Members of Congress heard firsthand today how real workers are affected by the Bush-appointed National Labor Relations Board’s failure to protect worker rights.
Feliza Ryland, a hospitality worker and UNITE HERE member, testified before a joint hearing of the Employment and Workplace Safety Subcommittee of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and the Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee of the House Education and Labor Committee.
Ms. Ryland was illegally fired from her job at the Grosvenor Resort Hotel in Florida in 1996 after she and her co-workers protested the hotel’s refusal to bargain in good faith. More than a decade later, her former employer has yet to pay her backpay ordered by a federal judge.
This is wrong. Workers who are fired for trying to organize and bargain for a better life have been mistreated for exercising their rights. It should not take so long to get justice. And the government should be protecting workers, not punishing them for exercising their rights under the law. It is wrong for me to be penalized for exercising my rights while my employer, who broke the law, is rewarded.
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UPDATE (December 14, 2007): New York Times article: Critics Say Labor Board Favors Big Business
UPDATE (December 18, 2007): Streaming video of the hearing is now available.
Comments (1)
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I am one of the 44 that was fired also by Grosvenor 11 years ago....how many judges and courts does it take to make a company pay the people backpay that was so wrongfully fired ? There is not a man or woman alive that doesn't need more money and benefits to feed ..cloth ...and take care of their familys we all need health care but not to the point where we can't afford it...no cost of living raises and if u got 25 cents more they took 50 cent more for insurance ....Even the blue collar workers the ones of you that sit back behind your desk and push pens all day need money and insurance that u can afford ...well us housekeepers and others need it more cause we get alot less pay for alot nastier type job that if not for us little people you big shots would not have a job....so help us ...help us receive what is rightfully ours ...thank you
Posted by Deborah Goodman on December 15, 2007 at 12:07 AM
Posted on December 15, 2007 at 12:07 AM