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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | June 3, 2024 10:47 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Vincent J. Hughes |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Public Employer Union Information Sharing |
| In the near future I plan to introduce legislation to statutorily require the transmission of public employee information to public sector unions, to be known as the Public Employer Disclosure Act. The importance of organized labor in helping to make the economy more equitable and robust has been well documented. Among the benefits afforded to workers, unions help to increase wages and improve fringe benefits and workplace procedures such as retirement plans, workplace grievance policies, predictable scheduling, and safety protocols. These workplace improvements contribute substantially to middle-class financial stability, reducing overall income inequality, and improving worker well-being. Although membership is down in the Commonwealth from levels seen in prior decades (including rates exceeding 20% in the 1980s), interest and support for unionization among workers has risen in recent years (from 12% in 2019 to 13% in 2023). To address the distribution of information to public sector unions, my proposal requires public employers to provide certain records to union representatives, including employee name and date of hire, contact information, and work-related information like job title, work site location, and compensation. It requires employers to provide this information to unions for new hires within 21 days of the hire, and at least every 120 days for all employees in a bargaining unit. Additionally, the legislation would require public employers to provide unions, upon request, with a place and time to meet with employees after the information is shared, as well as to notify employees of the time and place of the meeting. Requiring this information to be shared in state law would guarantee periodic access to it for all public sector unions, negating the need for it to be negotiated and requested as part of collective bargaining. This would ensure that public sector unions are provided with up-to-date employee information, in a timely manner, to grow their numbers, effectively communicate with employees, and fulfill their representational duties. Should Pennsylvania create the Public Employer Disclosure Act, we would join Connecticut, New York, and Washington which have enacted similar laws. I hope you will join me in sponsoring this important legislation to support organized labor, our workers, and, more broadly, our economy. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact my office. |
Introduced as SB1295