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

Floor Speech

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Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for the time.

I would like to point out that I think the people who promote this piece of legislation and the people who oppose it basically take their positions for the same reason, and that is that labor unions improve wages, make better working conditions, promote job security, and give strength in numbers.

We oppose and support this bill for the same reason. Some people want to see workers get more pay--we have seen stagnant wages--and some people think that when workers make more money, it just hurts corporate profitability--which, by the way, is up and has been increasing.

The point is simply this: The NLRB does its job and modernizes union elections and proposes a rule. The Republican majority comes in and says, We don't like that because that might lead to more union elections, and it may lead to more unionized workers, and we like it how it is, we like flat and declining wages, we want the employers to have all of the power, we want the workers to be alone and on their own and without the strength that the numbers that a union provides. It is just as simple as that.

Americans watching this debate today have yet another opportunity to see who is on their side and who is not. American workers get more money and get paid better when they are in unions.

Collective bargaining strengthens family budgets because it means that workers can say, Do you know what, that is unsafe; do you know what, you are making plenty of money, so should we; do you know what, we need to get some job security in a union contract around here--and that is exactly why we see the opposition to this NLRB rule.

So it is disappointing. I think President Obama was right when he said the number one problem facing the United States today is income inequality. That is the concentration of riches at the top and the stagnation for wages for everybody else.

If that is the problem, then we need to do something about it. That means modernizing the right to collectively bargain.

I will say modernizing union elections is the thing that will help us achieve that equality.

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