In first 100 hours
New ‘D’ majority in House gets busy passing labor bills
As promised by Democratic Party
leaders, the party’s newly sworn-in
majority in Congress got busy in its
first 100 “legislative” hours. Democ-
rats in the House of Representatives
passed long-blocked legislation, in-
cluding several bills of particular im-
portance to organized labor.
House Resolution 1, the first order
of business in the House, would imple-
ment the terrorism prevention recom-
mendations of the bipartisan 9-11
Commission. Some of the Commis-
sion’s suggestions were rejected by
Republican leaders in the previous
Congress as too burdensome to busi-
nesses. Along with better screening of
incoming air and sea cargo and better
protection of nuclear facilities, the
280-page bill also repeals the clause in
the 2001 Aviation and Transportation
Security Act that let the Bush Admin-
istration nullify the union rights of air-
port screeners on the pretext of na-
tional security.
The Administration went to the mat
to prevent the newly federalized air-
port screeners from unionizing in
2002.
At stake are the rights of 56,000 air-
port screeners to form a union and bar-
gain for improved wages and benefits.
HR 1 passed the House Jan. 9 by a
veto-proof 299 to 128 margin and now
goes to the Senate, where it’s expected
to pass. It will be politically difficult
for Bush to veto the legislation, given
that he’s made terrorism the primary
issue of his presidency. All five Ore-
gon representatives voted for the bill,
including Republican Greg Walden.
Washington Congressman Brian Baird
of Vancouver also voted in favor.
House Resolution 2, the second bill
to pass the new House, is a defining is-
sue for Democrats: a raise in the mini-
mum wage. Under Republican leader-
ship, the federal minimum wage hasn’t
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been increased since 1997, when it
went up to $5.15. That’s the longest
period without an increase since the
federal minimum wage began under
President Franklin Roosevelt. On Jan.
10, every Democrat in the House, plus
just over one third of Republicans,
voted for HR 2, which increases the
federal minimum to $5.85 an hour 60
days after enactment, then to $6.55 a
year after that; and $7.25 an hour the
following year.
Again all five Oregon House mem-
bers voted for it, with Walden breaking
ranks with the majority in his party to
give low-wage workers a raise. The
bill won’t affect workers in Oregon or
Washington because they’re among
the 29 states with state-passed mini-
mum wages higher than the federal
minimum.
The only votes against the mini-
mum wage increase were from Repub-
licans, some of whom argued that it
would cause businesses to lay off the
poorest workers.
Congressman Earl Blumenauer
called that “hogwash” during the Con-
gressional debate on the bill.
“I come from one of the states that
increased its minimum wage and has
indexed it automatically for inflation.
Since we have done that, our economy
is stronger, and our business leadership
will tell you that what we have done is
fair; it is good for all of us, not just the
poor.”
Increasing the federal minimum
has been a top issue for unions, even
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James Coon
Jacqueline Jacobson
Ray Thomas
Kimberly Tucker
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though very few union members earn
the minimum. The minimum is a wage
floor for all workers, and increases
tend to trickle up to workers earning
up to several dollars more, since their
employers are paying a certain pre-
mium above minimum to attract better
workers. A low minimum wage puts
downward pressure on the wages of
workers earning above, and can make
it hard for unions
in some indus-
tries to bargain
wage increases,
when nonunion
competitors pay
substantially less.
The 325 to
116 vote in the
House is more
than the two-
thirds needed to
override a presi-
dential veto, but the bill will have a
more complicated time in the Senate,
where some senators say they are will-
ing to compromise with the president,
who has indicated he won’t sign a bill
increasing the minimum wage unless
it also includes new tax breaks for
business.
Two other bills of interest to unions
would undo the most controversial parts
of the 2003 Medicare Modernization
Act, which created a prescription drug
benefit for seniors. One bill, passed Jan.
12 by 255 to 170, would lift the ban on
Medicare using its bargaining power to
negotiate with drug companies for
lower prescription drug prices.
All Oregon representatives except
Walden voted for this bill.
Another change expected to pass
would lift the ban on mail-order imports
of lower-cost prescription drugs from
Canada and other countries.
After these and other “100-hours”
items are dealt with, Democrats could
move to pass the law that is without a
doubt labor’s Number One priority in
Congress — the Employee Free
Choice Act (EFCA). EFCA would
make it easier for workers to unionize
and get a union contract. Passage of
EFCA, labor leaders say, would assure
a union comeback after decades of de-
cline. As of press time, the bill hadn’t
yet been introduced in the 110th Con-
gress, but an outright majority of
Renaming the Committee on
Education and Workforce to the
Committee on Education and Labor
reflects reflects the new tenor of the
Democratically-controlled Congress
House members are on record in sup-
port of it. And the Congressman who
sponsored the bill last session, Rep.
George Miller (D-Calif.), now chairs
the committee that will hold hearings
on it. The name of his committee re-
flects the new tenor of the times.
For decades it was known as the
Committee on Education and Labor,
but in 1995, when Republicans took
control of the House, it was renamed
the Committee on Education and Eco-
nomic Opportunities — a symbolic
move that was considered a slap at or-
ganized labor. Two years later it was
renamed again, the Committee on Ed-
ucation and the Workforce. Now it will
return to being the Committee on Edu-
cation and Labor.
EFCA may face a Republican fili-
buster in the Senate, and would almost
certainly be vetoed by President Bush.
So realistically, it won’t pass until a
Democratic president takes office. But
union leaders want Congress to pass it
anyway as a test of strength.
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NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
JANUARY 19, 2007