[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 71 (Wednesday, May 19, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E907]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E907]]
 APPLAUDING THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO KEEP AMERICA MOVING AND RECOGNIZING 
                      NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION WEEK

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. ROBERT A. BRADY

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, May 17, 2004

  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate 
Chairman Young and Ranking Member Oberstar, for introducing H. Con. 
Res. 420, which properly applauds the men and women who keep our 
country moving--the American transportation workers.
  There can be no doubt that the transportation sector is the most 
critical sector of our economy. We cannot produce or sell goods, 
agricultural products or raw materials if we cannot move them 
throughout our great land, or ship them overseas. And yet, despite the 
importance of these workers, they now find themselves under attack from 
within and without. But, their government has, at best, abandoned them 
in their hour of need. In some cases, the Federal government has 
actually joined in--and even led--the assault on their safety, their 
livelihoods and their rights.
  Mr. Speaker, we can never forget that the very first victim on 
September 11, 2001 was a flight attendant, sliced by a box cutter our 
lax security measures allowed on board. And yet, three years later, 
these underpaid and overstressed workers find themselves fighting for 
proper security training and for safer conditions. Will we ever truly 
honor the dead of that infamous day as long as these citizens are at 
risk? And today, two years after it expired, the flight attendants of 
Southwest Airlines continue to work without a contract, victims of the 
alliance between management and the National Mediation Board (NMB), the 
agency responsible for administering the Railway Labor Act (RLA) which 
governs their work class. Management has refused to offer a new 
contract after the rejection of woefully inadequate opening offers. 
However, NMB has refused to declare an impasse, which would allow 
workers and the Transport Workers Union, which represents them, to move 
forward in exercising their rights.
  And the Southwest Flight attendants are not the only victims of the 
recalcitrance of the NMB. Despite the fact that the current round of 
national rail negotiations is well into its fifth year for thousands of 
workers, the NMB has refused to move the bargaining process along in a 
timely manner. Specifically, the NMB has refused to ``release'' the 
International Association of Machinists (IAM) and the Sheet Metal 
Workers International Union (SMWIA) from mediation despite the fact 
that both unions have reached an impasse with management and further 
talks would be fruitless. It is intolerable for our government to force 
a rail worker to wait five years for a new collective bargaining 
agreement.
  The NMB, whose three members are appointed by the President and 
confirmed by the other body, is responsible for providing bargaining 
and mediation assistance, and fostering productive collective 
bargaining between labor and management. The NMB's ability to either 
advance or delay labor-management talks is a power the agency should 
use fairly and with great care. The NMB is well known for touting its 
own record of having parties reach agreements without resorting to 
``self-help'' such as strikes or lockouts.
  In fact, the statute has survived since 1926 because it can work well 
if implemented fairly. But by failing to act on a release in the JAM 
and SMWIA case, the NMB is ignoring its own policy of expediting the 
bargaining and mediation process. Forcing employees and their unions to 
stay at the table well beyond the point of any productive negotiations 
frustrates the rights of workers and denies settlements within a 
reasonable time frame. The problems surrounding these excessive delays 
have little to do with the RLA, but rather with the manner in which the 
NMB administers the process. By failing to change the endless cycle of 
delay in rail bargaining, the NMB is denying basic due process. In 
other words, justice delayed is justice denied.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to truly honor America's 
transportation workers by helping to make them safe on their jobs and 
secure in their contracts.

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