Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019
Floor Speech
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Mrs. TRAHAN. Mr. Chairman, I thank my friend from Virginia for yielding and for his steady leadership on this issue.
Mr. Chairman, on Tuesday evening, the American people were treated to a number of fairy-tale promises. But none was more preposterous than the claim that the administration's agenda has been ``relentlessly proworker.''
It has been relentless, all right. Relentlessly hostile to our unions, particularly those seeking redress from the NLRB; relentless in favoring corporate interests over working people, such as those deliberately misclassified as contractors; and relentless in its opposition to permitting employees the right to have their day in court when their rights are violated.
The PRO Act is what a real proworker agenda looks like: It levels the playing field for workers in organizing drives. It reorients the NLRB to defend workers who are unfairly targeted. It blocks worker misclassifications, and it demands real penalties for violations of workers' rights.
I am pleased that the PRO Act includes my amendment to ban offensive lockouts, a cruel technique designed to bring workers to their knees rather than the negotiating table in good faith. The steelworkers in my home State of Massachusetts know that cruel tactic all too well.
Mr. Chairman, as the daughter of a union ironworker and the granddaughter of a union carpenter, I have experienced firsthand why unions are the foundation of America's middle class. I have lived the benefits that unions and organized labor bring to families across Massachusetts and the United States.
I wouldn't be standing here today without them. And it is perfectly clear why our unions must have their rights restored. Income inequality has risen as union membership has declined. It is time to reverse that trend.
Mr. Chair, I include in the Record a letter from NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice organization which endorses the PRO Act. Network Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, Washington, DC, February 6, 2020.
Dear Representative: NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice urges you to vote YES on the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act (H.R. 2474). In the spirit of the Gospel, we promote a just society which ensures that all people are able to live dignified lives. According to Catholic Social Justice, labor ``maintains the fabric of the world.'' We are called to recognize the value of people's human labor, thereby honoring the dignity of work as a path to growth, human development, and personal fulfillment. The PRO Act does just that by restoring workers' rights to collectively bargain, empowering them to negotiate for fair wages, benefits, retirement security, and protection from discrimination and harassment. We urge a YES vote on the PRO Act to achieve fairness and justice for disenfranchised working people.
Labor union participation has fallen precipitously over the years: from a third of wage and salaried workers in the United States to just 10.7 percent, as of 2017. Protecting the right to freely associate and organize at the workplace has been proven to help settle workplace disputes by restoring the balance of bargaining power between employers and employees. Workers and employers alike benefit from the institution of labor protections through unions. Disputes can be settled unfairly when the power differential between the employer and employee goes unchecked. Without the power of collective bargaining, workers' voices go unheard and workers' concerns go unheeded. When Congress passed the National Labor Relations Act in 1953, they knew this. However, nearly every amendment to the law since has undermined its spirit--making it harder for working people to form unions, chipping away at workers's rights, and harming the economy. The PRO Act would expand the full force of protections once offered by the NRLA.
The PRO Act would: shield workers from retaliation when they exercise their right to form a union, end mandatory arbritration in contracting, and apply a clear, fair standard of protection nationwide which ``right to work'' laws currently sidestep.
The PRO Act would also: prevent further erosion of the law by penalizing employers that don't comply, and apply simple tests to end misclassification of employees.
The PRO Act is a historic proposal that faithfully restores dignity to workers and rightly appraises their value as full participants in the workplace and in the economy. We urge you to vote YES to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (H.R. 2474).
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Mrs. TRAHAN. Mr. Chair, it is time to pass the PRO Act.
Ms. FOXX of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from South Dakota (Mr. Johnson).
Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the misnamed Protecting the Right to Organize Act.
The American economy is thriving by almost any economic measure, and it seems as though an important job of Congress would be to continue to support the workers, the employers, and the jobs that have been powering this, the longest economic expansion in American history.
What we shouldn't do is act to restrict State flexibility, worker flexibility, and worker choice. Unfortunately, the PRO Act eliminates the State's ability to decide that they want to be a right-to-work State; and unfortunately, the PRO Act hurts the franchise sector by imposing an aggressive new joint employer rule; and unfortunately, the PRO Act hurts workers who are involved in the gig economy by enacting unreasonable restrictions on who can be an independent contractor, and how they can work.
Now, let's make no mistake about it. The impact of these changes will, indeed, mean less freedom, less flexibility, and over time, it will mean less prosperity. As a result, Mr. Chairman, I am voting ``no.''
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