John Hall: “I stand here to support the Employee Free Choice Act because it is necessary. This bill would not be necessary were the…”

“I stand here to support the Employee Free Choice Act because it is necessary. This bill would not be necessary were the administration and the NLRB neutral in labor relations. However, they are not and have not been. Therefore, I am hearing from my constituents, such as citizens of my district who work for a school bus company which won an election many months ago which has not yet been certified by the NLRB. While the NLRB is dawdling, there have been 16 consecutive labor charges filed against the union by the management. This company, by the way, is owned by another company in England which is 96 percent unionized in England. So apparently it is good enough for them to have union representation there, but not here. I speak and vote in favor of my constituent who distributes dialysis equipment and supplies around the New York and Hudson Valley area who was called in for repeated meetings with his supervisors when they learned that he was helping to organize a union drive. Even after the election was won, management filed an appeal and lost. If it were not for such, I could go on for a long time with stories I have heard in my districts from my constituents, and what I am hearing is about harassment, intimidation, about anti-union propaganda on the lunch table, in the lockers, on the bus seats. Look at the evidence. Look at the disparity in income. Look at the increase in poverty rate and the explosion of wealth at the top of our income scale.”