Lori Trahan: “I thank my friend from Virginia for yielding and for his steady leadership on this issue. Mr. Chairman, on Tuesday…”

“I thank my friend from Virginia for yielding and for his steady leadership on this issue. Mr. Chairman, on Tuesday evening, the American people were treated to a number of fairy-tale promises. But none was more preposterous than the claim that the administration's agenda has been ``relentlessly proworker.'' It has been relentless, all right. Relentlessly hostile to our unions, particularly those seeking redress from the NLRB; relentless in favoring corporate interests over working people, such as those deliberately misclassified as contractors; and relentless in its opposition to permitting employees the right to have their day in court when their rights are violated. The PRO Act is what a real proworker agenda looks like: It levels the playing field for workers in organizing drives. It reorients the NLRB to defend workers who are unfairly targeted. It blocks worker misclassifications, and it demands real penalties for violations of workers' rights. I am pleased that the PRO Act includes my amendment to ban offensive lockouts, a cruel technique designed to bring workers to their knees rather than the negotiating table in good faith. The steelworkers in my home State of Massachusetts know that cruel tactic all too well. Mr. Chairman, as the daughter of a union ironworker and the granddaughter of a union carpenter, I have experienced firsthand why unions are the foundation of America's middle class.…”