[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 140 (Tuesday, September 20, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1663-E1664]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     EXPRESSING RESPECT FOR THE DIGNITY OF ALL WORK AND ALL WORKERS

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JAY INSLEE

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 20, 2011

  Mr. INSLEE. Mr. Speaker, in the 1930s, as Americans slowly walked the 
road to recovery and rebuilt a country ravaged by the Great Depression, 
workers sought security and stability and unified representation. The 
National Labor Relations Act outlined the rights of both workers and 
employers and put forward rules to bring fairness to the union election 
process. Project labor agreements were established, and the Davis-Bacon 
Act created prevailing wage requirements. All this in a country still 
living in the shadow of the largest economic collapse the world had 
ever known. Our economy rebounded, and the middle class flourished. 
American manufacturing set the global standard, and much of the work 
was done by workers who enjoyed the right to collectively bargain with 
their employer. Our country respected the dignity of all work, and all 
workers.
  Now, in the wake of the worst recession of our lifetime, some leaders 
appear to be trying to pull the rug from underneath working families 
who are already on the floor. We have witnessed attacks on collective 
bargaining rights in the state legislatures of Wisconsin and Ohio, and 
the repeated attempts of Congress to erode workers' rights. From 
repealing Davis-Bacon wage requirements to ending the power of 
regulators to enforce existing labor law, the same workers who made 
this the wealthiest country on the planet are now at times disparaged 
and denigrated by some rather than being protected and praised. Workers 
exercising their right to bargain collectively did not bring us to the 
brink of another Great Depression. Project labor agreements didn't 
cause our housing market to collapse. Prevailing wage requirements 
aren't causing our community banks to fail.

[[Page E1664]]

  Rather, the protection of workers' rights, such as collective 
bargaining, has helped to create a strong American middle class, which 
has in turn spurred the growth of the U.S. economy. Collective 
bargaining is just that, bargaining. Protecting the rights of employees 
does not mean handicapping employers, it means respecting the dignity 
of all work, and all workers. As our country continues to walk the road 
to recovery, we should be mindful of this example, and we should 
respect the dignity of the workers who will take us there.

                          ____________________