WASHINGTON – With no major labor reforms since the 1930s, Democrats are taking the opportunity to strengthen workers’ rights – including their ability to unionize.
On Tuesday, the Chamber of Deputies passed the PRO (Protect the Right to Organize) Act, the most pro-worker labor reform in decades, according to project supporters, by a vote of 225-206. Although facing a difficult battle in the 50/50 division of the Senate, President Joe Biden said that labor reform is one of his government’s top priorities.
As a presidential candidate, Biden emphasized that he would be “the most pro-union president you have ever seen”. Last week, while Amazon workers were meeting in Alabama to vote for unionization, Biden called it “a vitally important choice.”
“While America struggles with the deadly pandemic, the economic crisis and the calculation of race – what this reveals are the profound disparities that still exist in our country,” said Biden on Twitter. “I urge Congress to send [the PRO Act] at my desk so that we can summon a new wave of worker power and create an economy that works for everyone. “
The PRO Law would strengthen workers’ right to strike for better wages and working conditions, strengthen safeguards to ensure that workers could hold fair union elections, and allow the National Council for Labor Relations (NLRB) to impose fines against bosses who violate workers’ rights.
The House passed a version of the bill last year, but it was dead on arrival in the Republican-controlled Senate. This time, Republicans are almost certain to obstruct the legislation that many large business groups are opposed to. The Chamber of Commerce says that this “would destabilize America’s workplaces and impose a long list of dangerous changes to labor laws.”
The legislation marks an effort to strengthen unions after the erosion of membership.
“The decline in union membership is not a reflection of workers’ choices. It is the product of decades of well-funded anti-union attacks, which exploited the weaknesses of our labor legislation, ”said the president of the Education and Labor Chamber, Bobby Scott, in a statement on Tuesday.
But Democrats are unlikely to get the 10 Republicans needed to bring the project to Biden’s table.
“I am happy to see the House approve this important bill,” said Patty Murray, D-Wash., Chairman of the Senate HELP Committee, in a statement. “I will continue to fight hard to ensure that we honor the essential workers who kept us going during this pandemic, making the PRO Act cross the finish line.”
