I hope that it is alright if I make a speech on this subject on the floor of the Assembly.
I would like to say a few words about this piece of legislation, but I speak to you not as a Liberal or even as an Assemblyman, but as a Mideasterner. Unions have always existed to protect workers from exploitation, dangerous working conditions, and the excesses of corporate greed. And these guardians of the work force do their job well. Indeed, this protection is nothing if not good for businesses as it facilitates a symbiotic relationship between management and labor instead of a parasitic one. The fight to protect a worker's right to organize is not a war against management and must never become such, instead, it is a battle for fairness. Just as the pendulum must never swing too far towards labor, so to must it not swing too far towards management.
However, a past session of the Mideast Assembly erected a great wall known as the Labor Relations Act which has blocked unions from protecting workers, and so the pendulum has now swung to far towards management. But with this legislation, we have an opportunity to free the great guardians of labor from the chains of the Labor Relations Act and give them the power to protect workers from exploitation. Last September, the voices of the people rose up and shouted "Assemblymen, Governor, tear down this wall!" And so tear down the wall, we must. This legislation represents an opportunity to this and so, I urge my fellow Assemblymen and our distinguished Governor to join Assemblyman Gass3268 and myself in supporting this vital piece of legislation. The time is now, the mideast needs it, and the people of this great region demand it. Thank you
