Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019
Floor Speech
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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
I have not been on the floor to hear all of the debate, but it is interesting to hear how proworker the debate is from a party that has been responsible for opposing workers' protections, workers' wages, minimum wages, and almost every other thing that lifted workers up.
I will remind my friends on the other side of the aisle that the best times for the middle class were when the unions had the largest number of members. Why? Because employers could not just tell them: You are going to get this. No, there had to be a bargaining saying: Look, we are making a lot of profits. We want to share in those profits because we enabled those profits.
So, yes, we are for giving workers the right to organize. We are for everybody who benefits from that, paying part of the taxes for that. There are a lot of people who don't like the policies we pursue. But they have to pay taxes because the majority decides that that is what we are going to do. And that is the policy of the United States. And you can't say: Well, I don't like the policy, so I am not going to pay.
I rise in very strong support of this bill. This is a bill about the middle class. This is a bill about working people. You talk a lot about working people. This is what lifts up working people, giving them some ability to negotiate on somewhat of an equal plane.
Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of this legislation which will protect workers' rights to organize and bargain collectively. That right is at the heart of American opportunity. Furthermore, I would suggest there is not a robust democracy in the world that does not have a trade union movement. It is what made prosperity possible for generations of working people and their families.
This administration and Republicans in Congress have been working to undermine that right and erode the protections won by the workers' rights movement. Today, I am proud to bring this legislation to the floor to make it clear that Democrats will not allow that to happen.
We stand with the men and women of organized labor, and all workers who benefit through their efforts, and we will fight on their behalf to protect workers' rights.
I want to thank Chairman Bobby Scott of the Education and Labor Committee for introducing this legislation and shepherding it through the committee where Members helped strengthen it and ensure broad support across our caucus.
In addition to banning employers from forcing workers to participate in anti-union activities--perhaps my friends in the House who believe in freedom think maybe that is wrong. I don't know. We will see--the PRO Act ends the practice of management misclassifying workers in order to deny them benefits and fair pay. I challenge anybody to get up and say that doesn't happen.
It puts the National Labor Relations Board back on the side of workers, stopping the Trump administration's use of that board to subvert workers' rights. When they say ``deregulation,'' regulation is making sure workplaces are safe; making sure that products that are sold are safe--that is regulation--making sure that automobiles are safe to be on the road. That is regulation.
By the way, we all know about regulations. We watch a football game. It is a regulation that you can't cross the line until the ball is hiked. That is regulation. It makes the game fair. This bill strengthens unions' hands in negotiations by prohibiting employers from hiring permanent replacements for striking workers. In other words, do it my way, kid, or get out.
That is the way it used to be before the 1930s where some people died walking lines. They were trying to picket or trying to make the case for their employees. Yes, some people died, and some people bled so that other workers would have a fair shot, fair pay, safe workplace, and some long-term security.
In short, the PRO Act is the workers' rights legislation our Nation has been waiting for. If we are for the middle class, we need to make sure that the middle class has some bargaining power. It is the legislation our country needs to confront the assault of unorganized labor that has been ramped up under this antiworker President.
When we have strong unions, workers--even those not in unions--end up with higher wages, better healthcare, more secure retirement benefits, and safer workplaces.
They had to fight for that, and as I said, some people died for that. That is why we need legislation like the PRO Act.
When the Democratic-led House passes this bill, it will join other proworker legislation waiting for action in the Senate. These include the Raise the Wage Act to bring the Federal minimum wage up to $15. There is not one of us who could live on $15 an hour, but we have kept, over the 12 years that the Republicans were in the majority, $7.25 as the minimum wage. I challenge anybody in this House to live on $7.25 an hour for 40 hours.
We ensured equal pay for women in the Equality Act, which bans discrimination against LGBT workers. Martin Luther King said to judge on the content of character and effort, not on some extraneous character trait that may have nothing to do with whether you can perform the job.
We also passed the Butch Lewis Act to protect multiemployer pension funds, as well as the SECURE Act to help more workers save for a secure retirement.
Let's not forget we passed legislation protecting coverage for Americans with preexisting conditions. The President said he was for preexisting conditions, but he wanted to repeal the Affordable Care Act. They tried, and they had a big celebration down at the White House right after they passed it from the House to the Senate.
Guess what happened 2 weeks later? The President said: That is a mean bill.
Check the Record, Mr. Chairman. All of these bills are sitting on Senator Mitch McConnell's desk. I call on Senator McConnell to restore democracy and let Senators vote.
I urge my colleagues to send the PRO Act to the Senate with strong support. This is proworker, pro-middle class, profamily, and pro- American. Vote ``yes.''
Ms. FOXX of North Carolina. Mr. Chair, I have to say that saying that this is the most antiworker President ever in the country is just pretty far off the mark. And we are, on our side of the aisle, I believe, the most proworker people in the Congress.
American workers have the right to organize, and Republicans support that right. This bill is not needed to protect those rights.
Mr. Chair, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Rodney Davis).
Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Chairman, I thank the ranking member, who has fought hard on this legislation that I want to talk to you about today.
It is very interesting to stand here and listen to my colleagues and me talk about refereeing and talking about regulations. Sometimes, refereeing doesn't get it right when it comes to sporting events, and it is disappointing today because I stand here as somebody who has worked with, supported, and been supported by many members of organized labor, my friends in the building trades and my friends the airline pilots and the air traffic controllers. I would use the rest of my time if I talked about all the men and women in organized labor whom we have worked with to try to come up with bipartisan solutions.
Despite my strong record of supporting Davis-Bacon, PLAs, and ensuring workers have the means to unionize, I have to oppose this bill.
The Democrat majority has brought to the floor another bill that has no chance of becoming law. It is a messaging bill, and it has a couple of provisions that I really have to highlight.
Last year, the Democrat majority proposed in H.R. 1 that every single member of the Democratic majority who voted for that had public financing of their own congressional campaigns with corporate fines. The corporate fine provision in this bill could create a circumstance where a business commits an unfair labor practice and the civil penalties get directed to Members of Congress' campaigns, not to victims. This is irresponsible.
The joint employer standard that is codified in this law is wrong.
Mr. Chairman, reconsider this legislation. Let's work together to actually come up with solutions.
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