Joe Biden: “all of us here, on both sides of this issue, agree that the right to strike is essential to preserving the balance of…”

“all of us here, on both sides of this issue, agree that the right to strike is essential to preserving the balance of power between labor and management in this country. But that right is hollow if, by exercising it, a worker faces the loss of his or her job. President Clinton has taken the important step of clarifying that in this country, as in the rest of the industrial democracies with less than a handful of exceptions, workers cannot be fired for exercising their legal rights. Unfortunately, our attempts to clarify that right through legislation, led for years by Senator Metzenbaum, were blocked by filibusters, despite clear majorities that favored a ban on striker replacements. President Clinton's Executive order is needed because Congress has been frustrated in its attempts to clear up the current untenable situation. His action follows established precedent, such as actions by President Bush, who, in 1992, issued an Executive order to require unionized contractors to post notices in their workplaces informing all employees that they could not be required to join a union.”