Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2021

Floor Speech

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Mr. RYAN. Mr. Speaker, one of the earlier speakers said: ``This is the most dramatic change in labor law in 80 years.'' And I say: ``Thank God.''

In the late seventies, a CEO's earnings were 35 times that of the worker. Today, it is 3 to 400 times what the worker makes. And our friends on the other side are running around with their hair on fire.

Heaven forbid we pass something that is going to help the damn workers in the United States of America. Heaven forbid we tilt the balance that has been going in the wrong direction for 50 years.

We talk about pensions. You complain. We talk about the minimum wage increase. You complain. We talk about giving them the right to organize. You complain. But if we were passing a tax cut here, you would all be getting in line to vote ``yes'' for it.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a letter from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers in support of the PRO Act.

International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers,
Upper Marlboro, Maryland, March 9, 2021.

Dear Representative, On behalf of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, I strongly urge you to support the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act introduced by Representative Bobby Scott. In a functioning and recovering economy, working families and middle-class Americans cannot be left behind.

The PRO Act is a crucially bold piece of legislation that modernizes federal laws and expands workers' collective bargaining rights and closes loopholes that corporations use to exploit workers. The bill also establishes a process for mediation and arbitration to help the parties achieve a first contract. It protects workers' right to organize a union and bargain for higher wages and better benefits.

However, the right to freely form a union without the threat of company intimidation or interference is denied to workers today. The PRO Act strengthens protections for employees that engage in collective action and levels the playing field by prohibiting employers from requiring their employees to attend ``captive audience'' meetings whose sole purpose is to convince workers to vote against the union. In addition to imposing financial penalties on employers and individual corporate offices who violate the law, the bill would give workers the option of bringing their case to federal court.

Finally, the PRO Act would override state ``right to work'' laws. These laws are simply designed to give more power to corporations at the expense of workers, and have had the effect of lowering wages and eroding pensions and health care coverage in states where they have been adopted.

For all the above these reasons, I respectfully urge you to support the PRO Act and vote ``YES'' on this long overdue legislation.
Thank you,
Robert Martinez, Jr., International President.

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Mr. RYAN. You need to stop talking about Dr. Seuss and start working with us on behalf of the American workers.

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