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

Floor Speech

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Ms. STABENOW. Madam President, my Democratic colleagues and I come to
the floor all the time talking about how we grow a middle class, how we
help middle-class families, and how we make sure we have a strong
economy because we have a strong middle class. Yet what we are seeing
on the floor right now is an effort by our Republican colleagues to
fight to keep a system which is rigged against American workers being
able to get a livable wage, to have a voice in the workplace.

We know what we ought to be doing is looking for every possible way
to support those who are working hard every day, to have a wage that
allows them to care for their family, to send their children to college
and achieve the American dream. They should have a voice in the
workplace around safety issues, around other issues that are important
for working men and women. We have in front of us a National Labor
Relations Board rule change that was made to basically modernize the
system around employee elections so that people have a fair shot to
have their voice heard in the workplace.

It is pretty interesting to me that we are talking about simple
changes that allow the use of email communications or fax
communications--not exactly radical things in the world we live in.
Without this modernization by the NLRB, we actually have a situation
where people are denied the ability to communicate through email; to be
able to talk about forming a union and communicate with each other
through email, which is pretty crazy when you think about it. This
particular vote would stop folks from using email or faxes.

The NLRB rule change was to modernize the election process, to
eliminate certain paperwork hurdles that didn't make any sense, so an
employer could not delay the ability for folks to vote as to whether
they want to be part of a union. That is what is in front of us now.

What I wish was in front of us is the agenda we have been pushing,
which is to actually strengthen the middle class. Instead, what we have
in front of us is a vote about keeping the system rigged against
American workers. There is no mistake about it. A ``yes'' vote, which
eliminates this modernization process, is a vote to keep the system
rigged against men and women who are working hard every day in the
workplace and who just want a fair shot to make it.

Interestingly, this only affects about 10 percent of union elections,
because 90 percent of elections are done through agreement with
employers and employees. That is a testament to the fact that the
majority of folks can work together, if 90 percent of them are working
out agreements.

What we really ought to be talking about on the floor is equal pay
for equal work and how we enforce that. I am stunned that we have the
Republican majority fighting to keep the system rigged against American
workers and then turning around and saying, well, we are not going to
pass laws that enforce equal pay for equal work, or we are not going to
pass laws that create a livable wage so people who are working are out
of poverty, so that we reward work by having a livable wage. That is
not what is on the floor. What is on the floor is an effort to roll
back the modernization of a process that would make sure the system is
not rigged against workers.

Why are we not talking about equal pay or raising the minimum wage or
talking about the cost of going to college? The majority of people
today, who are playing by the rules, trying to do the right thing,
trying to get the skills they need to be responsible citizens and work
in the workplace, come out of college buried in debt--buried in debt--
but we are not talking about that. We are not spending our time on
that.

We are not talking about protecting pensions earned by workers over a
lifetime, who are counting on those to be protected. We are not talking
about how we strengthen and expand and guarantee Social Security for
the future, or any number of things we could be talking about. If we
just made sure that equal pay for equal work wasn't a slogan but
actually a reality of this country, we would jump-start the middle
class. We would jump-start the economy if women were earning dollar for
dollar what men are earning. That alone, along with any number of other
things, affects middle-class families.

It is not about creating an economy by giving to those at the top and
having it trickle down and hoping someday, somehow, it will affect the
majority of Americans. We believe you start with the middle, you grow
the economy from the middle out. It is a middle-class economy that
lifts everyone up and addresses the strength of our country.

So I am very concerned that when we look at precious floor time and
what the priorities are, we are debating a rollback on the
modernization of rules with the National Labor Relations Board that
will basically keep in place a rigged system. Without that
modernization it is just one more mark against workers who are trying
to have a voice and are trying to lift themselves up and improve their
wages and ability to be successful and be rewarded for their work.

There is a lot more we could and should be doing. We are going to
continue to raise the issues that middle-class families care about. We
are going to continue to fight for middle-class families every single
day, and we are going to continue to oppose those who want to keep a
rigged system against the middle class.

So I urge a ``no'' vote on this particular resolution, and hopefully
we can stand together and actually create jobs and a better standard of
living by doing those things that are going to help middle-class
families across America.

I yield the floor.

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