Employee Free Choice Act

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank him for the education that he is giving us about why it was so important that we passed this bill today.

As you can see from this chart, the productivity in this country continues to rise. The workers are working harder, but unfortunately, the wages are staying the same. There are those who say that we are going to make it in this world if we can just get productivity up and up and up, but unfortunately, that chart is showing that that is not necessarily the case.

What we are seeing go up and up and up is that income inequality that is existing, and more and more people falling from what used to be the middle class that was frankly built by organized labor in this country, fought for by the people who brought us great advancements like the weekend, the 40-hour work week, ended child labor laws and improved safety in working conditions, who fought for Social Security and disability and pension benefits for people, fought for the salt of the earth folks back in my district to help them have a life that would be good for themselves and their families.

So I am very, very proud of what we did today in passing the Employee Free Choice Act, and I have to tell you, I had the pleasure before I came to Congress to represent some of these workers. I was a labor lawyer, and I have to say, there is nothing like fear, the fear of losing your job, and unfortunately, I had to see that fear quite a lot because when you are a labor lawyer, that is when people come to you, when they are being threatened or harassed because they are trying to

organize or engage in union activity to try and uplift themselves, their families and their coworkers and they are being threatened because of that activity that they are going to lose their job.

I will tell you, you shared with us one of the stories that came from your district. There is a gentleman back in northeast Ohio by the name of Dave who is a journeyman, and he is a highly skilled tradesman. When he got involved in trying to create a union in his workplace, the company went to great extents to keep it out. They put Dave, instead of using him for the trade that he plies in, highly in demand, they had him cleaning up cigarette butts at the company headquarters. They did not stop there either. In a long and sordid tale, that ended with Dave's wife actually being harassed so much by the company that she ended up hospitalized, all of this to keep out a union shop.

I guess the beauty of this, if there is any in this story, is it does not have to be this way, and we have heard there are examples out there where industry giants have recognized and respected union membership or the employees who want to engage in union activity and have a union to represent them and to be like Cingular who are still doing very well in the market and to these like Kaiser Permanente.

It does not have to be this way, and this bill actually takes us down the path to greater harmony in employment and employer and employee relationships. So I am really proud about this, and I would like to just yield over here to my friend Keith Ellison.

--- Further remarks made a short while later ---

(Rep. John Yarmuth: "And I get the impression that when those people who oppose the legislation that we passed today, and I haven't had the opportunity yet to say how proud I am of what we did and I am extremely proud. But those people, when they oppose this bill, it seems to me they are saying we want to protect the employers who aren't good because the employers who are good and bargain in good faith and treat their employees well will have no fear from this legislation, they will welcome it, because they are already dealing with their employees on a good-faith basis. It is those people who don't bargain in good faith that we need to pass this bill to resolve.")

Rep. Sutton: That is exactly right. As I mentioned, there are industry giants who are working well with their employees. And just as in your district, in my district there have been unions that have sacrificed for the prosperity and, frankly, just to keep the business going another year, another day, another month. And when times turn good, the hope is, that ongoing relationship carries them all through.

I mentioned that I was a labor lawyer, and one of the toughest things, but probably the most common thing I had to do was try to find ways that we could work things out together, because we really are in it together. And this bill was just about putting us in a place where we could work constructively together.

So, instead of having those employers out there who would choose perhaps instead of working with their employees to a better future, and instead choose to work against them, it is about leveling that out and progress for all.

So I see the gentleman there has pulled up a chart that is labeled "Myths.' And we heard a lot today on this House floor that, frankly, just did not represent the facts, and I would just urge the gentleman to kind of correct the record there.