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Rep. Wild to United Steelworkers: We can only have a strong middle-class if we have strong labor unions

July 16, 2019

Rep. Wild Addresses United Steelworkers at Annual Legislative Conference

WASHINGTON –Yesterday, U.S. Representative Susan Wild (PA-07) addressed the United Steelworkers at the District 10 annual legislative conference in Atlantic City where she highlighted the need to strengthen our unions to boost our middle class and an economy that works for all.

"I represent a community with one of the richest legacies of organized labor anywhere in the country, where we've seen the heights our economy can reach when workers stand together," Wild said. "For decades, our steelworkers built the steel capital of the world in Bethlehem. This story is not unique to a single community or a single industry. There's a growing understanding that our economy needs to benefit the American worker. A growing understanding that we can only have a strong middle-class if we have strong labor unions. A growing understanding that our economy only works if it works for all of us."

Throughout her time in Congress, Wild has been a fierce advocate of worker and union protections, a higher minimum wage, and fair trade policies that support and lift all workers. Wild is an original cosponsor of the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act), landmark pro-labor legislation which would strengthen protections for workers' right to organize a union and bargain for higher wages, better benefits, and safer working conditions. To ensure safe working conditions following recent Administration rollbacks weakening workplace reporting rules, Wild held a briefing with labor experts and led a letter to the Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta calling for the original Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses rule to be reinstated. A co-leader on a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Wild has also called for stronger protections for American workers and consumers in trade agreements and asked negotiations to the U.S. – Canada – Mexico Agreement (USMCA) to be reopened. This week, the House of Representatives will vote on the Raise the Wage Act, a proposal which would gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2025 and give 40 million Americans, including 98,400 people in the Greater Lehigh Valley, a raise. Wild was a key supporter of this legislation and voted to pass it out of the House Committee on Education and Labor in March.

These comprehensive legislative initiatives led and supported by Wild would empower millions of Americans to stand together and ensure hardworking people are protected and getting their fair share of economic growth.

Wild's full remarks available here.