[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 13822-13823]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                           SEVEN DAYS IN JUNE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Myrick). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 19, 1999, the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. 
Schakowsky) is recognized during morning hour debates for 3 minutes.
  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Bonior) for organizing this discussion in support of 
Seven Days in June, June 7 to 25. This is a week celebrating union 
organizing victories, and recognizing the importance of giving workers 
the freedom to choose a voice at work.
  I am a proud member of UNITE, the needle trades union. I am proud of 
the accomplishments the union movement has won. Unions brought us the 
40-hour work week, workers compensation, overtime compensation, and the 
end of child labor in this country.
  Union members on average earn 32 percent more than other workers. 
They are more likely to receive health insurance and pension benefits 
from their employers.
  More importantly, they have provided an organized voice for workers 
who have used that voice to make improvements in productivity, 
workplace safety, and environmental conditions.
  Today there is perhaps no greater evidence of the need for workers to 
organize than the health care industry. The power of the for-profit 
health care industry has led to unwise cost-cutting that threatens not 
only the health and financial security of health care workers, but the 
patients they serve.
  Several years ago, two nurses in New Jersey raised concerns about the 
effect of drive-through deliveries on mothers and infants, moms and 
babies being sent home the same day of delivery. One nurse, a union 
member, was threatened with retaliation, but was protected by her 
union. The other, an unorganized worker, had no one to intervene on her 
behalf.
  Since then, Congress has passed a prohibition on drive-through 
deliveries, but without protection against retaliation, how many health 
care workers will be willing to talk about dangerous conditions? We 
need to pass whistle-blower protections, but we also need to give 
health care workers the opportunity to join a union if they want to.
  Health care workers all over the country are looking to unions to 
protect them when they report problems. They are looking to unions to 
ensure they have safe working conditions.
  This week in Chicago the AMA, the American Medical Association, is 
meeting to talk about unionization so

[[Page 13823]]

physicians can have a strong voice in negotiating with large HMOs that 
dictate the terms of patient care.
  Yet, when workers want to form a union, they face tremendous 
obstructions. The decks are stacked against them. At the same time that 
the AMA was meeting in Chicago, respiratory therapists from Vencor 
Hospital held a press conference with the help of the Chicago 
Federation of Labor.
  The therapists, concerned about the impacts on patients' safety as a 
result of a planned 25 percent budget cut, expressed their desire to 
form a union. They have been confronted with a series of anti-union 
tactics by their employer. One nurse was fired because she spoke out in 
support of union representation.
  Workers across the country, particularly in the health care area, are 
deciding that they need union representation to protect themselves, 
their families, and their patients. We should ensure that they have a 
fair opportunity to make that choice. It is as American as apple pie.

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