Power to the Workers – New Bill to Strengthen Unions

The Workplace Democracy Act would:

• Allow for Unions to organize through a majority sign-up process
• Would require employers to begin negotiating within 10 days of receiving a request to form a new union
• Eliminate deceptively named Right-to-Work (for less) laws
• Eliminates loopholes which allow employers to classify employees as independent contractors/supervisors in order to prevent organizing
• Allows for secondary boycotts or pickets
• Require companies to disclose anti-union information they disseminate to workers

“The deck is stacked against workers,” said APWU President, Mark Dimondstein. “We welcome the introduction of pro-worker legislation which will put more power back in the hands of the people.”

The bill is cosponsored in the Senate by Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Edward Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Ron Wyden (D-OR). The House bill is cosponsored Brendan Boyle (D-PA), Katherine Clark (D-MA), Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA), Keith Ellison (D-MN), Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Donald Norcross (D-NJ), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA), Mark Takano (D-CA), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ). 

A summary of the bill can be read here [1].