[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Page 18217]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO ALEX GEORGE, SR.

  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I rise for a brief period of time to pay 
tribute to a Pennsylvanian who just passed away this past week, a 
constituent of mine whose family I have known for many years. I think 
he is like a lot of people in our communities and in our States who 
lead lives of service and struggle and achievement, and often their 
lives are not the subject of big stories and headlines.
  When I think of Alex George, Sr.--who is the father of Bill George, 
or William George, who is the president of the AFL-CIO in 
Pennsylvania--I think of those people who grew up in parts of western 
Pennsylvania, where over many generations steel was the foundation of 
the economy, and in places like where Mr. George lived, Aliquippa, PA, 
which is a very strong community that had a thriving steel industry 
that is now largely gone from the city and that community. It is not 
nearly what it was when thousands of people were employed.
  Alex George, like a lot of Pennsylvanians and, frankly, a lot of 
Americans, lived a life of triumph where he had to overcome 
difficulties in his own life, and then he became a union leader of the 
Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steelworkers, which was the 
forerunner, of course, of the modern day Steelworkers Union that his 
son, Bill George, joined many years later. We think of his life today 
and what he did for the labor movement of western Pennsylvania, and 
Pennsylvania generally, and also what he did as a law enforcement 
officer. He was a police officer as well in his later years.
  I rise briefly to pay tribute to him and his life of work for the 
benefit of labor, doing everything possible to make sure they have 
lives that are rewarded, in the sense that they are allowed to organize 
and allowed to have the opportunity to have the dignity of their labor 
be part of the fabric of their lives. We pay tribute to Alex George 
today and the many others who built the middle class in America. He is 
the proud son of Aliquippa, PA.
  In a special way, I express my condolences to the entire George 
family, and especially Bill George, president of the AFL-CIO of 
Pennsylvania. Alex George leaves behind three sons: Bill, who I have 
mentioned, Robert, and Alex, Jr., as well as nine grandchildren and 
many great-grandchildren. In the spirit of condolence, but also in the 
spirit of tribute, I pay tribute to Alex George and the legacy he 
leaves behind for the George family and for the labor family of 
Pennsylvania.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. MURRAY. 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.

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