House Proceeding on Mar 1st, 2007 :: 5:06:21 to 5:18:27
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5:06:07 to 5:06:21( Edit History Discussion )

it provides the opportunity, real free choice, the choice of whether to listen to and engage in union organizers or to tell them to leave you alone. much like the highly popular do not

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Diana DeGette: call list, which places the power in the consumers' hands, this amendment places the power in the workers' hands, where it should be. and i urge its adoption and i yield back the balance of my

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Speech By: Diana DeGette

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Diana DeGette: time. the chairman: the gentlelady from north carolina. ms. foxx: i reserve the balance of my time. the chairman: from the the gentleman from new jersey. mr. andrews: i rise in otch situation.

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Diana DeGette: and yield myself 2 1/2 minutes. this is unconstitutional and should be opposed. if there are practices where union organizers are coercing employees to sign cards or sign a petition, those

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Diana DeGette: practices are illegal and will remain illegal after this bill is passed. under section 6 of this bill, if there are circumstances where union organizers are coercing or intimidating people

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Diana DeGette: to try to get them to sign cards, the labor board would presumably find those efforts to be invalid and the card would be invalid. so the amendment is unnecessary. it is unfair in this respect

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Diana DeGette: and rather remarkable, the ranking member of the full committee just talked about adults being able to protect themselves against certain circumstances. i see no amendment from the minority that

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says that workers could be free from going to one on one meetings with their superviseors. i see no amendment from the minorities that says workers are forced to attend captive meetings where

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the employer has all the say and the union has efforts to, quote, communicate with individuals with respect to questions of representation. as i read this, if the union took an ad in the newspaper that

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encouraged people to sign a card and join a union, that's an attempt to communicate with an individual about the question of union representation. we have a principle and constitutional

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interpretation in this country, where overly broad prohibitions against speech are presumptively invalid. this is an overly broad and i believe presumptively invalid prohibition against

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free speech. the amendment is unnecessary, it is unfair and unconstitutional and should be defeated and i reserve the balance of our time. . the chairman: the gentlewoman from north

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carolina. ms. foxx: thank you. last week i have said i have never in my life seen language and issues twisted in the way in response to this bill. i said congress has often been described as a circus.

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and if this were a circus, then the people on the education committee who support this bill would surely be in the contortionist area of the circus because contorting the language to say that taking

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away the right to a secret ballot is more democratic than the right to a secret ballot is the most unbelievable language that i think i have ever heard on the floor. and i think this has to

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be one of the worst bills that's ever been introduced in the congress. i want to say that at least by passing my amendment we could avoid harassment and intimidation by the unions. i

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know that that occurs. we could at least allow people the freedom to be not bothered by the union people who are -- only way of getting this done is to harass people to sign a card. the chairman:

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the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. andrews: i yield myself 15 seconds. once again point out that a group that is opposed to this bill has scoured the record and

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over 60 years of history has found only 42 instances of illegal behavior by union organizers. i yield the balance of our time in opposition to the amendment the chairman of the committee.

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the chairman: the gentleman is recognized. mr. miller: i thank the gentleman. you look at this amendment you realize this is just another piece of the continued effort by which the party

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on the other side is fully prepared to diminish the rights of workers. to have access to information about an organization that may help them in their workplace, but you know what? when the

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employer wants to bring that worker in and sit him down on a one to one meeting with the supervisor or owner of the company or board of directors, if he wants to take them off their job where

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they may be getting paid for productivity and explain to them why they shouldn't join the union and all that, there's nothing to protect that employee there. they are sitting with the person

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who can fire them. the one who fired over 30,000 people or dock their pay or did some other illegal action against them because they might still want a union. if the union wants to go out and

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further employees want to talk to their fellow workers about this, you have no opportunity to communicate. and then you are supposed to go into an election. then are you supposed to go into an election.

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but one side doesn't get any opportunity to communicate. that's an interesting theory. those with all of the power in this arrangement, those with the authority to hire and fire, they get unlimited access,

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they get unlimited access. but here you may get, you may on break time in the break room you, you may still have a tiny bit of access for the union. they can't talk to a person out there because

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they could take them off the list. what do you think the first thing is the employer might suggest to the employees when they hear that there's a union effort in the company? put yourself

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on the do not call list. did you do that yesterday? did you put yourself on the do not call list yesterday? then the employer knows immediately that the union no longer has access. just another

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form of intimidation. just another form of kind of arbitrary power over the employees. just one of those little things that the anti-union consultants will tell the employer to check off,

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make sure you told your employees to sign up for the do-not-call list. make sure you run down that list . find out who signed up and who didn't. if we ever get that list, get 100%, then the

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union has no access to them. wonderful tool in the name of democracy you want to put into the hands of -- the anti-union campaigns. it's very unfortunate. it's very unfortunate that they simply won't

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allow workers to make this decision, a decision that's accommodated and allowed and provided for in the law whether or not they want an nlrb election or majority signup. they are not going to do that,

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so fearful of the decision the employee might make, they have decided to insulate the employee from the campaign and put them off limits to anybody except the employer. this amendment should

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not be supported. i urge its defeat. i yield back the balance of my time. the chairman: the gentleman's time has expired. the question now is on adoption of the amendment. so many as are

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in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. ms. foxx: qui a recorded vote. the chairman: pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment

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offered by the gentlelady from north carolina will be postponed. it is now in orderle to consider amendment number 3, printed in house report 110-26. for what purpose does the gentleman from

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california rise? mr. mckeon: i offer my amendment made in order under the rule. the chairman: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 3, printed in house report number

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Diana DeGette: 110-26, offered by mr. mckeon of california. the chairman: pursuant to house resolution 203, the gentleman from california, mr. mckeon, and a member opposed, shall each control 15 minutes. the chair

5:16:32 to 5:16:50( Edit History Discussion )

Diana DeGette: recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. mckeon: thank you, madam chair woman. i yield myself such time as i may consume. while serving in the house our former colleague, congressman

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Diana DeGette: charlie norwood, was a tireless advocate for the right to vote through a private ballot. and he introduced this legislative language last month as the secret ballot protection act. i offer

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Diana DeGette: this amendment with charlie in mind. the secret ballot protection act would ensure that an employee has the right to a private ballot free from intimidation and coercion. by contrast, the so-called

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Diana DeGette: employee free choice act would take away that right and make every employees' vote completely and utterly public to everyone. a private ballot ensures that no one knows how you voted. not your

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Diana DeGette: colleagues, not your employer, and not the union organizer. this is a fundamental democratic right our constituents enjoyed last november and it's a fundamental democratic right that americans

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Diana DeGette: have come to expect. that right should never be taken away from them whether at a polling place n. a congressional election, or in the workplace. polls of union members confirm that they agree

5:17:59 to 5:18:13( Edit History Discussion )

Diana DeGette: that the fairest way to decide to unionize is through a secret ballot election. for example, according to a poll conduct add few years ago, 71% of union members agreed that the current secret

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Diana DeGette: ballot process is fair. and 78% of union members said that congress should keep the existing secret ballot election process in place, and not replace it with another process. earlier this year another

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Howard P. Buck McKeon: poll was released demonstrating the same type of strong support for a secret ballot election, among all americans. 87% of those polled agree that, i quote, every worker should continue to have

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Speech By: Howard P. Buck McKeon