[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 21 (Friday, February 2, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E126]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        A THREAT TO LABOR UNIONS

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. JOYCE BEATTY

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, January 29, 2018

  Mrs. BEATTY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to join my colleagues this evening 
to recognize the great importance of unions and speak to the danger to 
middle-class, working families if the Supreme Court undercuts public-
sector unions in the pending Janus v. AFSCME case.
  Mr. Speaker, we cannot forget that the story of unions is the story 
of America's middle class.
  I know this story firsthand, because my dad was a union worker. I was 
able to go to college because of union support, and I'm proud of it.
  We all know that union jobs continue to offer higher salaries to 
workers and provide quality health care, pensions for a secure 
retirement, and benefits that give families peace of mind, along with 
the ability to send their children to college or trade schools.
  This is the American Dream, and unions have helped ensure that more 
Americans have a chance to live it.
  Through collective bargaining, members of strong unions are scoring 
victories that help entire communities.
  Collective bargaining has given workers--even those who aren't 
represented by a union--more access to paid holidays, paid sick leave, 
life insurance, medical and retirement benefits, and higher pay.
  That power has closed the wage gap between women and men in the 
workplace. The wage gap between women and men in unions is about 9 
cents, while most non-union women still earn only 78 cents for every 
dollar their male counterparts make. African-American women in unions 
earn almost $22 per hour, while non-union women earn only $17.
  African-American union members today earn 14.7 percent more than 
their non-union counterparts and Latino union workers earn 21.8 percent 
more.
  In other words, unions are the best way to fix an economy rigged in 
favor of the wealthy and powerful against working people.
  Despite all these benefits, the Supreme Court case, Janus v. AFSCME, 
may limit the opportunity for working people to join together to speak 
up for themselves, their families, and their communities.
  Let's not be naive to the fact that the special interests behind this 
case simply do not believe that hardworking people, like my father, 
should have the same freedoms and opportunities as they do: to 
negotiate a fair wage for their work so that they can provide for 
themselves and their families.
  It is fitting that we are talking about public-sector unions right 
now, with the 50th anniversary of the start of the Memphis sanitation 
workers strike falling just two weeks from today, on February 12. The 
sanitation workers strike was Martin Luther King, Jr.'s last campaign 
and what brought him to Memphis where he was assassinated. It was there 
that Dr. King said, ``Let it be known everywhere, that along with wages 
and all of the other securities that you are struggling for, you are 
also struggling for the right to organize and be recognized.''
  It is also fitting that we recognize Rev. Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker, Dr. 
King's chief of staff who died last week at the age of 88. He, too, was 
a tireless civil rights champion and defender of unions because he knew 
that there is power and recognition in numbers.
  Mr. Speaker, Dr. King fought for public unions 50 years ago, and I am 
calling on all people, including our community and national leaders, to 
join me in taking up his call to work to protect our unions and their 
ability to negotiate for better wages and conditions of work.

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