[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 184 (Tuesday, November 7, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H5471-H5472]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              UAW TENTATIVE AGREEMENTS WITH THE BIG THREE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, as a grateful and proud daughter of the 
United Auto Workers, I am heartened to see General Motors, Ford, and 
Jeep Stellantis reach tentative agreements with the hardworking 
brothers and sisters of the UAW.
  This historic strike is deeply personal to me. I know firsthand from 
my parents and constituents the difficult jobs they do day in and day 
out, sometimes 10 hours a day 6 days a week.
  While too many manufacturing jobs have been shipped overseas to penny 
wage havens, I salute companies inside our borders, the largest 
consumer market in the world, for agreeing to pay fair wages with good 
benefits that our hardworking American autoworkers have earned.
  Firms in other nations should follow suit. Our trade negotiators 
should focus on reciprocal contracts for market access to achieve fair 
trade globally to stop the exploitation of workers in the automotive 
industry in the Third World.
  Let's recall after the United Auto Workers conceded major benefits 
during the 2008 Great Recession to literally save the Big Three from 
bankruptcy. These agreements represent a monumental step toward finally 
making these workers whole again.
  They say that when unions fight, all workers win. Last week we saw 
Toyota raise wages for their workers knowing they must now compete.
  Record profits should mean record contracts. Americans must honor 
people who work hard hour by hour building the economic prosperity of 
our great Nation.

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  From Toledo to Wayne to Wentzville to Belvedere, their vigilance, 
fortitude, and guts have made this new progress possible. I salute 
those in our unions who have fought so hard and have dedicated their 
lives to building our middle class from the middle out and the bottom 
up.
  Onward.

                          ____________________