Employee Free Choice Act

March 1, 2007

H.R. 800 - Closing remarks

Madam Speaker, we have made it clear this morning why passing this bipartisan Employee Free Choice Act is so vital for workers and their families all across this Nation.

Let me add that it is also important to the working families like the one I come from in Lorain, Akron, Barberton and other communities in my congressional district and all across Ohio.

I stand before you as a person who practiced labor law but I also stand before you as a person, a daughter of a man who worked in the boilermaker factory his whole life, the wife of a former firefighter, the sister of a teacher, the aunt of a united food and commercial worker, the sister of a steelworker.

This bill is about fairness for those who make the world turn, who provide for their families, who are good citizens that care about their communities.

The EFCA will help end years of discrimination against workers who simply wish to be able to bargain for better wages, benefits and working conditions.

We have a moral responsibility to stand up for these workers, and I will not sit idly by while their fundamental rights are being trampled on. For working families in Ohio and across this Nation, I urge a "yes" vote on the rule and on the previous question.