[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 42 (Tuesday, March 10, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2966-S2967]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. REID (for Mr. Kennedy (for himself, Mr. Harkin, Mr. Dodd, 
        Ms. Mikulski, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Reed, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Brown, 
        Mr. Casey, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Byrd, Mr. Inouye, Mr. Leahy, Mr. 
        Levin, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Rockefeller, Mr. Reid, Mr. Lieberman, Mr. 
        Akaka, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Feingold, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Durbin, Mr. 
        Johnson, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Nelson of Florida, Mr. Carper, Ms. 
        Stabenow, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Lautenberg, Mr. Menendez, Mr. 
        Cardin, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Udall of New Mexico, 
        Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Begich, Mr. Burris, Mr. Kaufman, and Mrs. 
        Gillibrand)):
   S. 560. A bill to amend the National Labor Relations Act to 
establish an efficient system to enable employees to form, join, or 
assist labor organizations, to provide for mandatory injunctions for 
unfair labor practices during the organizing efforts, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. KENNEDY. We are facing a profound economic crisis, the likes of 
which we have not seen since the Great Depression. Countless working 
families who were already living on the edge of financial disaster have 
been hit hard, and they have nothing to fall back on. Their faith in 
the American dream has been replaced by fear for their families and 
their future.

[[Page S2967]]

  We have already taken some much-needed actions to put our country 
back on track, but more needs to be done. In these perilous times, 
working families need security. They need new skills and new 
opportunities. And they need a voice in the decisions that will affect 
their families and their futures.
  Now more than ever, workers need someone on their side, fighting for 
them. Now more than ever, they need unions. Unions were fundamental in 
building America's middle class, and they have a vital role to play 
today in restoring the American dream for working families.
  First and foremost, unions enable workers to obtain their fair share 
of the benefits that their hard work creates. Union wages are 30 
percent higher than nonunion wages. Eighty percent of union workers 
have health insurance, compared to only 49 percent of their nonunion 
counterparts. Union members are four times more likely to have a 
guaranteed pension.
  Equally important in this crisis, unions provide greater security and 
greater promise of fair treatment. At a time when workers who lose 
their jobs can remain unemployed for a year or more, those who are 
represented by a union have better job security and the assurance of 
knowing they will have a voice at the table when difficult decisions 
are made.
  It is little wonder that so many Americans want a union on their 
side. In a recent survey, more than half of all nonunion workers--
nearly 60 million men and women--say they would join a union if they 
could.
  The problem is that most workers who want a union can't get one. 
Those who attempt to exercise this fundamental right often find that 
the current system is rigged against them.
  Unscrupulous employers routinely break the law to keep unions out. 
They fire union supporters. They intimidate workers, harass them, and 
discriminate against them. They close down whole departments--or even 
entire plants--to avoid a union. A recent study by the Center for 
Economic and Policy Research found that union supporters are fired in 
more than one quarter of all union organizing campaigns.
  Even when workers prevail in a union election, employers can steal 
the victory by refusing to bargain fairly for the first union contract. 
They drag their feet, delay bargaining, and use a variety of other 
tactics to prevent an agreement. One study found that in more than a 
third of hard-won union elections, workers are denied a contract 
because of employers' delaying tactics.
  Many of these abuses by employers are illegal, but employers have no 
incentive to change their behavior. The penalties for violating 
workers' rights are so weak that they simply become a minor cost of 
doing business.
  Obviously, not all employers see unions as the enemy. Many successful 
companies have allowed their workers to organize without threats or 
dirty tricks. They have formed strong partnerships with their 
employees, and they have prospered. But these individual good examples 
are not enough to solve the problem. We need to deal with the bad 
actors. We need to stop the lawbreaking that has become alarmingly 
common and provide stronger protections for workers' rights.
  That is why we need the Employee Free Choice Act. This important 
legislation will give American workers the real freedom to choose a 
union without fear of threats or intimidation.
  First, the bill gives workers two possible ways to choose whether 
they want a union. They can rely on an election, or--if they fear 
intimidation from their employer during the election process--they can 
use a process called majority sign-up, which enables workers to choose 
whether they want a union by deciding whether to sign their name on a 
card calling for a union.
  Majority sign-up has always been a valid way to form a union. Since 
2003, more than half a million private sector workers have formed a 
union through this efficient and democratic process.
  The problem is that under current law, workers may use the majority 
sign-up process only if their employer agrees. That is not fair. 
Workers--not their bosses--should get to choose how they make the 
important decision about whether they want union representation. The 
Employee Free Choice Act puts this choice in workers' hands.
  Second, the bill ensures that workers who choose a union will have a 
fair process for getting a first contract. It provides that if the 
union and the employer don't reach a contract within 90 days, either 
side can seek mediation from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation 
Service. The agency has provided collective bargaining mediation 
services--including mediation of first contract negotiations--for more 
than 50 years, and it has an 86 percent success rate.
  In the rare instance when the mediation process fails, the bill 
provides for binding arbitration, which will be handled by a panel of 
highly qualified arbitrators who have long experience in developing 
contract provisions that are fair to both sides. This type of 
arbitration is a tried-and-true method of resolving contract disputes 
that is already used in the rail and airline industries, and for public 
sector workers in at least 25 States.
  Finally, the Employee Free Choice Act improves remedies for workers 
who face discrimination or retaliation when they seek to organize or 
obtain a first contract. Under the bill, employers will no longer be 
able to violate the law with impunity and write off the insignificant 
penalties as a minor cost of doing business. The act takes away these 
perverse incentives for employers to break the law by increasing the 
remedies for workers, and by imposing new penalties on employers who 
act illegally during organizing campaigns or first-contract bargaining. 
These important changes will put real teeth in the law, and give 
employers a financial reason to respect workers' rights.
  With these basic reforms, the Employee Free Choice Act will fix the 
current broken system and level the economic playing field for millions 
of American workers. It will help them obtain real, tangible benefits 
that will make a difference in their lives and in the lives of their 
families.
  By restoring fairness to the American workplace, and strengthening 
the voice of American workers, we can rebuild the land of opportunity--
a land with good jobs, fair wages, and fair benefits that can support a 
family. We can revitalize the American middle class and restore the 
American dream. I urge all of my colleagues to support this important 
legislation and help put working families back on the path to 
prosperity.
                                 ______