[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 83 (Tuesday, June 23, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H4968]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  THE IMPORTANCE OF THE LABOR MOVEMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 21, 1997, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Roybal-Allard) 
is recognized during morning hour debates for 4 minutes.
  Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Mr. Speaker, we must never forget a time in our 
country when American workers were forced to toil in appalling 
conditions, earning pitifully low wages, a time when men, women and, 
yes, even our children labored under hazardous conditions even during 
12 hour work days without breaks or sick leave. If they were injured or 
dared to complain about these injustices, they risked losing their 
jobs.
  Today, thankfully, we have a minimum wage, an 8 hour workday, sick 
leave, health and safety protections, workers' compensation and 
unemployment insurance, overtime pay, Social Security, pensions and the 
right to organize.
  These hard-won protections may never have been realized without the 
heroic efforts of organized labor. For it was organized labor that led 
the campaign to provide free public education to all our Nation's 
children. And it was organized labor that was a leader in helping to 
pass landmark legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the 
Equal Pay Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Age 
Discrimination Act.
  As a result, all Americans benefited. That is why, Mr. Speaker, when 
a ballot initiative in California threatened labor's very existence, 
voters stood with our unions. On that June 2nd election day, 
approximately 25,000 volunteers walked precincts and staffed phone 
banks, turning out California voters in record numbers, and they 
defeated Proposition 226, the so-called paycheck protection initiative.
  The defeat of this antiworker initiative is not only a triumph for 
California workers but for working families across America.
  By defeating Proposition 226, California voters sent a resounding 
message that the voices of working families will not be silenced. And 
so will the rest of the country when similar initiatives around the 
country and in Congress are introduced, because each day every American 
benefits from the legacy of labor's invaluable achievements.
  Mr. Speaker, Americans have a duty to preserve not only these hard-
won gains but labor's ability to advocate for working Americans today 
and in the future.

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