Miller Statement On Strengthening America's Middle Class With Employee Free Choice Act

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

WASHINGTON, DC -- Below are the prepared remarks of Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, for a press conference on Capitol Hill today to introduce the Employee Free Choice Act in the House.

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Good morning. Thank you for coming.

I am pleased to be joined today by Senator Kennedy, Congressman Rob Andrews, John Sweeney, Wade Henderson, and Edgar Romney, all champions of working families. I want to especially welcome and thank Bill, Linda, and Jose - each whom has an urgent and compelling story to tell today. 
  
For the last few years, I've talked a lot about the middle class squeeze. Despite the growing economy and skyrocketing corporate profits, the typical American family has actually seen its income decrease over the last several years. At the same time, families are facing much higher costs for many of life's basics, like healthcare, education, transportation, energy, food, and housing.

There are different factors contributing to this middle class squeeze. But there is no question that one critical factor contributing to the squeeze is the difficulty that workers experience when they want to earn the right to bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions.

Today the procedures for forming a union and bargaining for better wages and benefits are stacked against the workers. During organizing campaigns, one quarter of employers have been found to fire at least one worker who supports the union. In fact, employees who are active union supporters have a one-in-five chance of being fired for legal union activities. And firings are just one of the abhorrent tactics that employers use to illegally disrupt union activities.

Today, I am very pleased to announce that 230 of my colleagues in the House have joined me in introducing H.R. 800, the Employee Free Choice Act, in order to stop the unfair treatment that so many workers face when they advocate for nothing more than decent pay and fair benefits.

The Employee Free Choice Act is very simple. It says that if a majority of workers in a workplace sign authorization cards in support of a union, then they get a union. That's it. Workers are still free to choose a National Labor Relations Board election if they wish.

Majority sign-up is a tested idea. It's been around since the beginning of the National Labor Relations Act. Many responsible employers have already voluntarily agreed to recognize a union after a majority sign-up. When they did, they found that it led to improved cooperation between them and their employees. Workers also found that the process worked better and caused less tension and less coercion in the workplace.

We cannot continue on our nation's current path, where CEOs have complete freedom to negotiate lavish pay and retirement packages for themselves while workers have no leverage to make their own lives better. Our economy is more unequal than it has been at any point since before the New Deal.

We need to take our economy in a new direction by giving workers the ability to more effectively bargain for fairer wages and benefits and working conditions.

The Employee Free Choice Act gives workers the ability to negotiate for better terms from their employers. It takes an important step towards strengthening America's middle class. That's why the majority of Americans supports it, and that's why today I urge all of my colleagues to do the same.

Thank you.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Tom Kiley / Rachel Racusen
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