworking Americans' rights to a fair and timely election on union representation.

Let us look at what this rule does, two things: One, it modernizes communications; and, two, it protects workers from dishonest employers.

When this law was written, emails and iPhones didn't exist, so it simply adds them to the list of what is available to contact people about joining a union.

Second, it creates a fair, modern workplace election process that elections can be done in a timely manner. The current process has long been vulnerable to manipulation, delay, and drawn out legal maneuvering by some unscrupulous employers.

The reality of today's workplace is employers still hold all the cards. The few bad actor employers can delay a union vote by intimidating or threatening employees. They already have the phone numbers, the emails, and the home addresses. Let's face it: What is more intimidating, getting an email or saying you know where someone
lives?

The bottom line is this isn't about the NLRB rule; this is about a process that we see across the country attacking hardworking Americans. Whether it is through so-called right-to-work laws or preventing the NLRB from updating the union election process, this is more evidence that the majority party is out to hurt the very hardworking Americans who want the ability to form a union.

This has a substantial impact on their lives. Workers covered by a collective bargaining agreement are paid more on average than those not covered and are more likely to have health care, retirement, and paid leave benefits than nonunion workers.

I would strongly urge us to vote against this political maneuvering message.

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