Setting the stage for a partisan brawl, President Clinton sided with organized labor Wednesday and barred federal contracts from going to companies that hire replacement workers during strikes.
His executive order faces stiff resistance from Republicans who are already plotting to overturn the directive."We will move very quickly to introduce legislation to repeal that executive order," said Mike Horak, spokesman for Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, R-Kan. "It goes directly against the will of Congress."
The order applies only to contracts exceeding $100,000 and will not be retroactive, White House press secretary Mike McCurry said. It also gives agencies some leeway to maintain contracts with companies that employ striker replacements.
The largely symbolic order, promised last month by the White House, is the latest in a series of overtures to labor as Clinton prepares for his campaign for re-election. Shoring up his Democratic base, the president has proposed a minimum-wage increase and promised to veto several GOP measures opposed by labor.
AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland witnessed the signing. He said the president's order reflects the "proposition that you cannot get good-quality goods and services from a company or employer that is engaged in warfare against its work force."