Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I came to the floor for the same reason Senator Coons did. I appreciate the comments of the Senator from Delaware in the beginning of his first term in office. He obviously understands the importance of worker rights and the importance of collective bargaining. In my State, collective bargaining passed 30 years ago. Because of that, we no longer see the ``blue flu,'' where a police officer calls in sick. Because there was no ability to organize and bargain collectively, they would call in sick the same day. They had no other way of expressing themselves. We have seen significant labor peace, when we didn't always have labor peace on a lot of these issues prior to the early 1980s in my State, where we now have collective bargaining. My colleagues who have followed the news--I think people are very aware of this in my State--know that Governor Kasich recently signed legislation to take away those bargaining rights. That is why I have come to the floor today, in part, to celebrate We Are One, an organization that represents people of faith, people who belong to trade unions, people who care about economic justice, people who support strong community local services--the police, the firefighters, nurses, teachers--and who have come together to honor Dr. King. As Senator Coons mentioned, Dr. King was assassinated 43 years ago today because he was standing with workers in Memphis, TN--sanitation workers.…”