Patsy T. Mink: “I join today in decrying the Labor, Health, Human Services, and Education appropriations bill. We will be funding the…”

“I join today in decrying the Labor, Health, Human Services, and Education appropriations bill. We will be funding the Labor Department, and in what the bill provides, it is an outright attack on working men and women throughout this country. The Republican majority is using this appropriations bill to circumvent the appropriate legislative process in order to push through an antiworker agenda. The 30-percent cut in funding of the National Labor Relations Board and language restricting the Board's authority to use its enforcement tools is a direct attack on the basic rights of employees to organize unions. The right of workers to join together as one unit and bargain collectively for better wages, health care, and other benefits and safe working conditions has been an integral part of American law for more than a half a century. The National Labor Relations Board protects this right and resolves disputes between employers and employees. Even without 1 hour of hearing, this appropriations bill, by cutting funds, undermines the ability of the National Labor Relations Board to protect the rights of working men and women and by legislative proviso ties their hands regarding enforcement. Unfair labor practices brought to the Board will languish, violations of law will go unchecked, and labor disputes will be prolonged.”