[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 18714]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          HONORING REED LARSON

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Simpson). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentlewoman from Colorado (Mrs. Musgrave) is recognized for 
5 minutes.
  Mrs. MUSGRAVE. Mr. Speaker, it was nearly 5 decades ago in the spring 
of 1954 that Reed Larson went on what he believed to be a temporary 
leave from his job as an engineer for the Coleman Company in Wichita, 
Kansas, in order to lead a new grass-roots advocacy group called 
Kansans For Right to Work. Larson and his group members were determined 
to pass a State right-to-work law protecting employees from being 
forced to join or pay dues to a labor union in order to get or keep a 
job.
  Because they first had to deal with a hostile Governor, the job took 
longer than originally expected. By the time Kansas's right-to-work law 
was finally passed in November of 1958, Larson had been on temporary 
leave from the Coleman Company for 4\1/2\ years. After the Kansas 
victory, Larson was quickly recruited to lead the then 4-year-old 
national Right to Work Committee from its headquarters right here in 
our Nation's Capital and his temporary leave from the Coleman Company 
became permanent.
  For the next 44 years Larson stood at the helm of this organization, 
which has aptly been hailed as the Nation's preeminent defender of 
workers' freedom. I rise today to pay tribute to Reed Larson because of 
his long, selfless commitment to the right-to-work cause and because 
late last month at Mr. Larson's own recommendation, the board of 
directors of National Right to Work Committee appointed then executive 
vice president Mark Mix as the new Right to Work president and Larson 
as executive committee chairman.
  Reed Larson is still fighting for the right-to-work cause, but his 
role in the coming years will be in a different capacity than during 
the last 5 decades, marking the end of an era for the National Right to 
Work Committee and for opponents of forced unionism nationwide.
  Mr. Speaker, I have the utmost respect for Mr. Larson's continued 
involvement with the right-to-work cause. Almost anyone else who had 
accomplished what Reed Larson has over the past 49 years would be 
content to rest on his laurels. During the 1950s, roughly 30 percent of 
private sector employees nationwide were forced to join and remain in a 
union. If they refused, they would be fired. Today it is 7 percent of 
private sector employees who are compelled to pay union dues or fees in 
order to keep their jobs. One major reason it is now possible to 
envision the day when every American private sector employees enjoys 
the personal freedom to decide whether or not to affiliate with the 
union is the invaluable assistance Reed Larson and the National Right 
to Work Committee has given to State right-to-work efforts.
  Thanks largely to the sound advice of Reed Larson and the committee, 
the number of State right-to-work laws has grown to 22, with the most 
recent law being approved less than 2 years ago in the State of 
Oklahoma. Furthermore, not a single right-to-work law that was in 
effect when Mr. Larson took over the committee in January of 1959 has 
been repealed or rendered inoperative through court action, although 
Big Labor has spent countless millions of dollars on bids to destroy 
such laws.
  The most notorious of these schemes was union officials' Capitol Hill 
campaign to eviscerate all State right-to-work laws through repeal of 
Taft-Hartley section 14(b) in 1965 and 1966. Under Reed Larson's 
leadership the committee saved State right-to-work protections by 
convincing Senate minority leader Everett Dirksen of Illinois to lead a 
filibuster against 14(b) repeal.
  Mr. Speaker, I proudly salute my good friend Reed Larson and the 
National Right to Work Committee's 2.2 million members. I applaud their 
unwaivering dedication and tireless action on what should be every 
American's birthright, not to be forced to pay tribute to a labor union 
in order to get or keep a job.
  May God bless you, Mr. Larson and his wife. He is a true American 
hero and many Americans owe him a debt of gratitude.

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