Democratic lawmakers are throwing their weight behind a labor-empowering initiative amid moves by the Trump administration to renegotiate trade deals—ostensibly to benefit American workers.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) introduced legislation on Wednesday that would make it tougher for states to bust unions.
The trio are seeking to outlaw what Republicans have branded as “right-to-work” laws. The rules allow individual workers to free-ride on collective bargaining agreements–by giving them the option of withholding fees from unions who represent them at the negotiating table.
Twenty-eight states currently have rules allowing free-riding on collective bargaining—six of them enacted the laws in the past five years. Only four “right to work” states ranked among the top 20, in terms of 2016 median household income.
“So-called right-to-work laws give corporations the ability to trample workers’ rights and dismantle unions. I refuse to let that happen,” Brown said.
“It’s time to stand up for our workers and push back,” Gillibrand said.
The trio of senators announced their bill in a press release sent by Sen. Warren’s office. Staffers noted that the legislation is also being sponsored by Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Ed Markey (D-Mass.).
Companion legislation is being introduced in the House by Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.).
Wednesday’s bill was introduced during President Trump’s ongoing efforts to rapidly renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)–one of his core campaign promises.
“We have forgotten men and women who work hard, who are making less money than they made 18 years ago,” Trump said last July, bashing NAFTA, at one rally in Pennsylvania—a state won by the Republican.
Earlier this month, amid NAFTA renegotiations, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called for the prohibition of state-level “right to work” laws in the US, according to press reports.
“If we want to protect workers and expect a level playing field in international trade deals, we need to start at home,” Warren said on Wednesday, “and that means banning states from imposing restrictions that prevent workers from joining together to fight for their future.”
On Tuesday, Warren also wrote to Trump’s top trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, asking for the removal of Investor State Dispute Settlement tribunals from NAFTA. As their name suggests, the mediation bodies can only be petitioned by investors seeking to sue governments.
On the other side of the “right to work” coin, Congressional Republicans have proposed enshrining in federal law workers’ ability to benefit from others’ collective bargaining efforts.
Earlier this year, Reps. Steve King (R-Iowa) and Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) introduced a national “right to work” bill that currently has 70 cosponsors. A senate companion endorsed by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has 23 Republican cosponsors.
When Democrats last held the House, the Senate and the White House, in 2009, labor advocates were hoping that Congress would approve of legislation to help organizers in another major way.
Unions wanted to see the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA)—legislation that would allow for the formation of new unions, if more than 50 percent of workers in a potential bargaining-unit sign cards certifying that they want collective representation.
Democrats never even brought up EFCA for a vote, despite the fact that a majority of Representatives cosponsored the legislation.
Currently, secret ballot elections are held to certify union representation if just 30 percent of a potential bargaining-unit wants to hold a vote—a dynamic that enables managers to aggressively bust organizing efforts, through threats and sweetheart promotions. Nissan was accused of employing such tactics in the run-up to the overwhelming rejection of United Auto Workers representation, just weeks ago in Canton, Miss.
Senate Democrats last flexed their left-wing muscle last Wednesday after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced a Medicare-for-all single payer bill. The health insurance legislation didn’t attract a single cosponsor in 2013, when it was last introduced. The version introduced this congress currently has sixteen cosponsors, including Warren, Gillibrand, Baldwin, Merkley and Markey.
