|
|
It’s no secret that America is a deeply polarized nation right now. Partisan politics influences everything from the media we consume to the people we associate with.
Here’s something that isn’t, and shouldn’t be, partisan: Worker’s right to organize and collectively bargain. Everyone should support that fundamental right, which is rooted in the First Amendment of the Constitution and enshrined into law in the National Labor Relations Act.
Now, that right is under siege by a presidential administration bent on breaking unions.
First, President Trump summarily ended the federal government’s collective bargaining agreement with Transportation Security Administration workers. Then, he went further, stripping more than 1 million federal workers across a broad swath of the U.S. government bureaucracy of their right to collectively bargain.
It’s not only public sector unions that are under attack.
This administration has gutted the National Labor Relations Board, leaving millions of workers, including in California, without options if their employer is resisting their efforts to unionize or bargain in good faith.
Now, more than ever, that cross-partisan spirit of support for the right to collectively bargain is so important. This isn’t a left issue or a right issue. This is a worker issue.
That’s why we see Republicans and Democrats supporting the right to a union, both stateside and nationwide.
In Washington, D.C., eight Republican congressional representatives, led by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pennsylvania, sent a letter to Trump urging him to reconsider his actions negating the right of federal workers to collectively bargain.
Fitzpatrick has also co-authored a bipartisan bill with Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, the Protect America’s Workforce Act, to nullify that executive order.
Here in California, Assemblymember Tina McKinnor, D-Inglewood, has introduced a bill, Assembly Bill 288, that protects workers’ right to organize and collectively bargain by empowering the state Public Employment Relations Board to hear petitions from workers unable to receive a timely remedy from the federal National Labor Relations Board.
AB 288 passed out of the Assembly Public Employment and Retirement Committee with bipartisan support and without any Republican opposition. Assemblymember Juan Alanis, R-Modesto, voted in favor of the bill.
Collective bargaining is a basic right, not a partisan one.
We need your help to get these bills across the finish line!
For AB 288, go HERE to find your local California lawmakers and tell them to vote yes on it to protect workers’ right to organize!
For the Protect America’s Workforce Act, go HERE to contact your local congressional representative and tell them to vote yes and support federal workers’ right to collectively bargain! |
|
|
In Solidarity, Lorena Gonzalez |
|
