[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 37 (Tuesday, April 9, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E465-E466]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


  10TH ANNUAL LABOR AWARDS DINNER HONORING GOVERNOR JAMES MCGREEVEY, 
                     STEVE ROSENTHAL AND AL KOEPPE

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. FRANK PALLONE, JR.

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, April 9, 2002

  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join the New Jersey State 
AFL-CIO in honoring three individuals who have demonstrated 
extraordinary leadership in labor relations. NJ Governor James 
McGreevey, AFL-CIO Political Director Steve Rosenthal, and PSE&G CEO Al 
Koeppe have dedicated their lives to ensuring that New Jersey's workers 
are provided fair compensation, benefits and safe working conditions. 
It is individuals like these who allow working families in the State of 
New Jersey to continue to thrive during these tough economic times.
  Governor McGreevey. As the mayor of Woodbridge, the Senator and 
Assemblyman for the 19th legislative district and now as our Governor, 
Jim McGreevey has been one of the best friends NJ labor has ever seen. 
Throughout his tenure in public service Jim McGreevey has been a 
persistent fighter for the rights of workers, their families, and the 
labor movement.
  While Governor McGreevey has a long list of accomplishments and 
accolades, none can surpass that of his first executive order as 
Governor. Before even moving into the Governor's mansion, Jim McGreevey 
made it one of his first official acts to declare that all large public 
construction jobs must use unionized labor.
  By requiring that all state funded large construction jobs enter into 
project labor agreements (PLAs), New Jersey is assured that all work is 
done by qualified individuals, who are receiving a fair wage and 
quality benefits. PLAs have long been proven an effective way to get 
work done in a timely fashion, without work stoppages.
  By making Project Labor Agreements one of his first official acts, 
Jim McGreevey once again proved his utmost commitment to the working 
men and women of our state. His outstanding record and commitment to 
working families should be applauded and viewed as a model for all 
public servants. I look forward to continuing work with our newly 
elected Governor in furthering the labor movement and the rights of all 
workers.
  Steve Rosenthal. As political director of the AFL-CIO, Steve 
Rosenthal has taken the labor fight to the political spectrum and has 
fought to ensure that the issues of utmost concern of working families 
are heard by the American political establishment. Steve has worked 
long and hard in making workers rights a focus of Congressional, State, 
County and Local races for office.
  Steve Rosenthal was appointed to the position of political director 
soon after John Sweeney was elected president of the AFL-CIO in 1995. 
Steve has been tasked to direct the AFL-CIO, and the greater labor 
movement's, political organization. He has been instrumental in 
recruiting pro-labor candidates, organizing national voter registration 
drives, and mobilizing their grassroots campaigns. Steve has been 
taking an active role in building a long term political infrastructure 
that not only elects officials that are supportive of labors issues but 
encourages union members to take active roles in all levels of 
government.
  I am also proud that Steve Rosenthal cut his teeth in our great State 
of New Jersey. Steve is a member of Communication Workers of America 
(CWA) Local 1032 and served as the New Jersey CWA Legislative/Political 
Coordinator. In these roles and currently as the national political 
director, Steve Rosenthal has truly provided an invaluable service to 
all working families in the state of New Jersey.
  Al Kolppe: For the past 13 years I have had the pleasure and honor to 
work with a businessman that epitomizes how our public utilities should 
do business. As the current CEO

[[Page E466]]

of Public Service Electric and Gas (PSE&G) and past president and CEO 
of Bell Atlantic-New Jersey, Al Koeppe has been a friend to working 
families and organized labor as a whole.
  In his official capacity at PSE&G and Bell Atlantic and as a former 
member of the NJ Commission on Higher Education, Al Koeppe works hard 
to ensure good relations with his workforce, providing workers quality 
benefits, the opportunity to organize and collectively bargain, and a 
quality work environment.
  In the mid-1990's, as a member of the NJ Commission on Higher 
Education and chairman of the commission's labor management committee, 
Al Koeppe's committee recommended that the state's nine colleges be 
required to collectively bargain with their more than 5,000 employees. 
This statewide bargaining would cover contract talks with classified 
clerical, security and maintenance workers who were members of the CWA 
and the International Federation of Professional and Technical 
Engineers. While this decision was not a popular one with the nine 
college presidents, it was hailed as a huge victory by the workers and 
their representative unions.
  Al also worked very closely with organized labor, including NJ AFL-
CIO President Charles Wowkanech and members for the IBEW, in crafting 
New Jersey's Energy Deregulation law passed in the late 1990's. Al took 
significant steps in ensuring that not only consumer concerns were met 
but also the concerns of the men and women who work for our public 
utilities throughout the state.
  Al Koeppe has obviously demonstrated his leadership on behalf of 
working families in the state of New Jersey throughout his long and 
distinguished career. Business and industry should look to Mr. Koeppe 
as an example of how to conduct labor-management relations.

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