September 16, 2011

STATEMENT BY THE UNITED FOOD AND COMMERCIAL WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION REGARDING H.R. 2587

Washington, D.C. – The following is a statement issued by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union:

“Once again, the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives is playing partisan politics instead of creating jobs.  Yesterday’s passage of H.R. 2587, the ‘Protecting Jobs from Government Interference Act,’ would block the National Labor Relations Board from protecting workers against companies that violate labor laws.  This bill will do nothing but hurt workers who are already struggling to stay afloat in a fragile economy and further embolden corporations to ignore labor laws.

“At a time when the unemployment rate registers at 9.1 percent and millions of Americans are unemployed or underemployed, it is telling that Republicans in Congress would pass a bill that will make it easier for corporations to drive down wages by moving to ‘Right to Work’ states or to eliminate jobs altogether by shipping them overseas. Instead of protecting corporations like Boeing when they violate labor laws and pitting workers against workers, our lawmakers should be focusing on creating good jobs that can support a family with the end goal of giving America’s middle class the purchasing power it needs to revive the economy.”