Oppose CRA to Repeal Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces
Recipient: The Honorable Mitch McConnell and The Honorable Charles Schumer
View the PDF of this letter here.
The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Majority Leader
Russell Senate Office Building, Room 317
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Charles Schumer
Minority Leader
Hart Senate Office Building, Room 322
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator McConnell and Senator Schumer:
On behalf of the undersigned organizations, we write in strong opposition to the use of the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to repeal the regulations implementing the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order. We are organizations dedicated to protecting workers, eliminating workplace discrimination and protecting access to justice. The Fair Pay regulations represent a much-needed step forward in ensuring that the federal contractor community is providing safe and fair workplaces for employees by encouraging compliance with federal labor and civil rights laws, and prohibiting the use of mandatory arbitration of certain disputes.
Employers that have the privilege of doing business with the federal government also have a responsibility to abide by the law. The Fair Pay regulations are crucial because they help ensure that federal contractors behave responsibly and ethically with respect to labor standards and civil rights laws. They also encourage companies applying for federal contracts to comply with federal labor and employment laws such as the Fair Labor Standards Act (which includes the Equal Pay Act), Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and their state law equivalents. The Executive Order also bans contractors from forcing employees to arbitrate claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act as well as claims of sexual harassment and sexual assault.
We ask you to stand with American workers and oppose any attempts to roll back the protections that stem from the Executive Order on Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces. They provide strong protections against the federal government contracting with employers that routinely violate workplace health and safety protections, engage in age, disability, race, and sex discrimination, withhold wages, or commit other labor violations. These protections should not be repealed.
Sincerely,
The American Association for Justice
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
The National Partnership for Women & Families
32BJ SEIU
9to5, National Association of Working Women
9to5 California
9to5 Colorado
9to5 Georgia
9to5 Wisconsin
A Better Balance
A. Phillip Randolph Institute
AFL-CIO
African American Ministers In Action
AJ Rosen & Associates LLC
Alaska Wilderness League
Alliance for Citizenship
Alliance to End Slavery & Trafficking
Amalgamated Transit Union
American Association for Access, Equity and Diversity
American Association of People with Disabilities
American Association of University Women (AAUW)
American Civil Liberties Union
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
American Federation of Teachers
Americans for Democratic Action
Arkansans Against Abusive Payday Lending
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
Bend the Arc Jewish Action
BlueGreen Alliance
Brazilian Worker Center
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen – Wyoming State Legislative Board
Business and Professional Women/Florida (BPW/FL)
Business and Professional Women/St. Petersburg-Pinellas (BPW/SPP)
California Employment Lawyers Association
Catalyst
Center for Justice & Democracy
Center for Law and Social Policy
Coalition of Labor Union Women
Coalition on Human Needs
Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking
Communications Workers of America
Daily Kos
Demand Progress
Demos
Earthjustice
Economic Policy Institute Policy Center
El Comite de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agrícolas (CATA)
Equal Pay Today
Equal Rights Advocates
Family Equality Council
Family Values @ Work
Farmworker Association of Florida
Feminist Majority
Fight for $15
Food & Water Watch
Friends of the Earth
Futures Without Violence
Gender Justice
Good Jobs Nation
Greater Syracuse Council on Occupational Safety and Health
Health Justice Project
Hindu American Foundation
Human Rights Campaign
I.C.W. Union Council
Imagined Economy Project
Institute for Science and Human Values, Inc.
Interfaith Worker Justice
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, IFPTE
International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers
International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW)
Jobs With Justice
Jobs with Justice of East Tennessee
Knox Area Workers’ Memorial Day Committee
Labor Council for Latin American Advancement
Labor & Employment Council of the National Lawyers Guild
Labor Project for Working Families in Partnership with Family Values @Work
Lambda Legal
Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Main Street Alliance
Maine Labor Group on Health
Make the Road New York
MassCOSH – Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety & Health
MomsRising.org
NAACP
NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc.
National Alliance for Fair Contracting
National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum
National Association of Consumer Advocates
National Association of Human Rights Workers
National Association of Social Workers
National Bar Association
National Black Justice Coalition
National Center for Law and Economic Justice
National Center for Lesbian Rights
National Center for Transgender Equality
National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low income clients)
National Council for Occupational Safety and Health
National Council of Jewish Women
National Council of La Raza
National Disability Rights Network
National Education Association
National Employment Law Project
National Employment Lawyers Association
National Fair Housing Alliance
National Guestworker Alliance
National Health Law Program
National Immigration Law Center
National Organization for Women
National Urban League
National Women’s Law Center
National Youth Employment Coalition
Oxfam America
Paralyzed Veterans of America
People’s Action
Policy Matters Ohio
PowHer New York
Pride at Work
Progressive Congress Action Fund
Public Citizen
Public Justice
Public Justice Center
Restaurant Opportunities Centers United
Retail, Wholesale & Department Store Union
Santa Clara County Wage Theft Coalition
Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law
Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
Sierra Club
South Florida Interfaith Worker Justice
Southwest Women’s Law Center
Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice
The Consumer Voice
The Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition
UltraViolet
Union of Concerned Scientists
Unite Here
United Steelworkers
UWUA- Utility Workers Union of America
The Voter Participation Center
Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO
Western New York Council in Occupational Safety and Health
WisCOSH, Inc.
Women Employed
Women’s Voices for the Earth
Working America
Workplace Fairness
Worksafe
Worksafe, California
Women’s Voices Women Vote Action Fund