Sens. Carper, Coons join legislation to strengthen rights of public sector workers to join unions, bargain collectively

Statement

U.S. Senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons (both D-Del.) joined House and Senate Democrats in introducing bicameral legislation, the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act of 2019, that will guarantee the right of public employees to organize, act concertedly, and bargain collectively in states that currently do not afford these basic protections. There are nearly 17.3 million public workers across the country. Unlike private sector workers, there is no federal law protecting the freedom of public sector workers to join a union and collectively bargain for fair wages, benefits, and improved working conditions.

"I'm proud to join my colleagues to, once again, introduce legislation to help protect the rights of Delaware's public sector employees to form unions and collectively bargain for better pay and benefits. Last year's Supreme Court decision in Janus vs. AFSCME Council 31 threatened the ability of public-sector employees around the country to organize and negotiate fair wages. Our country was built by hardworking men and women who organized and fought hard for workers' rights, and we in Congress must work to ensure that their rights to collectively bargain for better pay and benefits are protected," Senator Carper said.

"Public sector employees provide critical services to protect us, care for our children, and support our economy," Senator Coons said. "In the aftermath of the Supreme Court's Janus v. AFSCME Council 31 decision, we must protect the ability of these workers to unionize and negotiate fair wages and working conditions. I'm proud to introduce legislation with my Democratic colleagues to reaffirm the crucial role of public sector unions in fighting for workers' rights."

The Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act of 2019 provides the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) with the authority to determine whether a state, territory, or locality provides public employees and supervisors the right:

To form, join, or assist a union, to bargain collectively, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid (including the filing of joint, class or collective legal claims) or protection;
To have their union recognized by their public employer if the union is freely chosen by a majority of employees, to bargain with the employer through the union, and to commit their collective-bargaining agreement to writing;
To be free from forced recertification elections of their already-recognized representative and decertification of their chosen representative within one year of an election or the expiration of a valid collective bargaining agreement;
To have a procedure for resolving impasses in collective bargaining culminating in binding arbitration; and
To authorize employers to deduct fees to the union from their payroll when employees consent.
The FLRA approach gives states wide flexibility to write and administer their own labor laws provided they meet this minimum standard. If a state substantially provides for the rights and procedures laid out in the bill, that state is unaffected by this bill. States that do not provide for these rights or only partially provide for these rights, however, will be compelled to meet these basic labor standards. The FLRA must issue regulations within one year of the bill becoming law and they can enforce the law through federal court. The bill also creates a private right of action to enforce compliance in federal court but only if the FLRA has not yet filed suit seeking relief for the same issue.

The Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act, introduced by Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), is also cosponsored by Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Robert Casey (D-Pa.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). There are 27 cosponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act is supported by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), National Education Association (NEA), and the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers.

In June 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that public sector unions are barred from charging "agency fees" to the public employees they negotiate pay increases and benefit bumps for, if those employees decline to join the union as full members.

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