[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 107 (Tuesday, June 20, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2134-S2136]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 Unions

  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, tomorrow morning, the Health, Education, 
Labor, and Pensions Committee will be marking up three landmark pieces 
of legislation which will make it easier for workers to form unions, it 
will guarantee up to 7 paid sick days for every worker in America, and 
it will make sure that women in our country finally receive equal pay 
for equal work.
  If these bills are signed into law, they would represent the most 
significant set of labor reforms in the modern history of our country 
and significantly improve the lives of many millions of American 
workers.
  We are living in a moment where corporate America and the 1 percent 
have more economic and political power than they have ever had in the 
history of our country. The time is long overdue for Congress to stand 
up for the working families of our Nation--60 percent of whom live 
paycheck to paycheck--and not just wealthy campaign contributors and 
lobbyists.
  Let us be clear. The American people are sick and tired of the 
unprecedented level of corporate greed they see every single day, and 
they are tired of the outrageous and illegal union-busting that is 
taking place throughout this country. They are sick and tired of CEOs 
making nearly 400 times more than the average worker--unheard of in 
American history. CEOs of major corporations now make 400 times more 
than their average employee. The American people are sick and tired of 
billions in stock buybacks going to the people on top, while millions 
of Americans today are struggling hard to put food on the table and pay 
their rent.
  The American people want justice, and that is what we are going to 
begin doing tomorrow in the HELP Committee.
  The American people look around them, and they see more income and 
wealth inequality in America today than ever before. Three people on 
top have more have wealth than the bottom half of American society--165 
million Americans. Three people here, 165 million people, and that gap 
is growing wider.
  While the people on top do phenomenally well, over 18 million 
families in our country are paying more than half of their limited 
incomes on housing, which is soaring in many parts of the country, and 
some 600,000 Americans are homeless.
  American workers want to know why--why it is that despite huge 
advancements in technology and worker productivity, the average worker 
in America today makes about $50 a week less than he or she made some 
50 years ago after adjusting for inflation. In other words, the very 
rich are getting richer, and the average worker is going nowhere in a 
hurry.
  Now, there are a number of reasons--many, many reasons--why the gap 
between the very, very rich and everybody else is growing wider and 
many reasons why wages have remained stagnant. One of the reasons, of 
course, is that we have a Federal minimum wage today, a starvation 
wage, of $7.25 an hour--a wage that has lost nearly 30 percent of its 
purchasing power over the last 14 years.
  Raising the minimum wage is something the HELP Committee is going to 
address in the near future, but probably above and beyond the need to 
raise the minimum wage, the most important reason that real wages are 
lower today in America than they were 50 years ago is the fact that 
corporate America and the billionaire class have been waging a war 
against the right of working people to exercise their constitutional 
privilege to form unions, constitutional right to form a union, freedom 
of assembly. As a result of that aggressive war against union 
organizing, trade union membership today is at its lowest level in the 
modern history of America.
  In our country today, 71 percent of the American people approve of 
labor unions. Labor unions today are more popular than they have been 
in a very long time. Yet, despite that, only 6 percent of private 
sector workers belong to a union.
  Tomorrow, the HELP Committee will be asking why, at a time of 
recordbreaking corporate profits, why are multibillionaires and CEOs of 
large corporations doing everything they possibly can to deny the 
working people of this country the right to join a union. Why? Why in 
their never-ending greed are they doing all kinds of illegal actions to 
prevent workers from forming unions and negotiating for decent wages 
and benefits?
  The answer to that question really is not that complicated. Corporate 
America understands what most people in this country understand, which 
is that when workers join a union, they earn better wages, they receive 
better benefits, and they work with better working conditions. In fact, 
union workers today earn nearly 20 percent more on average than 
nonunion workers. Corporate America also understands that 64 percent of 
union workers have a defined benefit pension plan that guarantees an 
income in retirement, compared to just 11 percent of nonunion workers. 
Corporate America understands that union workers are half as likely to 
be victims of health and safety violations compared to nonunion 
workers.

  For all of these reasons--the fact that union workers do better than 
nonunion workers, have better working conditions, better benefits--all 
of these reasons and more are why we are seeing a significant uptick in 
union organizing in America today. In fact, it is higher than we have 
seen in many decades. Workers understand that when they stand together 
in solidarity and can negotiate a decent contract, they are going to do 
a lot better than when they have to go begging to their employer.
  So what we are seeing today is more and more union organizing at 
blue-collar jobs. A couple of months ago, a factory in rural Georgia 
organized a steelworkers local. We are seeing it at white-collar jobs 
all over this country. We are seeing it on college campuses.
  Furthermore, very interestingly, as healthcare becomes more 
corporatized in America, we are seeing more and more nurses form 
unions. We are even seeing doctors form unions. At the University of 
Vermont Medical Center, among many others, resident doctors voted 
overwhelmingly to form a union.
  With that growth in union organizing, what we are also seeing in this 
country is a vicious corporate response, and that is that major 
corporations all across this country are taking unprecedented and 
illegal actions against employees who are fighting for economic 
justice. That is why major corporations like Starbucks and Amazon and 
others have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on union-busting 
campaigns and anti-union law firms. They hire these fancy consultants 
at outrageous prices because at the end of the day, they would rather 
spend millions and millions of dollars trying to prevent workers from 
forming a union than pay those very same workers decent wages and 
decent benefits.
  Part of the corporate strategy is the reality that over half of all 
employers in America threaten to close or relocate their businesses if 
workers vote to form a union. Imagine that. You work for a company for 
years. You want to form a union, and then your employer says: If you 
form that union, we are going to China; we are going to Mexico; we are 
going to leave this State.
  That is why, when workers become interested in forming a union, they 
almost always will be forced to attend closed-door meetings to hear 
anti-union propaganda. What employers do is bring people into a room, 
they have all of their executives there, and they tell them how 
terrible a union would be and the consequences to them if they formed a 
union.
  As Human Rights Watch has said, ``Freedom of association is a right 
under severe, often buckling pressure when workers in the United States 
try to exercise it.'' In other words, yes, in America, you have the 
constitutional right of freedom of assembly. You have the 
constitutional right to form a union. But if you exercise that right, 
all kinds of corporate power will be thrown at you to prevent you from 
succeeding.
  Here is something that really is quite incredible: Even when workers 
overcome all of these incredible obstacles

[[Page S2135]]

and when they win their union elections, 63 percent of workers who vote 
to form a union do not get a union contract a year later. So what 
corporations do is they do everything they can to stop workers from 
forming a union. Then, if by some miracle workers vote to form a union, 
what corporations do is stall and stall and throw all kinds of legal 
minutia into the process to delay a first contract.
  Incredibly, on average, because of corporate obstructionism, it takes 
465 days on average to sign a first contract after a union wins an 
election. Imagine that--well over a year after you win the election can 
you actually get a contract. One-third of successful organizing 
campaigns cannot get a contract in the first 3 years after a union 
victory. That is what corporate obstructionism is about, and that is 
what corporate greed is about.
  All of that is unacceptable. That should not be happening in the 
United States, and starting tomorrow, the HELP Committee will fight to 
change that reality by passing the Protecting Workers Right to Organize 
Act, otherwise known as the PRO Act.
  The PRO Act will make it easier for workers to exercise their 
constitutional right to form a union free from fear, intimidation, or 
coercion by their corporate bosses.
  Look, not every worker in America wants to form a union, and that is 
part of what freedom in America is about; but if you do want to form a 
union, you should not be hit with illegal activities to prevent you 
from doing so. This legislation will make it easier for workers to 
collectively bargain for better wages, benefits, and working 
conditions. It will finally hold corporate CEOs accountable for the 
unprecedented level of illegal union busting that is taking place all 
over this country.
  Under the PRO Act, corporations will finally be held accountable for 
violating Federal labor law.
  Mr. President, incredibly, in America today, corporations are charged 
with breaking labor law in more than 40 percent of all union elections. 
And yet--and this is the important point--the penalties for this 
illegal behavior are virtually nonexistent. In other words, you can 
break the law with impunity. Pathetically--pathetically--far too many 
corporations have made the calculated decision that it is much more 
profitable and beneficial to their bottom line to break the law than to 
follow the law. Ordinary people follow the law. Average people follow 
the law--not large corporations. As they have figured out, you can 
break the law, you can stall this thing out forever, and nothing is 
going to happen to you.
  In fact, the financial penalty for corporations retaliating against 
pro-union workers in America, today, under current law, is zero--no 
penalty at all. That will change under the PRO Act. Under this 
legislation, corporations will be fined up to $50,000 for violations of 
the National Labor Relations Act and up to $100,000 for each repeated 
violation. In other words--shock of all shock--large, profitable 
corporations will have to obey the law. I know that is a very radical 
concept in America today, but that is what I think should be happening.
  Under the PRO Act, we will ban captive audience meetings that are 
designed to intimidate, coerce, and threaten workers who support 
forming a union. Under the PRO Act, we will make sure that all workers 
have a first contract within 1 year after winning a union election to 
binding arbitration. In other words, it should not take years to work 
out a first contract. This is nothing more than a stalling tactic on 
the part of the corporate world.
  Under this legislation, we will ban, once and for all, the permanent 
replacement of workers who go on strike. No longer will companies be 
able to hire replacement workers or withhold benefits from workers who 
go on strike to improve their wages and working conditions.
  Mr. President, this legislation will override so-called ``right to 
work'' laws that have eliminated the ability of unions to collect dues 
from those who benefit from union contracts. This legislation will end 
the ability of corporations to misclassify workers as independent 
contractors or label ordinary workers as supervisors to prevent them 
from organizing.
  And yet, Mr. President, that is not all that the HELP Committee will 
be doing tomorrow. The second bill that we will be marking up is the 
Healthy Families Act, which will end, once and for all, the 
international embarrassment of the United States of America being the 
only major country on Earth not to guarantee paid sick days to workers. 
This legislation would guarantee that every worker in America receives 
up to 7 paid sick days from their employers.
  You know, we hear a lot of talk here in this town about family 
values. Everybody is deeply concerned, presumably, about family values. 
So let me be clear: When a wife is diagnosed with cancer and a husband 
cannot get time off of work in order to take care of her or spend time 
with her when she is struggling with cancer, that is not a family 
value. That is, in fact, an attack on everything that a family is 
supposed to stand for.
  When a working mom is forced to send her sick child to school because 
she cannot afford to stay home with that child, that is not a family 
value. That is also an attack on everything that a family is supposed 
to stand for.
  I don't think it is a terribly radical suggestion that in the 
wealthiest country in the history of the world, in 2023, people should 
not get fired because they stay home with sick children.
  Let us be clear: The United States of America is the only major 
country on Earth that does not guarantee 1 single day of paid sick 
days--not one.
  In Germany, workers are entitled to a total of 6 weeks of sick days 
at 100 percent of their salary. In France, workers are entitled to a 
total of 90 days of paid sick leave at 50 percent of their salary. In 
Denmark, workers are entitled to at least 30 days of paid sick leave 
capped at about $638 per week. In Canada, workers are entitled to 10 
paid sick days at 100 percent of their salary and are eligible to 
receive 26 weeks of paid sick benefits at up to 55 percent of their 
salary. That is what Germany does, France does, Canada does--countries 
all over the world do.
  In the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the 
history of the world, workers are entitled--workers are guaranteed a 
total of zero paid sick days. That's the reality, and that, my friends, 
has got to change. Last place is no place for the United States of 
America. We can't go around telling people we are the greatest country 
on Earth and be the only major country that doesn't guarantee 1 day of 
paid sick leave.
  It is time for the United States of America to join the rest of the 
industrialized world and guarantee at least 7 paid sick days to every 
worker in America. And in doing that, we will still be way behind most 
of the industrialized countries.
  Just a few months ago, the American people learned about what 
railworkers in this country were going through and the fact that they, 
as workers doing difficult, dangerous work, often in inclement weather, 
were not guaranteed one single day of paid sick leave--and we had a big 
discussion on that. I offered an amendment on that issue, which failed. 
But I am happy to tell you that as a result of a strong grassroots 
trade union movement and, I think, the railroad companies getting a 
sense of how the American people feel--that is beginning to change.

  Today, unlike a few months ago, over 50,000 railworkers are now 
guaranteed up to 7 days of paid sick leave. And I have the feeling that 
in the weeks and months to come, more and more railroad workers will 
get that benefit. We need to build on that momentum by guaranteeing 7 
paid sick days, not just to rail workers, but to every worker in 
America.
  Last but not least, the third bill that the HELP Committee will be 
voting on tomorrow is the Paycheck Fairness Act introduced by Senator 
Murray. This legislation would end the absurdity--the unfairness--of 
women in America being paid just 84 cents on the dollar compared to 
men. As bad as that figure is, 16 percent less for women than for men, 
it is even worse--much worse--for women of color. In America today, 
Asian women make just 80 cents for every dollar a man earns; for black 
women, it is just 67 cents; and for Hispanic women and Native American 
women, it is just 57 cents.
  So, I don't think it is too much to ask in this country that people 
be paid equal pay for equal work, no matter

[[Page S2136]]

who you are. And the truth is, of course, the current situation does 
not have to be that way.
  In Belgium, another industrialized country, the gender wage gap is 
just 1.2 percent. Women make virtually the same amount as men do. In 
Spain, Norway, and Denmark, the gender wage gap is 5 percent or less--
women make 95 percent of what men make. Across the European Union, the 
gap is just 10.6 percent, and in the United States, it is 16 percent.
  The Paycheck Fairness Act would close this gap by guaranteeing equal 
pay for equal work and making it easier for women to come together to 
file and win lawsuits against unscrupulous employers who commit wage 
discrimination.
  These bills are not only good policies, they are precisely what the 
American people want. According to the last polls I have seen, 87 
percent of the American people support guaranteeing paid sick leave to 
every worker in our country; 84 percent of the American people support 
equal pay for equal work; and 59 percent of the American people support 
the PRO Act.
  The bottom line is that most Americans understand we live in a rigged 
economy. People on top are doing phenomenally well--have never done 
better. Ordinary workers are struggling to put food on the table, to 
purchase the healthcare they need, to take care of their families, to 
send their kids to college, to take some time off for a vacation. That 
is not what America is supposed to be about.
  Tomorrow, the HELP Committee begins the difficult and long journey of 
beginning to bring justice to the working class of this country and 
tell the CEOs and the corporate executives and the 1 percent that they 
cannot have it all, that this economy has got to work for working 
people and not just for the people on top.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.