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Managers, Workers Can Make Headway In Go-Slow Approach
Washington,
Mar 11 -
By Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.)
America’s workers, unions and employers need to respond to global challenges on a daily basis if they are to remain competitive. America can remain the most productive country in the world and provide its workers with jobs and good pay if everyone can effectively work together to develop new models of competitiveness.
It is time to move beyond traditional conflicts.
There are a number of issues on which disagreements remain, including card-check, prevailing wage, minimum wage, trade and healthcare. We should potentially address less controversial issues before addressing the more persistent and difficult conflicts.
Allow me to highlight three areas in which we could establish a track record of success with business and organized labor working together to improve conditions for all American workers.
The Obama Justice Department can initiate the effort by requesting that the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York remove the Consent Decree governing the Teamsters. It has now been two decades since the Teamsters began operating under strict federal oversight.
The Teamsters and I share a unique history. As chairman of the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, I was given the task of leading the congressional investigation into the corrupt 1996 Teamsters election. It ultimately led to the defeat of Ron Carey and the election of a new Teamsters leadership.
The Teamsters have long since demonstrated that provided with the opportunity, they are fully capable of governing themselves. The time has long passed to remove the federal nanny authority that has hovered over them for 20 years.
Second, unions and businesses have been a great help in the effort to fundamentally reform Federal Prison Industries (FPI). Working men and women should have the right to bid on more than $800 million in federal contracts paid for with their tax dollars.
The federal contract opportunities represent real, good-paying job opportunities now reserved almost exclusively for federal inmates being paid about 90 cents an hour to assemble products for a handful of suppliers selected by FPI’s management.
The fight is an example of how organized labor and business are helping to fight for the rights of working people across America.
Third, I have introduced legislation — titled the State Temporary Economic Priority Act — that would create flexibility in how states allocate federal workforce improvement funds to address areas in immediate need.
Workers need to develop the skills necessary for the 21st-century economy, and help to determine areas in which federal workforce improvement funds can be best invested to educate the workers of tomorrow.
The flexibility will provide the freedom necessary to think creatively during an economic crisis. My bill would allow states to determine how to best allocate resources to fit their own unique needs.
Once we have established a pattern of effectively working together, we can potentially address the macro issues of how to fundamentally update outdated labor laws to enable U.S. labor and business to become truly competitive in the global free-market economy.
None of it will be easy, but it is absolutely essential that we create big changes, and that we move forward cooperatively and consistent with American values.
These are just some of the many issues on which we need to maintain an open line of communication. Congress, the administration, businesses and unions should work together on solutions that create the best and most productive work environment in the world.
Hoekstra is a member of the House Education and Labor Committee.
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