Cord Byrd: “I oppose the provision added to the fiscal year 1996 Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education and…”

“I oppose the provision added to the fiscal year 1996 Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education and Related Agencies Appropriation Bill in committee that would prevent any funds appropriated in fiscal year 1996 from being used to "implement, administer, or enforce any executive order, or other rule or order, that prohibits Federal contracts with, or requires the debarment of, or imposes other sanction on, a contractor on the basis that such contractor or organizational unit thereof has permanently replaced lawfully striking workers." We must not weaken one of the most fundamental rights of organized labor, the right to strike, by threatening these workers with the possibility of losing their jobs. The right to strike is guaranteed to workers under the National Labor Relations Act and the Railway Labor Act, and is instrumental in preserving an equitable balance in labor-management relations. On March 8, President Clinton signed Executive Order 12954, which prohibits all Federal contractors, with contracts in excess of $100,000, from hiring permanent replacement workers in the event of a strike.”