WASHINGTON, May 9, 2018 – With public support for unions at 61 percent, the highest in 15 years, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and their colleagues in the Senate and House introduced legislation Wednesday that would strengthen the middle class by restoring workers’ rights to bargain for better wages, benefits and working conditions. The legislation has been endorsed by virtually every major union in America.
Unions lead to higher wages, better benefits and a more secure retirement. Union workers earn 26 percent more, on average, than non-union workers. Union workers are also half as likely to be victims of health and safety violations or of wage theft, 18 percent more likely to have health coverage, and 23 percent more likely to have either an employer sponsored pension or 401(k).
However, the rights of workers to join together and bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions have been severely undermined. Sixty years ago, nearly a third of all workers belonged to a union. Today, that number has gone down to less than 11 percent. When workers become interested in forming unions, 75 percent of private-sector employers hire outside consultants to run anti-union campaigns. An employee who engages in union organizing campaigns has a one in five chance of getting fired.
“We must no longer tolerate CEOs and managers who intimidate, threaten or fire pro-union workers, who threaten to move plants to China if their workers vote in favor of a union, and who refuse to negotiate a first contract with workers who have voted to join unions,” Sanders said. “If we are serious about reducing income and wealth inequality and rebuilding the middle class, we have got to substantially increase the number of union jobs in this country.”
“Republicans like President Trump and Governor Walker continue to crack down on unions and push a special interest, corporate-driven agenda that makes it harder for middle class families to get ahead. And while they stack the deck against the American worker, unions are fighting to expand economic opportunity and strengthen the middle class,” said Pocan. “The Workplace Democracy Act restores real bargaining rights to workers and repeals the right to work laws like those that Governor Walker has used to undercut American workers. I’m proud to introduce this legislation with Senator Sanders and stand up for the millions of middle class families who are under attack by Republican leaders.”
The Workplace Democracy Act would make it easier for workers to join unions in a number of ways.
It would end right to work for less laws by repealing Section 14(b) of the Taft Hartley Act, which has allowed 28 states to pass legislation eliminating the ability of unions to collect fair share fees from those who benefit from union contracts and activities.
Under the legislation, when a majority of workers in a bargaining unit sign valid authorization cards to join a union, they must have a union. Companies would not be allowed to deny or delay a first contract with workers who have voted to join a union. Unions would be given the right to have their voice heard through secondary boycotts and picketing. And workers would have the right to know when their company spends millions of dollars running anti-union campaigns.
The bill would also stop employers from ruthlessly exploiting workers by misclassifying them as independent contractors or denying them overtime by falsely categorizing them as a “supervisor.”
“When workers’ rights to collective bargaining are attacked and undermined, corporations have enormous power over their workers and can keep wages so low that even full-time employees are still living in poverty,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). “That is not how our economy is supposed to work. We need to start rewarding work again in this country, and that means making sure every worker has the right to join together to fight for the pay and protections they deserve. I am proud to fight for this important legislation with Senator Sanders, and I urge all of my colleagues in the Senate to join us in standing up for our workers.”
The bill is cosponsored in the Senate by Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) introduced the bill with Pocan in the House.
Click here to read the bill.
Click here to read a summary of the bill.
Too bad the Democratic party loves illegal alien’s better than Americans.I would support them but I can’t they suck!
So glad to see the freeloader class picking up the tab for union dues. They are mostly parasites who know better than anyone how to get something free. Love seeing them complain about non dues paying members. Keep it up!
Our country needs this legislation. If you look into labor history you will find the states and Federal Government has always supported business. Mother Jones was arrested in WV. by the US Army and was court martialed during the coal wars. Workers should have as much protection as business receives! In the 1880’s the Reverend Philip Moody traveled the country giving speaking tours saying that” The political and economic reality is for a business to be able to afford to pay $1.50 per day to a man, and .75 cents per day to a woman the work day must be ten hours. Business can’t afford to allow an employee to work for only eight hours”. The leaders of this country only think of the common citizen as a cheap source of labor, a source of revenue, and gun fodder in a time of war.
bernie for president!
If labor union membership was really the answer to our nation’s worker’s plight,the percentages of U.S.A. workers,would NOT be on a continued decline;since the 1950s?This includes many years,that Democrats,mostly called the government’s shots.
Of course, no Republican snakes here. I have had to deal with scab co-workers only too happy to take advantage of the wages, benefits, retirement packages and job security but too cheap and brainwashed by their GOP heroes to cough up union dues. That to me is out and out theft. Getting something good for nothing and riding the backs of union workers whom, through time, fought and died for the job you enjoy today is true cowardice.
Scabs are typically but not always Republican, and refuse to see how they are hurting themselves and their families by supporting and voting for this horrible party that is out to destroy our economical structure and be a third world ultra rich/ultra poor fascist regime. It takes a lot of stupidity and gall to be so against one’s best interests, not the worst, like gun crazy assault rifle fans, ultra racists, Christian cult evangelical haters who hide behind their “God” and “Jesus” to pontificate and judge all who do not agree with them. There is no good in any of this for yourself but so many support such ugliness with fervor and enthusiasm that they cannot see how they’re getting victimized economically by the very slime bags they adore.
I have long wished for (and would vote for if given the opportunity in my union, the NALC), that scabs would not be eligible for the very benefits that attracted them to the USPS in the first place. This would include starting wages, step increases, cost of insurance and retirement contributions, and union representation at any level.
If unions as they maintain are worthless, then they don’t need them if they’re sincere enough to put their money where their fat mouths are. Let postal management do everything as they see fit with no interference from the NALC or other union.
Think about it, and don’t give me the excuse that your local branch is crooked, incompetent, etc. They don’t decide your wages, benefits, etc. The national level does, and while I’m the first to admit some local and regional representation has had their bad eggs, there are and always have been ways to deal with such problems, including voting them out, doing local investigations, getting help from higher levels, etc. So, scabs, particularly those who vote GOP, come to work with these conditions that you would deal with without that horrible union:
No job protection from layoffs
No disciplinary procedure. This means if management wants to can your ass, you’re gone, whether you did anything wrong or not.
If you get insurance through the USPS it will be too expensive.
No retirement benefits. Many many corporations are totally finished with retirement. They leave workers to fend for their own futures and often fire them when they get near 50 and become insurance claim liabilities.
No step increases unless management “feels like it”.
No protection from harassment and workplace abuse.
Long terrible hours without overtime pay
Sounds like fun! Of course nobody would work under these conditions if they didn’t have to. But if you are a scab, and you truly think the battles organized labor fought for and won for you mean nothing, and you’re too damn cheap to pay for your job security and good benefits while everybody else pays what amounts to a very token amount for theirs, you should have to forfeit all rights that come courtesy of your union.