Rep. Cleaver Votes to Support Workers, Strengthen Unions Through PRO Act

Press Release

(Washington, D.C.) -- Today, United States Representative Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-MO) voted in favor of H.R. 842, the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. This comprehensive labor legislation would enact protections that safeguard workers' right to stand together to negotiate for fairer wages, safer workplaces, and better benefits. The bipartisan bill passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 225-206.

"Americans have faced a decades-long assault on workers' rights and efforts to quash union membership, which has eroded the middle class and exacerbated income inequality to an unprecedented level," said Congressman Cleaver. "By standing up for workers and giving them a fair opportunity to bargain for the benefits they deserve, we can better ensure that the American economy is working for everyone--not just the select few at the very top."

According to a study from the University of California-Berkeley, as union membership has been cut by more than half over the last four decades, average incomes for the bottom 90 percent of households increased by just 1.1 percent, while average incomes for the wealthiest 1 percent increased more than 184 percent. Unions have proven to be pivotal to increasing wages and providing benefits to workers, with studies showing that union members earn on average 19 percent more than those with similar education, occupation, and experience in non-union workplaces.

The PRO Act would protect the right to collectively bargain by:

Empowering workers to exercise their right to organize by giving workers the power to override "right to work" laws that prevent unions from collecting dues, enhancing workers' right to support boycotts, strikes, or other acts of solidarity, and ensuring access to justice for workers who suffer retaliation for exercising their rights.
Holding employers accountable for violating workers' rights by authorizing substantial penalties for businesses and executives that choose to violate workers' rights, closing loopholes that corporations use to erode workers' rights, and requiring employers to be transparent with their workers.
Securing free, fair, and safe union elections by preventing employers from interfering in union elections, allowing workers to hold union elections in a safe environment, and facilitating timely first contracts between companies and newly certified unions.
"At its very core, this legislation is intended to instill more fairness in a system that has been rigged against American workers for far too long," said Congressman Cleaver. "Today, I'm proud to have supported the most significant legislation for labor rights in decades, and I would urge my Senate colleagues to do the same."

You can find a fact sheet of the PRO Act here.

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