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Tammy Baldwin – a champion for working families!

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) has consistently been among the pro-worker champions in the United States Senate, with a 100% rating from the AFLCIO for her 2023 votes standing up for working people, unions, and our rights to organize and go on strike.

“Unions give workers security, dignity, and respect, and I’m always proud to stand with our workers who drive our economy.” –Sen. Tammy Baldwin

Protecting workers’ rights 

Sen. Baldwin is a proud co-sponsor of the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (the PRO Act), which strengthens worker power by protecting our rights to organize, bargain and go on strike. 

“This legislation takes bold action to respect and reward Wisconsinites hard work, empowering them to fight for fair pay, a safe workplace, quality health care, and the dignity of a secure retirement that they have earned,” said Sen. Baldwin.

The PRO Act, a top legislative priority for the labor movement, takes a comprehensive approach to restoring the balance of power in the workplace by blocking intimidating union-busting tactics, speeding union elections, providing new protections against employer retaliation, and helping newly organized workers secure a first contract faster. 

When workers make the difficult decision to strike for better working conditions, Sen. Baldwin doesn’t hesitate to stand in solidarity with them.

Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act

Sen. Baldwin is a co-sponsor of the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act of 2024, introduced in May in the U.S. Senate, which extends federal legal protections to ensure that all public workers have the right to organize, bargain collectively and engage in concerted activities.

Standing with striking workers — literally

When workers make the difficult decision to strike for better working conditions, Sen. Baldwin doesn’t hesitate to stand in solidarity with them.

In October, Sen. Baldwin joined the picket line with striking United Auto Workers Local 75 members at the Stellantis Mopar plant in Milwaukee.  

  • Sen. Baldwin was among a group of senators who introduced a resolution in solidarity with members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) bargaining for a fair contract, including 34,000 on strike.
  • In 2023 she walked the picket line with OPEIU members on strike at TruStage.
  • In 2022 she walked the picket line with UAW members on strike at CNH Industrial in Mount Pleasant. 

Fighting union-busting

Sen. Baldwin co-sponsored the No Tax Breaks for Union Busting Act to end the taxpayer subsidization of corporate union-busting campaigns.

“For too long, our tax code has benefitted big corporations, not the workers who create the value,” said Sen. Baldwin. 

The bill would classify businesses’ interference in worker organization campaigns like political speech under the tax code and therefore not tax deductible. Activities denied a deduction would include both unlawful attempts to influence employees, and lawful activities that nonetheless should not be subsidized by taxpayers. 

Protecting the healthcare benefits of striking workers

Employers can’t legally fire workers who take part in a protected strike, but they can and do threaten to cut workers’ health care as soon as they hit picket lines. Sen. Baldwin co-sponsored the Striking and Locked Out Workers Health Care Protection Act to prevent employers from retaliating against striking or locked out workers by cutting off healthcare benefits. The legislation creates a separate Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) category covering this employer behavior. 

Securing and protecting jobs 

Sen. Baldwin works to ensure that major federal legislation incorporates the needs of working families, including the right to unions and good wages.

  • Sen. Baldwin voted for the American Rescue Plan that saved the jobs of public employees and airline workers, and rescued the multiemployer pension plans covering more than a million union members and retirees.  
  • Sen. Baldwin voted for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which supported millions of jobs in construction and manufacturing , with strong protections for union rights and prevailing wages. The act also strengthened “Buy America” rules.
  • Sen. Baldwin voted for the Inflation Reduction Act, which will create hundreds of thousands of American manufacturing jobs, in addition to reducing prescription drug prices for seniors and lowering energy costs. 
  • Sen. Baldwin voted for the CHIPS Act, which grows U.S. supply chains for semiconductor chip manufacturing and ensures that new semiconductor plants being built with federal money will employ union-trained workers.

Protecting workers from offshoring 

Sen. Baldwin has been a longtime leader in efforts to prevent the offshoring of American jobs.

Sen. Baldwin successfully included key provisions of her Made in America Act and Build America, Buy America Act in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act and this year’s National Defense Authorization Act, helping create millions of American jobs. 

“I strongly believe that when taxpayer dollars are spent by our government to rebuild our infrastructure, we should be investing in American workers and American-made products,” Baldwin said.

Baldwin’s Buy American rules will boost the use of American-made goods in infrastructure projects and ensure the use of common US-made construction materials such as  iron, steel, plastic, concrete and glass when rebuilding American infrastructure. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will create about 2 million jobs per year for a decade; the Inflation Reduction Act is projected to create or preserve over 24,000 jobs in Wisconsin; and the CHIPS and Science Act not only creates tens of thousands of jobs in semiconductor manufacturing nationwide, it designates Wisconsin as a tech hub for biohealth, bringing jobs and innovation to the state.

Sen Baldwin helped introduce the No Tax Breaks for Outsourcing Act, which ensures multinational corporations pay the same tax rate on profits earned abroad as they do in the United States. This would end tax incentives created by the 2017 Trump tax giveaway bill that created incentives to export jobs and profits.

In 2020, Baldwin sponsored the End Outsourcing Act that would utilize the tax code and federal grants, loans and contracts to end the outsourcing of jobs overseas. The legislation would create a new tax benefit to help companies bring jobs back to America, and would require companies that have outsourced jobs within a five-year period to pay back federal tax incentives and grants from facilities closed due to outsourcing.

Sen. Baldwin co-sponsored the Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act, which would block government grants for companies that move call centers overseas. 

In April, Sen. Baldwin called on CNH Industrial to reverse its plans to lay off 200 Racin workers who build farming equipment. “Moving production to Mexico as you are considering would…be a slap in the face to the workers who have given so much,” Sen. Baldwin wrote in a letter to CEO Scott Wine.

Protecting our pensions

Millions of workers depend on retirement benefits that are held in multi-employer pension plans – many of which had been deemed at risk of failure by 30-year-old accounting standards imposed by the federal government. Sen. Baldwin fought to secure passage of the Butch Lewis Act as part of the American Rescue Plan – restoring pensions in full to workers and retirees in the Central States Pension Fund who were facing huge benefit cuts. 

Thanks to this legislation, more than 350,000 workers and retirees across the country – including 22,000 in Wisconsin — will receive the full retirement benefits they earned.

One Fair Wage

Sen. Baldwin understands that a fair day’s work deserves fair wages. She was an original co-sponsor of the Raise the Wage Act of 2021, aimed at raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. 

Cracking down on wage theft

Sen. Baldwin co-sponsored the Wage Theft Prevention and Wage Recovery Act of 2023, which increases penalties for employers who illegally withhold wages, and provides new tools for workers to recover stolen wages.

“Hardworking Wisconsinites show up to their jobs, only to discover that they are not getting the full paycheck they have earned. It’s not right and we have to crack down on the employers who steal wages from working families,” said Sen.  Baldwin. “Our bill will help stop bad-faith employers denying Wisconsinites their hard-earned dollars and empower workers to get what they are owed.” 

Tax fairness for working families

Sen. Baldwin is a lead co-sponsor of the “Tax Fairness for Workers Act,” which allows workers to deduct unreimbursed business expenses such as uniforms and equipment, business travel costs and job search expenses. The act restores workers’ ability deduct union dues from their taxes “above the line” – meaning workers can benefit even if they don’t otherwize itemize deductions.

Strengthening job training programs

Sen. Baldwin is the lead sponsor of the National Apprenticeship Act of 2023, a bipartisan effort to build new programs train workers, help them find apprenticeship programs, and connect them with good-paying jobs.

This landmark job training legislation would scale up apprenticeship programs in Wisconsin and across the country to provide more people with the skills they need to succeed, including by investing in public-private partnerships between schools and local businesses that are training future Wisconsin workers.

“When we invest in workforce training programs, we are investing in our families, our future, and our Made in Wisconsin economy,” said Sen. Baldwin.

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Bob Casey – a champion for working families!  

Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pennsylvania) has consistently fought for pro-worker bills in the  United States Senate, earning a nearly perfect 99% lifetime rating from the AFL-CIO for  his votes standing up for working people, unions, and our rights to organize and go on  strike.  

Throughout his three terms, Casey has fought to protect Pennsylvania’s steel industry  and the good union jobs it creates, and helped create family-sustaining jobs and foster  financial security for Pennsylvania families through large federal investments in  infrastructure, efforts to lower costs, and local communities.

“I’ve delivered for workers in this state, and I’ve had their back.”

–Senator Bob Casey

Protecting workers’ rights

Sen. Casey is a cosponsor of the Protecting the Right to Organize Act ( the PRO Act ), a  top legislative priority of the labor movement which strengthens worker power by  protecting our rights to organize, bargain and go on strike.  

“Every worker in America deserves to be paid a living wage and treated  with dignity and respect,” Casey said in a 2021 Labor Day message . “That’s  why I’m fighting to pass the PRO Act in Congress, which would safeguard  and strengthen workers’ fundamental right to organize and ensure that  workers are able to decide whether or not to join a union through a fair  process… We owe it to workers and families to create an economy that  works for them, not for corporate interests.”  

The PRO Act takes a comprehensive approach to restoring the balance of power in the  workplace by blocking intimidating union-busting tactics, speeding the time frame for  union elections, providing new protections for workers against employer retaliation, and  helping newly organized workers secure a first contract faster by establishing mediation  and arbitration procedures.  

Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act 

Sen. Casey is an original co-sponsor of the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act of 2024, introduced in May in the U.S. Senate, which extends federal legal protections to ensure that public workers have the right to organize, bargain collectively and engage in  concerted activities. 

Standing with striking workers – literally  

When workers make the difficult decision to strike for better working conditions, Sen.  Casey doesn’t hesitate to stand in solidarity with them. In September, during the UAW’s  big three strike, Casey joined striking members of UAW Local 2177 on the picket line in Bucks County. In 2022, he brought boxes of pizza when he joined the picket line of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, bolstering the spirits of striking newspaper workers.  

Protecting steel industry jobs

Senator Casey has consistently fought for “Made in America” laws and policies to  ensure federal infrastructure projects are built with American steel. He is clear in his  commitment to stand with USW workers in protecting Pennsylvania’s steel industry and  the good union jobs that it creates.  

Senator Casey has opposed Nippon Steel’s purchase of U.S. Steel since it was  announced in December. In the days following the sale announcement, he urged the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to block the sale and demanded answers from Nippon on the company’s commitment to Pennsylvania. In the following  months, he has continued to push the Biden Administration to oppose the planned  acquisition.  

“I share President Biden’s commitment to maintaining an American steel industry,” said Sen. Casey. “My number one priority is protecting union jobs in the Mon Valley and I’ll work like hell against any deal that leaves our Steelworkers behind.”

Standing for organizing rights

Early this year, Sen. Casey joined 31 of his colleagues in a letter urging non-unionized automakers to respect the rights of workers at their manufacturing plants as they  organize with United Auto Workers’ (UAW). “All workers, no matter what states they live  in, should have a free and unhindered opportunity to join a union,” the letter stated. “We  strongly urge you to implement a neutrality agreement at your plants and commit to  negotiating in good faith if your employees do elect to unionize with the UAW.”  

In 2022, Casey introduced the No Tax Breaks for Union Busting Act to end the taxpayer  subsidization of corporate union-busting campaigns.  

“Corporations shouldn’t be interfering with workers’ right to organize. They certainly shouldn’t be able to write off anti-unionization campaigns as a  business expense,” said Senator Casey. ‘Unions are a rising tide that lifts all for all  workers. It’s long past time we level the playing field and protect workers’  rights to organize.”

The bill would classify businesses’ interference in worker organization campaigns like  political speech under the tax code and therefore not tax deductible. Activities denied a  deduction would include both unlawful attempts to influence employees, and lawful  activities that nonetheless should not be subsidized by taxpayers.  

Senator Casey’s Tax Fairness for Workers Act would allow workers to deduct common  employment expenses such as travel and uniform costs, restoring a deduction stripped by the 2017 Trump tax law. Workers will be able to deduct business expenses, just as  employers can. The bill would also allow workers to deduct their union dues.  

Senator Casey introduced the Stop Spying Bosses Act to hold companies accountable  for using surveillance technologies against their employees, including for surveillance  and monitoring that targets organizing activity.  

Protecting healthcare for striking workers

While employers cannot fire workers for participating in a protected strike, they can, and  often do, threaten to cut workers’ health care as a coercive tactic to silence them.  Senator Casey co-sponsored the Striking and Locked Out Workers Health Care Protection  Act to prevent employers from cutting off striking or locked out workers’ health care. This legislation would end this abuse of power by creating a separate Unfair Labor  Practice (ULP) category for when employers cut or alter workers’ health insurance while they are on strike or locked out.  

“While workers fight for fairer wages, better benefits, and safer working conditions, they should have the peace of mind knowing that their employers can’t kick them off their health care while they’re exercising their fundamental right to organize,” said Sen. Casey.

Securing and protecting jobs

Sen. Casey works to ensure that major federal legislation incorporates the needs of Pennsylvania’s working families, including the right to unions and good wages. 

● Sen. Casey voted for the American Rescue Plan that saved the jobs of public  employees and airline workers, and rescued the multiemployer pension plans  covering more than a million union members and retirees.  

● Sen. Casey voted for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act , which will create millions of jobs in construction and manufacturing, with strong protections for union rights and prevailing wages. The act also strengthened “Buy  America” rules.  

● Sen. Casey voted for the Inflation Reduction Act, which will create hundreds of  thousands of American manufacturing jobs, in addition to reducing prescription  drug prices for seniors and lowering energy costs.  

● Sen. Casey voted for the CHIPS Act , which grows U.S. supply chains for  semiconductor chip manufacturing and ensures that new semiconductor plants  being built with federal money will employ union-trained workers.  

One Fair Wage

Sen. Casey understands that a fair day’s work deserves a living wage. He was an  original co-sponsor of the Raise the Wage Act of 2021 , aimed at raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. The act would directly give raises averaging $3,100  annually to more than 1.24 million working people in  Pennsylvania.  

“It’s time to deliver for working families and raise the wage,” Sen. Casey said. “It’s important to remember that many of those paid the minimum  wage are single mothers who are the sole providers for their household.  Raising the wage and indexing it will have a substantial impact for these  workers and their children.” 

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Jacky Rosen – a champion for working families

Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nevada), a former member of the Culinary Workers Union, has been a champion for workers in the United States Senate, with a 100% rating from the AFL-CIO for her 2023 votes standing up for working people, unions, and our rights to organize and go on strike.

She was recently awarded “Labor Champion of the Year” by the Nevada State AFL-CIO.

As a former union member in Nevada, I know firsthand how unions lift up working families, and protect workers and their rights. In the Senate, I’ve been proud to support legislation that protects workers’ rights, supports working families, and puts Nevadans first…. I will always stand with Nevada’s labor unions and their efforts to advocate for families, better working conditions, and fair wages.”

-Senator Jacky Rosen

In 2022 Sen. Rosen invited a CWA Union president as her State of the Union virtual guest, to highlight the good-paying jobs being created for broadband deployment from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law she helped write and pass.

Protecting Workers’ Rights

Sen. Rosen is a co-sponsor of and vocal advocate for the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (the PRO Act), which strengthens worker power by protecting our rights to organize, bargain and go on strike.

“At a time when many hardworking Nevadans are seeing the cost of living outpace the wages they earn, we need to protect their right to organize and to bargain for higher wages, better benefits, and safer working conditions without fear of intimidation,” said Sen. Rosen.

The PRO Act, a top legislative priority for the labor movement, takes a comprehensive approach to restoring the balance of power in the workplace by blocking intimidating union-busting tactics, speeding union elections, providing new protections against employer retaliation, and helping newly organized workers secure a first contract faster.

Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act

Sen. Rosen is an original co-sponsor of the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act of 2024, introduced in May in the U.S. Senate, which extends federal legal protections to ensure that all public workers have the right to organize, bargain collectively and engage in concerted activities.

Standing with striking workers – literally

When workers make the difficult decision to strike for better working conditions, Sen. Rosen doesn’t hesitate to stand in solidarity with them.

In September, she publicly supported Culinary Union workers who authorized a strike when their contract expired (the deal was settled a few months later without a strike).

And in October 2023 she joined striking UAW Workers on the picket line in Reno.

“Every member here knows that they deserve to be treated with respect and dignity,” Rosen said. “You know the unions built the middle class, (union workers) built this country, and they deserve to be treated that way. I’m proud to be out here and stand with them.”

Securing and protecting jobs

Sen. Rosen works to ensure that major federal legislation incorporates the needs of working families, including the right to unions and good wages.

●  Sen. Rosen voted for the American Rescue Plan that saved the jobs of public employees and airline workers, and rescued the multiemployer pension plans covering more than a million union members and retirees.

●  Sen. Rosen helped write and pass the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which supported millions of jobs in construction and manufacturing. The act also strengthened “Buy America” rules. Rosen was a leading advocate in the Senate fighting to include Davis-Bacon prevailing wage standards in the final infrastructure package.

●  Sen. Rosen voted for the Inflation Reduction Act, which will create hundreds of thousands of American manufacturing jobs, in addition to reducing prescription drug prices for seniors and lowering energy costs. She is now a leading voice pushing federal agencies, particularly the Department of Energy, and companies to ensure IRA grant and loan guarantee recipients are using Project Labor Agreements.

●  Sen. Rosen voted for the CHIPS Act, which grows U.S. supply chains for semiconductor chip manufacturing and ensures that the two new semiconductor plants being built with federal money will employ union-trained workers.

Fighting for higher and equal pay

Sen. Rosen has consistently championed legislation to increase the federal minimum wage, index the minimum wage to median wage growth, and phase out lower wages for tipped workers.

Rosen also joined her Democratic colleagues in the Senate in reintroducing the Paycheck Fairness Act, critical legislation that would help eliminate the gender wage gap and guarantee women the power to challenge pay discrimination and hold their employers accountable. The bill would strengthen the Equal Pay Act of 1963 by aiming to correct systemic pay discrimination and expand workplace protections for women.

“Equal Pay Day is a reminder of the pay disparity that affects women, especially women of color, all across the country,” said Sen. Rosen. “It’s long past time for Congress to pass this commonsense legislation and put an end to wage discrimination.”

Paid family and sick leave

Sen. Rosen is a co-sponsor of the FAMILY Act, which would provide all workers with 12 weeks of guaranteed paid parental, medical and caregiving leave.

She is also an original sponsor of the Healthy Families Act, which provides guaranteed paid sick leave to recover from illnesses, access preventive care, care for a sick family member, or attend school meetings related to a child’s health condition or disability.

The bill would allow workers in businesses with 15 or more employees to earn up to seven job-protected paid sick days each year. It would also allow victims of domestic violence, stalking, or sexual assault to use paid sick days to recover or seek assistance.

Protecting against abuse on the job

Sen. Rosen is a lead sponsor of the Sunlight in Workplace Harassment Act, which requires large, public corporations to publicly report all settlements and judgments related to incidents of discrimination, harassment, and sexual abuse each year.

“For far too long, sexual misconduct and harassment in the workplace have gone unreported and unheard,” said Sen. Rosen. “As the nation’s largest companies try to hide behind private settlements, Congress has a responsibility to improve transparency and create a safe working environment for everyone.”

Tax fairness for working families

Sen. Rosen is a co-sponsor of the “Tax Fairness for Workers Act,” which allows workers to deduct unreimbursed business expenses such as uniforms and equipment, business travel costs and job search expenses. The act restores workers’ ability to deduct union dues from their taxes “above the line” – meaning workers can benefit even if they don’t otherwize itemize deductions.

Standing up for organizing rights

Early this year, Sen. Rosen joined 32 of her colleagues in a letter urging non-unionized automakers to respect the rights of workers at their manufacturing plants as they organize with United Auto Workers’ (UAW). “All workers, no matter what states they live in, should have a free and unhindered opportunity to join a union,” the letter stated. “We strongly urge you to implement a neutrality agreement at your plants and commit to negotiating in good faith if your employees do elect to unionize with the UAW.”