[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 13730-13731]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               CELEBRATING LABOR DAY AND AMERICAN WORKERS

  Mr. BROWN. President Lincoln said:

       It has so happened in all ages of the world, that some have 
     labored, and others have, without labor, enjoyed a large 
     proportion of the fruits. This is wrong, and it should not 
     continue.

  Early in President Obama's term, I printed out that quote and handed 
it to him because it underscores to me the value of labor and the 
wealth that labor creates for our country, our society, and for those 
workers and their families. I gave the President that quote because it 
is my hope that all of us as elected officials remember how important 
it is that we stand up for workers, organized and unorganized, labor 
union and nonlabor union members.
  It is important to stand up for the workers who have built this 
country. They laid down the railroad tracks that move people and 
products across the country. They work on shop floors. They innovate as 
they labor. They toil in mines. They dug the coal that would power our 
trains and our factories. These workers built our strong middle class 
and they continue to be the backbone of our economy.
  Over the past month, as many of us did in our States, I visited 
factory floors across Ohio. At each stop, I witnessed the ingenuity and 
dedication of workers. Last Thursday I visited All American Clothing in 
Arcanum, OH. It is a family business and a classic American success 
story. In 2002, Lawson Nickol worked for a blue jeans manufacturing 
company. He watched as his company outsourced more and more of its 
operations, more and more of its production to other countries. Lawson 
Nickol was appalled as he saw coworkers and friends losing their jobs 
all the way down the supply chain of this company. He knew he had to do 
something.
  He left his job and he founded All American Clothing Company in Darke 
County, a rural county west and north of Dayton, OH. He started making 
jeans in Arcanum, OH.
  The first few years were difficult. The company survived on family 
savings, taking financial risks, working long hours, and having a 
little bit of luck. But 13 years later, All American is proof that you 
should never bet against American workers. The jeans aren't only made 
in Ohio; they are made in other places all over this country. The 
company is growing. The company expanded in 2012 with the help of a 
$150,000 low-interest CDBG development loan. Its products are 100 
percent American made and support Ohio jobs.
  Lawson's business is a family affair. His son, B.J. Nickol, is a co-
owner and company president. B.J. told me that ``it is not about greed 
for us. It is about giving people jobs and making a decent living.''
  Travel across Ohio and across the country, and you will find more 
companies like All American thriving on the talent, tenacity, and hard 
work, blood, sweat, toil, and tears of American workers.
  I visited an Airstream plant in Shelby County and a Continental

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ContiTech plant in St. Mary's. I toured the Honda Logistics North 
America plant in East Liberty and the GE Testing Facility in Peebles. I 
attended the grand opening of the Hart Schaffner Marx suit facility in 
Brooklyn, OH, a suburb of Cleveland.
  I wear this suit today, made in Cleveland, OH, by union workers in a 
Hugo Boss plant. Since then that plant has been sold to Hart Schaffner 
Marx, which is opening its production right now. When I visited that 
plant in my Hugo Boss suit and talked about the fact that this suit had 
been made at this plant with 150 unionized workers, a worker walked up 
to me and said, ``Senator,'' and she touched me on the chest and said, 
``I made that pocket.'' All of these operations are flourishing because 
of Ohio workers.
  While our workers support our economy, we are not doing enough to 
support them. Too often workers have no paid sick leave, no paid family 
leave, and no overtime pay.
  President Obama is taking important steps to help working families. 
New overtime rules would expand overtime pay so that 40 percent of 
salaried workers would be eligible. Think of it this way. A worker--an 
employee who is the shift manager on the second shift at a fast-food 
restaurant who is classified as management may be making only $30 or 
$35,000 a year. They work that worker more than 40 hours a week. Yet 
that worker gets no overtime because that worker is classified as 
supervisory. That is wrong. Under the President's plan, the rule he 
passed down, 160,000 more Ohioans will earn overtime pay for the work 
they are already doing at their place of business.
  This week the administration announced that Federal contractors will 
be required to provide up to 7 days of paid sick leave each year. It 
will mean 300,000 Americans working on Federal contracts will be able 
to stay home if they get sick or take a day off to care for a sick 
child. It means they are less likely to show up to work when they might 
infect somebody else with the illness they have, so everybody is more 
productive. These are important steps, but there are limits to 
Executive action.
  Too many workers are left without paid sick leave, without maternity 
leave, without overtime pay, without predictable work schedules. Too 
many women still earn less than men for the same work. The President, 
through Executive action, can solve some of this, as he should, as he 
is given power by Congress to do, but we need legislative action.
  Previous generations of workers fought for the protections we take 
for granted: child labor laws, workplace safety protections, 
unemployment insurance. They fought in union halls, they organized in 
union halls and church basements. They demanded a government that 
respects the dignity of work, that passes laws recognizing the decency 
and dedication of workers.
  After decades of attacks on our unions, laws are often the only 
protections workers have. Fifty years ago, one in three workers was a 
member of a union--one-third of workers were members of unions. Now 
that number is 1 in 10. That is why action from this body is needed 
more than ever. Workers, when they are organized, when they have a 
union, are protected so they are paid the overtime they earn. They are 
protected often with provided sick leave and maternity leave. They are 
protected because of their union from injury in the workplace.
  Because not as many people belong to unions today--that is why we 
need to pass the Healthy Families Act, we need to pass the Paycheck 
Fairness Act, we need to pass the Schedules That Work Act, and we need 
to pass the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. This is action we can take 
today in celebration of Labor Day that would make a tremendous 
difference in the lives of American workers who built this economy.
  This past weekend, we celebrated Labor Day with picnics and barbecues 
and time spent with families, we issued statements honoring American 
workers. Let's not just honor them with words, let's honor them with 
deeds. Let's move forward in a way that puts labor, that puts the 
American worker front and center.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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