Dennis Kucinich on Jobs Democratic Representative (OH-10)

Sub-sections under Jobs:
• Voting Record
• Other issues under Jobs

I’m the one candidate who comes from the working class

Put unemployed to work rebuilding infrastructure

Dennis Kucinich, in contrast, wants to put people without jobs to work rebuilding America’s crumbling infrastructure--bridges, tunnels, roads--at a time when many politicians in both parties are desiring to sell them off; his program would put people of New Orleans to work rebuilding their own city and its water defenses.

Require all government agencies to follow ENDA for GLBT jobs

Restore right to organize; to collective bargain; to strike

A: The right to organize is a basic right in a democratic society. And in a Worker’s White House under a Kucinich administration, the right to organize, the right to collective bargaining, the right to strike, the right to decent wages & benefits, the right to a safe workplace, the right to a secure retirement, the right to participate in a political process--these are all basic rights that will be the hallmark of my presidency

Would accept minimum wage as president, reluctantly

A: I live in the same house I purchased in 1971 for $22,500. I think we need to increase the minimum wage and so all my neighbors can get an increase in their wages.

Q: So would you work for it?

A: I would. But I wouldn’t want to.

Works Green Administration: WGA creates green jobs, like WPA

A president can do that, & I intend to, with a WGA--a Works Green Administration--which will produce millions of new jobs; retrofitting homes with green building, putting wind & solar, microtechnology; enabling people to save money, reduce the carbon footprint. We can save our planet. We will save our planet, and we’ll do it with leadership and with all of us working together to do that.

Cancel tax cuts for the rich

A: First, cancel the Bush tax cuts that went to the people in the top brackets. Second, get the US out of Iraq. Third, cut the Pentagon budget by 15% and put that money into universal pre-kindergarten. Fourth, take the money from the Bush tax cuts that went to the top bracket and put it into a fund to create universal college education. Fifth, get NASA involved in developing new energy technologies, new environmental technologies.

Rebuild infrastructure with a program like FDR’s WPA

Shift USDA funds from agribusiness to family farmers

Kucinich will shift USDA funding and focus away from the promotion of concentrated intensive and industrial agribusiness.
• New focus will benefit family farmers, rural communities, the environment, and consumers, with policies crafted to enable farmers to earn a fair price and to provide safe, nutritious food to all people.
• Will increase funding for regional food processing facilities, marketing assistance, farm to school programs, on-farm renewable energy, and the Farmers Market Nutrition Program.
• Agricultural research and development institutions will be given funding priority to help family farmers make a transition to profitable and sustainable agriculture.

Labor defends workers when corporations attack

Right to a job and to decent wages

People have a right to:
• A job.
• A safe workplace.
• Decent wages and benefits.
• Organize and be represented.
• Grieve about working conditions.
• Strike.
• Fair compensation for injuries on the job.
• Sue if injured by negligent employers.
• Security of pension and retirement benefits.
• Participate in the political process.

Labor protections; not binding employer arbitration

Genetically-engineered food is an issue of freedom of choice

Address plight of small farmer by canceling NAFTA & WTO

Break apart monopolistic agribusiness companies

National ban on packer ownership of livestock

Farm worker safety by fining employers

Invest in rural America

Enshrine workers’ rights in a workers’ White House

As president, I’ll issue an executive order which will say that anyone who gets a federal contract will have to provide that when 50 percent of the workers sign up for a union, there’s an automatic union.

Joblessness is a weapon of mass destruction

Engrave into stone the rights of working people

• People have a right to a job.
• A right to a safe workplace.
• A right to decent wages and benefits.
• A right to organize and be represented.
• A right to grieve about working conditions.
• A right to strike.
• A right to fair compensation for injuries on the job.
• A right to sue if injured by negligent employers.
• A right to security of pension and retirement benefits.
• A right to participate in the political process.

Give teeth to the National Labor Relations Act

A: One of the reasons why you’ve seen union membership dropping in this country is because you haven’t seen that kind of common application of labor law. We have to make sure that all these institutions that have been set up to protect the rights of working men and women actually have teeth.

We have a Department of Labor. It’s seldom that you see the kind of enforcement for workers or workers’ rights. I’m now the chairman of Domestic Policy Subcommittee for the US House. We’re finally going to get into looking at what the NLRB does and how they really work consistently to undermine the rights of workers & unions to try to be heard and to be represented.

We also have to look at OSHA and enforcement like that because there’s a lot of unsafe workplaces where the people are not being held to account in law.

Raise minimum wage to over $8.50

A: I favor restoring the value that has been lost to inflation over the past 35 years, which would mean a minimum wage of over $8.50. I favor indexing this to automatically keep pace with the cost of living.

Repeal portions of Taft-Hartley Act; enhance right to strike

Voted YES on extending unemployment benefits from 39 weeks to 59 weeks.

Proponent's argument to vote Yes:

Rep. CHARLES RANGEL (D, NY-15): The House, for weeks, has attempted to save the free world from a fiscal disaster. We have bailed out the banks and those who held mortgages. At the same time, we provided for energy extensions, we provided tax breaks for those people that tax provisions have expired. We provided for hurricane relief, for mental health. So over $1 trillion is out there for this House to ease the pain of millions of Americans.

While we were dealing with these gigantic powers, we overlooked the fact that over the last 12 months the number of unemployed workers has jumped by over 2 million, leaving 10 million Americans struggling for work. These are hardworking people that have lost their jobs through no fault of their own.

Rep. JERRY WELLER (R, IL-11): This important legislation provides additional needed assistance to the long-term unemployed. It's important that we pass this legislation today as our last act before we leave for the election campaign.

This legislation focuses the most additional benefits on workers and States where the unemployment rate is highest and where jobs are hardest to find. This program continues the requirement that those benefiting from extended unemployment benefits had to have worked at least 20 weeks. Americans were rightly concerned about proposals to eliminate that work requirement and allow 39 weeks or, under the legislation before us today, as many as 59 weeks of total unemployment benefits to be paid to those who have previously only worked for a few weeks.

Opponent's argument to vote No:None voiced.

Voted YES on overriding presidential veto of Farm Bill.

Congressional Summary: Provides for the continuation of agricultural and other programs of the Department of Agriculture through FY2012. Revises agricultural and related programs, including provisions respecting:

1. commodity programs;
2. conservation;
3. trade;
4. nutrition;
5. credit;
6. rural development;
7. research and related matters;
8. forestry;
9. energy;
10. horticulture and organic agriculture;
11. livestock;
12. crop insurance and disaster assistance;
13. socially disadvantaged and limited resource producers; and
14. miscellaneous programs.

This bill lacks fiscal discipline. It continues subsidies for the wealthy and increases farm bill spending by more than $20 billion, while using budget gimmicks to hide much of the increase. It is inconsistent with our trade objectives of securing greater market access for American farmers. [Hence] I must veto H.R. 6124.

Proponents argument for voting YEA: We had a meeting this morning with the Secretary of Agriculture to talk about implementation. So [despite the two vetoes], the work has been going on within the department of agriculture to get ready for implementation.

This is a good bill. It has wide support in the Congress. It does address all of the issues that have been brought to the Agriculture Committee.

Voted YES on restricting employer interference in union organizing.

To enable employees to form & join labor organizations, and to provide for mandatory injunctions for unfair labor practices during organizing efforts. Requires investigation that an employer:
1. discharged or discriminated against an employee to discourage membership in a labor organization;
2. threatened to discharge employees in the exercise of guaranteed collective bargaining rights; and
3. adds to remedies for such violations: back pay plus liquidated damages; and additional civil penalties.

Proponents support voting YES because:

The principle at stake here is the freedom that all workers should have to organize for better working conditions & fair wages. There are many employers around the country who honor this freedom. Unfortunately, there are also many employers who do not. These employers attempt to prevent workers from unionizing by using tactics that amount to harassment, if not outright firing. In fact, one in five people who try to organize unions are fired. These tactics are already illegal, but the penalties are so minor, they are not effective deterrents.

Opponents support voting NO because:

Democracy itself is placed at risk by this bill. The sanctity of the secret ballot is the backbone of our democratic process. Not one voter signed a card to send us here to Congress. None of us sent our campaign workers out to voters' houses armed with candidate information & a stack of authorization cards. No. We trusted democracy. We trusted the voters to cast their ballots like adults, freely, openly, without intimidation, and we live with the results. But here we are, poised to advance legislation to kill a secret ballot process.

Let's be clear. Every American has the right to organize. No one is debating that. This is a right we believe in so strongly we have codified it and made it possible for workers to do so through a secret ballot.

Reference: The Employee Free Choice Act; Bill H R 800 ; vote number 2007-118 on Mar 1, 2007

Voted YES on increasing minimum wage to $7.25.

Increase the federal minimum wage to:
1. $5.85 an hour, beginning on the 60th day after enactment;
2. $6.55 an hour, beginning 12 months after that 60th day; and
3. $7.25 an hour, beginning 24 months after that 60th day.

Proponents support voting YES because:

We have waited for over 10 years to have a clean vote on the minimum wage for the poorest workers in this country Low-wage workers had their wages frozen in time, from 10 years ago, but when they go to the supermarket, the food prices are higher; when they put gasoline in the car, the gasoline prices are higher; when they pay the utility bills, the utility bills are higher; when their kids get sick, the medical bills are higher. All of those things are higher. They are living in 2007, but in their wages they are living in 1997.

Opponents support voting NO because:

This bill is marked more by what is not in the bill than what is in it. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy. They create two-thirds of our Nation's new jobs, and they represent 98% of the new businesses in the US. What protection does this bill provide them? None whatsoever.

We can do better. In the interest of sending the President a final measure that provides consideration for small businesses and their workers, the very men and women who are responsible for our economy's recent growth and strength, we must do better.

Reference: Fair Minimum Wage Act; Bill HR 2 ("First 100 hours") ; vote number 2007-018 on Jan 10, 2007

Voted NO on end offshore tax havens and promote small business.

American Jobs Creation Act of 2004: <0l>
1. Repeal the tax exclusion for extraterritorial income - Permits foreign corporations to revoke elections to be treated as U.S. corporations Business Tax Incentives - Small Business ExpensingTax Relief for Agriculture and Small Manufacturers
2. Tax Reform and Simplification for United States Businesses
3. Deduction of State and Local General Sales Taxes
4. Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform
5. Provisions to Reduce Tax Avoidance Through Individual and Corporation Expatriation

Voted NO on $167B over 10 years for farm price supports.

Voted NO on zero-funding OSHA's Ergonomics Rules instead of $4.5B.

Require full disclosure of outsourced employees.

OFFICIAL CONGRESSIONAL SUMMARY: Transparency and Responsibility for US Trade Health Act (TRUTH Act): Requires a US national that employs individuals in a foreign country, either directly or through subsidiaries, to take necessary steps to provide transparency and public disclosure in all its operations.

EXCERPTS OF BILL:

Be it enacted:
• A national of the US that employs one or more individuals in a foreign country, either directly or through subsidiaries or licensees (including any security forces of the national), shall take the necessary steps to provide transparency and disclosure in all its operations, including the full public disclosure of the following:
• Information relating to location, address, and corporate name of all facilities abroad
• Applicable financial agreements and investments of partners and subcontractors
• Worker rights practices and labor standards, including any complaints from employees and violations of local labor laws.
• Age, gender, and number of employees in each facility.
• Wages paid to employees, including policies on overtime pay.
• Working conditions based on current OSHA standards for similar operations.
• Environmental performance, including toxic release inventory.
• The human rights policy, any complaints received from local communities, and any human rights lawsuits filed.

  LEGISLATIVE OUTCOME:Referred to House Committee on International Relations; never came to a vote.

  Source: TRUTH Act of 2001 (H.R.460) 01-HR0460 on Feb 6, 2001

  Rated 100% by the AFL-CIO, indicating a pro-union voting record.

  Kucinich scores 100% by the AFL-CIO on union issues

  As the federation of America’s unions, the AFL-CIO includes more than 13 million of America’s workers in 60 member unions working in virtually every part of the economy. The mission of the AFL-CIO is to improve the lives of working families to bring economic justice to the workplace and social justice to our nation. To accomplish this mission we will build and change the American labor movement.

  The following ratings are based on the votes the organization considered most important; the numbers reflect the percentage of time the representative voted the organization's preferred position.

  Source: AFL-CIO website 03n-AFLCIO on Dec 31, 2003

  Allow an Air Traffic Controller's Union.

  Kucinich co-sponsored allowing an Air Traffic Controller's Union

  OFFICIAL CONGRESSIONAL SUMMARY: Federal Aviation Administration Fair Labor Management Dispute Resolution Act of 2006: Prohibits the FAA from implementing any proposed change to the FAA personnel management system in cases where the services of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service do not lead to an agreement between the Administrator and FAA employees, unless Congress authorizes the change during the 60-day period. Requires binding arbitration if Congress does not enact a bill into law within the 60-day period.

  SPONSOR'S INTRODUCTORY REMARKS: Sen. OBAMA: Because what air traffic controllers do is vital to our safety, I became very concerned by a letter I received from Illinois air traffic controller Michael Hannigan. He wrote that "the air traffic controllers are not being allowed to negotiate in good faith with the FAA."

  What was clear in Michael's plea was the sense that he and his colleagues felt that they were being treated unfairly. I looked into it and came to the conclusion that if we did not restore a fair negotiation procedure, it would threaten agency morale and effectiveness.

  The problem is this: the FAA Administrator currently has the extraordinary authority to impose wages and working conditions on her workers without arbitration. In order to do that, she merely has to declare an impasse in negotiations and if Congress does not stop her from imposing her terms and conditions within 60 days, the Administrator can go ahead and act unilaterally. That authority denies air traffic controllers and all other FAA employees the opportunity to engage in and conclude negotiations in good faith.

  It is in the best interest of the agency and public safety to have management and labor cooperate in contract negotiations.

  EXCERPTS OF BILL:

  LEGISLATIVE OUTCOME:Referred to Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation; never came to a vote.

  Source: FAA Dispute Resolution Act (S.2201/H.R.4755) 06-S2201 on Jan 26, 2006

  Form unions by card-check instead of secret ballot.

  Kucinich signed H.R.1409&S.560

  Amends the National Labor Relations Act to require the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to certify a bargaining representative without directing an election if a majority of the bargaining unit employees have authorized designation of the representative (card-check) and there is no other individual or labor organization currently certified or recognized as the exclusive representative of any of the employees in the unit.

  Requires that priority be given to any charge that, while employees were seeking representation by a labor organization, an employer:
  1. discharged or otherwise discriminated against an employee to encourage or discourage membership in the labor organization;
  2. threatened to discharge or to otherwise discriminate against an employee in order to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of guaranteed self-organization or collective bardaining rights; or
  3. engaged in any unfair labor practice that significantly interferes with, restrains, or coerces employees in the exercise of such guaranteed rights. Source: Employee Free Choice Act 09-HR1409 on Mar 10, 2009

     Member of House Education and Labor Committee.

     Kucinich is a member of the House Education and Labor Committee

     The House Committee on Education and the Workforce's purpose is to ensure that Americans' needs are addressed so that students and workers may move forward in a changing school system and a competitive global economy. The following issues are under the jurisdiction of the Committee:

     • Elementary and secondary education initiatives, including the No Child Left Behind Act, school choice for low-income families, special education, and vocational and technical education;
     • Higher education programs
     • Early childhood & preschool education programs including Head Start;
     • School lunch and child nutrition programs;
     • Programs and services for the care and treatment of at-risk youth, child abuse prevention, and child adoption;
     • Anti-poverty programs, including the Community Services Block Grant Act and the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).
       
       
     • Labor: The Committee also holds jurisdiction over workforce initiatives, including:
     • Pension and retirement security
     • Access to quality health care for working families and other employee benefits;
     • Job training, adult education, and workforce development initiatives, including those under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA)
     • Continuing the successful welfare reforms of 1996;
     • Worker health and safety, including occupational safety and health;
     • Providing greater choices and flexibility (including "comp time" or family time options) to working women and men;
     • Equal employment opportunity and civil rights in employment;
     • Wages and hours of labor, including the Fair Labor Standards Act;
     • Workers' compensation, and family and medical leave;
     • All matters dealing with relationships between employers and employees.
     Source: U.S. House of Representatives website, www.house.gov 11-HC-ELC on Feb 3, 2011

     Rated 0% by CEI, indicating a pro-worker rights voting record.

     Kucinich scores 0% by CEI on union issues

     The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a public policy organization dedicated to the principles of free markets and limited government, has created a Congressional Labor Scorecard for the 112th Congress focusing on worker issues. The score is determined based on policies that support worker freedom and the elimination of Big Labor's privileges across the country.

     Votes in the current Congress score include:
     • Bill: H.R. 658, LaTourette Amendment No. 21: NO on repealing changes to the Railway Labor Act's voting rules.
     • Bill: H.R. 658, Gingrey Amendment No. 18: YES to prohibit Federal Aviation Administration employees from using official--that is, taxpayer sponsored--time for union activities during the official workday.
     • Bill: H.R. 1, Price Amendment No. 410: YES to defund the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
     • Bill: H.R. 1, Guinta Amendment No. 166: YES to prohibit imposing "prevailing wage" and other requirements in project labor agreements that advantage unionized contractors.
     • Bill: H.R. 2017, Scalise Amendment No. 388: YES to prohibit project labor agreements in DHS contracts
     • Bill: H.R. 2055, LaTourette Amendment No. 411: NO on funding for federal project labor agreements.
     • Bill: H.R. 1, King Amendment No. 273: YES to eliminate the "Davis Bacon" prevailing wage rate requirement for federal projects.
     • Bill: H.R. 2017, Gosar Amendment No. 386: YES to eliminate the "Davis Bacon" prevailing wage rate requirement for Department of Homeland Security contracts.
     • Bill: H.R. 2354: Gosar Amendment No. 655: YES to restrict application of the Davis-Bacon Act to contracts exceeding $20 million.
     • Bill: H.R. 2017: Rokita Amendment No. 2: YES to prohibit collective bargaining at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
     Source: CEI website 12-CEI-H on May 2, 2012

     Extend unemployment compensation during recession.

     Kucinich co-sponsored extending unemployment compensation during recession

     A bill to provide for a program of temporary extended unemployment compensation. Provides for federal-state agreements under which a state will make temporary extended unemployment compensation payments to individuals who:

     1. have exhausted all rights to regular compensation under state or federal law with respect to a benefit year (excluding any benefit year that ended before one year before the enactment of this Act);
     2. have no rights to regular compensation or extended compensation with respect to a week under such law or any other state or federal unemployment compensation law;
     3. are not receiving compensation for such week under the unemployment compensation law of Canada; and
     4. filed an initial claim for regular compensation on or after one year before the enactment of this Act.
     Source: Emergency Unemployment Extension Act (S.2544&H.R.4934) 2008-S2544 on Jan 22, 2008

     Ban discriminatory compensation; allow 2 years to sue.

     Kucinich signed Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
     Amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to declare that an unlawful employment practice occurs when:
     1. a discriminatory compensation decision or other practice is adopted;
     2. an individual becomes subject to the decision or practice; or
     3. an individual is affected by application of the decision or practice, including each time wages, benefits, or other compensation is paid.
     Allows an aggrieved person to obtain relief, including recovery of back pay, for up to two years preceding the filing of the charge, where the unlawful employment practices that have occurred during the charge filing period are similar or related to practices that occurred outside the time for filing a charge. Applies the preceding provisions to claims of compensation discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

     [Note: A woman named Lilly Ledbetter filed a lawsuit for gender-based discriminatory compensation. The Supreme Court ruled that Ms. Ledbetter could only sue for damages going back 180 days, and the 180 days was calculated from the time her employment contract was initiated, i.e., her hire date. This new law changes the 180-day period to two years, and also calculates the date from the time of each paycheck, rather than the hire date. -- Ed.]

     Source: S.181&H.R.11 2009-S181 on Jan 29, 2009

     Stronger enforcement against gender-based pay discrimination.

     Kucinich signed Paycheck Fairness Act
     A bill to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide more effective remedies to victims of discrimination in the payment of wages on the basis of sex.
     • Revises the exception to the prohibition for a wage rate differential based on any other factor other than sex. Limits such factors to bona fide factors, such as education, training, or experience.
     • Prohibits employer retaliation for inquiring about, discussing, or disclosing the wages of the employee in response to a sex discrimination investigation.
     • Makes employers who violate sex discrimination prohibitions liable in a civil action for either compensatory or punitive damages.
     • States that any action brought to enforce the prohibition against sex discrimination may be maintained as a class action in which individuals may be joined as party plaintiffs without their written consent.
     Source: S.182&H.R.12 2009-S182 on Jan 8, 2009

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