[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 64 (Thursday, April 6, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5389-S5390]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          REED LARSON'S 40 YEARS: TIRELESS DEFENSE OF FREEDOM

  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, a little over 40 years ago--January 28, 
1955--the Nation's pre-eminent defender of workers' freedom was founded 
in the basement of Washington's Mayflower Hotel.
  It was named the National Right to Work Committee, and it was 
organized by a small group of railroad workers and small businessmen. 
The Right to Work Committee has grown into a proud home for freedom-
loving Americans who believe that while workers may have the right to 
unionize, no American worker should ever be compelled to join, or even 
support, a labor union.
  Mr. President, upon the founding of the committee, its first 
president, Congressman Fred A. Hartley, Jr., of New Jersey, declared, 
``[We] will not shrink because of attacks which may be made against us. 
We intend to do everything [[Page S5390]] possible to educate the 
American people to the perils of compulsory unionism and to encourage 
them to resist it.''
  Three years later, in 1958, after piloting the successful fight for 
Kansas' Right to Work Law, a dedicated American named Reed Larson left 
his job as an engineer in Kansas to lead the right to work movement in 
America.
  At the time, the power of the Big Labor bosses was virtually 
unchecked. By 1965, the unions had rolled up what appeared to be
 a filibuster-proof majority in the U.S. Senate favoring legislation to 
obliterate the one obstacle in their path to total dominance of the 
American work force: State Right to Work Laws.

  Such legislation was Big Labor's number one priority. The bosses were 
backed by President Lyndon Johnson and the Congressional leadership.
  But, Mr. President, Reed Larson and the Committee's members refused 
to be intimidated by the power arrayed against them. With the help of 
legendary Senate Republican Leader Everett Dirksen and after a fierce 2 
year struggle, the Committee defeated the enemies of worker freedom.
  The fight to preserve State Right to Work laws marked the coming of 
age of the National Right to Work Committee. From that moment on, the 
Big Labor bosses realized that someone was finally going to stand up to 
their ceaseless demand for power over the lives of American working men 
and women.
  As further protection for working Americans, Larson in 1968 founded 
the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation to aid workers in 
legal confrontations with union-boss despots.
  In the 27 years since, the Foundation has been a leader in protecting 
the legal rights of workers and has won several significant Supreme 
Court cases--including the landmark 1988 Beck case which declared that 
forced union dues for politics was unconstitutional.
  During the 1970s the Committee battled attempts by Big Labor and its 
Congressional allies to throw the net of compulsory unionism over the 
American construction industry with the ``Common Situs'' picketing 
scheme.
  Big Labor steamrolled this legislation through both the House and 
Senate amid President Ford's Labor Secretary John Dunlop's assurances 
of presidential approval.
  Against all odds, Reed Larson launched what was at the time the 
largest grassroots mobilization in American history, flooding the White 
House with over 700,000 cards and letters of protest.
  Despite the pleas of his own Labor Secretary (who resigned shortly 
afterwards) President Ford vetoed the bill.
  When the Common Situs Picketing bill returned in 1977, Larson rallied 
the same grassroots coalition he had so painstakingly assembled the 
year before and did battle with a seemingly stronger Big Labor 
political machine.
  However, Mr. President, in one of the most stunning upsets in 
American
 political history, Right to Work forces emerged victorious in the 
House of Representatives by a slim 217 to 205 vote.

  As Reed stated after the vote, ``The history and death of the 
coercive piece of legislation should serve as a very important lesson 
to powerful union officials . . . seemingly limitless doses of money 
and muscle are no match for the will of the American people.''
  In 1978, Big Labor was razor close to enacting a so-called ``Labor 
Law Reform'' bill which would have given union organizers tremendous 
powers to blackmail employers into granting forced-dues contracts.
  Reed Larson mobilized the majority of Americans opposed to compulsory 
unionism through a massive mail, media, and lobbying campaign which 
generated over 4 million cards and letters to the Senate during the 
course of the fight.
  Mr. President, after a marathon of six separate cloture votes in the 
Senate, the labor bosses gave up.
  Throughout the 1980s, Larson and the Committee kept up their campaign 
to bring the benefits to workers freedom to more and more Americans. 
That campaign resulted in the successful 1986 referendum making Idaho 
the Nation's 21st Right to Work State.
  But the decade of the 1990s opened with yet another big labor power 
grab.
  This time it was the Pushbutton Strike bill, or the so-called ``Anti-
Striker Replacement bill.'' And once again, Reed and the Committee 
cranked up their grassroots network of freedom loving Americans to put 
the heat on Congress.
  This bill would have handed union czars new strike powers so they 
could blackmail employers into signing contracts forcing their workers 
to pay union dues.
  In response to Larson's letters and phone calls, the Senate was 
flooded with nearly two million cards, letters, faxes, and phone calls.
  After 3 long years (and four more cloture votes) Larson and the 
Committee emerged victorious once again.
  Today, the National Right to Work Committee, 1.9 million members 
strong and growing, stands on the vanguard for worker freedom and has 
compiled an outstanding record of commitment to principle and effective 
action.
  So, Mr. President, I proudly salute the members of the National Right 
to Work Committee--and especially my good friend, Reed Larson, upon his 
35th anniversary as president of the Committee for their unswerving 
dedication and tireless action on behalf of every American's birthright 
not to be forced to join a labor union to get or keep a job.


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