Representative Angie Craig Applauds House Passage of the Protecting the Right to Organize Act

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Representative Angie Craig released the following statement on the House passage of H.R. 842, the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act of 2021, which would offer the most significant upgrade to U.S. labor laws in 80 years.

"I grew up in a union family – and I'm dedicated to ensuring that the hard-earned victories of the organized labor movement are protected and expanded for future generations. The power to collectively bargain is essential to building the middle class and strengthening workers' rights," said Representative Angie Craig. "I was proud to cosponsor and vote for the PRO Act and I look forward to continuing to partner with Minnesota workers to protect collective bargaining rights and ensure folks have fair wages and safe working conditions while on the job."

The PRO Act would protect the right to organize and collectively bargain by:

• Bolstering remedies and punishing violations of workers' rights through authorizing meaningful penalties for employers that violate workers' rights, strengthening support for workers who suffer retaliation for exercising their rights, and authorizing a private right of action for violation of workers' rights.
• Strengthening workers' right to join together and negotiate for better working conditions by enhancing workers' right to support secondary boycotts, ensuring workers can collect "fair share" fees, modernizing the union election process, and facilitating initial collective bargaining agreements.
• Restoring fairness to an economy rigged against workers by closing loopholes that allow employers to misclassify their employees as supervisors and independent contractors and increasing transparency in labor-management relations.

This legislation has the strong support of Minnesota unions, including the Minnesota AFL-CIO and Education Minnesota.

"Organized labor helped build America's middle class – and our economy has always been stronger when working folks are granted the right to organize and collectively bargain for higher wages, safer workplaces and high-quality health care," said Bill McCarthy, President of the Minnesota AFL-CIO. "We are grateful for Representative Craig's leadership in advancing this critical legislation – and her longstanding commitment to strengthening and protecting union workers in Minnesota and across the country."

"The more than 85,000 educators of Education Minnesota welcome the news that the House of Representatives has passed the PRO Act, which will help to ensure that Minnesota's educators are able to collectively bargain on behalf of students, schools and teachers," said Denise Specht, president of Education Minnesota. "We applaud Rep. Angie Craig for advocating for public school educators and for her efforts to empower all workers and grow the middle class in Minnesota."