Engel Votes to Protect Workers' Right to Organize

Press Release

This week, Congressman Eliot Engel voted to pass H.R. 2474, the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, to hold employers accountable for violating workers' rights, end the use of forced arbitration and strengthen the sacred right of workers to join in union. Engel was an original cosponsor of the bill.

"Unions are the backbone of the American economy. As a former UFT member and the son of a union ironworker, I know the gains we have all collectively made as a result of the work done by unions cannot be overstated," said Rep. Engel. "Yet over the last several decades, unions and the rights of workers to unionize have come under attack. Huge corporate interests, backed by Republican lawmakers, have made it their mission to drive down union membership and tip the scales against the American worker. It's unacceptable and we need to fight back. The PRO Act, which I was proud to join my fellow House Dems in passing, strengthens the federal laws that protect a worker's right to join a union. These are the types of bills we're committed to moving in the House on behalf of middle-class Americans."

"Congressman Engel has always been a strong ally to the labor movement in Congress and I want to thank him for cosponsoring and helping to pass the PRO Act," said Joe Mayhew, Treasurer of the Communications Workers of America Local 1103. "This bill is the most consequential pro-union legislation passed since the 1934 National Labor Act. We're fortunate to have champions of labor like Rep. Engel working hard to protect workers' rights here in New York and across the country."

The PRO Act advances vital protections for working men and women across the country, including:

· Introducing meaningful, enforceable penalties for companies and executives that violate workers' rights;

· Expanding workers' collective bargaining rights and closing loopholes that corporations use to exploit workers; and

· Strengthening workers' access to fair union elections and requiring corporations to respect the results.

This bold legislation has the overwhelming support of America's unions, including the AFL-CIO, which represents 12.5 million American workers, as well as Service Employees International Union, Communication Workers of America, United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, United Steelworkers, United Auto Workers, International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the National Nurses United among others. As AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka testified before Congress, "The union movement and all working people are hungry for pro-worker reforms to our existing labor laws… It is time for our laws to catch up. It is time to make the PRO Act the law of the land."

Source