Bill Text: NJ ACR164 | 2020-2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Urges United States Senate to pass Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-03-16 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Labor Committee [ACR164 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2020-ACR164-Introduced.html
ASSEMBLY CONCURRENT RESOLUTION No. 164
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
219th LEGISLATURE
INTRODUCED MARCH 16, 2020
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman WILLIAM F. MOEN, JR.
District 5 (Camden and Gloucester)
SYNOPSIS
Urges United States Senate to pass Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
A Concurrent Resolution urging the United States Senate to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019.
Whereas, H.R.2474, the Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019, is currently pending before the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions; and
Whereas, The Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019 would prevent employers from classifying employees as supervisors or independent contractors in order to exempt them from labor law protections; and
Whereas, The Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019 would expand the scope of an unfair labor practice to include a prohibition on the permanent replacement of, or discrimination against, workers who participate in strikes; and
Whereas, The Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019 would prevent employers from requiring or coercing workers to attend mandatory meetings designed to discourage them from forming a union; and
Whereas, The Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019 creates a process for rapid mediation for a union and employer to achieve a first contract, and prevents unnecessary or dilatory delays by employers after a successful vote to form a union; and
Whereas, Under the Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019, workers would be permitted to participate in collective or class-action litigation against their employer, and would allow any person to bring a civil action for harm caused by unfair labor practices or a violation of labor law, instead of restricting this ability to only agency or National Labor Relations Board action; and
Whereas, The Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019 would allow for injunctions to be placed on employers engaging in unfair labor practices involving a discharge from employment, or other serious economic harm to a worker, replacing the current system that does not provide for any financial penalties; and
Whereas, The Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019 also would expand penalties for violations of labor law, including interference with the National Labor Relations Board; and
Whereas, The Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019 would eliminate deceptively-named "Right to Work" laws, which have crippled unions and led to lower wages and reduced employee benefits in states where they have been adopted; and
Whereas, The Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019 would allow employees to continue to work while they wait for a pending case to be heard, instead of allowing an employer to terminate their employment; and
Whereas, These changes to current law included in the Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019 would reverse the ability of employers to violate labor laws with impunity, and reverse the erosion of workers' rights and abilities to bargain collectively and secure economic rights for themselves and their dependents; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey (the Senate concurring):
1. The United States Senate is urged to pass H.R. 2474, the Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019.
2. Copies of this resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the Clerk of the General Assembly or the Secretary of the Senate to Senator Robert Menendez and Senator Cory Booker.
STATEMENT
This resolution urges the United States Senate to pass H.R.2474, the Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019. This bill, currently before the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, would protect workers attempting to organize in their workplace and would create new enforcement powers to crack down on violations of existing labor law.
