[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 43 (Tuesday, March 13, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H2465]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          APPEAL FOR ENACTMENT OF THE EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Tauscher). Under a previous order of 
the House, the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Allen) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. ALLEN. Madam Speaker, I rise to express my continued support for 
the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill which the House passed 2 weeks ago 
which I hope the Senate will soon consider.
  I was proud to support House passage of the Employee Free Choice Act 
because I believe that the current law places undue burdens on workers 
who are trying to exercise their rights to organize.
  Under the current law, workers are often subject to intimidation, and 
employers receive a slap on the hand for illegal activities. One study 
recently conducted by the University of Illinois found that 30 percent 
of employers fire pro-union workers, 49 percent threaten to close a 
work site, and 51 percent coerce employees with bribes or favoritism.
  Because of these acts, many workers are afraid to vote for a union 
against the wishes of their employer, even in private.
  If those statistics are not compelling enough, I urge my colleagues 
to consider the fact that the United States is the only industrialized 
Nation to have a union avoidance industry of any size. This industry, 
on which corporations spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year, 
exists solely to help businesses resist unionization efforts and 
undermine union strength.
  The Employee Free Choice Act would close the legal and illegal 
avenues to intimidation that some employers use, thereby strengthening 
employees' ability to choose.
  It would discourage the firing of employees by increasing fines and 
penalties during the election process. It would guarantee that first 
contract negotiations don't drag out for years by requiring mediation 
and arbitration to end delays.
  The Employee Free Choice Act would allow the use of card check 
procedures, in which a majority of workers, not just a majority of 
voters, sign cards authorizing a union.
  Why is it so important to ensure access to unions? Inequality is 
rising in our country. Two years ago, Alan Greenspan said: ``A free 
market society is ill served by an economy in which the rewards are 
distributed in a way which too many of our population do not feel is 
appropriate.''
  Whether or not you agree that increasing inequality in our country is 
tied to declining union membership, one thing is clear: unionized 
workers have better rates of health care coverage, better wages, and 
are five times more likely to have a pension.
  Access to health care, better wages, secure pension: these are the 
things the House is trying to give back to the middle class in America. 
Making our economy work for everyone is a complicated, ongoing process. 
The Employee Free Choice Act is one important step we can take toward 
accomplishing that goal.
  In many American workplaces, the process of forming a union is 
contentious. Yet, though they may differ over issues like wages, health 
care and pensions, employees, supervisors, and company owners are all 
striving for the same goal, to make their company work and for 
competitiveness in a global economy.
  Finding a middle ground on questions of compensation, training and 
health care boosts American productivity, innovation, and 
competitiveness. When employers control the outcome, we not only cheat 
workers; we cheat our economic future.
  As we approach 2020, our income distribution is trending toward that 
of 1920. Americans don't want to be left to the market-based whims of 
health savings accounts, privatized Social Security, or personal job 
retraining accounts. They want a government that ensures that 
individuals can provide for themselves and their families.
  Senator Wagner wrote the National Labor Relations Act in 1934 to 
ensure that workers would have an unambiguous, unmitigated right to 
representation in the workplace. He said then that ``the denial or 
observance of this right means the difference between despotism and 
democracy.''
  It is unfortunate that the Employee Free Choice Act faces obstacles 
in the Senate, but it is time to give Americans a fair shot at 
organizing again. Everyone deserves protection under the law.
  I urge my colleagues in the Senate to support the Employee Free 
Choice Act.

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