A Better Deal for Workers
From the AFL-CIO
Democrats in Congress this week introduced a key piece of legislation designed to combat growing inequality and strengthen working people’s right to fight for our economic rights.
“All working people should have the freedom to join together to negotiate with their employers for better wages and working conditions,” said AFL‑CIO Government Affairs Director William Samuel in a letter urging members of Congress to support the bill. “Help us build an economy that works for all working families and not just the privileged few.”
As corporations continue waging a full-blown assault on the freedoms of working people, our allies on Capitol Hill have introduced a piece of legislation that would mark an enormous step forward in the struggle for economic justice. The most recent proposal in congressional Democrats’ Better Deal agenda, the Workers’ Freedom to Negotiate Act, would enact several key provisions expanding collective bargaining rights, such as:
- Strengthening penalties against abusive and predatory corporations that violate workers’ rights.
- Combating misclassification of workers as supervisors and independent contractors.
- Strengthening our right to strike for the wages, benefits and working conditions that we deserve.
- Creating a mandatory mediation and arbitration process to ensure that corporations and newly organized unions reach a first contract.
- Banning state laws that undermine our freedom to join together and negotiate.
- Protecting the integrity and fairness of union elections from employer propaganda.
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