[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 48 (Wednesday, March 15, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3928-S3929]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS AND RESCISSIONS ACT

  The Senate continued with the consideration of the bill.


                           Amendment No. 331

  Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, let me talk about the other issue that is 
before us and that is striker replacement. In every Western 
industrialized nation with four exceptions permanent striker 
replacement is illegal. The exceptions are Great Britain, Hong Kong, 
Singapore, and the United States.
  We have by tradition not done that. The Presiding Officer used to be 
in business in North Carolina. I used to be in business in Illinois. 
And we operate within certain traditions in addition to the law, and 
those traditions we have generally followed. We are starting to move 
away from those traditions and I think that is not a healthy thing. One 
of the reasons that is happening is because such a small percentage of 
our work force is organized. When you exclude Government employees, 
only 11.8 percent of working men and women in the United States belong 
to unions. That is far lower than Canada, which is around 35 percent; 
Western Europe 40 to 90 percent; Japan somewhat similar.
  George Shultz, who was both Secretary of State and Secretary of Labor 
under Republican administrations, made a speech not too long ago in 
which he said we have an unhealthy amount of our working force that 
belongs to unions, because we are not getting some of the factors there 
that we ought to have.
  One of the things that is happening as a result of that is our wages 
are not going up. When wages do not go up then corporations and 
employers do not buy labor-saving devices, so we become less productive 
per man-hour. Today the United States, in manufacturing pay per hour, 
we are $14.77. France is $15.23; Canada is $16.02; Italy, $16.41; 
Austria, $17.01; Netherlands, $17.85; Denmark, $18.60; Belgium, $18.94; 
Finland, $20.76; Switzerland, $20.83; Sweden, $20.93; Germany, $21.53; 
Norway, $21.86.
  I can remember, back in 1986 we were still at the top of the heap. 
That is not that long ago. And the Presiding Officer will forgive me 
for saying he is old enough to remember, along with me, when there was 
a huge gap between the United States and the other countries. I can 
remember serving in Germany in the Army from 1951 to 1953 when the 
average German was just really struggling. I do not know what their 
percentage of U.S. wages at that point 
 [[Page S3929]] was. But it must have been one-fifth or one-seventh of 
the wages of the United States.
  I mention all of this simply to suggest that what we need in this 
area of labor-management relations is balance. I do not think the 
President's action takes away any of our prerogatives. The President's 
action does not pass what we turned down here, Senate Resolution 55, 
striker replacement. That called for a major overhaul of our labor-
management relations. The President's action simply says, if you are 
going to have a Federal contract, you cannot have permanent striker 
replacements. I think that makes sense in labor-management relations. I 
think it also makes sense in terms of quality of product. If anyone 
thinks that permanent striker replacements provide the same quality of 
work as a former employee, take a look at baseball today. Striker 
replacements are not the same quality as those who played for the major 
leagues.
  So I think it makes sense from the viewpoint of quality product that 
we buy. I think it makes sense from the viewpoint of labor-management 
relations.
  I hope that--we have had one cloture vote and we are going to have at 
least one more--we continue to prevent the passage of the Kassebaum 
amendment. Again, my belief is that what we need is a careful balance 
between labor and management. I think things have moved somewhat out of 
balance.
  I would add I also am a great believer in labor and management 
working together much more. The Germans have what they called 
mitbestimmung, where there is a labor representative on a corporate 
board who is there except when they talk about labor-management 
relations. Then he or she absents himself or herself. The advantage of 
that is they get to know the problems of the corporation and the 
corporation gets to understand the viewpoint of labor. I think we 
should not wait until we are near time for contracts to expire and then 
all of a sudden we sit down and start working together.
  So my hope is that we will continue to block the passage of this 
amendment and that we can move ahead in a constructive direction, not 
only on this issue but on many other issues in labor-management 
relations.
  Mr. President, I do not see anyone else seeking the floor right now. 
If so I question the presence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  

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