▶ 0:18:47Sen. Cassidy: It has been nearly 100 years since the core of our nation's labor laws were passed. The economy and way we work has changed. Congress should make our nation competitive in the 21st century economy. He is committed to delivering the most pro-business administration in history.
▶ 0:19:19Sen. Cassidy: It is a coalition of unions and workers united to increase prosperity for all. This committee should deliver on the pro-worker, pro-business, pro-family agenda. In the last 10 years we've had four different administrations. Two republicans and democrats. They feel whipsaw by change in the administration.
▶ 0:19:51Sen. Cassidy: Their team is not in charge and they hated. We know that no one is in charge forever. That gives us the opportunity to pass something upon which we could all agree we could bring stability and businesses to workers. To do this we have to build the consensus.
▶ 0:20:17Sen. Cassidy: My colleagues continued engagement is essential. It is to come out with actionable legislation that could pass on the floor and get 60 votes bringing certainteed to all involved so somebody planning their business 15 years from now will have some sense of where the guardrails are.
▶ 0:20:46Sen. Cassidy: Earlier this month the committee heard from a wide range of voices to protect workers rights . First we must say how their hard earned dollars are spent when it comes to funding political activities that do not benefit workers. Workers should not be forced to find ideologies that violate their beliefs.
▶ 0:21:13Sen. Cassidy: They must protect workers rights in the worke in the work place, empowering them to protect their personal data. We should curb frivolous practices that worsen the backlog. Another serious issue is the impact of illegal immigration on the workforce taking jobs and driving down wages. The trump administration made this a priority.
▶ 0:21:44Sen. Cassidy: Finally congress must restore the choice of the unionization process including enhancing the union elections and helping workers reach that first contract in a timely manner so they could determine when their contract is working for them. These are key principles that will guide this conversation by reforming our labor laws. Empowering the middle class to achieve the american dream.
▶ 0:22:14Sen. Cassidy: With that, I recognize senator sanders.
▶ 0:22:20Sen. Sanders: I did not realize we had the most pro-worker president in the history. Imagine that. Arbitrarily throwing tens of thousands of federal workers out on the street, neutering the national labor relations board so that they cannot deal with labor issues that come before them.
▶ 0:22:50Sen. Sanders: I did not know that was on top of taking away health care for 15 million low income and working-class americans, raising premiums for 20 plus million americans by doubling what they will have to pay. I did not realize that was a pro-worker agenda. What we are talking about today is a very important issue.
▶ 0:23:21Sen. Sanders: The question other committees have to address is the fact that we are living in the wealthiest country in the history of the world. Over the last 50 plus years we have seen an explosion in technology and worker productivity. Everybody recognizes that. We will see more of a transformation in our economy.
▶ 0:23:46Sen. Sanders: The question it seems to me that we have to ask ourselves is in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, how are working people doing? Interestingly enough in terms of inflation accounted for real wages. Over the last 52 years the average american worker has seen a decline in real wages.
▶ 0:24:13Sen. Sanders: Increase worker productivity, whereas all the income and wealth gone? During that same period there has been a $75 trillion transfer of wealth from the bottom 90% to the top 1%. We have the situation where one man in america has more wealth than the bottom 52%.
▶ 0:24:42Sen. Sanders: All over this country, working-class families struggling to pay for child care. They can't afford the basic necessities. Making sure our kids are not eating junk food. How many working-class families could afford food? How does that happen?
▶ 0:25:10Sen. Sanders: Certainly it happens because of disastrous trade policies which have shut down faculties -- facilities all over america. It has to do with an attack on trade unions within this country. You forgot to mention one reality. Millions of workers today want to join unions but they are unable to do so because of the illegal behavior of corporations.
▶ 0:25:41Sen. Sanders: Workers want to join the union, companies fire the union organizer. Nothing happens to those employers. If we want to grow the middle-class, maybe we should allow workers to enjoy the constitutional right to form a union. We will hear from Mr. arnold. They will talk to us about what is happening in missouri right now.
▶ 0:26:12Sen. Sanders: Some of the best airplanes in the world. Demanding decent wages, decent benefits while their ceos making zillions of dollars. They have gone on a long period of time trying to get the union to have it. They are the backbone of our health care system.
▶ 0:26:38Sen. Sanders: Let me thank you and all the nurses for your extraordinary work for decent working conditions, wages. Let me thank all of the panelists who have been with us. Thank you very much.
▶ 0:26:53Chair Cassidy: I will now go to our witnesses. And introduce each as they are to testify. The first is Mr. thomas beck from the workplace policy institute. He gained on the ground experience with contract negotiations and labor law. He chaired the labor relations authority under president bush.
▶ 0:27:26Chair Cassidy: He's a graduate of the university of virginia and uva school of law.
▶ 0:27:40Mr. Beck: The remarks I shared today are not views of the organization that I am or was affiliated based on 30 years as a labor regulator and relations practitioner.
▶ 0:27:59Mr. Beck: There was a time 34 years ago when I walked into the first day of my labor law class a professor greeted students by saying welcome to the study of a dying area of law. The death of labor law was greatly exaggerated. The pandemic with the questions it bought gave new opportunities to organize labor.
▶ 0:28:29Mr. Beck: The political realignment that allowed president trump to gain a second term by winning the popular vote suggests that maybe there is some basis for finding bipartisan consensus first, labor law should bolster the sanctity of the secret ballot. Most importantly it protects employees against coercion or retaliation from any direction.
▶ 0:28:59Mr. Beck: If it is appropriate for electing a united states senator to elect its leaders I don't know why it would be inappropriate for employees to select their exclusive representative. The secret ballot facilitates a more informed choice about union yes or union no. They get the union perspective, which is no surprise.
▶ 0:29:29Mr. Beck: They are not given an alternative perspective. They hear little and maybe nothing about union dues or the import of reality that they cannot guarantee outcomes. With a secret ballot election there is greater likelihood of an actual campaign taking place. Again, less chance of social pressure or outright coercion.
▶ 0:30:00Mr. Beck: If we really want workers to express preferences on unionization we need to deal with tactics that nullify the votes. These are called box -- blocking charges filed by unions seeking to delay or stop an election. They anticipate will not result in a preferred outcome. Fewer than half of the labor practice charters filed are found to have merit.
▶ 0:30:31Mr. Beck: In most years it is in the range of 35-40%. Charges that are statistically more likely than not to be meritless. And because the charges are even more likely to be frivolous. The very thought race tommy -- rests on eight shaky assumption that an employer could threaten the -- or coerce an employee.
▶ 0:31:01Mr. Beck: By definition the secret ballot means no one but the employee herself knows how she will vote or how she did vote. It's difficult to see how threats could be effective or how retaliation could occur.
▶ 0:31:18Mr. Beck: Once an election is scheduled it will take place as scheduled in a very rare circumstance that some misconduct or regularity as a material act on a secret ballot election. Finally we should put an end to the unnecessary battle between section seven and title vii of the civil rights act.
▶ 0:31:46Mr. Beck: We should want them to enjoy title vii protections against racially or sexually hostile workplace. The protection set forth have been so stretched and so misapplied they have misread the effects of title vii.
▶ 0:32:08Mr. Beck: A law judge determine section seven insulated from discipline a male employee who referred to a female employee as a gutter -- when enacted section seven the 74th congress encouraged workers to engage in concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid for protection given
▶ 0:32:41Mr. Beck: The language it used I doubt that congress of 90 years ago intended to encourage hateful behavior. Thank you for allowing me to appear today.
▶ 0:32:57Chair Cassidy: Next we will hear from vincent vernuccio. He previously served as special assistant to the assistant secretary for administration management and the department of labor. We thank him for being here.
▶ 0:33:23Mr. Vernuccio: My name is vincent vernuccio and I'm president for the institute of the american worker. It is an organization focused on powering american workers, job creators, and entrepreneurs. The problem with today's labor law as it stems from the 1930's. It is based on the industrial revolution workplace.
▶ 0:33:55Mr. Vernuccio: They do not address the individuality or flexibility that today's workers want. The following suggestion has a working how they want, with who they want. Creating modern labor policy for a modern workforce. Many of these could be found in senator scott employee rights act, the best pro-worker labor ideas in congress.
▶ 0:34:36Mr. Vernuccio: They should have the ability to look -- without mandates putting them in a box. Senator scott employee rights act provide a better test for who is an employee versus who is an independent contractor.
▶ 0:34:59Mr. Vernuccio: It would further help retirement security allowing them to get benefits from the clients without the feel of being categorized as an employee or simply band together to get more competitive health care. When it comes to unionization they should have a say or if they want to be under a unions collective bargaining agreement.
▶ 0:35:25Mr. Vernuccio: The worker's choice act allow union workers in right to work states to opt out of a union contract. It would free unions from having to represent people from having to represent them. Something I know members of this committee have expressed concerns about. Workers choice allow workers to say no thanks to unwanted representation and unions to say goodbye to workers not paying them.
▶ 0:35:57Mr. Vernuccio: It addresses all sides of the labor debate and could be a showcase of bipartisan reform. Every workers should have a say on who represents them. Currently almost 95% of unionized workers have never had the opportunity to vote.
▶ 0:36:18Mr. Vernuccio: The worker franchise at would require burke -- workers to vote before a union is given expressed -- exclusive representation. It would protect the work to a secret ballot similar to the employee rights act.
▶ 0:36:36Mr. Vernuccio: Making sure they could vote in private eliminating potential coercion and intimidation that comes from so-called organizing where workers could be organized without the protection of a private vote.
▶ 0:36:54Mr. Vernuccio: They should have the easy ability to remove the current union at the workplace, changes should be made to address the contact that limits employee's petition, change, or remove their union worker privacy needs to be protected. The employee rights act code-7 control of what personal information is given to unions. Workers deserve to know if they are speaking to someone being paid.
▶ 0:37:24Mr. Vernuccio: Representative owens star applying labor transparency ensures that workers know if they are speaking to a union organizer posing as an employee. The so-called union salt fires the same -- files the same union reporting requirements. Workers deserve to know if they are talking to someone that is paid to persuade them on unionization whether it is management or a union.
▶ 0:37:56Mr. Vernuccio: Workers deserve to be protected from harassing or discriminatory outcomes in the workplace. No matter the scenario. Another closes a loophole created by the national labor relations board. It could even violate title vii to be used during union activity . I applaud the committee on working for pro-worker solutions to address the needs of today's workforce.
▶ 0:38:28Mr. Vernuccio: I would be happy to take any questions. Thank you.
▶ 0:38:33Chair Cassidy: We are joined today by john hartley and a graduate student worker. He will provide insight into the difficulty workers have in opting out and subsidizing union political spending with which they disagree. He is a current policy fellow and served on the joint economic committee. He's a graduate of the university of chicago and holds degrees from the harvard school.
▶ 0:39:04Chair Cassidy: You will get the award for be the most overeducated.
▶ 0:39:09Mr. Hartley: Thank you for the opportunity to be able to speak today. I'm an economist and currently an economic phd candidate. The purpose of my testimony today is to use my story to highlight a challenge in american labor law for political purposes unrelated to workers economic welfare.
▶ 0:39:35Mr. Hartley: Many of you may not be aware that many groups of university graduate students including harvard, cornell, m.I.t., stanford where I work as a teaching assistant. I believe workers have the right to organize. Workers improved benefits and working conditions.
▶ 0:39:58Mr. Hartley: Many unions have expanded beyond traditional workplace which could alienate members who disagree with these causes. The student unions are often led by some of the most progressive students on the campus. It was the first national union to endorse the bds campaign against israel in 2015.
▶ 0:40:25Mr. Hartley: It supports many causes including abortion, medicare for all, and the no kings protest. With no idea that a graduate student would be formed in years to come or that it would become a condition of employment as a worker. In 2023 the stanford graduate workers union was certified.
▶ 0:40:51Mr. Hartley: In november of 2024 leadership at stanford signed a collective bargaining agreement that included a force dues cause that made it a condition of employment at the university as a teaching assistant or research assistant.
▶ 0:41:10Mr. Hartley: Earlier this year a progressive group said they would terminate my employment if I did not pay money. I was told by university officials if I did not pay the union my employment would be terminated. California is not a right to work state. Workers like me have limited options.
▶ 0:41:34Mr. Hartley: Technically graduate students have the right to opt out of union and pay only agency fees. They are nearly identical and mixed progressive politics a primary part. I would contend that this is not sufficient. The challenge here is that what constitutes genuineness -- it is often left up to the union.
▶ 0:42:05Mr. Hartley: The law clearly states the university has discretion as well because many of the issues they support, I refuse to pay money to a group that is against my moral principles.
▶ 0:42:23Mr. Hartley: The majority, at least two thirds of union dues collected by the local affiliates go to the national body whose agenda exists beyond working conditions. I request such a religious exemption from union payments typically after filling out and exhausted survey to keep funds to one of the set of nonpolitical charities provided by the union.
▶ 0:42:52Mr. Hartley: It was granted over the past week to months after I requested it and I have to choose amongst the american cancer society, heart association, and nature conservancy to pay the equivalent amount which is roughly 600-$800 per year. The united electrical workers spend this money on political causes. What might be the cause of force contributions as a condition of employment.
▶ 0:43:20Mr. Hartley: Conservatives like me are discouraged from applying to graduate schools. Labor laws should form the political dimensions. Why not bar them from political activity. If I felt my contributions were not being used instead wages and benefits, I would feel better about making contributions.
▶ 0:43:45Mr. Hartley: 501(c)(3), part of me says this might be a step in the right direction. Unions promote political causes for political parties and candidates. We could also run free speech for unions and citizens united. Another path might be national right to work laws.
▶ 0:44:09Mr. Hartley: Such laws would let individuals decide for themselves whether the union deserves their financial support. They would risk losing support. They have right to work laws for public specter employees.
▶ 0:44:30Mr. Hartley: Labor laws, if they are to be true coworker, unions should be focused on benefits and working conditions rather than across-the-board progressive politics.
▶ 0:44:44Sen. Sanders: I would like to introduce joshua arnold from the machinist local at boeing in st. Louis. Mr. arnold is a worker on the f-18 program at boeing where he has worked for 11 years. He is also a war veteran with 24 months of deployment. Thanks for being with us.
▶ 0:45:12Mr. Arnold: Chair cassidy and ranking member sanders, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. I was born and raised in st. Louis, missouri. I work with the support coordinator at boeing st. Louis where I have worked for 11 years. I began building my skills as a proud member of the armed services.
▶ 0:45:38Mr. Arnold: I along with other members working at boeing have dedicated our lives to manufacturing world-class aircraft for generations. They have built military equipment that have ensured they have the tools needed to complete their mission safely and effectively. We have the f-18 eagle, super hornet, and stingray.
▶ 0:46:04Mr. Arnold: We were awarded a multibillion dollar contract for the 747 fighter. We will probably build this new aircraft for more than 50 years our shop has been a union represented workplace. That is half a century of the collective bargaining agreement that spells out our wages and benefits.
▶ 0:46:27Mr. Arnold: Our contract with boeing expires every several years and we have the right to negotiate a new cba . I also serve as a shop steward where I help ensure all members receive the benefits filled out -- spelled out in our cba.
▶ 0:46:47Mr. Arnold: Boeing has been unwilling to negotiate a new contract despite inflated executive compensation packages and golden parachutes in excess of 60 million boeing has been unable to put a suitable offer on the table. Boeing's offer would cause our families to lose ground. Some are already working second jobs. The offer is far lower than the one recently extended to those in washington state. My coworkers and I are far from getting rich.
▶ 0:47:17Mr. Arnold: We should not be losing ground. We believe we deserve more compared to our average salary of just $36 per hour, boeing ceo is paid nearly 300 times what we are making. Several years ago boeing took away our benefit pension plan. We are simply asking for a 401(k) match equal to the offer extended to those in washington state.
▶ 0:47:45Mr. Arnold: In the face of boeing's substandard offer. We voted overwhelmingly to improve their offer. There are very for you tools available to workers -- very few tools. On august 4 we voted to withhold our labor and strike until the company proposes an improved offer. Boeing has made it clear they've agreed for skyrocketing profits over the people that earned them the profits.
▶ 0:48:17Mr. Arnold: We are in the 12th week of our strike. Boeing has not improved their offer one bit. They have backtracked and made it worse. We have voted on and overwhelmingly rejected their offer three times. The company management refuses to negotiate in good faith. It could cost boeing only half the cost of only one f-15 fighter jet. We have missed six paychecks. The company has cut off our health insurance.
▶ 0:48:49Mr. Arnold: The decision to strike is a hard one. This strike has impacted all of our families. My family and I have had to try to make ends meet on my wife's salary alone. We are more fortunate than many. We still have one income. We face the threat of foreclosure, eviction, living without health insurance. Like many states, missouri has no provisions for affordable health care to striking workers.
▶ 0:49:20Mr. Arnold: Financial stress is a reality. We have been forced to endure ultimatums like take this offer or else. They continued to replace those with nonunion workers and move work out-of-state. We are proud of our work am concerned about the programs and time limits and deliveries. It takes six months of training to certify workers on these aircraft.
▶ 0:49:47Mr. Arnold: We are concerned about quality and safety if replacement workers are brought in. The chips are stacked against workers in favor of corporation. This is the people we have and we believe the company offer does not respect our skill and dedication. I thank you all for the opportunity to testify today and look forward to answering any of your questions.
▶ 0:50:11Sen. Sanders: Thank you very much. Let me take this opportunity to introduce mary turner. President turner still works weekend night shifts in minnesota.
▶ 0:50:30Sen. Sanders: In 2022 as the president of the minnesota nurses association president turner led the largest private-sector nursing strike in history securing historic pay increases for 15,000 nurses across minnesota. Thanks for your work and thanks for being with us today.
▶ 0:50:50Ms. Turner: Good morning chairman cassidy, ranking member sanders, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. As senator sanders said, my name is mary turner. We represent 225,000 workers across the nation. I am a bedside care nurse. I just got off the night shift this past weekend.
▶ 0:51:22Ms. Turner: I have been in health care since I was a candy striper. I have been a nurse for 30 years, union nurse for 29 years. What it has taught me is a nurse needs to have a voice at the table. The best way is to have a union voice set the table.
▶ 0:51:45Ms. Turner: It means you have a contract with the hospital that compels them through a shared contract to be able to discuss patient concerns and issues. That is what nurses really do care about. Benefits and pay is great. Our purpose in life is to care for patients the best that we can. What happens but we don't have optimal conditions?
▶ 0:52:14Ms. Turner: Hospitals love to cut to the bottom line, cut staffing. You know it ends up happening? You have fewer nurses, more patients, longer wait times, increase risk of falls, infections, and sometimes unfortunately debt. One would say there is a nursing shortage. I beg to differ. It is not a nursing shortage.
▶ 0:52:47Ms. Turner: It is nurses leaving the bedsides because they cannot tolerate the working conditions. A 2024 survey, eight out of 10 experienced workplace violence at work. A little story here, a decade ago I said how is your day? She said well I wasn't hit.
▶ 0:53:21Ms. Turner: That's how I gauge my day if I was hit or not. I spoke to a young nurse, we were discussing the fact that a pregnant nurse just got kicked in the stomach. She says I'm going back to school because I am not going to be at the bedside. I will not be at the bedside when I start wanting to baird children. This is why they are leaving.
▶ 0:53:54Ms. Turner: They are leaving the bedside because our nurses are highly educated and could do a lot of other things than to have horrible working conditions and unsafe working conditions. That is also why nurses across the nation want to unionize. Like the hospitals in florida and we have our nurses down in new orleans at the university medical center trying to form a union and get a contract.
▶ 0:54:24Ms. Turner: They run up against hospitals trying to interfere with their ability to form a union and get a contract. You have to understand a union contract for a nurse means they have the right to advocate for their patients. Safety in the workplace, safety for our patients is our top concern.
▶ 0:54:56Ms. Turner: That is why we are asking for stronger labor laws. We are asking to protect our right to organize. When nurses have safe working conditions and a safe place to work and enough staffing, that means it benefits our patients. I would like to touch a little bit on the fact that medicaid and medicare is being cut. People won't stop coming to the hospital.
▶ 0:55:27Ms. Turner: You know it's going to happen? All of those people without medical, they are going to come into the hospital because somebody will find them collapsed somewhere and they will bring them into the emergency room and instead of having preventative care they will go right to the icu at some of the most expensive care that you could get.
▶ 0:55:54Ms. Turner: A few years ago just the bed alone was $8,000-$10,000 per day. Now you will come in and we will pay for the most expensive care. The things I would ask. We need to have this government shutdown. Secondly we need to finally pass the act to give everybody the right to freely join a union.
▶ 0:56:25Ms. Turner: For nurses, when we have a voice , that means our patients will. Sorry for going over.
▶ 0:56:32Chair Cassidy: I want to thank you for being frontline. The icu on the weekend shift is not what everybody signs up for. I have a bunch of questions. I will ask you to keep your answers tight. Did the union justified to you why it was unrelated to wages and working conditions you listed bds, medicare fraud, green new deal, did they ever justify that?
▶ 0:57:00Mr. Hartley: Not particularly. The stanford graduate workers union website also points information on forthcoming protests regarding the situation in the holy land. Not particularly when it came to that.
▶ 0:57:23Chair Cassidy: What if a union was requiring people to be on the opposite side of those issues? I think this is the time for that. You talk about the tension section seven prevented employees from taking actions against abusive speech. You also mentioned this, Mr. beck.
▶ 0:57:48Chair Cassidy: Where should the line be drawn between speech protected and the harassment prohibited under title vii?
▶ 0:57:54Mr. Vernuccio: Workers deserve to be protected. Their employers deserve the ability to ensure they are protected from discriminatory language. The trump administration in the general motors case established what is known as a right line test.
▶ 0:58:18Mr. Vernuccio: As long as the general counsel does not establish that there is a section seven or the employer is simply going after the employee because of unionization , those employers should have the ability to protect decorum and respect in the workplace and discipline employees that are violating title vii.
▶ 0:58:43Chair Cassidy: Of course that exchange, frankly a fellow worker should not be subjected to that. Mr. arnold, I am told the striking workers voted down two tentative agreements, one of which was called a landmark contract.
▶ 0:59:14Chair Cassidy: The role of arbitration as a potential solution but as I understand arbitration could take workers out of the process by removing the need to ratify the contract. If leadership came up with a contract and arbitration said this is it and the members do not reject it as they mention they have rejected two things, what would happen if the workers lost that ability to ratify a contract?
▶ 0:59:46Mr. Arnold: It is my understanding members get to vote.
▶ 0:59:49Chair Cassidy: My understanding is if you have arbitration and it is agreed upon than that becomes the contract. At which point workers would not have the ability to reject.
▶ 1:00:04Mr. Arnold: If that is the case that would be the democracy of the workplace. The whole point of the union.
▶ 1:00:11Chair Cassidy: Under its non-acquiescence doctrine it does not consider circuit court precedent when issuing its decisions. It argues that it ignores precedent with the national uniformity of federal labor laws. And then violates that uniformity by oscillating back and forth between which party controls the board.
▶ 1:00:39Chair Cassidy: It is my thesis that every four-year oscillation we have had has really been bad for business, bad for unions, bad for the worker. Am I overstating this or do you feel like this is negative and we should somehow balance it out?
▶ 1:01:00Mr. Beck: I think you are onto something. Both with the non-acquiescence and what we refer to as the policy. With the non-acquiescence, they have not created uniformity. The third circuit says one thing.
▶ 1:01:23Mr. Beck: What I think with the solution, we can change the fact that different courts will come to different conclusions, at least we could -- and the nlrb follow the law. In terms of policy oscillation, this is everybody. Unions, employees, employers. There are classic examples, the one that occurs most obviously to me is how elections are done.
▶ 1:01:57Mr. Beck: Others called ambush elections. In the first trump administration we went back to the more standard way to run elections on a historical timetable and then we had them come back and change the election rule. It leaves everyone wondering how could I plan labor relations because it may issue a different ruling or different rule.
▶ 1:02:24Mr. Beck: It has done the same thing with the way the board has handled workplace policies. I will ask you to wrap that up.
▶ 1:02:40Mr. Beck: There has been oscillation about employment policies as well.
▶ 1:02:44Sen. Sanders: I was interested in hearing concerns about some of our panelists about union roles. One man was able to spend $270 million to help donald trump be the president. Mr. arnold, you and your coworkers as I understand are on strike for 80 days now.
▶ 1:03:14Sen. Sanders: Boeing has not come to the table with a serious offer. How do your fellow workers feel when boeing could afford to pay it ceo more than $18 million in compensation for just four months of work as I understand it.
▶ 1:03:35Sen. Sanders: $18 million for four months but apparently they don't have enough money to sit down with the union, what does that say to the workers?
▶ 1:03:48Mr. Arnold: It tells us they don't value us. They continue to maximize shareholder value. We produce the value but we don't get any piece of that value.
▶ 1:04:05Sen. Sanders: You guys are producing some of the most sophisticated airplanes in the world, is that correct?
▶ 1:04:15Mr. Arnold: That is correct. Not only that, a lot of our members have to maintain security clearances which is no-fault -- small speak in itself.
▶ 1:04:28Sen. Sanders: What has been the impact of this strike and workers at the plant?
▶ 1:04:36Mr. Arnold: The workers have had to go for six paychecks without any income.
▶ 1:04:45Sen. Sanders: Say that again. You guys had decent health care on the previous contract and boeing did what?
▶ 1:04:54Mr. Arnold: They cut our health care. When they cut our health care, those who have spouses that work , a lot of them had to pay $2500 per month to get cobra coverage, which is not very affordable when you are receiving $300 a week in strike pay.
▶ 1:05:15Sen. Sanders: Thank you very much. Ms. turner, I have met the former chair and ranking member of this committee from coast to coast. What has impressed me is that nurses have come into my office with tears streaming down their eyes, not to say we need more money, yes they wanted better wages, I will never forget this. We were trained to do our jobs.
▶ 1:05:47Sen. Sanders: We can't do our jobs. We don't have the staffing. It breaks our heart. Some people are suffering. We want to help so we could do our work. Is that something that I am missing?
▶ 1:06:09Ms. Turner: You are absolutely right. It is heartbreaking. It is not called burnout, it is called moral distress. I feel especially for our young nurses. They want to take care of patients as best as they can.
▶ 1:06:31Ms. Turner: Because of short staffing, workplace violence, they come away especially when they have too many patients. They cry their eyes out because they feel defeated. They feel like this is not what I signed up for. I want to make a difference in my patient's life.
▶ 1:07:00Ms. Turner: Add that to many reasons nurses are leaving the bedside. We do not have a storage -- a shortage. We need to start treating our nurses right because they are the backbone of health care.
▶ 1:07:14Sen. Sanders: I know the nurses union agree with my position that health care is a human right. My guess is in years of experience you have encountered many patients who should have gotten health care months and months before. What do you think it will mean to this country when 15 million people are thrown off the health care they have because of trump's massive cuts to medicaid? What will that mean to health care in this country?
▶ 1:07:45Ms. Turner: No preventative care , no managing the chronic cases. How often has my story said the patient found out, patient found collapsed in their home.
▶ 1:08:09Ms. Turner: They call 911, they come into the emergency room and all body systems collapsing. Most expensive care. That is what is going to happen. Furthermore they are going to be uncompensated care.
▶ 1:08:30Sen. Sanders: Thank you very much.
▶ 1:08:34Sen. Hawley: Thank you for calling this hearing. Mr. arnold, if I could start with you, it's good to see you. I want to thank you for your service to our nation, I think you are an army veteran. Did 24 months deployment, combat tour in iraq. Thank you for your service to this country.
▶ 1:08:58Sen. Hawley: Now you are dedicating your life and skills to building the most advanced and capable military aircraft in the world. Talk about the company that is not giving you and your fellow machinists what they deserve. You have been on strike for 12 weeks?
▶ 1:09:16Mr. Arnold: That is correct.
▶ 1:09:17Sen. Hawley: Boeing corporation has cut off your wages, medical care. I want to make sure I understand this, you don't have any medical care right now. If somebody gets sick, what do you do?
▶ 1:09:37Mr. Arnold: You will have to pay out the wah zoo if you have to go to the hospital, god forbid you have an injury or doing your normal routine, you are going to be up the creek without a paddle.
▶ 1:09:55Sen. Hawley: If you want any kind of insurance you have to get cobra, that cost what?
▶ 1:10:01Mr. Arnold: $2500 per month.
▶ 1:10:04Sen. Hawley: What are you getting in support from the union from the local, what are your workers able to get?
▶ 1:10:15Mr. Arnold: If you work one strike shift you get $300 a week. I work 12 hours once a week as a strike captain and that gets me $300 for the week.
▶ 1:10:28Sen. Hawley: Just to buy medical care, $2500 per month. That is before you have to make rent, buy groceries, biogas. This is unbelievable. Tell us and tell everybody listening to this what it is you are asking for. If you listen to these executives, I have heard from them. All of the machinists are so unreasonable.
▶ 1:10:57Sen. Hawley: My answer to them is we have 3000 plus missourians who have been loyal to this company. You have been with the company over a decade if I remember correctly.
▶ 1:11:06Mr. Arnold: That is correct.
▶ 1:11:08Sen. Hawley: The people who make unbelievable sums of money and have strip mined this company for parts. What they have done to boeing, this proud american company. This is a company who has quite literally been falling out of the sky in pieces, why is that? We all know why. It's because they won't commit to safety standards, pay their workers well, they pay their ceo more than ever before.
▶ 1:11:38Sen. Hawley: The last guy got paid 38.5 million dollars in a single year when they were tasting -- testing the safety of doors with cheese cloth don dish soap. Tell the nation what it is that you are asking for?
▶ 1:11:55Mr. Arnold: We are asking for a halt to the pay freezes. We had an eight year contract where we had pay freezes for the top scale. Your real buying power is getting a pay cut. We had a three year reprieve and this new offer, every offer they give us had two years of pay freezes. They took away our pension plan in the 2014 contract.
▶ 1:12:23Mr. Arnold: We would like to have our 401(k) plan to retire with dignity. All we are asking for is the same plan they offered to our members in washington state, 100% match. The bonus that was offered to washington state and north carolina was $12,000, they offered us $5,000.
▶ 1:12:58Mr. Arnold: I had to work my way up working multiple jobs so I got enough raises to work one job. When you are doing that and work on multimillion dollar aircraft there's a little bit of cognitive dissonance happening there.
▶ 1:13:15Sen. Hawley: It sounds like to me you are asking for pay to keep your head above water. You are asking for decent retirement. The one-time ratification bonus or a $7,000 bonus plus a $5,000 401(k) program. That sounds like a good contract. Are they offering you anything like that?
▶ 1:13:41Mr. Arnold: No, senator.
▶ 1:13:45Sen. Hawley: I want to say thank you and I hope you take the message back that we stand with everyone striking. I want to see you get the contract you deserve. For those of us to consider ourselves to be pro family, you can't be profamily if you can't make a way as you could support your family on. We have to be able to have good paying jobs where they could support a family. I thank you for fighting for that.
▶ 1:14:16Sen. Hawley: Senator hassan.
▶ 1:14:19Sen. Hassan: Thank you for holding today's hearing. Thank you to all of our witnesses for being here today. Before I get to my questions, I want to take a moment to address the fact we are still in a federal government shut down. This shutdown is now in its fourth week. I remain focused on finding a bipartisan solution to reopen the government and event a health care calamity.
▶ 1:14:41Sen. Hassan: With due respect to my colleagues, a pro-worker president does not stand idly by while working people's health insurance premiums at least double. That is not what a pro-worker president does.
▶ 1:14:59Sen. Hassan: In my state of new hampshire, if we do not extend the aca, the healthcare.gov premium tax credits, a couple, six-year-old couple earning $85,000 a year is going to see their premiums go up by at least $14,000. And that, to senator hawley's point just now, is not sustainable. Ms. turner, I want to start with the question to you.
▶ 1:15:28Sen. Hassan: I have been a longtime supporter of the protecting the rights organize act, the pro-act, which would strengthen elected bargaining and organizing rights for workers. What provisions of the pro act are top priorities for your members?
▶ 1:15:43Ms. Turner: First of all, it gives us the ability to freely organize without unionbusting tactics. Secondly, the bill gives real consequences to employers that violate labor law and try to deter us with unionbusting campaigns.
▶ 1:16:08Ms. Turner: Most importantly, protects our nurses who are trying to unionize from being terminated or fired or harassment because that is what is going on with our nurses that are trying to unionize. Overall, like I said before and I will say it again, a union helps nurses to advocate for the patients at the bedside, get us better working conditions, and so this pro act is everything to the nurses.
▶ 1:16:40Ms. Turner: I am fortunate in minnesota. 85% of our hospitals are unionize but I'm worried about the rest of the world, the rest of the nation needs to have that same privilege that we have in minnesota.
▶ 1:16:52Sen. Hassan: And the difference of an icu bed when you'll have one or two versus multiple patients is extraordinary.
▶ 1:16:59Mr. Arnold: And in other states, they have three and four in their icu.
▶ 1:17:03Sen. Hassan: Another question for you about health insurance premiums. They are set to double for many families next year. I am concerned as you heard in my remarks about how these increases will harm families but particularly how they will harm our health care workers in our patients. You have talked in your testimony about the impact of where people without insurance on your patients health.
▶ 1:17:30Sen. Hassan: You talk about how nurses and their families will be impacted if their health insurance costs skyrocket next year? What we know is as more people become uninsured and premiums go up, even if you don't get your coverage on the marketplace, health insurance premiums are going up. Can you talk about the impact on nurses and their families?
▶ 1:17:51Mr. Arnold: Here is the thing, and I'm going to come from the hospital standpoint, ok? Uncompensated care means the bills are not going to get paid. That means I will start closing units, cutting services, -- we are already seeing where rural hospitals will close but I want to bring something to her attention. In minnesota, we have five level one traumas. Duluth, rochester, north memorial -- my hospital -- hca and regents.
▶ 1:18:21Mr. Arnold: Five of them. We service a six-state area. Everywhere from michigan to the dakotas. They all come to our level one traumas. We do a lot of medicaid and medicare come ok? These other hospitals that do just ortho and babies, they are not going to take on the level one trauma. Imagine a world without our level one traumas.
▶ 1:18:45Sen. Hassan: I don't want to imagine that world. It may be coming our way. Mr. arnold, workers in the manufacturing industry face one of the highest workplace injury rates of any profession. What are some of the top health and safety concerns that you are bringing to the bargaining table and what priority protections in this area are you fighting for?
▶ 1:19:06Mr. Arnold: Thank you for the question. Right now we are mainly focused on economic issues. We have high-performance work organization that we have established with the company for years where departments will elect a team lead and that lead will lead initiatives that from the workers and the ground up they will make their suggestions into team-based improvements.
▶ 1:19:29Mr. Arnold: That can be anything from developing a more ergonomic tool to do a job to changing the order in which work is done so that it makes it easier to assemble a panel without a wiring harness in the way, anything along those lines. As a partnership between the unit and the company, the company wants to illuminate that organization. They have asked the union to voluntarily give it up even though it is in our contract. I believe they're still asking for us to do that. Our members with up to keep that.
▶ 1:19:58Mr. Arnold: There's also a 50 said in our stipend -- $.50 an hour stipend for being a team lead.
▶ 1:20:07Chair Cassidy: Senator moody
▶ 1:20:09Post Sen. Moody: Thank you to all of our witnesses for being here today, many of which I have been following florida's effort to support workers. I am excited to talk to you today. It is a great thing that we are spending so much time in this committee focusing on american labor. I think this is remarkable. I commend our chairman and the ranking member for bringing these issues to the forefront of this committee, the senate.
▶ 1:20:42Post Sen. Moody: And the attention of the american people. I think it is so important we address how we can do better by the american worker. It is unfortunate we have to meet under the circumstances come under the shadow of a democratic-forced shutdown. You will hear time and time again they're working for a bipartisan solution. It has been a yes or no vote to keep the government open, bipartisan funding bill to continue current spending. We just voted for the 11th time and they voted no.
▶ 1:21:10Post Sen. Moody: Some of the democrats have their sanity come have voted yes to support this country and keep it open. It is now the longest full shutdown in american history. I want to make sure the record is clear, you can vote yes and keep this open. Some of your democratic colleagues agree we should do that, that is our job in congress. I would urge you to do that.
▶ 1:21:32Post Sen. Moody: It seems appropriate when we are having a here -- having a hearing on american workers that we note the american workers and the people here, they have never shut down or given up on this nation. Through the president's leadership and leadership in our senate, we will ensure we are focused on the american worker and how we can do better and the policies that we are passing here in the united states congress.
▶ 1:21:59Post Sen. Moody: In florida, we have citrus growers, service providers, independent contractors, and proud union members. We have a diverse workforce and everything I do here in washington will recognize that and I want to make sure that we are empowering and supporting all florida workers. The ultimate goal of unions has always been to empower, give workers an equal voice, support them.
▶ 1:22:30Post Sen. Moody: And anything that is done that would prevent that mission, I would think the union members would not want that. Union leadership would not want that. I thought it was really interesting in florida when I was in leadership, we pass legislation that empowered public sector employees and it prohibited automatic mandatory paycheck deductions for union dues and allowed workers to
▶ 1:23:02Post Sen. Moody: Revoke membership if they decided it was not working for them anymore. It seems to be pretty common sense. I don't know why anyone would be against that. But the biden administration didn't like that. And when they learned of that, they threatened hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to the state of florida because they did not like that law.
▶ 1:23:26Post Sen. Moody: It was an example of how they were using -- the administration was more focused on its political allies and political arrangements and political support then it was to focusing on what we can do to empower and support all american workers regardless of their employment arrangements.
▶ 1:23:52Post Sen. Moody: I think one of the things this administration has done well, and certainly I think we should focus on, is going back to what is the mission -- what are we trying to achieve? Why were some of these organizations started? Go back to, are we fulfilling the aims of those policies. And if we are not, let's discuss what we need to do differently.
▶ 1:24:13Post Sen. Moody: I have been here, I'm the newest senator here and I have loved watching some of the issues we are embracing with vigor and real dialogue and in a deliberative way to say, are we achieving the ends we sought out and if not, let's do something different. I want to turn my questions to you, Mr. vernuccio.
▶ 1:24:32Post Sen. Moody: You know that -- I know you know fully well that in florida as attorney general, and to bring suit against the biden administration when they threatened our funding of $800 million because we pass legislation. I want to hear from you if you can tell us more about your thoughts on that florida law and how you think parts of that law might provide a mechanism for us to do things here in the united states senate as we are adjusting our policies.
▶ 1:24:59Mr. Vernuccio: Thank you for your leadership on this issue but as attorney general of florida and currently as senator. Thank you, chairman cassidy, for your leadership on this issue. I know you wrote letters to then acting secretary to protect the workers of florida. We heard from one of my fellow panelists about union democracy and how having arbitration to settle contracts is undemocratic.
▶ 1:25:26Mr. Vernuccio: The florida bill sb256 promoted unique democracy. It said when union membership in the public sector drops below a certain threshold, workers should have the right to vote, public employees should have the right to vote. Unfortunately, biden administration to the acting secretary tried to stifle that for transit employees. Your question to what can the senate do?
▶ 1:25:53Mr. Vernuccio: I know, there is the enfranchisement act that would require a quorum before union can be certified to have a monopoly and represent all workers. That is one example of how protecting unit democracy, making sure workers, the majority of workers have a say on who represents them, especially when they are in a monopoly. Once again, thank you for your leadership.
▶ 1:26:16Chair Cassidy: Senator alsobrooks.
▶ 1:26:20Sen. Alsobrooks: Thank. We are here today in day 22 of this government shutdown but are proceeding with business as usual. Still discussing abstract labor policy while dedicated public servants all across our country and in my state are going without a paycheck.
▶ 1:26:40Sen. Alsobrooks: It has been 22 days this administration refusing to come to the table in good faith and negotiate a plan to keep the government open and make sure that health care is a portable and accessible for millions of americans. It has been 22 days of this administration using the shutdown as an excuse to further target federal workers who are my constituents.
▶ 1:27:04Sen. Alsobrooks: Just last week the very sinister russell vought ominously tweeted "the riffs have begun" before illegally terminating thousands of federal employees. This is a man who is outwardly taking pleasure -- he said it was his greatest intention and desire to traumatize federal workers, that he wanted them to be regarded as villains and he is harming federal workers.
▶ 1:27:30Sen. Alsobrooks: Hours later, president trump and secretary kennedy fired more than 1700 people from the department of health and human services, including staffers that worked to prevent measles outbreaks before admitting they sent nearly half of the notices to employees in error at the cdc. Imagine that. With a family to support come you get a notice you are fired before getting another email hours later telling you ,oops, that riff has been rescinded.
▶ 1:28:03Sen. Alsobrooks: The chaos and cruelty of this administration is unconscionable. I am telling everyone who will listen, it will scar our country for decades to come. President fired 450 employees including the office of special education and rehabilitative services and the office for civil rights, putting our most vulnerable children and their rights in the classroom at risk.
▶ 1:28:30Sen. Alsobrooks: At the department of housing and urban development, the administration fired the entire team of building inspectors responsible for making sure that around 5 million homes are safe to live in. Just yesterday, the interior department revealed plans to fire more than 2000 additional staffers. I want to point out, one of our witnesses here today has claimed that federal workers are oppressing their members. The federal worker unions are oppressing their members.
▶ 1:28:59Sen. Alsobrooks: Stopping them from "making their own decisions about what is best for them" in response to the president's illegal attempts to force federal staff out of their jobs, jobs they love and jobs in service to the american people -- other service unions are the only organizations standing in the way of these illegal mass firings come outright political targeting of civil servants, and cruel efforts to traumatize dedicated and critical federal employees.
▶ 1:29:27Sen. Alsobrooks: Because of their efforts, a federal judge has temporarily blocked these ridiculous and illegal firings, acknowledged there were illegal in excess of authority and arbitrary and capricious. At its core, we are in the situation because this administration is refusing to work with us on a simple fix to prevent health care costs from increasing for millions in just 10 days and open enrollment opens.
▶ 1:29:53Sen. Alsobrooks: I am glad we have mary turner here from the nursing union come designed to make health care less portable -- nursing union. Specific experience with the impact of this administration's attacks on federal workers. Nnu represents nurses at the department of veterans affairs which has revealed plans to lay off up to 80,000 employees this year.
▶ 1:30:23Sen. Alsobrooks: Because like these and cuts of the affordable care act will have direct implications on inpatient care. I don't have any questions for our witnesses today because our job is not to debate the merits of these workers in hearing room, it is to show federal workers their value by protecting them from illegal attacks and getting them back to work. I hope that all of my colleagues will also join me in this effort. Thank you.
▶ 1:30:48Chair Cassidy: Senator baldwin.
▶ 1:30:51Sen. Baldwin: Thank you. High, too, want to start by addressing the fact we are now in day 22 of the government shut down because republicans won't extend the enhanced tax premium tax credit that ensures that tens of millions of families can afford their health care coverage.
▶ 1:31:17Sen. Baldwin: We just heard from a member of the majority blaming democrats who represents a state that has the highest reliance on the affordable care act. There are 4.7 million floridians who rely on the affordable care act marketplace for their health insurance, most of whom also rely on the tax credits to be able to afford it.
▶ 1:31:46Sen. Baldwin: We are on the brink of seeing the largest increase in health care premium costs in history. In history. That is what this fight is about. I do have questions of the panel beyond wanting to address that fact. Mr. arnold, you have talked about the impact of the withholding of health care coverage on the workers who are on strike.
▶ 1:32:18Sen. Baldwin: Which is the last option. But a significant one when you are trying to collectively bargain for fair wages, fair benefits. In pursuit of protecting americans access to quality and affordable health care, I have a bill called the striking and lockdown workers health protection act.
▶ 1:32:42Sen. Baldwin: It would create a separate unfair labor practice category for when employers cut or alter workers health insurance while they are locked out or on strike.
▶ 1:32:57Sen. Baldwin: I want to ask you, as ask a witness in our previous hearing on labor law reform, can you talk about how this bill would help workers fighting for fair contracts if it were in place right now?
▶ 1:33:19Mr. Arnold: Thank you. I think if that were in place right now, that would address the $2500 a month cobra fees that are members have to pay. To put that in context, the difference between where the company is and where the union is is half the cost of one f-15 fighter jet. Over the course of that four years, we are going to produce those at a rate of about two a month. That is 96 f-15s.
▶ 1:33:47Mr. Arnold: We are going to blow our shoulders out drilling on titanium for four years to make 96 f-15s, not to mention some number of f-18's, n-qs, tsas, small diameter bombs, harpoons, surface launch systems and flight simulators for all those programs and we are saying we will deliver all of that to you, we want a fraction of 1% of one of the programs. That is what they said, cut your health care, get back to work.
▶ 1:34:19Sen. Baldwin: President turner, thank you for being here today. You spoke in your opening comments significantly about the violence that nurses face in the workplace.
▶ 1:34:33Sen. Baldwin: I was incredibly disappointed to see the department of labor under this administration downgrade the workplace violence in health care and social assistance rule so that it is no longer a priority in the rulemaking process. Essentially, it is sitting in rulemaking purgatory.
▶ 1:34:57Sen. Baldwin: That is why it is really critical that we passed my bill the workplace violence prevention for health care and social services act, which would compel osha to create an enforceable standard to create the safe workplaces that your colleagues deserve.
▶ 1:35:19Sen. Baldwin: President turner, would you be able to give us an understanding of what kind of workplace violence were nurses are experiencing and what types of improvements will likely happen in hospitals if we pass this bill? To force osha to create enforceable standards?
▶ 1:35:41Ms. Turner: Thank you, senator baldwin. The first of all, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for this legislation. Locked in the ed not too long ago because we can fill out a concern for staffing, nurses can fill that out if they are having staffing issues. I was compelled to go down to the ed because in one week, four nurses had been beat up. Four young nurses. They are out of work.
▶ 1:36:11Ms. Turner: Often, these workplace injuries end their career. We've had broken heads, broken arms, hands, ok? Every time that happens, that is another nurse that loses the ability to do what we are called to do, take care patients. We had in 2015i was a leadership behind the very first workplace violence legislation in minnesota. We got a national news 2014 in st.
▶ 1:36:40Ms. Turner: John's because of a horrendous -- it was all across the news, look it up. Anyway, that next legislative session we passed the first workplace violence legislation. An now -- but we can't just have it in minnesota, ok? The thing is, a big part of the workplace that your legislation is addressing the staffing. I'm sorry condescending quit? Sorry. You're are so kind about it.
▶ 1:37:09Ms. Turner: Anyway, long and short, staffing, workplace violence of those are two big issues and I thank you. >> [inaudible] >> regarding the current shut down I will point out that premiums are going up no matter if we paper over the premium increases on the exchanges with this $26 billion in subsidies.
▶ 1:37:37Ms. Turner: The subsidies are required because the affordable care act has become the un-affordable care act. Premiums are going up 20% in the employer-sponsored insurance, which has nothing to do with what we are currently battling over. They're going up 30% in the obama care exchanges but only a small portion of that is related to these exchanges. Republicans, chuck schumer agreed to open today, we would be negotiating today. How do we lower health care costs which is better than papering over?
▶ 1:38:04Ms. Turner: I wasn't going to bring this up but we have had a series of conversations about this and I think it is important to set the record straight. Senator hickenlooper.
▶ 1:38:13Sen. Hickenlooper: I don't want to interrupt that dialogue. I certainly look at the budgetary issues that came out of the one big beautiful bill, or we call it the big ugly bill on our side. It has created a massive bunch of holes in medicaid, snap states like colorado force to make almost impossible decisions of balancing their budget. They shut down has only made it worse.
▶ 1:38:41Sen. Hickenlooper: I think as states are forced to make up for trump's cuts in key programs, states across the country are wrestling with the same issue that colorado is not these are impossible decisions impacting real families as they tried to balance their budgets after the dramatic drop off at various levels from the federal government.
▶ 1:39:06Sen. Hickenlooper: In colorado, the states had to make a sequence of very difficult cuts around medicaid dental care, affordable housing programs, higher education funding, abaco services. They are almost impossible to make because of -- at every level, these cuts in federal funding to states. President turner come as you know, there is a crisis going on right now, a health-care crisis unfolding across the country.
▶ 1:39:35Sen. Hickenlooper: In the next several days, millions of americans will receive notices in the mail that your premiums aren't just going up 15% or 20%, but in many cases going up 50%, 100%. In advance of the open enrollment that starts on november 1. This is on top of the millions of americans that will lose their access to medicaid because of the cuts. The cuts that came across from the big beautiful bill.
▶ 1:40:06Sen. Hickenlooper: President turner, you talked about the impacts of loss of access to care, not just the impacts, but also the providers who care for them. Layoffs, and save staffing, service -- unsafe staffing, service reduction. These are exaggerated rural hospitals. When you look at these cuts, what is the single thing that keeps you up at night?
▶ 1:40:35Sen. Hickenlooper: What is the part that you look at -- what happens to nurses in rural areas if there are no longer able to care for patients?
▶ 1:40:44Ms. Turner: Thank you for that question. Especially in rural america, all of these communities often times whatever health care facility they have come it be at a nursing home, hospital, or clinic, there probably like the biggest employee of that town -- employer of the town.
▶ 1:41:04Ms. Turner: You start having all of these hospitals close and or clinics and whatever it might be close because they can't afford to stay open, that has a ripple effect. An economic ripple effect. It turns that town into a ghost town. I'm sorry, take it with a health-care facility in the school, and a town dies. We have all seen it. You get bar is all that is left.
▶ 1:41:34Ms. Turner: Does she get one grocery store and one bar and that is all that left. Let's take the labor and delivery world. If you are having to travel 50, 100 miles when you're in labor because the nearest place is the big town?
▶ 1:41:56Sen. Hickenlooper: Your point is well made. Mr. arnold, I am a firm believer in diverse cost-effective cap to careers -- cap to careers. We need strong pathways for her students. While I was given we started working on expanding quality programs come a lot of what we started in colorado I think 22 states now.
▶ 1:42:24Sen. Hickenlooper: Your testimony mention it takes a long time to become a trusted journeyman. You also phone your skills as a mechanic -- hones your skills as a mechanic in the army. Earn while you learn example. Could you speak to the value of the partnership programs for billing -- building the robust workforce that are aerospace defense industries and so many others all depend on?
▶ 1:42:50Mr. Arnold: Thank you. No amount of book learning can replace first-hand experience. I also have a four year degree but I also have done, like you said, earn while you learn program as well. You might learn something from the engineers about how this is supposed to go together.
▶ 1:43:13Mr. Arnold: But if you talk to the aircraft mechanic who puts it together, he will tell you the blueprints are correct and it needs to be to the blueprint, however, you have to do it a certain way. And that type of knowledge only get from first-hand experience doing the job yourself. Things were great on a computer, 3d rendering.
▶ 1:43:34Mr. Arnold: But when you have to crawl in there and get that wiring harness in that compartment, there's a certain way of going about it and you only learn that from actually doing it. We have members who go through our training program. They are taught by the members on the line for doing the job and have been doing the job for years.
▶ 1:43:58Chair Cassidy: Senator markey.
▶ 1:44:04Sen. Markey: Thank you. Over the last 30 years, boeing has transformed a company known safety excellence to accompany with his safety record in shambles. At the same time, the company which was once working in partnership with its unions has turned hostile. Boeing resists wage increases, it makes it harder for union workers to raise safety concerns.
▶ 1:44:31Sen. Markey: Now boeing refuses to agree to a fair contract with striking machinist workers in missouri. It makes you wonder how boeing can ever expect to restore its safety culture when it is working so hard to undermine its own workers. Mr. arnold, do you agree boeing 's unionbusting is a threat to aviation safety?
▶ 1:44:52Mr. Arnold: Absolutely, I think it is a threat to aviation safety.
▶ 1:44:58Sen. Markey: Mr. arnold, safety starts -- my safety starts at the top act would require boeing 's leaders to consider safety during every single business decision. My bill would require large aerospace manufacturers to have representation from their labor groups and aviation safety experts on their boards of directors. I look forward to working with the machinists and my colleagues on this committee to advanced this important legislation.
▶ 1:45:28Sen. Markey: Do you think legislation is needed?
▶ 1:45:30Mr. Arnold: Absolutely I believe stronger legislation is needed. The first-hand experience working on the shop floor, I know our members are not afraid to speak up because they have the protection of the unit behind them. They're not going to get beat over the head if they bring up a safety issue or quality issue.
▶ 1:45:45Sen. Markey: President turner, I want to ask about training repayment agreement provisions, so-called traps. Put simply, a trap is a coercive contract that says if a worker leaves their job before a given time period, they must pay the company for training, equipment, even for lost profits. You must stay or you must pay.
▶ 1:46:12Sen. Markey: Let me clearly state these contracts are largely illegal, they can function as a legal noncompetes, compressing wages by limiting economic mobility, scare workers out of exercising their rights under the national labor relations act, restrict competition with small businesses who cannot hire trap workers. When repayment exceeds the total wages that a worker earned, they are minimum wage violations.
▶ 1:46:42Sen. Markey: Some cases, workers find debt collectors banging down their doors for tens of thousands of dollars. Some workers are not even fully aware of these contract terms when they start a new job. "sign here." you are signing away all your rights? They're not lawyers, they don't have legal counsel. These contracts are so dangerous.
▶ 1:47:05Sen. Markey: Workers need the freedom to leave their job if the workplace is unsafe, if they are being sexually harassed, or if they need to take care of themselves or their family. Traps rob workers of that fundamental dignity. Nearly one in 12 workers today in america are subject to a trap. The number is growing. That is the business plan.
▶ 1:47:30Sen. Markey: Yet the trump administration and seemingly dropped all enforcement efforts to rein in this dangerous practice yet again trump is prioritizing corporate profits over american workers. President turner, nurses are often subject to these contracts. Can you tell us what that means for your workers?
▶ 1:47:48Mr. Arnold: The average nurse in minnesota comes out of nursing school anywhere from $68 -- 60,000 to to $100,000. Now they have to pay $10,000 to $30,000 to get trained in. When I started back in a hospital in 1996, I had my experience nurses on the floor. I was on a neuro-floor.
▶ 1:48:19Mr. Arnold: They had about 150 years of experience, the six of them. That is who trained me. This is an affront to our whole profession that is designed to have the experienced nurses teach the novice nurses. We don't charge them $10,000 to $30,000 to do it.
▶ 1:48:40Sen. Markey: What is the danger? Where are we heading?
▶ 1:48:42Mr. Arnold: Like you said, they are forced to stay there so then the working conditions and if they dare bring up the fact of a union, they are fired and they are still responsible for whatever they signed, right? And so it causes our nurses to just be afraid. Be afraid to fight for our patients. And that is a bad thing.
▶ 1:49:09Sen. Markey: Thank you for what you do.
▶ 1:49:10Chair Cassidy: Senator king. --
▶ 1:49:17Senator Kaine. Sen. Kaine: I want to thank you. We have surfaced a lot of issues that are important. I may strongly prounion, pro pro act supporter. I am a strong supporter of senator hawley's bill that focuses upon getting from an election to a contract in a more reasonable time period. I have learned something from the majority witnesses.
▶ 1:49:41Senator Kaine. Sen. Kaine: I am with you on the notion that if you are in a bargaining unit where there is been in elective bargaining decision by an election to have a bargaining unit, should have to pay for being represented but you should not have to pay for political points of view you don't agree with. I don't know the legal answer to that is, but I would think unions saying we are not going to compel you to support political causes you don't agree with, you might find more people would be willing to vote for union representation. There could be a plus for unions to do that.
▶ 1:50:11Senator Kaine. Sen. Kaine: I appreciate you raising that issue. Many of us have commented, my colleague's have commented on why we are in a shut down. I'm going to continue the dialogue. We are here for one reason, there is one ingredient that is missing today that we always have when we avoid a shut down or when we need to get out of it, and that his presidential engagement. We have been close to deadlines many times. When we avoid shut down, it is because the president engages.
▶ 1:50:41Senator Kaine. Sen. Kaine: When we are in a shut down, as we last were donald trump was present in 20 18, we get out of it because of president gauges. The president told the majority, right without dealing a democrat. That was his instruction. That is what they did. And they passed a partisan bill without dealing with democrats despite the fact knowing that we need democratic votes in the senate.
▶ 1:51:09Senator Kaine. Sen. Kaine: Senate democrats did not sit on our hands when the president said they should not deal with us. We put an alternative on the table on september 18, 12 days before the deadline. Not a nonnegotiable demand, an alternative -- protect people's health care like you protected the tax cuts for the wealthiest. And guaranteed to us that a deal is a deal. If we shake hands with a deal, we will follow you. We asked to meet with the president. President scheduled a meeting then canceled.
▶ 1:51:39Senator Kaine. Sen. Kaine: Then he agreed to have a meeting on september 29. As soon as the democrats walked out of the office, he put up a I generated videos of them wearing sombreros and talking in funny accents about things they did not say. We have elected a middle school are to be president. It is ridiculous. Since then he is not engaged.
▶ 1:52:00Senator Kaine. Sen. Kaine: He had thomas reed to meeting in the oval office to promise that she had time in the oval office to promise -- he had time to meet and promise $20 billion to venezuela. He had time yesterday to have a lunch on the east one of the white house to show the destruction of the east wing of the white house to our republican senate colleagues but he does not have time to sit down and meet with congressional leadership to get the government open. The democrats renewed the request yesterday.
▶ 1:52:32Senator Kaine. Sen. Kaine: The president is on the verge of going -- traveling to asia. Before you go, let's sit and work it out. The president this morning refused. We have never had a president so disengaged in the things that americans expected him to lead on. He promised to bring down costs. Everything is going up.
▶ 1:52:55Senator Kaine. Sen. Kaine: Tariff idiocy affecting the economy, the gdp in virginia grew by 6.2% last year and by 1.7% this year. It is because of trump's economic idiocy. Mr. president, focus, for god sake. Don't spend your time coming up with a I videos of leaders sombreros, don't spend your time coming up with videos of yourself as king dumping excrement all over the american people.
▶ 1:53:24Senator Kaine. Sen. Kaine: That might be the most honest thing you have done in terms of showing who you are and how you are governing this country. Have a meeting where we can sit down and find a path forward. I will just say this, Mr. chair, today is a day where virginians are really saying what the big beautiful bill is. I think the title was chosen because bill means piece of legislation.
▶ 1:53:54Senator Kaine. Sen. Kaine: Today the day, starting last night, where 400,000 virginians are receiving from the virginia market information about what their health insurance premiums will be come open enrollment november 1. In the light is dawning on their head, that is what the big bill is. The big bill is the massive increase in health care costs to my family. That is why they chose the topic the big beautiful bill.
▶ 1:54:22Senator Kaine. Sen. Kaine: Now I see how much more I'm going to have to pay unless we can find a solution to do for everyday folks in the health care what we did for the rich and the tax breaks. I believe we can. I believe republicans want to. I believe republicans need to. They are seeing it in their states like I am in mind, if the president gauges, we will solve this within a matter of hours. I yield back.
▶ 1:54:46Chair Cassidy: Thank you. Mr. hartley, verse testimony points out that stanford had the ability to override some of the demands in the union and that when it came to jewish students in the northeast, they did that and exempted them from voting -- constricting their dues to bds efforts. Where was stanford?
▶ 1:55:17Chair Cassidy: Did you ever hear from the administration?
▶ 1:55:19Mr. Hartley: Thank you, senator, for the question. In terms of my interaction with stanford, it was largely through university lawyers. They made the determination that it is up to the union to process these religious accommodations. What happened at m.I.t.
▶ 1:55:39Mr. Hartley: And cornell and what made that a bit different is there was -- those student units also are part of the united workers. The jewish students were seeking religious accommodations and the union had decided to classify bds anti-israel concerns or objections -- .
▶ 1:56:04Chair Cassidy: Why wouldn't stanford step up?
▶ 1:56:10Mr. Hartley: My understanding is they are now processing such requests and this in part came after eoc charges were filed in the cornell and m.I.t..
▶ 1:56:23Chair Cassidy: Took federal action in order to stimulate the university to do the right thing?
▶ 1:56:29Mr. Hartley: With m.I.t. And cornell, yes. I'm not aware of such cases as stanford so far. The union has been processing these -- again, it took two months for them to process this and these things are being processed by the national union not the local affiliates.
▶ 1:56:46Chair Cassidy: It seems as if they pick the charity which you could give. If you decided to give to Mr. vernuccio alma mater ave maria, would that have been acceptable? I'm thinking not. I'm thinking people should consider when she was on the other foot. Thank you for that. Mr.
▶ 1:57:06Chair Cassidy: Beck, frivolous unparallel practices have been filed to delete an election or deter a party from further pursuant an election. I am told 50% of these are dismissed. Would reforms to the unfair labor practice process like requiring proof of allegations address this? It seems to be a lot of the problem.
▶ 1:57:29Mr. Beck: I think that is correct. There would be different ways to do it. A couple of weeks ago you had some witnesses, particularly former general counsel who talked about backlogs to nlrb. I think there are a variety of reasons for backlogs at the nlrb but there is no doubt the majority of unfair labor practice charges are not found to be meritorious year after year after year.
▶ 1:57:51Chair Cassidy: What could nlrb do to deter the filing of these frivolous lawsuits?
▶ 1:57:57Mr. Beck: I think putting some guidelines or some requirements for some sort of minimal amount of proffer of evidence or offer of proof. I used to do civil litigation. When you filed cases in the report, april 11 it says if you sign the complaint, cap have a basis in fact of law. Their other rules that prevent the filing of frivolous claims or frivolous lawsuits.
▶ 1:58:22Mr. Beck: Before the nlrb, what congress has done is created an agency were labor unique and say, this employer's active badly and now you go investigate it and you go in impose costs on the employers to make them respond. The eunuch is sort of handed off and everybody else bears the burden -- the union is sort of handed. Off and everyone else bears the burden.
▶ 1:58:38Chair Cassidy: Ms. turner has spoken about people complaining about that working conditions. I assume that a sign that breed with that become available to the employer?
▶ 1:58:53Mr. Beck: I think there are different ways to skin the cat but one thing you want do is provide the offer of proof to the nlrb and maybe the first instance at least it is not made available to the employer. If an unfair labor practice charges pursued, the employer will eventually find out through the trial process, litigation process who all the witnesses are and the complaining party were. Maybe we pull that up front so the nlrb has some basis to determine, wow, is there really any substantiation?
▶ 1:59:21Chair Cassidy: Mr. vernuccio, current law requires employers to disclose workers private information, home addresses, personal phone numbers to units during representation campaigns and workers cannot opt out. I would be a little nervous about that. My personal information being given away. Is this needed to effectively reach employee -- the employees in the bargaining union?
▶ 1:59:47Mr. Vernuccio: Absolutely not. Going back to my testimony of these laws were written in the 1930's. Clearly, even the transparency laws were from the 1950's and 1960's dealing with labor law. It is pre-social media, pre-the internet. There are multiple other ways that units can modernize and reach out to employees. They do not need to be given home addresses, cell phones, personal emails.
▶ 2:00:15Mr. Vernuccio: Legislation like the worker's choice act puts workers in the driver seat saying, you can have one piece of information that they choose but they are not mandated by the national labor employers -- employers are not mandated by the national labor relations board to give all of this personal information. If workers want the unit to have that personal information, they are free to provide it on their own prerogative.
▶ 2:00:37Chair Cassidy: I asked for unanimous consent to enter a letter into the record from the national federation of independent businesses pertaining to the issues discussed at this committee's labor reform bill and all the members currently hearsay aye. At the end of the hearing, pretty sitter wishing to ask additional questions, questions for the record are due 5:00 p.m. Wednesday, november 5. Thank you for the witnesses for being here.
▶ 2:01:07Chair Cassidy: The committee stands adjourned. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap.org]