Stern: Working Families Want a Debate"

Washington, DC--Today, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) released the statement of President Andy Stern on the Senate's failure to give legal scholar and practitioner Craig Becker an up or down vote to serve on the National Labor Relations Board.

"Working families across America today learned that the Republican Party and some Democrats would rather sit on their hands than serve the interests of the people who put them in office in the first place.

"Craig Becker is as qualified and brilliant a nominee as they come, someone who is respected by management and labor-side attorneys, by academics, liberals and conservatives alike. But when it came time to voting to even debate his appointment to the National Labor Relations Board, Congress forgot - or ignored-- the needs of the people they were elected to serve, and thwarted the will of the majority of the Senate.

"Americans have made it clear: they want action from this Congress. They want a debate on the issues important to working families, and they expect Senators to have that debate. Yet, time and time again, the Republican Party and some Democrats have used procedural tactics and gamesmanship to prevent these important debates from even happening.

"Let me be clear: This debate is bigger than Craig Becker. What we saw today was a clear signal that too many members of Congress are invested in the failure of this Administration, and in turn, the failure of this country. By refusing to even debate the issues, they are silencing the voices of working families - and preventing our country from working. President Obama was elected by the American people and he deserves to have his extremely qualified appointments in place."

With 2.2 million members in Canada, the United States and Puerto Rico, SEIU is the fastest-growing union in the Americas. Focused on uniting workers in healthcare, public services and property services, SEIU members are winning better wages, healthcare and more secure jobs for our communities, while uniting their strength with their counterparts around the world to help ensure that workers--not just corporations and CEOs--benefit from today's global economy.

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