Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 15, 1995 TAG: 9506150036
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The legislation would nullify President Clinton's executive order barring federal contracts to companies that permanently replace striking workers.
The 22-16 party-line vote by the Economic and Educational Opportunities Committee followed partisan debate, with Republicans arguing the order was illegal and Democrats citing previous presidential orders as precedents. The vote sends the bill to the House floor for action.
Legislation that would have denied government funds to enforce the presidential order failed in the Senate earlier this year, when Republicans were unable to block a Democratic filibuster.
Rep. Robert Andrews, D-N.J., said Clinton would veto any new legislation and maintained that Congress would be unable to muster the two-thirds majority necessary to override the veto.
Clinton signed the order last March after failing to get through Congress in 1994 legislation to blackball companies that hired strike replacements. The order affected contracts exceeding $100,000.
But committee Chairman William Goodling, R-Pa., said Wednesday the order ``sidesteps the legislative process and runs counter to the clearly expressed legislative intent to permit employers to maintain business operations during an economic strike by hiring permanent replacement workers.''
Goodling also suggested the order would result in higher wages and thus higher costs to the government for the goods and services produced by firms unable to hire replacements.
And he said the order threatened the nation's system of collective bargaining.
``The right of employees to withhold their labor and the corollary right of management to continue business operations during a strike by hiring permanent replacement workers are the foundation of our system of collective bargaining,'' he said.
Rep. William Clay, D-Mo., the committee's ranking Democrat, contended there were precedents for Clinton's action, noting that Republican Presidents Reagan and Bush had issued orders affecting labor relations.
Clay also argued that Clinton's order was within the scope of presidential procurement authority.
``He is responsible for assuring that the taxpayers get their money's worth in terms of quality goods and services procured from federal contractors,'' Clay said.
by CNB