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

Floor Speech

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One of the things that made the 20th century known as the American century was that the United States had the largest middle class in the history of the world--the idea that if you worked hard and played by the rules, you would get a fair wage and good benefits and that your children would be even able to do a little bit better than you have
been able to do.

It wasn't always that way, though, in the United States. We can thank to a great extent some of the great advances that we had in the 20th century, as far as workers' rights, to that of organized labor. Without labor unions, we would not have the strength of the middle class today.

It is no accident that in the post-World War II period, when you saw average incomes rise in the fifties, in the sixties, in the seventies, you saw average incomes rise for workers, sure enough, you saw the percentage of the American workforce unionized also increase.

It is also no accident that, as the percentage of the American unionized workforce declined, so, too, did the average wages to the point at which we are today, where we have had a 20-year period in which middle class wages are stagnant, in which the working class has actually fallen behind, and in which--no surprise--we actually have the lowest percentage of the workforce unionized today in over 70 years.

Mr. Speaker, let's stand up for the middle class. Let's stand up for our workers. Let us reject this antilabor, anti-union, antiworker measure, and let's start fighting and working for those who are working for America.

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