[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 153 (Wednesday, November 7, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2026-E2027]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                COURT RULING ON PROJECT LABOR AGREEMENTS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. GEORGE MILLER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 7, 2001

  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise to commend the 
United States District Court for the District of Columbia for upholding 
the rights of workers and preventing the President from arbitrarily 
unilaterally, and unfairly restricting those rights.
  On February 17, 2001, President Bush issued Executive Order 13202 
prohibiting Federal agencies or recipients of federal funds from 
entering project labor agreements, pre-hire agreements that typically 
establish wages and working conditions for the employees of contractors 
and subcontractors on a construction project. Bush's Executive Order 
was permanently enjoined today in a decision issued today by Judge 
Emmet G. Sullivan. The lawsuit overturning the Executive Order, 
Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO, et al., v. Joe M. 
Allbaugh, Director Federal Emergency Management Agency, et al., was 
brought by the Building and Construction Trades Department, the City of 
Richmond, California and the Contra Costa County Building and 
Construction Trades Council. My congressional district includes 
Richmond and Contra Costa County.
  Today's decision is a clear victory for working Americans. The court 
found that project labor agreements are expressly protected by the 
National Labor Relations Act and that the President's Executive Order 
harms workers by altering the bargaining power between employers and 
unions. In effect, by trying to impose new limits on the right of the 
workers to bargain collectively, the President was undermining the 
ability of workers to protect and improve their wages and working 
conditions. In our system of government, however, a President may not 
unilaterally undermine the laws that Congress has enacted. The District 
Court's decision is a victory for due process

[[Page E2027]]

and the rule of law as well as the rights of workers.
  I strongly commend the Mayor and City Council of Richmond and the 
Contra Costa County Building and Construction Trades Council and its 
president, Greg Feere, all of whom I am proud to represent in Congress, 
as well as the Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL-
CIO, for their role in standing up for the rights and well being of 
workers.

                          ____________________