[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 186 (Wednesday, November 20, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H9112-H9116]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                NATIONAL TRANSGENDER DAY OF REMEMBRANCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Dean). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 3, 2019, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Garcia) is 
recognized for the remainder of the hour as the designee of the 
majority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mr. GARCIA of Illinois. Madam Speaker, before I begin, I ask 
unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to 
revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the 
subject of the Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Illinois?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. GARCIA of Illinois. Madam Speaker, first of all, I would like to 
thank Representative Pressley for dedicating this time in honor of the 
Transgender Day of Remembrance and, of course, naming many of the 
victims of violence who have met this fate simply for being who they 
are. As a member of the Equality Caucus, I am proud to call her my 
colleague and my friend.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Green).
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, and still I rise. And I rise 
tonight with a degree of sadness because we have this day, this 
national Transgender Day of Remembrance.
  It is a sad thing such that you have to have an occasion such as 
this. You should never have to set aside time annually to remember 
those who have lost their lives to violence. But because it happens, we 
must be here.
  What Dr. King reminds us was right then and is right now: ``Injustice 
anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.'' Injustice against the 
trans community is a threat to every community.
  It seems that murder of Black transgender women is becoming almost a 
crisis in this country. Fatal antitransgender violence in the United 
States is on the rise, and most of the victims are Black transgender 
women: the largest number of transgender homicides, a record number in 
2017, 29 killed; last year, 26 killed, most of them Black.
  Why is this happening? Well, one reason might be because this 
administration tends to promote a narrative that marginalizes people 
who are already being marginalized. Such a narrative has a means of 
trickling down.
  The tone and tenor of society is set by those at the top. Those at 
the top have to be mindful of the messages that they send.
  So I am honored to observe this day, and I would like to speak very 
tersely about someone whose story cannot be told in 5 minutes.
  Itali Marlowe was my constituent. She was found in the driveway of a 
local residence, shot multiple times, the 19th trans person to die by 
violence in our Nation this year. All but one of these victims has been 
a trans woman of color.
  This day allows us to memorialize those who have been murdered as a 
result of transphobia. But I pray for a day when this day will no 
longer exist, when all people will be accepted in a society that 
proclaims liberty and justice for all.


           Income Inequality and Collective Bargaining Rights

  Mr. GARCIA of Illinois. Madam Speaker, tonight, we find ourselves at 
a troubling time for all workers across the country: Income and wealth 
inequality are at an all-time high, and union representation is at a 
historic low. These facts mean that all workers have a harder time 
making ends meet.
  It is time to reset the balance of power in our economy between 
working people and corporate interests.
  For decades, collective bargaining rights have been under relentless 
assault, especially by the Republican Party, in an effort to disempower 
working people and hand our democracy to corporate America. Tonight, I 
am proud to bring together my colleagues from the Congressional 
Progressive Caucus and our friends to talk about the PRO Act.
  The Protecting the Right to Organize Act is a landmark step to 
restore the rights of working people to join unions and collectively 
fight for fair wages and working conditions.
  The PRO Act rebalances the scales between workers and corporations by 
enacting strong enforcement measures against employers who violate 
labor laws, strengthening the right to negotiate and organize unions, 
and empowering workers to report abuses of their rights.
  I thank my colleagues for joining me to stand up for workers and 
their right to organize.
  I also want to recognize the true creators of wealth in our economy, 
the working men and women of America.
  To begin tonight's deeper conversation, I call on a person who 
represents a district that has been at the heart of growing the economy 
and driving the economy for average Americans over a long period of 
time. He comes from trade union organizing and represents an 
overwhelmingly working-class district in the great State of Michigan.

  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin).
  Mr. LEVIN of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from the 
great State of Illinois for organizing this special session to talk 
about what I consider to be the single most transformative piece of 
legislation that we are considering right now, the PRO Act, the 
Protecting the Right to Organize Act.
  And why would it be so transformative? Because, as Representative 
Garcia mentioned, inequality of wealth and income has grown to 
proportions we have not seen in 100 years in this country.
  From 1980 to 2014, income for the bottom half of earners, the whole 
bottom half of American workers, grew 1 percent; whereas, income for 
the top 1 percent grew 205 percent.
  And why? Because workers have lost all voice and power in this 
economy. Workers do not have the freedom to form unions.
  At its high-water mark in the late forties and early fifties, a third 
of American workers had collective bargaining, and they built the 
middle class in this country over the post-war decades. Today, 6 
percent of workers in the private sector--6 percent--have collective 
bargaining, have unions, and so they have no real ability to get their 
fair share of the American pie and to rebuild the American Dream.
  The PRO Act would do so much to change this.
  Truly, it reminds me of my days organizing nursing home workers, kind 
of a long time ago, in the 1980s, in Michigan and Indiana and 
Massachusetts and Rhode Island. It was so hard for workers to form a 
union. Their employer could do almost anything, and that is true to 
this day.

                              {time}  1915

  So, for example, your employer can make you go in a room, and if you 
refuse to attend, they can fire you. And the sole purpose of the 
meeting is to tell you how bad forming a union would be for both of 
you. They can make you individually go into their office and tell you 
that the union would be a bad thing.
  This kind of intimidation tactic has led to a crisis in our economy. 
And people like to talk about free markets and capitalism. All I want 
to see is a free market for worker organizing in this

[[Page H9113]]

country. And all the best research suggests that if we really had one, 
about a third of workers would, again, be in unions, and it would 
completely transform the economy.
  So let me just hit a couple of the things that the PRO Act would do 
that would be so important.
  First of all, it would recognize the realities of the 21st century 
economy. Workers could organize and bargain with whatever companies 
share control of their employment. So, hello, McDonald's franchises, 
hello, Courtyard by Marriott. Any companies that have franchises, both 
the franchisee and the franchisor could be joint employers.
  Employers could not prevent workers from organizing and could not 
avoid the responsibility for workers by misclassifying them as 
independent contractors. That is rampant in today's economy. Employers 
under the PRO Act would not be able to just call their workers 
supervisors willy-nilly to deny them the right to organize. And 
workers' rights to organize would be recognized in all the electronic 
formats that we use to communicate today.
  Another thing that is key is that at long last, the PRO Act would end 
the right to freeload, a disease that has been spreading in this 
country since the late 1940s that says that in our system, even though 
a union has to represent all the employees in a workplace, it prevents 
union employers from negotiating contracts that simply say that all the 
workers have to pay their fair share for administering the contract. We 
would end 60 years of efforts to destroy the labor movement simply by 
allowing what I learned in law school as the freedom of contract. An 
employer and a union are free to negotiate that all the workers pay 
their fair share.
  The list of improvements in the core area of an organizing campaign 
is really impressive. Just to pick a couple of them.
  Employers couldn't gerrymander the bargaining union to pick out who 
is for or against the union, so to choose the voters in a sense. 
Elections would have to happen much faster. If a worker is fired for 
organizing a union, as I saw happen so many times, the NLRB would have 
to go for an immediate injunction to get them reinstated. If the 
workers felt intimidated by having an election on the employer's work 
site, then the NLRB could have it at a neutral location. So many 
commonsense things just to allow workers to organize freely.
  So let me just sum up and say, I would love to talk about all the 
provisions, but it would take me all night, and I want to yield to my 
colleagues.
  All we are asking for is that workers in this country have their 
rights recognized across the globe in the international labor 
organizations provisions so that they can have freedom of assembly, 
freedom to organize, and freedom to bargain a contract. And, 
Representative Garcia, that would do more to make our country more just 
and beautiful than anything else we could do.
  Mr. Speaker, I am so proud to stand up tonight for the PRO Act, and I 
thank Representative Garcia for his leadership in making this happen.
  Mr. GARCIA of ILLINOIS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Levin for 
sharing that story, his own personal knowledge and experience of 
working to empower working people so that they have good wages, good 
working conditions and very critically what is at the heart of the PRO 
Act, organizing to have leverage to level the playing field and to 
arrive at what is the best contract for workers in a worksite setting.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott), who 
happens to be the chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I join my colleagues to speak in 
support of H.R. 2474, the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, or the 
PRO Act.
  The PRO Act was reported out of the Committee on Education and Labor 
on September 25, and it is the most comprehensive legislation in recent 
history to strengthen workers' rights to organize and bargain for 
higher wages, better benefits, and safer working conditions.
  Labor unions have long fueled our Nation's prosperity. Wage growth 
and worker productivity rose steadily together when union membership 
was at its peak, around 30 percent, between the end of World War II and 
1973. Union members earn significantly higher salaries, they are more 
likely to enjoy better benefits and also much more likely to work in a 
safe workplace. This had the effect of creating an economy where most 
working families could achieve a basic standard of living. But 
unfortunately, in the last 4 decades, union membership has plummeted, 
and income inequality has soared.
  Despite the clear benefits of strong unions, just one in 10 workers 
currently is a union member and only 6 percent of private sector 
workers are union members.
  Low union membership certainly does not mean that American workers 
have given up on unions. In fact, according to a poll of workers across 
the country conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 48 
percent of nonunion workers say they would vote to join the union if 
given the opportunity.
  Regrettably, what is keeping workers from joining unions are weak 
labor laws, aggressive employer opposition to unions, and relentless 
political attacks that have dismantled workers' rights to organize.
  To that point, the PRO Act would deter employers from violating 
workers' rights to form a union in five key ways:
  First, the PRO Act puts some teeth into the law by authorizing civil 
monetary penalties for companies that inflict serious economic harm on 
employees by violating the National Labor Relations Act, in doing 
things such as firing union supporters for engaging in 
protected activities. This would update the current law, which provides 
no civil penalties today for employers who violate the NLRA, leaving no 
meaningful deterrent for employers who choose to violate workers' 
rights.

  Second, the PRO Act would streamline procedures and guarantee swift 
remedies for workers. Currently, if workers prove that they were 
unlawfully fired for organizing, they may have to wait years before 
being reinstated and receiving back pay. The PRO Act would guarantee 
temporary reinstatement for workers whose cases are found to have merit 
while their cases are being adjudicated. This would also make the 
National Labor Relations Board orders immediately applicable to all 
parties involved in proceedings, just like those of other Federal 
agencies.
  Third, the PRO Act would protect the integrity of union elections by 
providing remedies when employers interfere with union representation 
elections. It also establishes mediation and arbitration procedures to 
encourage employers and unions to reach a first collective bargaining 
agreement after the union is formed.
  Fourth, the PRO Act would modernize labor law by clarifying exactly 
which employees and employers are covered by the National Labor 
Relations Act. Too often employers misclassify their employees as 
independent contractors or anything but employees. This tactic allows 
employers to avoid their legal obligations to their workers. The PRO 
Act safeguards against these practices and also protects workers' First 
Amendment rights to engage in peaceful picketing and other free speech 
activities.
  Finally, the PRO Act fosters transparency, so employees know their 
rights under the law. Other labor laws require employers to post 
notices of employee rights like Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act, the 
Family Medical Leave Act, and OSHA. The PRO Act will similarly 
guarantee the employers notify the employees of their rights.
  At its heart this legislation is about restoring workers' rights to 
organize and restoring balance to the economy. By passing the PRO Act, 
we can take an historic step towards improving the quality of life for 
workers and families across the country.
  So I thank the Progressive Caucus for sponsoring this Special Order 
and giving us the opportunity to promote the PRO Act.
  Mr. GARCIA of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Scott, 
who, of course, is also the Chair of the Education and Labor Committee. 
Part of the reason why he knows so much about the bill is he happens to 
be the bill's chief sponsor.
  Mr. Speaker, we are going to hear from another part of the country, 
and

[[Page H9114]]

we are going to the West Coast to get a better understanding of why 
representatives in this House from all over the country are uniting 
behind this important piece of legislation.
  Next, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Takano), who is a 
member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and also chairs the 
Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the U.S. Congress.
  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Illinois for 
yielding.
  I rise today, Mr. Speaker, to join the voices of the working men and 
women of our country demanding better wages, better working conditions, 
better benefits. I rise for working families, for those working 
multiple jobs and struggling to get by while CEOs are making multiple 
millions of dollars and reaping the benefits of their labor.
  And this is all during a time over the past several decades where 
productivity of the American economy has gone up while wages from those 
who have created that productivity have stayed flat. And if we want to 
achieve income equality or less income inequality, the answer is in 
giving workers leverage on the economy.
  So I rise to defend workers' rights, their right to rise up in their 
workplace and use their collective power to demand better from their 
employer. That is the leverage that I am talking about.
  Right now employers and corporate interests are doing everything they 
can to strip workers of their protections. In fact, they have already 
done that. They have already participated in weakening our labor laws 
and made it more difficult for workers to organize. And Representative 
Levin of Michigan started to explain the complex ways in which 
organizing is made more difficult; how elections can run forever; and 
how employers have an unfair advantage in those elections; and how the 
will of the workers in the workplace to organize and unionize can be 
thwarted.
  And once unions are formed, there are many efforts to bust unions and 
silence the voices of workers, which, let me be clear, is illegal. And 
that is why we need to pass the PRO Act to make sure that penalties are 
enforced. We do have laws on the books, but there is not enough 
enforcement. We need to put an end to these antiunion activities.
  If we want to reduce economic inequality, support working people and 
working families and ensure that the American Dream is within reach for 
all, then let's pass this bill. It is time to reaffirm our support for 
working people in America.
  Mr. GARCIA of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from 
California. Before we go to the East Coast and hear the voices of 
working people there and why they support the PRO Act, I would like to 
share with you a brief story about myself in Chicago.
  When I was growing up in Chicago, both of my parents were proud union 
members. In fact, they were both Teamsters. My father worked at a cold 
storage facility, and my mother worked at a candy factory on Chicago's 
West Side. Both relied on their union jobs to raise our family, and 
they retired on their union pensions, which enabled them to purchase a 
comfortable home for their family.
  There will be more stories from Chicago, but right now I would like 
to go to the East Coast and hear from another member of the Progressive 
Caucus. He hails from the State of New Jersey. I yield to the gentleman 
from New Jersey (Mr. Norcross).
  Mr. NORCROSS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak on the importance of 
the Protecting the Right to Organize, or as we know it, the PRO Act.

                              {time}  1930

  We heard several of my colleagues talk about the pros of what 
literally is taking place and how difficult it is. As many people know, 
and as we have heard here, there are 218 lawyers in Congress, but there 
is only one electrician and one electrician who spent his career not 
only doing the electrical work but representing workers.
  I have spent 37 years in the IBEW, literally having to retire from 
that as I came here and took my oath of office to represent the people 
of the First District.
  When we look at what is happening today in this country, it is the 
end of a long line of abuses, those things that have happened over the 
course of the last three decades in particular, the decline of union 
membership. Many of those on the other side of the aisle like to say 
that it is because people don't want it. This couldn't be any further 
than the truth.
  Today, close to 80 percent of employees would vote for a union if 
they could--80 percent. This is quite a different figure than the 6 
percent that you heard representing private employers, Mr. Speaker. 
That is because it has been rigged. I can say that because I am one of 
the few Members who speak on this floor who have been to the National 
Labor Relations Board and who has conducted elections. I have done it 
repeatedly. I see the cheating that takes place. That is why we have 
the PRO Act.
  Earlier this year, we voted on something that I thought would have 
been unanimous, the Raise the Wage Act. The minimum wage in this 
country hasn't been raised in over 11 years--11 years--$7.25 an hour.
  Tell me out there, can you live on $7.25 an hour?
  We change that.
  Predictably, over the next 7\1/2\ years, that would raise to $15 an 
hour. But our colleagues on the other side of the aisle say: They don't 
need a raise.
  That is how unbelievable some of this is. Tell me, can you live on 
that?
  The PRO Act is simply listening to the people whom we work with who 
want a voice and who want to be able to grow the business that they are 
working for so that they can share in those wages. That is where the 
PRO Act comes in.
  I mentioned I was an electrician, and I still am. I am not doing much 
work the way I used to, but as I told my kids, I am an electrician with 
a tie now. But I saw firsthand people who would say: I want the chance 
to do better. I want the chance for us collectively to bargain.
  They would come to see us and say: Can you help me?
  We said: Sure we can.
  We gathered together, and we speak with one voice, go to the NLRB, 
which is the labor relations board that makes the rules, and say: Here 
is a bargaining group of 8 to 10 men and women who want to become part 
of the IBEW, or speak collectively as we call it. Then the fight 
begins.
  Occasionally, Mr. Speaker, you would have a contractor who says: Do 
you know what? After talking to them, I think this is a good way of 
working together to try to grow my business and to take care of my 
employees.
  Unfortunately, for those who want to cheat the system, they start to 
say: Well, he is an independent contractor. He just started here. He is 
an apprentice.
  They try to break up the groups. When they talk about bargaining 
groups as my colleague, Mr. Levin, talked about, it is about breaking 
that apart.
  All this does is level the playing field and make it fair so those 
workers who want to vote to collectively bargain can do it in a fair 
and open way so the elections aren't rigged. Fair and open, we hear 
that so much today.
  The PRO Act protects workers because the other thing that the 
employer will do is fire the one who spoke up: We will take care of the 
one who is causing the trouble.
  I am trying to do better for my family, and I talked to my employer 
about a raise, and he doesn't want to do it, so I call up the union and 
say: Can you help me? And I get fired for that.
  There is no recourse for bad actors. The PRO Act would change that 
and level the playing field so there are penalties when you break the 
law. It is like having speed limits with no police on the road. That is 
what it is like now. They are free to do whatever they want.
  The PRO Act restores the fairness of the economy against those 
workers who are rigged. Workers win, but just as important, business 
wins. They grow together. It is just not a one size fits all. We 
understand working together is what this does.
  We see so often the tragedies of what happened from the same crew who 
won't vote to raise the minimum wage in 11 years and who are the same 
ones fighting this.
  Together, we can do better. Raise the level of fairness so that all 
employees will have a voice at their workplace.

[[Page H9115]]

  Again, I thank the gentleman for bringing us together. I look at my 
colleagues out here who understand this on a gut level. To the 
Representatives who are listening tonight, go home and talk to the 
average guy on the street and say: Do you want to make it better, to 
raise your family, to have a decent wage? Then you will hear yes.
  I recommend voting ``yes'' for the PRO Act.
  Mr. GARCIA of Illinois. I thank the gentleman from New Jersey for 
sharing that wonderful story.
  Women in this body overwhelmingly support the PRO Act for good 
reason. The PRO Act would help level the playing field and move all of 
us toward a greater sense of economic justice.
  This evening, we are very fortunate to hear from a voice also from 
the East Coast who will get to the crux of why this is such an 
important tool for economic justice in our country. She is a member of 
the Progressive Caucus of this body and someone who is passionate and 
compassionate about providing equal opportunity for everyone in our 
country.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mrs. Watson 
Coleman).
  Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN. I thank the gentleman for yielding to me, and I 
thank the gentleman for taking on this Special Order hour and leading 
it.

  Organized labor has always been the foundation of good-paying jobs 
that support a thriving middle class. That is why it is vital that we 
support legislation like the PRO Act, finally empowering the National 
Labor Relations Act to do the important work of protecting workers' 
rights.
  Since the day that law was enacted in 1935, big businesses and their 
allies in the Republican Party have worked to weaken it. Their efforts 
have brought us to a point where union membership has cratered, and not 
coincidentally, inequality has grown.
  The PRO Act implements penalties for employers who illegally fire 
workers because they try to form a union or are simply pro-union in 
their thinking. Today, we see employers out in the open on Twitter 
flagrantly violating the NLRA and threatening their employees if they 
even think about forming a union.
  The PRO Act will allow workers to stand up and say to their boss: 
Joining together with my co-workers is right, and you will not threaten 
me with cuts to my hours, my pay, or my job.
  This law will put an end to the practice of company bosses dragging 
their feet in collective bargaining negotiations in order to break the 
spirit of workers and avoid their legal responsibility to honor the 
wishes of their workers.
  The PRO Act also recognizes the changing face of workers and ensures 
that those working multiple jobs do not lose their right to organize 
when they change shifts.
  The part of this bill that I find most energizing is its protection 
of that most fundamental right of workers, the foundation of worker 
power from which all labor power is derived, the right to strike, the 
right to stand with your fellow worker and say: We will not accept 
these conditions another minute. We will not work another day until our 
demands are heard and our rights are respected.
  The right to stand with your union sisters and brothers and withhold 
your labor is finally recognized under this bill.
  If workers can put their sweat into building the greatest country in 
the world, how dare we say to them that they cannot join their fellow 
workers to demand a fair share of what they built?
  This bill is the most important labor rights bill in years, and 
today, I am proud to be a member of the party of the working men and 
women, the Democratic Party, as we pass this bill. I thank the 
gentleman for the opportunity.
  Mr. GARCIA of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, if I could inquire how much time 
is remaining in the Special Order hour?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Green of Texas). The gentleman has 11 
minutes remaining.
  Mr. GARCIA of Illinois. Before I introduce and as a prelude to the 
remarks that we will hear from the following speaker, I would like to 
share a story about the great city that I hail from and the great State 
that I represent here, the State of Illinois. It has a proud labor 
history that is filled with stories of courage and sacrifice by workers 
striving to organize.
  Since the 1800s, workers organized in mines and factories fighting 
the abuses of powerful industrial interests. Chicago earned the 
reputation as a city of big shoulders, a working-class and hardworking 
city. Workers were killed in the Haymarket massacre of 1886, a struggle 
that led to the 8-hour day and the end of child labor.
  The country's first national strike started in Chicago when train 
workers across the country joined a strike that began in Pullman, 
Illinois. Federal troops were sent in to break up the Pullman Strike, 
but it was so significant that Congress created Labor Day shortly 
afterward.
  One of the Nation's most deadly mine disasters happened in Illinois 
in 1909. The tragedy prompted better enforcement of child labor laws 
and advanced the movement for workers' compensation.
  Working people joining forces in unions helped lift up all workers 
across the country.
  With that opening remark, Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield next to 
the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Pocan), who also happens to be one of 
the cochairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
  Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman very much for all the 
work that he has done on behalf of his constituents, the people of 
Chicago, and really the people of the entire country.
  I know this is the gentleman's second event today alone on behalf of 
workers, and I thank the gentleman for his outspoken representation on 
behalf of people who need a voice in Congress. I think we heard earlier 
tonight there are about 200-plus lawyers in this body. A majority of 
Congress are millionaires. Not to say that if you are a millionaire, 
you can't empathize with working people, but it is another thing to 
come from a background like I do.

  I had a union specialty printing shop, a small shop for nearly three 
decades, a member of International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, 
IUPAT, for nearly three decades.
  I can tell you the benefits that have happened for my family and the 
people I work with by having good, union-supporting wages and good, 
union-supporting benefits and why that matters so much.
  The problem we have right now in this country and the problem that we 
have across so many States is an organized effort going after working 
people by going after their ability to have a voice in their workplaces 
by having unions. We have watched attacks across the country, including 
in my home State of Wisconsin, where States have gone to a so-called 
right-to-work law. What that is often referred to as a ``right-to-work-
for-less'' law because when you get these laws often, on average, 
people lose over 3 percent in pay in States that do this. But we have 
watched those laws happen across the country.
  Federally, under the Trump administration, we have watched laws that 
make it harder for working people who win the legal right to form a 
union, through a union election. They run into all kinds of stumbling 
blocks. All too often, there is no legal recourse against an employer 
who violates the rules or stacks the deck against people and doesn't 
allow that vote to actually form that union.
  That is the real problem that we are facing. That is what we are 
talking about tonight with the PRO Act. That is what we are trying to 
address in Congress.
  What I think is so very important to raise is the reason people want 
to have a union is because it will help not only their family but their 
communities by lifting up everyone. When you have a union job, you are 
more likely to get more pay and better benefits than people who are not 
in union jobs.
  That is why the public support is so strong right now for unions with 
64 percent support for unions, one of the highest percents we have seen 
in this country. And 67 percent of people 18 to 34, millennials, even 
more than the population as a whole, see this as a way to have a voice 
in their workplace.

                              {time}  1945

  Here are some of the things they support: expanding union rights, 
banning right-to-work-for-less laws, ensuring a first contract for new 
unions--if you

[[Page H9116]]

vote for a union, you should be able to get a contract for your union--
making so-called independent contractors employees, and protections for 
workers on strike.
  All of those things I just mentioned are included in the PRO Act. All 
those things could be possible for workers across the country.
  We know that when we have had the least amount of income inequality 
in our country, back in the 1950s, is when we had the greatest 
representation of people in unions. Now that we have got one of the 
smallest amounts of people--about 11 percent, nationwide, in public and 
private employee unions--we have the greatest gap in income that we 
have had in this country.
  There is no surprise there is a lot of pushback from not only people 
on the other side of the aisle, but from the United States Chamber of 
Commerce, which is not your local business in your chamber of commerce, 
but it is the big businesses in this country that don't want to take 
care of their workers. Instead, they want to send all the profits up to 
their shareholders, so very few get a lot and everyone else gets the 
crumbs that are left over.
  Just to give you an idea of some of the actions we see by these 
companies: 75 percent of private-sector employers hire outside 
consultants to run antiunion campaigns when workers try to form a 
union; 63 percent force their employees to attend closed-door meetings 
to hear antiunion propaganda; and over half of employers threaten 
workers in these meetings, they threaten their jobs.
  You have a one-in-five chance, if you are a union organizer, of 
losing your job because, right now, you can get away with it with this 
administration and how they enforce our labor laws.
  But here is the reality. If you don't have a union in your company 
right now, this is what you get when you have a union:
  Health insurance: 75 percent of people in a union participate in job-
provided health insurance versus about 48 percent nationwide;
  Pensions: 70 percent of people versus 13 percent nationwide;
  Paid sick leave: 91 percent of people who are in a union have paid 
sick leave, and the median weekly earnings are $207 more a week. That 
is $11,000 a year more if you are a member of a union, in a similar 
job, than if you are not.
  That is the real reason we see the attacks on working people trying 
to have a voice in their workplaces, and that is why we see people not 
trying to lift this bill.
  This is so important that, in this Congress, we take this bill up in 
the House of Representatives and we pass this bill and we give, 
finally, an edge to help push a little more assistance to workers who 
want to have a say in the workplace than what employers have had 
because of this administration, because of States that have passed bad 
laws, that make it harder, again, to have a say in your workplace.
  This is an important piece of legislation. The Congressional 
Progressive Caucus has made this issue a priority. We are going to make 
sure there will be a vote this session in Congress. We are going to try 
to make the Senate take this up as well.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Chicago. His help on this and 
so many issues has been so very important. We are going to do 
everything we can to get this done this session.
  Mr. GARCIA of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from 
Wisconsin for his remarks.
  So what is the essence of the Protect the Right to Organize Act? We 
have heard from my colleagues today about the many ways that unions 
have made America strong. From the 8-hour day to building the middle 
class, we have a lot to thank the labor movement for. Unions are an 
integral part of increasing wages and addressing income inequality.
  Still, special interest-funded attacks on labor laws have eroded 
union membership for years. For too long, greedy companies have used 
extreme measures to stop working people from exercising their right to 
join together and negotiate for their rights and their working 
conditions.
  While the economy is working very well for the wealthy, our middle 
class continues to shrink. The cause is simple: policy choices, 
especially by Republicans in the House at this time, in the Senate, in 
State legislatures, and the Presidency that have stripped workers of 
the power to stand together.
  The Protecting the Right to Organize Act is a historical proposal 
that restores fairness in the economy by strengthening the Federal laws 
to protect workers' rights to organize.
  We need the PRO Act at a time when Trump wages war against the labor 
movement. We need the PRO Act to build an economy that works for all 
working families and not just the wealthy.
  The lessons I learned from unions--that individual justice is only as 
good as collective justice--continue to inform my career in public 
service, and I hope every worker can have the opportunities that unions 
gave me.
  I got a chance to work at a young age. I joined a union. It helped me 
pay for my college education. I did well in the community that I still 
live in. That is why I approach banding together for the welfare of 
working people.
  Tonight, you have heard from people from coast to coast, all over our 
country, from the South and from the heartland. These are individuals 
who are fighting for working people to, again, level the playing field 
and create a real purpose of economic justice to lift everyone up in 
our country.
  As we move forward with the PRO Act, I call upon the American public 
to understand that it is time for economic justice and it is time for 
prosperity for all. And, with that, I ask them to call on their 
Representatives in the U.S. Congress to make this law a reality for all 
working men and women across the Nation.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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