[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 82 (Wednesday, June 13, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H3125-H3126]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            WORKERS' RIGHTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Solis) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SOLIS. Madam Speaker, today I rise to talk about the importance 
of workers' rights. I want to tell my colleagues a little bit about my 
own personal history. My parents came as immigrants to this country. 
Because they became a part of working America, they were also involved 
in the union movement. Because of that, we had protections for our 
family, seven brothers and sisters. Because of that protection, my 
father lives a better life. He lives on a fixed income with a 
retirement, a pension plan. My mother is well. But the fact remains 
that before the union came into their place of work, they suffered 
quite a bit. My father, in fact, was exposed to very hazardous and 
toxic materials and as a result became involved with the union to 
provide protection so that other employees there, immigrant employees 
who could not speak English could have clothing, appropriate clothing 
and even an oxygen mask that would help prevent them from being exposed 
to harmful chemicals.
  My mother worked for many years, 20 years exactly, on her feet almost 
10 hours a day and now suffers from arthritic problems and severe 
varicose veins. She was lucky, though, that she had the union to fall 
back on, to provide her protections, medical coverage not only for 
herself but for her seven children and I as one of those. It has not 
been an easy road for them, and I thank the unions for providing that 
safety mechanism for them and my brothers and sisters.
  But the movement of the union effort needs to go on. In fact, I was 
very privileged as a member of the State Senate to run the industrial 
relations committee where I was very much involved in helping to raise 
the minimum wage. I am sad to report that in the Federal Government, 
our minimum wage is much lower than the State of California. In fact, 
it is at $5.15 an hour. In California, it is $5.75. It is still below 
the poverty level. In fact, if we were to raise it up a bit, we would 
still have to give a boost of $1.24. We still have a long way to go. 
Working America needs a break.
  In my opinion, we have much to do to protect women, particularly many 
of those that are forced to work two and three jobs at minimum wage to 
raise their families. Many of them have children. Many of them sorely 
need insurance, health coverage and many other protections that are 
provided to union people. Many of those individuals are seeking to 
organize and have not been successful because many anti-union companies 
or businesses are trying to erode any support so that they can 
collectively bargain for their rights.
  I want to put my support behind efforts that I was recently involved 
in in California in the city of Vernon with a particular organization 
there that was trying to organize women and immigrants that were 
working to sew mattresses and blankets. Some had worked there for 30 
years at the Hollander Home Fashion in Vernon and were not given any 
kind of retirement benefits or any kind of pension plan. Thirty years 
at minimum wage and not one increment. I went out there and met some of 
those workers. Thank God that the employer there came to his senses and 
they were able to work out an agreement. They now have a collective 
bargaining agreement that will provide protections for the some 200 or 
300 workers that I saw there in Vernon.
  I cannot say that about an ongoing effort right now with Pictsweet 
Mushrooms in California where farm workers are trying to get also a 
better medical plan, a pension plan, and the one that is being offered 
right now by the employer is much too small and it would require a much 
greater premium on the part of the worker. The California Agricultural 
Relations Board has upheld an unfair labor practice charged against 
Pictsweet by the United Farm Workers. The United Farm Workers won that, 
but we still need to do more. I stand here now in support of what the 
Pictsweet Mushroom employees are working on.
  We have a long way to go for working families, especially those that 
are new immigrants, that are coming to this country with the 
realization that they want to share in the American dream. I would ask 
this House and body to put forward a minimum wage bill to provide 
protections for all workers and to work to provide more sufficient 
coverage in terms of OSHA, because we know that there are many, many 
thousands of workers that lose their lives, that go to work thinking 
that they are

[[Page H3126]]

going to have some protections in place and find out that they cannot 
even go home because something happened at work.
  I would ask this Congress, this body, to please take note of these 
issues.

                          ____________________