[His comments came ahead of a House vote on the PRO Act, which
aims to protect the rights of workers to unionize and collectively
bargain for better pay, benefits, and working conditions]
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'STOP TALKING ABOUT DR. SEUSS,' TIM RYAN IMPLORES GOP, 'AND START
WORKING WITH US ON BEHALF OF THE AMERICAN WORKERS'  
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Jessica Corbett
March 9, 2021
Common Dreams
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_ His comments came ahead of a House vote on the PRO Act, which aims
to protect the rights of workers to unionize and collectively bargain
for better pay, benefits, and working conditions _

Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), then a presidential primary candidate,
delivered a campaign speech at the Iowa State Fair on August 10,
2019., Alex Wong/Getty Images

 

A visibly frustrated Rep. Tim Ryan took to the House floor on Tuesday
and blasted congressional Republicans for focusing on children's books
instead of improving the rights of working Americans amid concurrent
public health and economic crises.

Ahead of an expected vote on the Protecting the Right to Organize
(PRO) Act
[[link removed]], the
Ohio Democrat delivered a speech that caught the attention of the
Fight for $15
[[link removed]] movement
and AFL-CIO
[[link removed]]—the nation's
largest federation of unions—as well as the advocacy group Patriotic
Millionaires.

Highlighting the dramatic gap
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worker pay and chief executive compensation in the United States, Ryan
made a case for the PRO Act and called out the GOP for not working
with Democrats on the bill.

"Heaven forbid we pass something that's gonna help the damn workers in
the United States of America," he shouted on the floor. "Heaven forbid
we tilt the balance that has been going in the wrong direction for 50
years."

"We talk about pensions, you complain," Ryan said of Republicans in
Congress. "We talk about the minimum wage increase, you complain. We
talk about giving them the right to organize, you complain. But if we
were passing a tax cut here, you'd be all getting in line to vote
'yes' for it."

"Now stop talking about Dr. Seuss, and start working with us on behalf
of the American workers," he added, referencing attempts
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by some prominent Republicans to politicize a recent decision by the
company that manages the late author's estate to stop publishing six
books containing "hurtful and wrong" imagery.

 
In an apparent response to the congressman's impassioned speech,
_Daily Beast_ columnist Wajahat Ali suggested that "more Democrats
need to channel Tim Ryan's righteous rage. It's about time and the
people demand it. Use it as fuel to get stuff done against an
obstructionist GOP."

The PRO Act passed
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the Democrat-controlled House in February 2020 but went nowhere with
the GOP-majority Senate and a White House held by then-President
Donald Trump. House Committee on Education and Labor Chair Rep. Bobby
Scott (D-Va.) and other Democratic leaders reintroduced
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the landmark legislation last month.

"The decades-long assault on workers' rights—led by special
interests in state legislatures, courts, and employers across the
country—has suppressed union membership and eroded America's middle
class," Scott said at the time. "The Protecting the Right to Organize
Act is a major step toward ensuring that workers can exercise their
basic right to form a union and collectively bargain for higher pay,
safer working conditions, and decent benefits—including paid leave,
quality healthcare, and a secure retirement."

"The Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated the urgent need for Congress
to protect and strengthen workers' rights," he added. "Over the past
year, workers across the country have been forced to work in unsafe
conditions for insufficient pay, because they lacked the ability to
stand together and negotiate with their employer. The PRO Act is an
opportunity to honor the contributions of the many frontline workers
during the pandemic and American workers nationwide who continue to
uphold our economy."

Backed by unions
[[link removed]],
labor rights advocates, and environmental groups
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the bill is—in the words of Scott—widely considered "the most
significant upgrade to U.S. labor rights in more than eight decades."

While President Joe Biden campaigned
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on the promise that he would be "the most pro-union president you've
ever seen," the bill will still need to pass a Senate now narrowly
controlled by Democrats.

Our work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike
3.0 License. Feel free to republish and share widely.

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