Bradley speaking to the Iowa AFL-CIO:
"Used to be that thirty percent of the workers in the private sector were represented by a union. Now that's down to 11%...And I think that you have to begin to say, "Why is that the case? Why is that happening?"...
It is because it is more difficult to organize. It is because the law is tilted in the other direction. It is because the Congress of the United States has not, since 1978 taken a hard look at labor law reform in this country. That is why these numbers have occurred. And that means if you are going to get more people represented by a union - and in so doing give them a chance to do better by their family - you've got to try to change these laws so that more people can succeed in their organizing efforts.
For example, the law now says that it is against the law to fire an organizer. But we all know that the law doesn't work. It doesn't work because there are no teeth in the law. If you're organizing, and someone has a whiff that you're organizing, you're fired like that. Because an employer only has to pay - after a lengthy process, he only has to pay back wages - that's it. I think we need to put teeth in that law, and say that if somebody is fired for organizing, and it goes through that process and you prove it, then that employer has to pay three times back wages, plus punitive damages.
I think you've got to shorten the time between when cards are collected, and the election actually takes place.
I think you need a ban on striker replacement in this country.
I think you need to make the companies that violate the labor laws ineligible for government contracts in this country."