[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Pages 21979-21980]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO ROBERTA TILL-RETZ

 Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, today, I wish to pay tribute to a 
very special Iowan, Roberta Till-Retz, who is retiring this month after 
more than two and a half decades as a scholar and leader at the 
University of Iowa Labor Center.
  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that ``the arc of history is long, 
but it bends toward justice.'' I would add, however, that it doesn't 
bend all by itself. It does so because of the dedication, passion, and 
tireless strivings of people like Roberta Till-Retz.
  In addition to her work as an instructor at the University of Iowa 
Labor Center, Roberta has worn many other hats. She has been a prolific 
author, a respected scholar, an enormously popular teacher, a mentor to 
up-and-coming union activists, and a valued consultant to the labor 
community, not just in Iowa but nationally.
  One key to Roberta's success is that she is both a student of 
organized labor and also a deeply experienced veteran of the labor 
movement. Over the years, she has served as executive director of the 
Iowa Federation of Labor's Iowa Labor History Oral Project, as vice 
president of the United Association for Labor Education, and as book 
review editor for the Labor Studies Journal.
  Here in Washington, we are daily witness to the persuasion of power. 
By contrast, Roberta's trademark is the power of persuasion, the 
passion of her advocacy. She is deeply committed to social and economic 
justice, and that is what drives her dedication to unions and 
collective bargaining. The lesson she has taught to thousands of 
students down through the years is that it was organized labor that 
fought for and won the minimum wage, the 40-hour workweek, safe 
workplace standards, workman's compensation, decent pensions, and 
health insurance. And out of those victories emerged the great middle 
class in this country.
  So I salute Roberta Till-Retz for a job brilliantly done. As long as 
I have known her, she has always had a tank full of enthusiasm and a 
heart full of

[[Page 21980]]

dreams, so I am sure that she will continue to contribute powerfully to 
the family of organized labor in Iowa and nationally.
  Our beloved late colleague, Senator Paul Wellstone, said that ``the 
future belongs to those with passion.'' By that standard, Roberta has a 
very bright future. And I wish her the very best.

                          ____________________