Labor

• Workplace protections are critical to ensuring safe, productive working situations.
• Congresswoman McCarthy will use her position as a senior Member of the House Education and Workforce Committee to help ensure that our employers and employees are working in situations that both protect them and their interests – as well as ensure the welfare of their company.

 

Protecting Workers’ Rights

Employee Free Choice Act

Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy has consistently supported the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).  Enabling workers to bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions by restoring their rights to form unions is paramount to the Congresswoman. 

While EFCA has not yet been introduced this Congress, the current Majority in the House has already rejected EFCA’s principles and has wrongly accused federal agencies like the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) of threatening to enact the bill by way of regulatory order.  Already, Rep. McCarthy has defended EFCA and workers’ ability to unionize before hearings in the Education and Workforce Committee.

Respecting Workplace Flexibility

Congresswoman McCarthy understands the importance of a healthy and flexible workplace.  There are many reasons to emphasize the importance of healthy, flexible workplaces including:  that 85 percent of U.S. wage and salaried workers have immediate, day-to-day family responsibilities outside of their jobs; and 47 percent of wage and salaried workers are parents with children under the age of 18 who live with them at least half-time. Job flexibility allows parents to be more involved in their children's lives, and parental involvement is associated with children's higher achievement in language and mathematics, improved behavior, greater academic persistence, and lower dropout rates.

Last Congress, Rep. McCarthy introduced a resolution recognizing October as National Work and Family Month.  Today’s worker is much different than the worker of past.  There are different workplace demographics and different expectations for both employers and employees.  There are surveys out there that conclude that women are now nearly 50% of the U.S. workforce, yet still barriers exist for them.  One of the issues, Rep. McCarthy has been most active on is breastfeeding, and the lack of recognition in the workplace, and to be quite honest federally amongst appropriate departments of its importance. 

Last Congress, she introduced a bill, the Exemplary Breastfeeding Support Act which would help to implement programs in support of breastfeeding and was pleased to support a provision in the healthcare reform law that includes language requiring employers to provide reasonable break times and private space for nursing mothers on the job.

Pensions

Various lawmakers have argued that public pension plans are undermining the financial stability of state and local governments.   Rep. McCarthy firmly believes that those lawmakers are not looking at the crisis in a holistic manner.  In Wisconsin, one of the states where labor issues are currently at the forefront of controversy and media attention for example, only 1.7% of its budget is dedicated to pensions.  It would be profoundly irresponsible for state and local governments to blindly strip the rights of public workers.

As you know, public pensions provide employees who no longer work full-time in the public-sector to receive a regular income from their prior employment.  Public employees have earned their pensions with hard work and they are entitled to fair compensation for their service.  National and state deficits alike have made it predictably difficult for employers to meet the obligations their employee pension plans command.  Our deficit is not the sole problem.  Retirees are living longer, the worker to retiree ratio within certain sectors is becoming increasingly lopsided, and there are legitimate concerns over the formulaic methods as to how compensation figures for employees are determined in certain cases.  While these are issues that must be addressed, it is imperative that governments not act hastily and put public servants’ retirement in jeopardy.  The Congresswoman is committed to shedding light on this issue and ensuring that the issue is debated in a factual and unbiased manner.