[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 158 (Tuesday, November 4, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2211]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             RON PICKERING: DEDICATED TO THE CAUSE OF LABOR

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. BERNARD SANDERS

                               of vermont

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 4, 2003

  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to recognize the 
contributions of Ron Pickering, an individual of great importance to 
the working people of America, and particularly my state of Vermont. 
For the past ten years he served with distinction as the President of 
the Vermont AFL-CIO. Ron was a remarkably effective and dedicated 
leader of Vermont's most important labor council.
  He has also served most capably as the international representative 
for PACE [the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers 
International Union], in which capacity he serviced many contracts in 
New England.
  I have known Ron for many years, both as a personal friend and as 
colleague in the struggle for workers' rights. It is with a sense of 
deep respect that I say that Ron Pickering reinvigorated the trade 
union movement in the state of Vermont and laid the groundwork for some 
of the most important labor victories in the state's history.
  Ron has been one of the best and most influential advocates for 
working people the state of Vermont has ever seen. His effectiveness in 
the State House in Montpelier has meant that working men and woman have 
had a voice, and a most eloquent voice, in the deliberations of state 
government.
  Together with his wife Gloria, who has time and again been at his 
side while he traveled throughout the state of Vermont, Ron Pickering 
has stood up for the labor movement, for the needs of working 
Americans, and for the rights of those who put in a hard day's work--
every day--to see that America remains productive and strong.

                          ____________________