If we look back through history, there has always been a struggle between the interests of Labor and management. This struggle is entirely necessary to protect the rights of the individual employee. Unchallenged, management will often exploit their workforce as we saw in the emerging decades of the American Industrial Revolution. Organized labor unions were formed in response to this exploitation and have been successful in improving the overall quality of life for the American worker. This includes benefits such as, the 40-hour work week, the end of child labor, safer work environments, higher wages, improved employee benefits, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and protections from employer retaliation. The benefits and demanding work of unions doesn’t stop with these victories that we now take for granted as working norms. Labor unions continue to support employees in a variety of industries today and will continue to provide a critical role in our future.
Support Expansion of Union Job Training Programs.
Today, Unions are responsible for the largest career training programs outside of the US military. We should continue to support unionized labor to expand these training opportunities for more workers, especially those in critical trades that thrive on apprenticeship programs.
Protect Unionized Labor through Legislation
I support the Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2021 which strengthens the collective bargaining power of unions and protects workers in key practices such as strikes, employer mandated meetings that discourage union membership, and from retribution for whistleblowers. Additionally. we must strengthen the National Labor Relations Act through legislation that prevents states from undermining it though “right to work” laws.