{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://magaziner.house.gov/media/press-releases/magaziner-amo-honor-mr-george-nee-house-floor", "Magaziner, Amo Honor Mr. George Nee on House Floor", "2024-09-11", "2024", "2024-09", "Democrat", "House", "RI", "Seth Magaziner", "M001223", "magaziner.house.gov", "magaziner", "https://magaziner.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, DC \u2013 Today, Representative Seth Magaziner (RI-02) and Congressman Gabe Amo (RI-01) spoke on the House Floor to honor Mr. George Nee, the President of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO. On October 11, 2024, Mr. Nee will step down from his position, concluding a storied career of more than 50 years advocating for the essential right to organize and fair labor protections for working people.\n\n\u201cIn addition to the hundreds of fights for fair contracts, better wages and better benefits, George boldly led the Rhode Island AFL-CIO in support of marriage equality and stood for common sense gun safety laws to protect workers,\u201d said Rep. Seth Magaziner. \u201cIt is a real honor to recognize my friend George and to congratulate him on his impactful and tremendous career.\u201d\n\n\u201cFor decades, George Nee has been a dedicated champion for working families like mine in Rhode Island,\u201d said Congressman Gabe Amo. \u201cAs he prepares to hand over the reins, I thank George for his incredible career and his steadfast dedication to securing economic opportunity and advancing social justice in our state.\u201d\n\nWATCH CONGRESSMAN AMO AND CONGRESSMAN MAGAZINER\u2019S REMARKS\n\nMAGAZINER REMARKS AS DELIVERED\n\nMister Speaker, I rise today to recognize the remarkable career of George Nee, a good friend, father, grandfather, and tireless advocate for working Rhode Islanders, who is retiring as the President of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO after four decades of service.\n\nGeorge has dedicated his life to improving the lives of working people and their families. At 21 years old, he left college to work for the farm workers union, helping organize Boston\u2019s Grape Boycott in the late 1960s and the Lettuce Boycott in 1971.\n\nHe worked closely with renowned labor leader Cesar Chavez and saw firsthand how these boycotts improved the lives of workers.\n\nGeorge then created an independent union of clerical workers, health care workers and jewelry workers in 1976 that grew to more than 1500 members.\n\nIn 1983 he joined the Rhode Island AFL-CIO, working his way up from staff representative to president in 2009, leading more than 80,000 union members as the quintessential \u2018happy warrior\u2019 on behalf of working people in Rhode Island.\n\nIn addition to the hundreds of fights for fair contracts, better wages and better benefits, George boldly led the Rhode Island AFL-CIO in support of marriage equality and stood for common sense gun safety laws to protect workers.\n\nIt is a real honor to recognize my friend George and to congratulate him on his impactful and tremendous career.\n\nI yield back.\n\nAMO REMARKS AS DELIVERED\n\nMadam Speaker, I rise today to recognize a dedicated champion for Rhode Island\u2019s working families \u2014 Mr. George Nee.\n\nLast week, George publicly announced his retirement as President of Rhode Island AFL-CIO.\n\nOn October 11th, he will leave behind a towering legacy of over 50 years fighting for workers.\n\nGeorge has often said that there can be no democracy without a vibrant union movement.\n\nIt\u2019s why he has dedicated his entire career to securing economic opportunity and advancing social justice.\n\nAs George prepares to hand over the reins, I\u2019d like to honor his incredible story \u2014 rising from humble beginnings to become the face of organized labor in Rhode Island.\n\nGeorge Nee found his calling at Boston College in the 1960s. After meeting farm workers from California, he was inspired to make their cause his own.\n\nSo inspired, in fact, that he dropped out of school as a 21-year old to advocate for the cause full-time.\n\nGeorge\u2019s early jobs involved coordinating Boston\u2019s successful grape boycott and later a lettuce boycott in Rhode Island.\n\nThanks to his efforts, farm workers who spoke little to no English were able to secure better conditions and union contracts.\n\nHe slept in church parishes, on office floors, and even in an abandoned building on Brown University\u2019s campus.\n\nIt wasn\u2019t glamorous work. But George got the job done.\n\nHis successful efforts introduced him to key players in the labor movement, including a soft-spoken man from Delano \u2014 Mr. Cesar Chavez.\n\nGeorge was his driver and a bodyguard whenever he was in the area and in the mid-1970s, George joined Cesar and eight others in a pilgrimage across southern California.\n\nTheir courageous campaign to organize farm workers led to a tense standoff with growers armed with shotguns.\n\nBut that\u2019s textbook George Nee. Never one to shy away from what\u2019s right. Never one to back down from a fight.\n\nSo after returning to Rhode Island, George helped to organize an independent union for jewelry, clerical and health care workers.\n\nThis organization became the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU. Local 1199. George served as its founding president from 1976 to 1983.\n\nMadam Speaker I have a personal connection to Local 1199. It\u2019s the same union my mom proudly joined when she worked as a nurse in Rhode Island\u2019s nursing homes.\n\nIn 1983, George was hired by our statewide AFL-CIO.\n\nFrom staff representative to executive director to secretary-treasurer to his 15-year run as president, George has become synonymous with the union.\n\nAnd thanks to his leadership, Rhode Island AFL-CIO and its affiliates are now more than 80,000 strong.\n\nOur state consistently ranks as having one of the highest rates of union membership.\n\nAnd despite changes to the economy and varying degree of appeal to organized labor, though it\u2019s at its most popular right now, George has kept the faith. He\u2019s been a tireless, relentless, devoted and a champion for workers and their families.\n\nAbove all, he has never lost sight of the ultimate goal \u2014 to make sure that working people have a seat at the table whenever decisions are being made.\n\nI saw this firsthand when I worked as an advisor in the governor\u2019s office in Rhode Island several years ago.\n\nI\u2019ll never forget the quintessential image of George at the Rhode Island State House. He was roaming the halls and making the case to legislators about the need for critical protections, critical investments.\n\nGeorge\u2019s accomplishments are too many to name with the time I have remaining, but suffice to say that his dedication to our state will stand the test of time.\n\nMadame Speaker, I\u2019d like to conclude by quoting a portion of George\u2019s retirement letter and I seek unanimous consent to insert it into the Congressional Record.\n\nAccording to George, labor is \u201cthe strongest countervailing force that stands up to the power of the business community with the goal of having a level playing field.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe are truly the people\u2019s lobby.\u201d\n\nTruly, the People\u2019s Lobby. Never a bad cause to be fighting for.\n\nFor decades, George Nee has been a mentor and friend, a colleague, an advocate, and a fighter for the working people of Rhode Island.\n\nHe will no doubt be missed.\n\nOn behalf of the hardworking men and women of the State of Rhode Island I say, thank you George.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:43:57Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://magaziner.house.gov/media/press-releases/magaziner-amo-honor-mr-george-nee-house-floor"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3805381022393703, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}