[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 162 (Thursday, October 19, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S15367]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       NATIONAL RIGHT TO WORK ACT

 Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I am pleased to add my name as a 
cosponsor to S. 581, the National Right to Work Act. As a strong 
supporter of the right to work, I feel this legislation is vital.
  We have spent the first part of this Congress fighting for freedom--
the freedom from Government intervention, the freedom of speech, the 
freedom to choose your health care and even the freedom to succeed. 
This bill, though it does not add a single letter to Federal law, 
guarantees the freedom to work free of union imposition.
  Why is this important? Americans have always been independent. No 
matter where they came from, they came to America to see their hard 
work pay off. And they are not afraid of hard work. This is especially 
true of Montanans.
  But when a worker is forced to pay union dues in order to get a job 
or keep a job, they have lost part of their freedom. They may get some 
benefits from joining a union--I am not saying there is no role for 
unions here--but they lose the freedom to choose.
  Mr. President, Congress created the law which allows union officials 
to force dues in any State back in 1935. Now we need to correct that. 
All we need to do is to repeal that portion of the National Labor 
Relations Act [NLRA] which authorizes the imposition of forced union 
dues contracts on employees.
  Nearly every poll taken on this issue over the last few decades has 
shown that about 8 out of 10 Americans are opposed to forcing workers 
to pay union dues. It is tough to get 8 out of 10 Americans to agree on 
anything. I think this is a call for action.
  And if you look at job creation in States that have implemented right 
to work laws, it is hard to ignore the results. Hundreds of thousands 
of manufacturing jobs have been created in right-to-work States. And in 
forced-unionism States, hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost.
  I have supported this bill in the past and I truly believe that this 
is the year to finally make this change. Working men and women in 
Montana want the freedom to work and they are not alone. I urge my 
colleagues to listen to what their constituents are saying as well. If 
you do, you will feel compelled to join me and the other cosponsors in 
supporting the National Right to Work Act.

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