“I think this is probably some of the best legislation that we've seen in a long time that's going help the middle class. I know you know it as well as I do: the middle class is struggling. And it has nothing to do with just COVID-19. They were struggling before COVID-19 hit us." - James Harris, Assistant Director, UAW Region 1
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Andy Levin (MI-09) member of the House Education & Labor Committee, hosted Facebook Live calls with local union leaders about the importance of passing the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. The House is scheduled to vote on the bill this evening.
The special guests included:
- Tom Lutz, Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters
- Nia Winston, President, UNITE HERE Local 24
- Charles Daniels, President, Communications Workers of America Local 4123
- James Harris, Assistant Director, UAW Region 1
- Scott Holiday, Chief of Staff, SEIU Healthcare Michigan
Rep. Levin: "Friends, the PRO Act does away with what I call ‘right-to-freeload,' or so-called ‘right-to-work,' which really was a Jim Crow deal to try to prevent Black and white workers from organizing together, to keep Black workers down, to keep workers divided and to weaken workers' organizations."
Secretary-Treasurer Lutz (Carpenters): "This really isn't about protecting the right to organize; it's about protecting good jobs. People wonder where those good jobs went. Listen, they didn't just go away. They changed what they call them and they implemented rules that harmed workers and took away our rights to organize and defend ourselves in a tough economy. And to be honest, the work that you're doing isn't just for individual workers. It's for good jobs, and it's most importantly for good employers, because they're the ones who have to compete with these bad players."
President Winston (UNITE HERE): "UNITE HERE is a union that's founded on immigrant workers, and so for me and for my union, the reason why we need the PRO Act is…it is promoting racial justice and eradicates all kinds of inequalities in the workplace…a union contract is a tool to ensure equality in the workplace."
President Daniels (CWA): "When you give workers those rights, they can actually create the society, this amazing society, that we now currently live in, but Congressman, it's been chipped away at. For the past fifty years with supply-side economics, with the trickle down, union membership has been steadily declining, and as it has income inequality levels have been rising."
Asst. Director Harris (UAW): "The way that I see it here, not only for just the UAW, but for the country whole, I think this is probably some of the best legislation that we've seen in a long time that's going help the middle class. I know you know it as well as I do: the middle class is struggling. And it has nothing to do with just COVID-19. They were struggling before COVID-19 hit us."
Chief of Staff Holiday (SEIU): "Look, the PRO Act becomes law and workers having a fair shot at forming unions without being coerced or intimidated or bullied out of the choice means a ton to us. One of my first mentors in the labor world told me ‘Scott, no one forms a union to make less money.' And we still find that true today."
In addition, Rep. Levin spoke on the House floor this afternoon in support of the bill and participated in a national press call with the AFL-CIO.
The PRO Act protects the basic right to join a union by:
- Empowering private sector workers to exercise their right to organize
- Holding employers accountable for violating workers' rights and union election interference
- Securing free, fair and safe union elections
Source:https://andylevin.house.gov/media/press-releases/watch-levin-hosts-call-union-leaders-protecting-right-organize-pro-act
