Lynn C. Woolsey: “actually I am going to speak today as a former human resources manager and human resources professional for over 20…”

“actually I am going to speak today as a former human resources manager and human resources professional for over 20 years. I know what it takes to manage competitive and productive workforces; and believe me, I know the difference that paying a decent wage, having health and retirement benefits make in a worker's life, and how work performance is enhanced when workers know that a full workday results in pay that they can actually afford to live on, to raise their family on. Unfortunately, today workers are facing falling wages, they are facing fewer benefits, and that is a fact that is directly related to the disappearance of our middle class here in the United States of America. Since union workers earn about 30 percent more than nonunion workers per week, are almost twice as likely to have employer-sponsored health benefits and defined pension plans compared to only one in seven nonunion workers, the ability to organize will make a huge difference in bringing our middle class back. Madam Chair, H.R. 800 is the prescription that we need to right a weakened middle class, bring it back to health again. I urge my colleagues to support this bill, support American workers.”