Providing for Congressional Disapproval of a Rule Submitted by the National Labor Relations Board -- Continued

Floor Speech

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Ms. HIRONO. Mr. President, I rise to oppose S.J. Res. 8, a misguided
resolution that targets workers' right to organize and hurts working
families in Hawaii and around the country.

Union election rules haven't been updated since the 1970s. The
National Labor Relations Board--or NLRB--is trying to bring union
election rules into the 21st century, but today's Senate resolution
will block the NLRB's commonsense updates.

The right to organize is a crucial part of our democracy. Unions have
helped build the middle class in Hawaii and nationwide. It is
disappointing that instead of working to create jobs or help the middle
class get ahead, today we are debating whether to make it harder to
join a union.

Workers wishing to join a union already face many barriers. For
example, companies have significant opportunities to make their case to
employees about why they should oppose a union. Meanwhile, unions are
not allowed to visit the worksite to make their case for joining a
union, and they do not have access to modern contact information such
as emails and cell phone numbers--unbelievable as that may sound--to
contact workers.

In addition, companies can delay union elections with what amounts to
frivolous litigation and appeal after appeal. Nationwide, in contested
cases workers already have to wait an average of 4 months to vote
whether to join a union.

While most employers in Hawaii want to support their workers, there
have been those rare cases of companies exploiting the current system
to prevent workers from having a voice in the workplace.

Let me share a situation that happened in Hawaii where workers had
not been given a raise in 6 years. They asked a local union for help in
organizing their union. In the runup to the union elections, the
workers were forced to attend one-on-one or group meetings on work time
where their management could convince workers to vote against the
union. This company hired a private security firm and posted security
guards outside the voting area during the vote. Workers felt
intimidated.

The company appealed election results and NLRB rulings over and over
again, adding delay after delay and revote after revote. In July 2005,
40 months after a petition was first filed to hold an election, the
NLRB finally certified a union for the workers. Still, the company
continued to offer appeal after appeal of the election results and even
fired 31 union supporters in 2007. Finally, at the end of 2012, 10
years later, the certified union reached its first union contract.

Remember, I noted that where most workplaces are organized, things
are done in 4 months. That is not always the case. The NLRB's updated
union election rules would help reduce this kind of intimidation and
delay, which happens all too often, and would allow organizers to
contact workers by email and cell phone. It is pretty astounding that
we had to have a rule change in order to make this kind of commonsense
change available to organizers--which, by the way, this resolution
which I ask my colleagues to vote against disallows.

The rule will make it easier for small businesses to follow labor
election laws. Currently, big corporations can use expensive lawyers to
litigate and prevent union elections, while small businesses don't have
those kinds of resources.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting these modest,
commonsense updates to NLRB rules and voting no on the resolution.
Let's stand with working men and women in this country and support the
middle class.

I want to end with a quote from one of our labor organizers and
leaders in Hawaii, Hawaii Laborers' business manager Peter Ganaban. In
a recent piece in Pacific Business News, Mr. Ganaban explained that
``Hawaii's union climate is an extension of our local culture of
helping each other and caring for our communities.''

Allowing workers a fair choice and a fair chance to join a union is
the least we can do for our workers in the middle class.

I yield my time.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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