Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Mr. Chair, I rise in strong opposition to the cynically named ``Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act,'' which is neither fair nor democratic and would do nothing to create a single job or improve conditions for American workers. Instead, this legislation represents just the latest Republican attack on the workers' rights that are at the core of American democracy.

Look around you today. Fourteen million Americans--our neighbors, friends, and family members--are unemployed, searching for a job. They, and millions more citizens from every congressional district in America, are demanding that we, as their elected Representatives, proactively address our nation's economic crisis, create jobs, and reduce unemployment. But these demands continue to fall on the deaf ears of the Republican majority. No wonder we see such unrest around the country. Instead of attempting to put people back to work, the House Republican majority, in between its manufactured fiscal crises, spends its time attacking the rights of American workers. Instead of crafting bipartisan legislation aimed at helping unemployed Americans find work, the majority has instead focused on stripping those Americans fortunate enough to have a job of the rights they already possess.

Today is Wednesday, the middle of the work week--a day when millions of unemployed Americans would love nothing more than to pull on their work boots, tie their ties, or put on their suits and head to work. But today on the floor of the House of Representatives, we're not considering a jobs bill. Instead, we face the latest product of the majority's single-minded obsession with the dismantling of American worker rights. H.R. 3094 does not create one single job. Instead, this legislation would undermine a private-sector worker's right to vote, to exercise his right to bargain collectively. This bill will effectively gum up, delay, and obscure the election process overseen by the National Labor Relations Board, opening the door for unscrupulous employers to undermine their employees' rights.

What's worse, in order to pay for the changes made in this bill, tomorrow we will be considering a bill to eliminate the Presidential Public Financing System and the Election Assistance Commission--key safeguards against the influence of special-interest money in politics and abuses of voting rights, respectively. The irony should not be lost on anybody who is paying attention: in order to undercut the democratic rights of organized workers, this majority is undermining the democratic rights of the entire American electorate.

Let's be clear: this bill, like all of the other unambiguously partisan, anti-worker bills brought to a vote in the House by the Republican majority over the course of this year, has no chance of being signed into law. It's simply an ode to special interests that does nothing to move our economy forward. After 11 months of control, the House majority has made clear that it has no interest in reigniting our economic recovery and helping put people back to work. I encourage my colleagues to defeat H.R. 3094 and to continue to push for the consideration of jobs legislation to help put Americans back to work.

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