May 21, 2024 – Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer: Chavez-DeRemer, Colleagues Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Protect the Rights of Public Employees
Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (OR-05) recently joined a bipartisan, bicameral group of her colleagues to help introduce the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act as a cosponsor. The proposal would protect public employees’ right to join unions and engage in collective bargaining – establishing a minimum standard of collective bargaining rights that states and localities must provide.
“I’m grateful to the thousands of Oregonians who dedicate their careers to public service,” Chavez-DeRemer said. “With bipartisan legislation like the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act, I’ll continue fighting to protect working families and ensure public employees receive fair wages and enjoy a good retirement.”
Research shows union members employed by a state government earn 17 percent more than their non-union counterparts, and union members employed by a local government earn 35 percent more than their non-union counterparts. Currently, many states prohibit their public-sector employees from engaging in collective bargaining to improve wages or working conditions.
Where states fail to provide basic collective bargaining rights for public sector employees, this bipartisan, bicameral legislation would empower the Federal Labor Relations Authority to protect the rights of state, territorial, and local government employees to:
- Form, join, or assist unions, to bargain collectively, and to join together to engage in other activities to improve their working conditions;
- Have their union recognized by their public employer through democratic procedures;
- Have a procedure for resolving impasses in collective bargaining; and
- Authorize the deduction of fees to support the union to the extent permitted by law.
Text of the bill is available HERE.
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