House Approves Pro-Union Bill Despite Dim Senate Odds -

Reprinted from The Washington Post by Brian Slodysko on March 9, 2021.

The Democratic-led House on Tuesday approved legislation that would invigorate workers’ unions, following decades of court defeats and legislative setbacks that have kneecapped the labor movement’s once formidable ability to organize.

The measure, which union leaders and labor allies have presented as a cure for decades of working-class wage stagnation, was approved on a mostly party-line 225-206 vote. But it faces an all-but-certain Republican blockade in a narrowly divided Senate and is unlikely to become law.

In an angry floor speech, Representative Tim Ryan excoriated Republicans, most of whom opposed the measure, mocking them for rejecting a bill to “help the damn workers.”

“Heaven forbid we tilt the balance that has been going in the wrong direction for 50 years,” Ryan, D-Ohio, said, his voice rising. “We talk about pensions, you complain. We talk about the minimum wage increase, you complain. We talk about giving them the right to organize, you complain. But if we were passing a tax cut here, you’d be all getting in line to vote ‘yes.’” …

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