House & Senate Democrats Stand With Labor Leaders And Unveil “A Better Deal” For Workers

Dems Announce Plan To Put Workers’ Rights First & Strengthen Their Freedom & Abilities To Negotiate With Employers

At A Time When The GOP & Special Interests Are Looking To Scale Back Worker Protections To Maximize Corporate & CEO Profits, Dems Unveil “A Better Deal,” Which Would Safeguard American Workers’ Freedom To Negotiate With Employers

Dems’ Plan Would Strengthen Penalties On Predatory Corporations That Violate Workers’ Rights, Increase Workers’ Abilities To Strike For Workplace Improvements, Protect Integrity Of Union Elections, Use Federal Purchasing Power To Help Expand Negotiating Abilities, & More

Dems: To Keep The American Dream Alive, We Must Build An Economy That Works For Everyone—Not Just Those At The Top

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate and House Democrats today stood with labor leaders and unveiled one of the critical tenets of their economic agenda, “A Better Deal.” Specifically, the Democrats offered a better deal for workers by proposing a plan to safeguard workers’ freedom to negotiate with employers, penalize companies that violate workers’ rights, protect unions and workers’ abilities to strike, and more. The Democrats’ Better Deal proposal comes as Republicans in Congress and special interests are looking to roll back worker protections in order to maximize corporate profits.

The plan was unveiled by U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), U.S. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Ranking Member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions (HELP) Committee, U.S. Representative Bobby Scott (D-VA), Ranking Member on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration and Chair of the Senate Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee (DSOC), and U.S. Representative Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Co-Chair of the House Democratic Policy & Communications Committee (DPCC). The Senate and House Democrats stood alongside Richard Trumka, President of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), Lee Saunders, President of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSME), Lily Eskelsen Garcia, President of the National Education Association (NEA), and Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) to propose their plan.

During the press conference, the Democrats detailed their plan to give American workers a better deal on collective bargaining and negotiating with their employers. Specifically, the Better Deal for American workers proposal would:

• Strengthen penalties on predatory corporations that violate workers’ rights, and combat misclassification of workers as supervisors and independent contractors.
• Strengthen workers’ right to strike for basic workplace improvements, including higher wages and better working conditions.
• Create a mandatory mediation and arbitration process to ensure corporations and newly formed unions reach a first contract.
• Ban state laws that undermine worker freedoms to join together and negotiate.
• Provide millions of public employees with the freedom to join a union and collectively bargain with their employers.
• Streamline the National Labor Relation Board’s (NLRB) procedures to secure worker freedoms and effectively prevent violations.
• Protect the integrity of union elections against coercive captive audience meetings.
• Use federal purchasing power and policy to help expand opportunities to negotiate.

Read these full Better Deal for American workers plan here.

Press Contact

Drew Hammill (Pelosi), 202-226-7616
Matt House, (202) 224-2939

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