Golden’s bill to restore federal workers’ collective bargaining rights passes House in bipartisan 231-195 vote

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives today voted 231-195 to pass the Protect America’s Workforce Act (PAWA), legislation by Congressmen Jared Golden (ME-02) and Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01) to repeal a presidential executive order that stripped union rights from roughly 1 million federal workers.

Twenty Republicans joined all Democrats in supporting the bill’s final passage. Companion legislation was introduced in the Senate in September with bipartisan support. 

“Federal workers show up on the job every day to do the people’s work, and their limited collective bargaining rights are critical to protecting them from unfair treatment and political interference,” Golden said after the bill’s passage. “I’m proud of the strong, bipartisan coalition that came together to pass the Protect America’s Workforce Act in the House, and I urge the Senate to quickly take up this bill and join us in standing up for workers.”

(Click here for video of Golden’s remarks on the floor during initial debate on Wednesday)

“Today, the House took an important bipartisan step on behalf of America’s workers. The right to be heard in one’s workplace may appear basic, but it carries great weight — it ensures that the people who serve our nation have a seat at the table when decisions shape their work and their mission,” Fitzpatrick said. “This bill moves us closer to restoring that fundamental protection for nearly one million federal employees, many of them veterans. I will always fight for our workers, and I call on the Senate to help ensure these protections are fully reinstated.”

Golden and Fitzpatrick introduced PAWA in April. After months of inaction by House majority leadership, they shepherded the bill’s passage via discharge petition — a legislative maneuver that allows members to bring popular bills to the House floor when House leadership refuses to schedule a vote. In November, the discharge petition obtained its 218th signature, clearing the threshold to bring PAWA up for a vote over the Speaker’s objections. 

While successful discharge petitions are historically rare, members of the House are increasingly turning to them to call up legislation. 

Last year, discharge petitions on disaster relief and the Social Security Fairness Act led to successful passage of both by the House. Earlier this year, a bill to compel release of the Epstein files was brought to the floor and passed via discharge. This week, Golden and Fitzpatrick initiated a discharge petition to force the House to take action on expiring ACA tax credits — an issue that Speaker Mike Johnson has so far refused to address. 

“Right now, leadership — no matter who they are in both parties, House and Senate — should pay attention to what’s going on with the discharge petitions,” Golden said Wednesday. “If you’re not going to open up the process, if you’re not going to give people the opportunity to at least take a vote one way or the other on where they stand on issues … then increasingly I think you’re going to see rank-and-file members taking matters into their own hands.”

Union leaders praised passage of the Protect America’s Workforce Act: 

“President Trump betrayed workers when he tried to rip away our collective bargaining rights. In these increasingly polarized times, working people delivered a rare bipartisan majority to stop the administration’s unprecedented attacks on our freedoms,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. “We commend the Republicans and Democrats who stood with workers and voted to reverse the single largest act of union-busting in American history. Americans trust unions more than either political party. As we turn to the Senate — where the bill already has bipartisan support — working people are calling on the politicians we elected to stand with us, even if it means standing up to the union-busting boss in the White House.”

“Today’s vote marks an historic achievement for the House’s bipartisan pro-labor majority, courageously led by Rep. Jared Golden of Maine,” said Dr. Everett B. Kelley, National President at the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE). “We need to build on today’s seismic victory in the House and get immediate action in the Senate — and also ensure that any future budget bills similarly protect collective bargaining rights for the largely unseen men and women who keep our government running for the American people.”

In addition to the AFL-CIO and AFGE, the bill has support from a wide range of unions representing federal employees, including: the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), National Postal Mail Handlers Union (NPMHU), National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS), Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the United Steelworkers (USW).

Background:

President Trump’s March 27 Executive Order, “Exclusions from Federal Labor-Management Relations Programs,” sought to end collective bargaining with unions at the departments of Defense, State, Veterans Affairs, Justice and Energy, and some workers at the departments of Homeland Security, Treasury, Health and Human Services, Interior and Agriculture. The order affected hundreds of thousands of federal workers. 

The Protect America’s Workforce Act would repeal the executive order outright, and guarantee that the federal government honors any union contract in place at the time it was made.

Federal workers’ bargaining rights are already limited. Unlike private-sector unions, federal employees cannot bargain collectively over wages, benefits or classifications, nor can they strike under existing law. Their bargaining rights are limited to conditions of employment. Roughly one-third of all federal workers in unions are veterans.

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