[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 168 (Wednesday, November 19, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2317]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 IN HONOR OF THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE TEAMSTERS UNION LOCAL NUMBER 
                                   20

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MARCY KAPTUR

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 18, 2003

  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, teamsters Union Local Number 20 celebrates 
its 100-year anniversary in 2003. For a century, hardworking men and 
women have come together for the good of the many as they strove to 
bring their families a better life.
  Chartered in 1903, Local 20's first members were icehouse workers. 
Over the years, four Teamsters Locals came together to form the 
present-day Local 20, 7,200 members united. Teamsters Local 20 
represents members in fifteen counties in Northwest Ohio, including not 
only truck drivers but nursing home workers, candy makers, and makers 
of fiberglass. Uniquely, in a truly representational form of operation, 
stewards from every shop the union represents form the Stewards 
Council, which sets the policy for the union.
  As noted in the union's history, much has changed in the hundred 
years since Teamsters Local 20 has been chartered: horses were driven 
rather than trucks, one of two children died in childhood, women were 
denied the right to vote, there were no child labor laws, no civil 
rights, no Social Security, no workers compensation, no unemployment 
compensation, no federal protection for working rights and unions, no 
workplace safety requirements, no overtime pay or minimum wage, no 
right to bargain collectively, and no forty hour work week.
  The history of our nation's social protection as these basic rights 
were guaranteed is the history of the Teamsters as well, for their 
struggles are intertwined with our nation's awakening to social 
justice. Without Teamster families, and the millions of others in the 
labor movement, we would yet be in those dark ages of the past. This 
100th anniversary is a good time to remind all Americans that we would 
not enjoy the standard of living we enjoy now without the efforts of 
united labor. Daniel Webster said, ``Liberty and Union, now and 
forever, one and inseparable.'' Though he meant these words in another 
context, their meaning rings true for our own time. It is the union men 
and women who built this nation, who power it now, and whose prosperity 
must drive it forward.
  I am pleased to recognize the 100th anniversary of Teamsters Local 
20, and pay special tribute to its members as we commemorate this 
milestone. Thank you for your contributions to the labor movement, to 
our communities, our nation, and our future.

                          ____________________