[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 44 (Tuesday, March 9, 2021)]
[House]
[Page H1131]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           LABOR IS THE BACKBONE OF THE AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS

  (Mr. HIGGINS of New York asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. HIGGINS of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the 
Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2021.
  The pandemic has made clear that we need to strengthen worker rights 
and expand union participation.
  Across this Nation, frontline and essential workers have had to work 
in unsafe conditions with insufficient pay because of their inability 
to negotiate with their employers.
  The economic fallout from the pandemic has laid bare the costs of 
severe income inequality in America, where corporations and the 
wealthiest individuals are able to thrive at the expense of everybody 
else.
  Labor is the backbone of middle America and the key to addressing 
income inequality.
  Protecting the right to organize and to collectively bargain ensures 
access to better wages, more robust benefits, and safer working 
conditions for hardworking Americans.
  When workers are able to stand together and demand their fair share, 
we will all be better off.

  I strongly support passage of the PRO Act and encourage my colleagues 
to do the same.

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