UPDATE - Transcript via email:
Madame Speaker, I rise today in opposition to HR 800, a bill that will strip American workers of the right to choose - freely and anonymously - whether to unionize, while leaving them open to harassment and intimidation.
"The issue here is worker freedom. The Congress should be working to protect workers from intimidation of any kind throughout the union organizing process, whether it is from employers, union bosses, or government. We should be working to preserve workers' right to a federally-supervised private ballot election. And we should be working to make sure workers get to choose for themselves whether to join a union. Unfortunately, this bill does exactly the opposite of all these things. Every supporter of this bill should explain why they want to take these protections away from American workers.
"To get a feeling of just how undemocratic this bill is, imagine it is Election Day 2008. Instead of heading into a voting booth like you always have, you're told to show up at town hall and declare publicly - in front of your neighbors and community leaders - how you're voting.
"That isn't how a democracy works. And it isn't the sort of process we should force on American workers. By eliminating private ballots, and forcing workers to make their votes public for everyone to see, Congress is arbitrarily skewing the results against those who don't want to join a union. A 1990 federal court decision found that:
'On average, 18 percent of those who sign authorization cards do not want the union. They sign because they want to mollify their friends who are soliciting, because they think the cards will get them dues waivers in the event the union should prevail.'
"There was an earlier study by the National Labor Relations Board. It found that in cases where unions had cards signed by 30 to 50 percent of the employees, unions only won 19 percent of the secret ballot elections. Even when unions had cards from 50 to 70 percent of the employees, they won less than half of the elections.
"The point is, we all act differently when we're subjected to pressure and intimidation by our peers. The current process for union organizing empowers workers to express their wishes privately. Union bosses don't know how they voted. Their employers don't know. Workers are able to thoughtfully weigh the consequences of their decision without worrying about being harassed. This bill changes all of that.
"My colleagues on the other side of the aisle are arguing that this bill protects workers from anti-union employers. On the contrary, by making a worker's vote public, you're leaving them vulnerable to intimidation from both sides. This is not acceptable to me, and it is not acceptable to the American people.
"Recent surveys show that 89 percent of the public want to preserve the right to a secret ballot when deciding whether to form a union. Those surveyed - including 91 percent of Democrats - oppose the card check procedure because it leaves workers vulnerable to threats, harassment, and intimidation.
"But the American people have other reasons to be wary of schemes like this. For 12 years, Republicans implemented policies aimed at growing our economy and creating new jobs to help make life better for American families. Now, we're seeing a flurry of legislation - wage controls, tax hikes, government-run health care, threats to hamstring American troops in harm's way, and so on - that can weaken our economy. Stripping American workers of the right to a private ballot is just another example of a public policy that could easily undermine a healthy economy.
"Any Member who supports this bill should explain why they are afraid of letting workers vote. We should reject this bill, and we should reject the idea that it is okay for Congress to strip American workers of their fundamental rights.
"I urge my colleagues to vote against HR 800."
