[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 132 (Wednesday, July 28, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S5117]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          NOMINATIONS OF GWYNNE A. WILCOX AND DAVID M. PROUTY

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, now, one final matter, by the end of 
today, the Senate will confirm two nominees on the NLRB, the National 
Labor Relations Board: Gwynne Wilcox and David Prouty. Both are 
champions for working Americans.
  Ms. Wilcox, who hails from my home State of New York--I am proud to 
say--has spent her career representing workers and unions seeking to 
exercise their rights to organize. She is one of the Nation's leading 
experts on labor law, and if confirmed, she would make history as the 
first African-American woman to ever serve on the NLRB.
  Like Ms. Wilcox, David Prouty has also spent a lifetime defending the 
rights of organized labor across the country, recently serving as the 
general counsel of the SEIU, one the Nation's largest unions.
  Over the course of American history, the labor movement has been the 
single most powerful force in lifting Americans out of poverty and into 
the middle class. It was by coming to this country and joining a union 
that my grandfather entered the middle class and passed on even more 
opportunity to his children and then to me and my brother and sister.
  So it is no mistake that as labor union participation has declined 
over the past few decades, wages have stalled as well, and folks are 
finding it harder and harder to stay in the middle class.
  If we are going to strengthen the backbone of the middle class, we 
need to reinvigorate the labor movement and protect the rights of 
workers everywhere to organize and bargain collectively for their 
wages. Appointing these two labor champions to the NLRB is a great way 
to start.
  And, to the American people, the confirmation today of these two NLRB 
labor champions is a direct result of having a Democratic majority in 
the Senate versus having a Republican majority.
  Under Leader McConnell and Republicans, the NLRB, which is typically 
divided between two parties, had only Republican appointees for the 
first time in its 85-year history. None of them had any experience in 
labor policy. They are almost atavistically against working people and 
helped management--the big bosses--to prevent people from organizing 
and making it harder to stay organized if you were. It was awful, and 
it is one of the reasons that middle-class incomes have not accelerated 
in the last 2 decades.
  In fact, the Republicans were so intent on not having the NLRB defend 
the rights of working people that under Leader McConnell a Democratic 
seat on the NLRB was held vacant for nearly 3 years. If the American 
people want to know which side each party is on, just look at the NLRB: 
Democrats appointing pro-labor people who fight for higher salaries, 
higher pensions, higher health benefits; Republicans making sure the 
NLRB doesn't function and allowing the big bosses to take a dominant 
role in negotiations with their workers.
  Even during the years when President Trump was in the White House and 
Republicans had a majority on the NLRB, Leader McConnell blocked 
Democrats from appointing a minority member to the Board. They didn't 
want a minority member on the Board even though they would have the 
majority, the Republicans. It is not a stretch to say if Democrats had 
not taken the majority in January, these important posts to the NLRB 
might never have been filled.
  So, look, Senate Democrats are working with the Biden Administration 
to make sure the National Labor Relations Board does what it is 
intended to do: stand up for working Americans; make sure they have a 
much better chance of getting better wages, better benefits, better 
pensions. I look forward to confirming these two outstanding nominees 
later today.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

                          ____________________