Lawmakers and union leaders debated the broad economic impacts of labor unions at a Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on Nov. 14, highlighting the notable increase in union petitions and striking this year. The debate grew heated with disputes from past interactions coming up again.
Support For Unions
Union leaders emphasized unions' ability to shore up the middle class and strengthen benefits and pay for rank-and-file workers.
"Unions are necessary for a stable economy, our safety, our security and our democracy," said Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-Communication Workers of America in Washington, D.C. "Nothing is more important for our nation to succeed than unions, collective bargaining, dialog between divergent groups, [and] solutions to the existential threats that we face."
Major strikes have hit the entertainment, health care and auto manufacturing industries this year.
"All over this country, we are seeing workers standing up and fighting back against the unprecedented level of corporate greed taking place," said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. "This year alone, over 450,000 workers in America have gone on strike for better wages, better benefits and better working conditions, and that is up 900 percent, compared to just two years ago. … What we are seeing is these historic union victories are not only improving the lives of union members, but that is beginning to spill over into the lives of nonunion workers in...
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