Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress finds the following: The National Labor Relations Act ( 29 U.S.C. 151 et seq. ) was enacted to encourage the practice of collective bargaining and to protect the exercise by workers of full freedom of association in the workplace. Since its enactment in 1935, tens of millions of workers have bargained with their employers over wages, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment and have raised the standard of living for all workers. Through acting collectively and bargaining with their employers, workers who are unionized earn 21.3 percent more than workers who are not covered by a collective bargaining agreement.
They are 28.4 percent more likely to be covered by employer-provided health insurance and 30.9 percent more likely to have employer-provided pensions. The wage differential is even more pronounced for women and people of color. Unionized African-American workers earn 24.6 percent more than African-American workers who are not unionized, and unionized Latino workers earn 29.3 percent more than their peers who are not unionized. Unionized women earn 24 percent more than women who are not unionized, and the wage gap between men and women is much smaller at unionized workplaces.
The wage gains achieved through collective bargaining benefit workers and their communities. Unions and collective bargaining ensure that productivity gains are shared by working people. The decline in the percentage of workers covered by collective bargaining has contributed significantly to skyrocketing income inequality and flat wages. As enacted in 1935, the National Labor Relations Act ( 29 U.S.C. 151 et seq. ) protects the right of all workers to join together with their co-workers to advocate for improvements in their pay, benefits, and working conditions, regardless of whether they seek representation by a union.
The law protects the right of workers to discuss issues like pay and benefits without retaliation or interference by employers. However, the awareness of workers regarding their rights under the law is lacking, and many employers maintain policies that restrict the ability of workers to discuss workplace issues with each other, directly contravening these rights. Research shows that more than one-half of workers report that their employers have policies that prohibit or discourage workers from discussing pay with their co-workers.
These policies and practices impede workers from exercising their rights under the law and impair their freedom of association at work. Retaliation by employers against workers who exercise their rights under the National Labor Relations Act ( 29 U.S.C. 151 et seq. ) persists at troubling levels. Employers routinely fire workers for trying to form a union at their workplace. In one out of 3 organizing campaigns, one or more workers are discharged for supporting joining a union.
In fiscal year 2014, the National Labor Relations Board obtained reinstatement orders for 3,240 workers and obtained backpay awards totaling $43,800,000 for workers who faced illegal retaliation for exercising their rights. Discrimination for organizing hurts all workers, but minorities in particular, as minorities are more likely than Whites to seek to organize and receive a larger wage premium from collective bargaining. The current remedies are inadequate to deter employers from violating the National Labor Relations Act ( 29 U.S.C. 151 et seq. ).
The remedies and penalties for violations of the National Labor Relations Act ( 29 U.S.C. 151 et seq. ) are far weaker than for other labor and employment laws, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ( 42 U.S.C. 2000a et seq. ). Unlike other major labor and employment laws, there are no civil penalties for violations of the law. Workers cannot go to court to pursue relief on their own; they must rely on the National Labor Relations Board to prosecute their case. In order to make the right to collective bargaining and freedom of association in the workplace a reality for workers, the National Labor Relations Act ( 29 U.S.C. 151 et seq. ) must be strengthened.
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