Steny Hoyer: “I want to congratulate George Miller, to start out with, as the chairman of the Education and Labor Committee. George…”

“I want to congratulate George Miller, to start out with, as the chairman of the Education and Labor Committee. George Miller has been, throughout my career, all 26 years that I have been here, he and I have served together. He has been one of the most courageous, emphatic and faithful speakers on behalf of working Americans that we have in this House. I want to thank my friend, Rob Andrews, who has been an indefatigable advocate of making sure that working Americans had opportunities in our country. Mr. Speaker, this bipartisan legislation, the Employee Free Choice Act, is simply about establishing fairness in the workplace and providing America's workers with a free choice to bargain for better wages, benefits and work conditions. I think that is absolutely essential if we are going to stop this growing disparity between the very wealthy and the haves and the increasingly have-nots. America is a great and strong country because of its middle class. That is shrinking. That is a challenge to our country. This is an effort to address that. The fact of the matter is the current system for forming labor unions is badly broken and undemocratic. Far too often, employers intimidate, harass, coerce or even fire workers who support a union. To address this blatant unfairness, this legislation simply allows workers to form a union if a majority signs cards saying they want a union.”