[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 46 (Tuesday, March 23, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H1481-H1482]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           UNION-ONLY REQUIREMENTS FOR CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

  (Mr. GARY MILLER of California asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

[[Page H1482]]

  Mr. GARY MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to oppose 
union-only requirements for construction projects.
  Vice President Gore wants to have all Federal projects done by union 
construction firms. Also, the Los Angeles Unified School District, near 
my congressional district, is considering requiring all of their new 
construction to be done only by union companies.
  Union-only construction agreements may make political sense for some 
politicians, but they certainly do not make practical sense for our 
children in our schools.
  PLAs do not guarantee lower costs, higher performance standards, or 
eliminate red tape. The union-only contracts only guarantee that the 
four out of five construction workers not represented by a union cannot 
work on the project.
  It is un-American for our Government to say to someone who does not 
belong to a certain group or organization, ``You are not good enough to 
compete for Federal money based on merit.''
  For those of us who agree that there should not be race-based 
discrimination, this is another form of discrimination. A person should 
not be denied a job because of his or her color. Neither should he or 
she be denied a job because they do not carry a union card.
  I hope that the Vice President and the Los Angeles Unified School 
District will not put politics above our children. I encourage both of 
them to support freedom in the bidding of construction projects.

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