Date: 1991-07-17
Speaker: DE LUGO (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I speak today in support of the amendment offered by the gentleman from Florida. The language in this amendment strikes a fair balance amid the controversy that surrounded the Workplace Fairness Act. In the past decade we have seen the Nations economy and the global economy change in many ways. some of them drastic. many of them affecting the very foundations of the American workplace. We have seen our country move from a creditor to a debtor nation as our balance of trade has tilted in favor of foreign countries. We have seen substantial decreases in American manufacturing jobs and significant increases in service jobs. We have witnessed corporate mergers designed to improve productivity and reduce competition. We have seen much of our research and development go to foreign corporations who sell their products back to us. We have seen changes. too. in the American work force. Deemed to be no longer competitive with lower paid. foreign labor. many corporations have taken their business abroad. Companies have down sizes. or restructured. to take advantage of nonU.S. workers. Union membership has dropped as employees have been pushed aside by American companies. or as relocations have caused enormous shifts in the location of the domestic work force. In years past. in times of more robust growth and less global competition. there was an even balance between labor and management that for decades worked well indeed. When labor did not receive the benefits workers felt they justly deserved. they organized. and bargained and. if necessary. struck. Almost always. a just agreement was reached. But now. in these new economic times. corporate attitudes have shifted. Perfectly willing to take their manufacturing elsewhere but still striving to take advantage of the huge. American consumer marketplace. corporations have entered into labor disputes actually hoping for a strike as an excuse to shut down a plant. or to hire nonorganized laborers to fill positions at a lower. more competitive price. with little or no social conscience. and with little or no attention paid to qualify of product. This is not right. If America is to be the marketplace where products and services are consumed. it must also be the workplace where products are built and services are delivered. If our competition has shifted from the domestic to the world stage. we must take several steps. We must encourage improved education in this country so that our future workers are equipped with the skills needed to compete in this new environment. We must see that corporate America becomes more willing to invest in its own. longterm future instead of seeking the shortterm profit. We must see that companies be willing to train for the jobs they will need instead of sending work orders overseas. We must see that Americas competitive edgewhich is so dependent upon the abilities of its workersis not lost through selfish decisions made in the boardrooms. But first and foremost. we must insure that American workers do not become extinct. that they not be thrown aside like refuse in the corporate quest for a quick dollar. while slowly. inevitably. the world overtakes us. That is why the Fairness Act is so important. We are not protecting unions. nor are we encouraging foreign competition by protecting American workers from unfairness. We are seeing that the American worker remains a part of the system and a part of the process that for years has helped to make our Nation great. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of the amendment offered here today by the gentleman from Florida. For here is legislation that will keep America strong by keeping the American worker a part of the future.