Congresswoman McCollum's Statement on The Tea Party Republican Union-Busting and Job Outsourcing Act

Mr. Speaker, once again this Tea Party Republican majority is determined to ignore the jobs crisis in this country and instead focus the energy and efforts of Congress on busting unions and attacking the federally protected rights of workers to organize. This legislation is a direct assault on workers' rights in order to protect the profits of one corporation -- Boeing. This legislation essentially tells 14 millions unemployed Americans that their needs are irrelevant as long as there is a CEO in America who wants to crush a union.

The National Labor Relations Act, a federal law, prohibits a company from taking actions, such as firing an employee or relocating a factory, against workers for exercising federally protected rights that include forming a union or striking. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) filed a complaint against Boeing in April 2011, accusing the airline manufacturer of building a plant in South Carolina as retaliation against union employees in Washington State who have engaged in strikes. The Seattle Times quoted one Boeing executive as saying that the main factor for putting the new plant in Charleston, SC was "...that we cannot afford to have a work stoppage, you know, every three years."

The legislation on the floor of the U.S. House today, H.R. 2587, is the Tea Party Republican attempt to reward a corporation that breaks the law in order to bust union workers. Rather than negotiate with union workers to reach contract agreements, Boeing built a new $750 million facility in South Carolina. This legislation in essence sanctions any company in America to move their operations to any low-wage location where workers' rights are ignored, whether inside or outside the U.S.

Tea Party Republicans have titled this bill the Protecting Jobs from Government Interference Act, but it really should be called the Busting Unions and Outsourcing Jobs to Protect Corporate Profits Act. It is remarkable that Members of Congress can vote to sanction the export of U.S. jobs to other countries just to ensure corporate friends can squeeze every dollar of profit available out of their low-wage workers. This legislation is truly a betrayal of the American people, but it fits into the alarming trend advocated by Tea Party Republican legislators at the state and federal level to eliminate worker rights and protections. If their goal is to return to the days of sweatshops and the abuse of workers they are certainly moving in that direction.

I truly hope that every Minnesota who is a member of a union, retired from a union, or has a loved-one in a union is paying attention to what is happening in America. The corporate elites and the legislators their secret money have paid to elect are destroying workers rights. This U.S. House of Representatives, once known as the People's House, now appears to be owned by corporations. Our democracy is at risk along with the rights of workers and the wages of every middle class American.

This legislation is a harbinger of the battle working people, regular Americans, face as corporations dictate to elected leaders. I oppose H.R. 2587 and I oppose the union busting, anti-working American agenda it represents.