Statement of UAW President Rory L. Gamble on House passage of The PRO Act

DETROIT – Today the U.S. The House of Representatives stood up for workers who face fear and intimidation when trying to stand up for themselves over their wages, their benefits and their health and safety in the workplace.

For too long the arc of justice and fairness has been warped towered silencing workers who simply want the freedom and rights to join together and have a voice at the table with management. For far too long,  the ability of workers to come together and collectively bargain for workplace rights and better wages and benefits have been sabotaged by weak labor laws, anti-worker special interests, and misguided court rulings.

By passing the PRO Act today, Speaker Pelosi and the U.S. House have empowered hundreds of thousands of powerless workers to have a voice on the job.

The PRO Act will:

• Empower future union members and unions to exercise the freedom to organize and have a seat at the table to bargain wages, health and safety and benefits.

• Ensure that workers can reach a first contract quickly after a union is recognized.

• End managements’ practice of punishing striking workers by hiring permanent replacements.

• Hold corporations accountable by strengthening the National Labor Relations Board and allowing it to penalize employers who retaliate against working people in support of the union or collective bargaining.

• Repeal “right to work” laws—divisive and racist laws created during the Jim Crow era—that lead to lower wages, fewer benefits, and more dangerous workplaces.

• Create union pathways for workers to form unions, without fear, in newer industries like battery plants for Electric Vehicles.

As this Bill heads to the Senate, it is important to keep in mind that 85 years after passage of the National Labor Relations Act, workers are faced with steep obstacles, fear and intimidation after years of weakening labor rights protections. The U.S. Senate has the power to inject fairness and dignity to working Americans through passage of this act.