Issue Position: Workers' Rights and Free & Fair Trade

Issue Position

We need to make it easier for workers who want to organize to have the chance to do so. If people want to work together for better wages, for better health care, and for better working conditions, they should have the right to do so. I support the Employee Free Choice Act and workers' right to organize.

Unions have been critical to building a strong middle class in America. Unions have fought for higher wages, high quality health care, and improved safety conditions. Union labor are also some of the most highly skilled workers in the world - with advanced training that makes them competitive. I support a strong labor movement in the United States and around the world.

To grow our economy, we need to sell our products to the rest of the world. But we have to have a level playing field - strong trade laws and strong enforcement. That means labor and environmental standards. It means protecting our intellectual property rights by getting tough on the knock offs that undercut our ability to compete and, in the long run, cost us money and jobs. And it means putting pressure on foreign currency manipulation that artificially makes our goods less competitive. As a Senator, I will look hard at any trade agreement to determine how it would impact jobs here in Massachusetts.

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