Rep. Bresnahan secures floor vote on restoring union rights for federal workers

WILKES-BARRE — U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan Jr. announced this week that Discharge Petition 6 reached the necessary signatures needed to advance to a floor vote on H.R. 2550 — the Protect America’s Workforce Act.

The legislation, co-sponsored by Bresnahan, R-Dallas Township, would restore collective bargaining rights for hundreds of thousands of federal workers.

Rep. Bresnahan signed on to the discharge petition on Sept. 2.

“From the workers at USP Canaan — the most dangerous federal prison on the East Coast — to those at the Wilkes-Barre Social Security Office who answer all the calls from across the nation, to those at Tobyhanna Army Depot, our VA facilities, IRS centers, and all in between, our district is home to 10,000 federal workers who serve our communities every single day,” said Bresnahan. “I support the right to collectively bargain and proudly stand with union members. It’s a cornerstone of fair labor and a strong middle class. Union rights are workers’ rights, and I’ll always fight for the hardworking men and women of Northeastern Pennsylvania.”

AFGE District 3 NVP Philip Glover thanked Bresnahan for leading the effort to restore collective bargaining rights for federal workers in Pennsylvania and across the country.

“We appreciate him working in a bipartisan way on this difficult issue,” Glover said.

According to information provided by Bresnahan’s office, the Protect America’s Workforce Act would reverse an executive order signed by President Trump earlier this year that stripped collective bargaining protections from union workers across several federal agencies, including the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Bureau of Prisons, the Social Security Administration, and more.

The order affected roughly 67% of the federal workforce, many of whom are veterans or career public servants in non-national security roles.