Hoyer Remarks on House Republicans' Partisan Bill to Undermine the NLRB

WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) spoke on the House Floor this afternoon in opposition to House Republicans' partisan bill to undermine the critical role the National Labor Relations Board plays in allowing fair, timely elections for union representation. Below is a transcript of his remarks and a link to the video.

Click here to watch the video.

“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, [Ranking Member Bobby] Scott. Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, I rise in very strong opposition to this resolution, and I urge every one of my Members to oppose this resolution.

“We considered a [Card Check] bill, which said if the unions got signatures of a certain percentage that they could move ahead and be organized subject to an election. There was a hue and cry about ‘that was undemocratic’ – that there ought to be a requirement for an election. A number of people came into my office, and I said: well, I think we can accommodate that. We'll require to make sure that, as every one of us can do, you can get the names of the voters, you can get their addresses, you can even get their history of voting. And you can, perhaps, call them on the phone. We can all do that in elections. But the fact of the matter is, and everybody on this House Floor knows it, procedurally, so many employers who do not believe that they are going to prevail take the steps of delaying and delaying and delaying. They want elections ‘tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.’

“Mr. Speaker, what the NLRB is trying to do with this rule is to make sure that there is an election, that it is fair, and that it will be held in a timely fashion. I hope this House defeats this bill. It would prevent the National Labor Relations Board from implementing the rule it promulgated in December to modernize worker representation elections. But there's a fear of elections, and the fear of the elections is the majority of employees will say ‘yes, I want to have a better voice.’

“This is a case, once again, of the Republican Majority seeking to roll back the hard-earned rights of workers to organize and bargain collectively for better wages and benefits. That's not an assertion. That is demonstrably proved in state after state after state over the last few years in which Republicans have taken control, and their first item of the agenda has been to undermine workers' rights.

“When workers organize for higher wages and benefits like health insurance, retirement savings, and affordable childcare, it opens doors of opportunity for workers and their families to secure a place in our middle class. We know our middle class is shrinking. We know the middle class is having a very tough time. According to a 2013 report by the Center for American Progress, the decline of union membership between the 1960's and today correlates to the decline of the middle class. When we have strong unions and workers' rights protections, the middle class does better, and workers who are not unionized benefit from the ripple effect of rising wages.

“Let's defeat this bill. And, I think Mr. Kline, the Chairman of this Committee, has said that he would sit down with Mr. Scott and come with a bipartisan bill, which this is not, which will do what all of us say we think is fair: have elections. Have elections where both sides – and of course, the employer always has access to the voter in this case – and do something for the American worker and for business, which will put us on a steady path to growing the middle class and making sure that workers are treated as they ought to be, with the dignity and respect and ability to support their families that they need.”