(The following statement of was issued by Jon Hiatt, AFL-CIO General Counsel, on January 28.)
WASHINGTON — Working men and women, and their unions, look to the federal courts as a place where they should get a fair shot at being able to stop unfair labor practices by employers, win enforcement of their union contracts, uphold workplace safety rules, and ensure that employers respect laws requiring fair pay and equal treatment on the job.
But our rights are at risk, because of President Bush’s effort to pack the courts with ultra-conservative judges, as shown by his decision to re-nominate a group of highly controversial nominees B including two who were already rejected once by the Senate Judiciary Committee B with troubling records on civil rights, worker rights, and other crucial protections. Rather than working with senators to identify mainstream nominees for these prestigious lifetime appointments, the President is taking advantage of his own party’s obstructionism of President Clinton’s nominees, and is now seeking to fill those seats with ultra-conservative appointees who will fundamentally alter the balance on the federal courts for generations to come.
Because of the threat many of these nominees pose to the rights of working families, the AFL-CIO joins with our coalition partners from the civil rights, women’s, environmental, and other communities represented here today in expressing our alarm. We call on the President to moderate his judicial appointments and to nominate mainstream judges who represent the values of America’s working families. We call on the Senate to reject the Administration’s court-packing plan, to insist on mainstream judges with balanced records, and to reject nominees who fail to meet this test.