Date: 2007-03-01
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Chairman. I thank my colleague. And as an alumni of the Education and Labor Committee. I appreciate the time today. Madam Chairman. I rise in strong support of this legislation and oppose the substitute. I applaud the chairman and members of the Education and Labor Committee for their work on this bill. We have a problem in our country. When I was growing up. we always heard the rich get. richer and the poor get poorer. but we know now that we have a disparity between the richest and the poorest in our country that is getting bigger every day. The Employee Free Choice Act gives employees the protections they need to form unions and provide mediation and arbitration for first contract disputes. This is the first step to try and lower that disparity. where people can organize together and actually improve their living standard. I am pleased. also. that section 3 of this bill includes language that I have worked on for many years by incorporating language from our bill. H.R. 142. the Labor Relations First Contract Negotiation Act. The bill requires an employer and a union to go to Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. FMCS. for mediation for agreements not reached within 90 days or either party wishes to do so. So we dont have these yearlong discussions about trying to get a contract..If the FMCS is unable to bring the parties to agreement after 30 days of mediation. the dispute will be referred to arbitration. and the results of the arbitration .will be binding on both parties for 2 years. So we will see contracts. after we have the elections. where there are elections or card checks. We have seen numerous examples in the Houston area of elections taking place. and then there is a long delay in the negotiation process. As a whole. this legislation is a huge victory for workers and employees across the country and can help us with the wage gap between the highest paid and the lowest paid in our country. Joining together in a union to bargain for better wages. benefits. and working conditions is the best opportunity for working people to get ahead and is a part of the true free enterprise system that we say we are for. Today. good jobs are vanishing and health care coverage and retirement security are slipping out of reach. Employees who belong to unions earn 30 percent more than nonunion workers. They are. 60 percent more likely to have employerbased insurance and four times more likely to have pensions. Madam Chairman. I rise in strong support of this legislation and oppose the substitute. I applaud the Chairman of the Education and Labor Coimittee for his work on this bill. We have a problem in our countryas a child I heard the rich get richer and poor get poorer. This bill helps correct that problem. The Employees Free Choice Act gives employees the protections they need to form unions and provides mediation and arbitration for firstcontract disputes. I am pleased Section 3 of this bill includes language I have worked on for many years. By incorporating language from H.R. 142. the Labor Relations First Contract Negotiations Act. the bill requires an employer and a union to go to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) for mediation if an agreement is not reached in 90 days and either party wishes to do so. If the FMCS is unable to bring the parties to agreement after 30 days of mediation. the dispute will be referred to arbitration. and the results of the arbitration will be binding on the parties for two years. We have seen numerous examples in the Houston area of elections taking place and then there is a long delay in the negotiation process. As a Whole this legislation is a huge victory for workers across the country and can help with the wage gap between the highest paid and the lowest paid in our country. Joining together in a union to bargain for better wages. benefits and working conditions is the best opportunity working people have to get ahead and is a part of true free enterprise. Today. good jobs are vanishing and health care coverage and retirement security are slipping out of reach. Employees who belong to unions earn 30. percent more than nonunion workers. They are 60 percent more likely to have employerprovided health coverage and four times more likely to have pensions. We need to ensure protections are in place to allow employees to form unions without harassment so that they can negotiate for the well being of themselves and their families. Madam -Chairman. this legislation will provide workers with these protections and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the Employee Free Choice Act.