[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 101 (Wednesday, July 10, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7612-S7614]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS ACT AND RAILWAY LABOR ACT AMENDMENT--MOTION TO 
                                PROCEED


                             CLOTURE MOTION

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the clerk will 
report the cloture motion on the motion to proceed to S. 1788.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

                             Cloture Motion

       We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the 
     provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, 
     do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to 
     proceed to S. 1788, the National Right To Work Act:

         Trent Lott, Orrin Hatch, Paul Coverdell, Judd Gregg, 
           Jesse Helms, Lauch Faircloth, Connie Mack, John Warner, 
           Don Nickles, Robert F. Bennett, Hank Brown, Phil Gramm, 
           Strom Thurmond, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Richard Shelby, 
           Bob Smith

  .Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that we proceed 
for 1 minute of debate, and the time be divided equally between those 
in support of cloture and those opposed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, this bill has a simple message. It would 
give people the benefits of collective bargaining without having to pay 
their

[[Page S7613]]

fair share. It ought to be called the national freeloaders bill. We 
have no business telling the States that we know better than they how 
they should manage their affairs. This is a direct attack on the 
ability of working people to protect their economic interests. I urge 
that the Senate reject cloture and protect the rights of working 
families in State after State, in order to protect their economic 
interests.
  Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, there is no issue that better defines the 
differences that exist between the two parties than the issue that is 
now before the Senate. It is a simple, straightforward issue that many 
Members of the Senate hope the public does not understand. Should a man 
or a woman in the greatest and freest country in the history of the 
world be forced to join a union in order to have the right to work? 
That is the issue.
  If, in order to exercise one of our basic rights--the right to 
contract our labor--we are forced to pay an institution that we do not 
wish to join, are we free, or is our freedom abridged? That is the 
question that is before the Senate, and I think the American people 
understand it.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, the Senate is set to vote on a motion to 
invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to S. 1788, the National Right 
to Work Act. This measure was introduced on May 21 of this year, and it 
is my understanding that there have been no committee hearings or 
reports on the bill in the Senate. In addition, we are now preparing to 
vote to limit debate before having begun to debate this measure on the 
Senate floor. This does not convey a sense of responsible legislating.
  Mr. President, I am opposed to federal right-to-work legislation. Let 
me first say that right-to-work is a concept that is often believed to 
mean ``equal opportunity,'' when it really does not extend to anyone a 
``right'' that he or she does not already have. The National Labor 
Relations Act of 1935 set forth a worker's right to belong to a union 
of his or her choice, as determined by democratic balloting. Under this 
arrangement, unions and management were free to negotiate collective 
bargaining agreements which included a security clause. Essentially, 
these clauses, which could not be approved without the consent of both 
labor and management, required all employees of a unionized company to 
pay dues to cover the costs of their representation. However, in 1947, 
the Congress approved the Taft-Hartley Act, which gave each State the 
option to make its own determination on the so-called right-to-work 
issue. Currently, 21 States have approved right-to-work legislation, 
effectively outlawing union security clauses. Workers in these States 
are not required to pay dues toward the cost of their union's 
representation. However, 29 States continue to have free collective 
bargaining. If we approve this legislation, we will be imposing a 
Federal mandate on those States, including my home State of West 
Virginia, that have chosen not to restrict union security clauses.
  Mr. President, the right-to-work issue has become an emotional 
debate, and this is the wrong debate. We should focus on the economics 
of the issue. There is no evidence that supports the argument that 
right-to-work will improve the wages, benefits, and working conditions 
of our Nation's workers. A report issued just last week by the 
Congressional Research Service concluded that right-to-work States have 
a mean manufacturing wage of $10.91, compared to $12.56 for non-right-
to-work States. Approving this legislation now will not demonstrably 
improve the conditions of workers in those States that currently 
protect free collective bargaining, and it may in fact lower their 
wages. This will not help workers in my State of West Virginia. Right-
to-work is not a panacea for declining real wages for workers. In fact, 
the evidence suggests that it may be a contributor to lower wages 
because it undermines organized labor's ability to bargain effectively 
on behalf of its workers. While organized labor has made mistakes, it 
has also accomplished a great deal for all working people, union and 
non-union. What my State needs in order to create a favorable economic 
climate and higher wages is to foster positive labor-management 
relations--not to restrict labor and management from freely entering 
into collective bargaining contracts. As such, I cannot support the 
proposal before us today.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, today the Senate will vote on legislation 
which undermines the basic principles of State rights and workplace 
democracy. S. 1788 would require all States to permit workers to 
receive the benefits of collective bargaining without sharing in the 
cost of union representation.
  Under current Federal law, States decide for themselves whether or 
not to require all workers in unionized workplaces to share in the 
costs of union representation. My State of North Dakota is one of 21 
States that have enacted so-called right-to-work statutes permitting 
workers to elect not to pay union dues.
  In the remaining 29 States with no similar statutes, unions and 
employers negotiate to determine whether all workers will be required 
to share the costs of union representation. There is no general 
requirement, even in these States, that all workers must pay union 
dues.
  I support the ability of States to choose whether to enact laws 
permitting workers to opt out of paying union dues, or whether to 
permit workers and employers to negotiate freely on this issue during 
the collective bargaining process. I do not support the legislation 
before us, which preempts the State's role in this important policy 
decision.
  For these reasons, I oppose the legislation before us today.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise today to voice my strong opposition 
to the National Right-to-Work Act.
  Today's legislation, coming on the heels of yesterday's unsuccessful 
effort to eviscerate the minimum wage, is simply one more example of 
the Republican Party's systematic and unremitting attack on America's 
labor unions.
  Yesterday, my Republican colleagues fought against giving working 
Americans a much needed helping hand, with a minimum wage increase. 
Today, they've brought to the floor a bill that would fundamentally 
undermine union efforts to genuinely represent and assist working 
families.
  At a time when we have many vital issues before this body, including 
genuine health insurance reform--which remains mired in partisan 
conflict--the last thing the Senate should be doing is spending our 
time debating this hasty and blatantly antiunion legislation.
  Now, this bill was neither marked up nor reported out of the Labor 
and Human Resources Committee. In fact, I wonder how many of my 
colleagues have even had the opportunity to thoroughly understand this 
legislation.
  We've heard no testimony and we've held no hearings on this bill, 
even though it represents a major override of the laws in 29 States--
including my home State of Connecticut--which reject right-to-work 
legislation.
  Now, since 1959, only three States have seen the need to enact right-
to-work laws. In fact, over the past year, six State legislatures 
rejected such forms of right-to-work legislation.
  But, at a time when I constantly hear talk from my colleagues across 
the aisle about the need to shift responsibility to the States, this 
legislation would fundamentally change numerous State laws governing 
labor relations--laws that have remained largely unchanged over the 
past 37 years.
  It would undermine our time-honored system of free collective 
bargaining by imposing unnecessary Government interference in the 
rights of labor and management to negotiate fair and agreed-upon 
collective bargaining agreements.
  But, this bill is more than just a usurpation of State's rights. It 
would also outlaw any form of collectively bargained union security 
provisions. These are commonsense provisions that require nonunion 
workers to pay their fair share for the costs of union representation.
  It would say to nonunion members: ``You can receive the benefits of 
union representation without having to foot the bill.''
  In my view, these provisions are antiunion, anti-worker, and frankly 
antidemocratic. When it comes to the question of union benefits, no 
American deserves something for nothing. But, that's exactly what this 
bill would do.
  These provisions undermine the fundamental rights of employees who 
have

[[Page S7614]]

voted to unionize their workplace and I urge all my colleagues to 
reject this legislation and vote against cloture.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, before the Senate votes on cloture on my 
motion to proceed to S. 1788, the National Right to Work Act, I want to 
give credit where due.
  This bill represents the determination of Senator Lauch Faircloth to 
bring to the national agenda a critically important issue. That issue 
is the question of whether an American worker can be compelled to join 
a union and pay dues to it.
  The right to join a union is secured by law, as indeed it should be. 
The right not to join is another matter.
  Language to that effect in the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 
was vitiated in the same legislation by a provision permitting union 
officials to secure contracts requiring union membership as a condition 
of employment.
  It is long past time for us to rectify that mistake.
  I emphasize that this is not a matter of being pro-union or anti-
union. My father was a union pipefitter in a Mississippi shipyard, and 
I can personally appreciate the importance of union membership to 
millions of our fellow Americans.
  But the American people do not like compulsion, whether it is 
directed against them or against their neighbors. Although we are a 
nation of joiners, we like to join groups and organizations of our own 
volition, not because someone in authority tells us to do so.
  That principle is especially important when it comes to earning a 
living for yourself and your family. We should not tolerate efforts to 
hinder any American from that goal.
  Twenty-one States have now enshrined that principle in their own 
laws, to protect workers from compulsory unionism. In the remaining 
States, entrenched interests have thus far staved off reform efforts.
  I believe it is time to give all American workers the same right, 
whether they live in 1 of those 21 States or in a State without a 
right-to-work law.
  So I urge a vote for cloture on the pending motion to proceed, so 
that the Senate can at last reconsider the issue of compulsory 
unionism, and vote on it, and do right by the working men and women of 
this country.

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