'Not Doing The Job Workers Need': Bernie Sanders Rips Trump's NLRB And EEOC Noms

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During a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing Wednesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) spoke about President Trump's nominees; Crystal Carey to be National Labor Relations General Counsel, Brian Christine to be Assistant Secretary for Health, Department of Health and Human Services, and Brittany Panuccio to be a Member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Transcript

00:00Let me thank the nominees for being with us today.

00:04I am strongly opposed to the three nominees that we will be considering this morning.

00:10Let me begin with the nomination of Crystal Cary to be the general counsel of the NLRB.

00:16Let us be clear, this nomination would be unnecessary if President Trump had not fired

00:24the most pro-union general counsel in the modern history of the National Labor Relations Board on January 27th.

00:32Moreover, the NLRB would have a quorum today if President Trump had not illegally removed

00:38a member of this independent board, Gwen Wilcox, on that same exact day.

00:44The mission of the NLRB is to, quote,

00:48quote, vigorously advance the policies of the National Labor Relations Act

00:52to promote collective bargaining by ensuring that workers can freely express their wishes

00:58regarding union representation and protecting workers' fundamental right to act together

01:04for their mutual aid or protection, end quote.

01:08That is not my definition of what the NLRB is about.

01:12That is what the NLRB says on its own website.

01:16At a time of massive income and wealth inequality,

01:20when 60% of our people are living paycheck to paycheck,

01:25we need a functioning NLRB and an aggressive general counsel

01:31who will vigorously enforce that mission

01:33and protect the constitutional right of workers to form unions

01:38and collectively bargain for better wages and benefits.

01:41Millions of American workers want to do that,

01:44and because of illegal actions on the part of the corporate world,

01:48they are unable to exercise their constitutional right.

01:53Unfortunately, as a result of President Trump's actions,

01:55the NLRB has been effectively shut down.

01:59What does that mean?

02:00It means that it is now much harder for workers to form a union

02:04and improve their standard of living.

02:06It means that during a union election, corporate bosses can illegally fire workers

02:12who vote to join a union.

02:14It means that corporate CEOs have free reign to illegally intimidate

02:18and coerce pro-union workers without recourse.

02:22It means that corporations can aggressively decide not to bargain in good faith

02:26with union workers or sign a first contract.

02:30And because the NLRB is now dysfunctional, workers have no recourse.

02:37And let's be clear, President Trump's decision has already had disastrous consequences.

02:42Five months ago, workers at a Whole Foods grocery store in Philadelphia

02:46voted 130 to 100 to join the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.

02:52But Whole Foods, owned by Jeff Bezos, has ignored this union victory

02:56and has refused to bargain with their union workers as required by law.

03:01Without a functioning NLRB, Whole Foods cannot be held accountable for its illegal behavior.

03:08And that has happened in Chicago at Mouser Packaging.

03:13Similarly, it has happened at Mass General Brigham Hospital,

03:17where 88% of primary care physicians voted to join a union,

03:21but the hospital is challenging this union victory.

03:24And without a functioning NLRB, it remains to be seen whether they are going to be able to do

03:29what they have voted to do.

03:31Mr. Chairman, let's be clear.

03:33Replacing the most effective NLRB general counsel in modern history

03:37with someone who has spent her career representing some of the most notorious union busters in America

03:42will not make this situation any better.

03:45It will only make it worse.

03:47Crystal Carey, Trump's nominee, is a corporate attorney

03:50who has represented Amazon and Dollar General and many other corporations

03:55that have worked relentlessly to prevent workers from forming unions.

04:00That is the nominee for general counsel of the NLRB.

04:03In fact, Amazon, one of Ms. Carey's clients, is working overtime to abolish the NLRB.

04:11Incredibly, this company absurdly believes that this independent board

04:16that was established by Congress 90 years ago is unconstitutional.

04:21So further, we will also be considering the nomination of Brittany Panuccio to serve on the EEOC.

04:26Like Ms. Carey, Ms. Panuccio has also represented powerful corporate interest.

04:31Our bottom line is that at a time when workers want to join unions,

04:36are benefiting from joining unions,

04:38I think the folks we have in front of us are not doing the job that workers need.

04:42Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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