[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 82 (Wednesday, June 13, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H3128-H3129]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          IN SUPPORT OF UNIONS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Berkley) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. BERKLEY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to all of our 
Nation's hardworking men and women. I come from a working family. I 
come from a union family. I know what it is like to work for every 
penny and live from paycheck to paycheck.

[[Page H3129]]

  Thirty-nine years ago my father put my sister and me and the family 
dog in the back seat of our car. My parents were in the front seat. 
Everything we owned was packed in a U-Haul that was connected to the 
back bumper of our car. We drove across country in the middle of the 
summer in an un-air conditioned car from upstate New York to California 
for my dad to get a job.
  Before we got to California, we decided we would stop in Las Vegas 
for the night. We never left. The reason we never left is the day after 
we arrived in Las Vegas my dad joined the culinary union and the 
following day he got a job. He got a job as a waiter, which he kept for 
the next 33 years until he retired.
  On a waiter's salary, on a union waiter's salary, my father made 
enough money to put a roof over our head, food on the table, clothes on 
our backs, and two daughters through college and law school; and the 
reason that he was able to do that is because of the fine wages that 
the unions had negotiated and fought for.
  Because of the efforts of organized labor, so many doors of 
opportunity were opened to my family. No one has to convince me of the 
importance of unions in our country and the positive impact that they 
have on workers and business. I have had firsthand experience, and many 
of my fellow Nevadans have had the same experience.
  Unions have had a significant impact on the city that my parents and 
my children and I call home. This is evident in the fact that Nevada 
has the highest percentage of workers that are union members in the 
country and our Nation's strongest economy. The culinary union Local 
226 alone has more than 50,000 members and is the backbone of our 
community's service-oriented economy.
  Las Vegas is the fastest growing metropolitan area in the country. 
Because of this incredible growth, the construction industry has 
exploded, and the building trades union members are helping to build 
our community. It is an oasis in the middle of the desert, thanks to 
them. Employers in southern Nevada recognize the importance of 
fostering partnerships with the unions. When workers make good wages, 
have good benefits and have good working conditions, productivity 
increases.
  Southern Nevada's economy is booming and hardworking union men and 
women helped create this prosperity. I am proud of this strong 
organized labor movement in Nevada and the improvements that the unions 
have made for all workers.
  Unions are the voice of working men and women in this country. Over 
the years, unions have worked to ensure that employees make liveable 
wages, work a 5-day workweek so they can spend time with their 
families, and receive overtime pay. Unions have fought and continue to 
fight to make sure that workers receive quality health care for 
themselves and their families. Unions fight for families. Family-leave 
provisions allow parents to attend parent-teacher conferences, attend 
to sick family members or spend time with a newborn without the threat 
of losing their job. Through collective bargaining, unions have secured 
all of these benefits.
  I am committed to protecting the right of our workers to both join 
unions and to collectively bargain, and I will fight against any 
attempt to erode these rights.
  This country is far better off and a far better place to live and 
raise our families because of our unions and our right to organize. I 
commend the efforts of this Nation's hardworking men and women, and I 
pay tribute to them and organized labor today.

                          ____________________