On the recordMarch 22, 2021
I rise to support the nomination of Marty Walsh to be our Nation's next Secretary of Labor. Mr. Walsh is an experienced leader who has always been a fighter for working families as the mayor of Boston, a State legislator, and as a union president. We need a Secretary of Labor who will make workplaces safer and prevent the spread of COVID-19 on the job, ensure that unemployed workers get the benefits they need and deserve, and support workers exercising their rights to form a union and bargain collectively. Only 11.6 percent of workers were represented by a union in 2019, down from 27 percent in 1979. The decline in unionization has coincided with a marked divergence between overall productivity growth in our economy and paychecks for workers. While productivity has grown significantly, hourly compensation for rank-and-file workers has been nearly stagnant once inflation is taken into account. In a January 22 Executive order on protecting the Federal workforce which faced especially harsh attacks from the Trump administration, President Biden reaffirmed that it is ``the policy of the United States to encourage union organizing and collective bargaining.'' Strengthening and enforcing the laws that enable workers to do so must be at the core of our efforts to build an economy that works for all Americans, and Marty Walsh is the right person for the job.
