Portman should stop opposing pro-worker bill
For the first time in modern history, workers – including gig workers –– have the chance to take back their right to organize for better wages, benefits and working conditions, and decisively penalize employers who violate the law.
Across the nation, workers increasingly want a voice with their employers that does not exist now. Since the 1980s, worker wages have stagnated while the rich have grown richer, thanks in part to President Ronald Reagan's firing of all striking air traffic controllers. This action enflamed the war against unions and workers have suffered ever since.
Polls show that about 65% of the population supports unions and nearly 60 million workers would join a labor union if given the opportunity. So why are they not joining?
Simple. Lobbyists and CEOS have worked relentlessly to kill labor unions and silence workers' voices. Under this pressure, Republican policymakers have weakened the National Labor Relations Act and attacked collective bargaining rights.
Under current law, the penalties against employers who illegally fire or retaliate against workers for trying to form a union are negligible. So, employers retaliate against pro-union workers because they know that violations will get only a slap on the wrist. It's simply the cost of doing business.
As a result, picketing workers and union organizers have been attacked, fired and threatened. A change is overdue.
Workers need rights.
The Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2021 would ensure rights, but it is being blocked by Republicans.
This year, the PRO Act passed the House with a vote of 225-206, mostly along party lines. One Democrat opposed the act. Only five Republicans voted for it.
The equivalent Senate bill has been languishing since March. Out of 100 Senators, 46 supporters are Democrat or Independent – none are Republican.
Neither U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-ohio, nor any of the Republican House members from Ohio support this vital bill to protect worker rights. Workers deserve better.
In 2020, American heroes in grocery stores, the U.S. Postal Service, hospitals and others were recognized as “essential workers.”
Many risked their lives working in unsafe conditions. Many got sick or died keeping our economy moving and serving needs. As the coronavirus crisis continues into 2021 and the delta variant increases workplace risks, there has never been a more important time to give workers recognition and protection.
2020 underscored something else, too – how urgently we need labor law reform.
The PRO Act would put teeth into employers' accountability for violations, including requiring worker back pay and damages. It prohibits employers from forcing agreements with employees that waives their right to collective bargaining or classaction litigation and “broadens the scope of individuals covered by the fair labor standards.”
The PRO Act prohibits replacement of, or discrimination against, workers who participate in strikes and prohibits forced attendance at anti-union meetings designed to scare employees into voting down a union.
Most U.S. corporations treat unions as the enemy. In other industrialized countries, corporations and unions collaborate to achieve greater efficiency, higher profits, workplace safety and worker satisfaction and loyalty. Workers' place at the table is important. Let's make that happen here.
The PRO Act would put the decision to form a union back where it belongs – in the hands of workers, free from employer interference. Ask Portman to vote for the bill. Thank Senator Sherrod Brown, Dohio, for his support.
Nelsonville-york City Schools bus driver Tim Warren is president of the York Township trustees and is a vice-president of the Athens County Democrat central committee. He served as president of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees local 400, executive board member of the Ohio AFL-CIO, president of the Southeast District of OAPSE, and secretary treasurer of the AFL-CIO central labor council.