GCCA Signs Labor Letter to Senator Sanders and Cassidy

GCCA along with industry allies sent a letter to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee which is led by Chairman Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Ranking Member Bill Cassidy (R-LA). The letter urged the committee to reverse their actions, and take down the proposed PRO Act, Healthy Families Act, and Paycheck Fairness Act, and instead take up the Employee Rights Act, Working Families Flexibility Act, and Wage Equity Act.  The acts proposed by Senator Saunders did not go without protest from members of the committee, including ranking member Cassidy.  If passed, the bills would lead to a more negative situation between employers and employees, and impose Federal regulations not aligned with the reality of many industries.  Among other negative outcomes, the PRO Act would deprive secret ballots in union representative votes, the Healthy Families Act would set an unrealistic one-size-fits-all leave mandate, and the Wage Equity Act would impose significant compliance costs on employers on monitoring employee pay data, which in the age of online work would be even harder.

GCCA and its industry allies urged the committee to take up alternative legislation instead. The Employee Rights Act affirms employee’s right to work laws, gives employees the power to choose what private information is available to unions, and clarifies the joint employer standard under federal law.  The Advance Support for Working Families Act, Working Families Flexibility Act, and the Wage Equity act combined would allow future child tax credits in the year of a birth or adoption, employee-chosen overtime pay or more paid time off if working over 40hrs a week, and would require employers to review their pay polices and revoke any disparaging policies.