[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 48 (Thursday, March 25, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H2445-H2446]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      IN SUPPORT OF MEMBERS OF ILWU LOCAL 30 IN BORON, CALIFORNIA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Richardson) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. RICHARDSON. I rise today to something that's very personal to me 
and important, and that's advocating for working people. You see, 
you're looking at a Member of Congress who had the opportunity to have 
a mother who was part of a bargaining unit, who was a member of a 
union. She had an opportunity to have someone advocate on behalf of not 
only herself but her two daughters as well. And because my mother had 
that advocate, she was able to send her daughters to good schools, she 
was able to put braces on our teeth, and she was able to ensure that, 
yes, that little girl back in Los Angeles, California, would have an 
opportunity to one day become a Member of Congress.
  You know, it wasn't that long ago when we had elections, and we saw 
things that were happening out in America where working people had 
worked all their lives for these companies, and yet they were finding 
that they were being sent out the door. Let me tell you about a story 
that I heard about this last week. I rise today to speak in support of 
the hardworking miners of Local 30 of the International Longshore and 
Warehouse Union, ILWU, in Boron, California. Since January 31, 2010, 
approximately 560 mine workers, 560 families have found themselves 
locked out of their jobs by their employer Rio Tinto, leaving them 
scrambling to provide for their families and to pay for health care 
benefits--what we've been talking about these last couple of weeks, to 
have to pay through the nose premiums of COBRA which many of them 
cannot afford. So they've had to choose between putting food on their 
tables and providing benefits for their families, something no one in 
America should have to choose. Days before the lockout, the miners were 
presented with a contract that called for cutting benefits, converting 
full-time jobs to part-time jobs, and reserving to itself the right to 
outsource all of their jobs.
  Mr. Speaker, this style and approach to hardworking Americans is not 
operating in good faith. This isn't what we signed up to do, and 
neither did we sign up to support it. Leaving 560 hardworking men and 
women forced to choose between their job and benefits is happening too 
often to too many workers these days. Companies that come to this 
Congress to ask us to approve and authorize assistance so that they can 
have concessions and then to refuse to turn around and pass those same 
benefits on to the American people is wrong. I believe it's time for 
this Congress--not other Congresses, but this Congress right now--to 
stand up, this administration and the agencies, and support legislation 
and funding that helps the workers, the companies, and our economy. All 
of them should be viewed at the same level.
  This Congress helped with TARP legislation. We helped with the 
American Recovery Act. We did all that, and many on Wall Street 
benefited, and we see that today. My message today is, isn't it time 
for us to also do the same for Main Street, for those 560 locked-out 
mine workers in California who deserve at least the same?

[[Page H2446]]



                          ____________________