Bobby has spent his entire career fighting for working people and their families. 

Raising the Minimum Wage to $15

Minimum wage workers have not seen an increase in the federal minimum wage in over a decade.  In 2019, Bobby introduced the Raise the Wage Act, which would increase the federal minimum wage to $15 a hour by 2025.  Bobby’s bill would deliver a long overdue raise to 33 million American workers and lift 13 million Americans out of poverty, including 600,000 children. Bobby’s Raise the Wage Act passed the House of Representatives in July 2019.

Protecting the Right to Organize

Bobby understands that America’s labor movement helped build the middle-class and protect workers from unfair labor practices by employers.  Unfortunately, over the last several decades the ability of workers to collectively bargain has been eroded by states and the federal government.   That’s why Bobby introduced the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act in 2019.  The PRO Act would reform federal labor laws to strengthen workers’ right to organize and form a union and bargain for safer working conditions, higher wages, and better benefits.  Bobby’s PRO Act passed the House of Representatives in February 2020.

Protecting Older Workers from Discrimination

Older workers too regularly face discrimination in the workplace, which has only worsened since the Supreme Court’s 2009 decision in Gross v. FBL Financial Services that weakened key protections in the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).  Bobby is fighting to protect older workers and introduced the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act (POWADA).  Bobby’s bill would restore and strengthen the protections for older workers that the Supreme Court rolled back in 2009.  Bobby’s bill passed the House of Representatives in January 2020.

Ending the Gender Pay Gap

Even today in 2020 women are still earning, on average, 80 cents for every dollar a man makes.  This gender pay gap is even worse for African American and Hispanic women.  To address this persistent pay gap, one of the first bill’s Bobby moved out of his committee in February 2019 was the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would strengthen the Equal Pay Act and require employers to prove that pay disparities between men and women are job-related.  Thanks to Bobby’s leadership, the Paycheck Fairness Act passed the House of Representatives in March 2019.

Supporting Expectant Mothers in the Workplace

In addition to the pay gap, women too often face pregnancy discrimination despite the fact that women are increasingly becoming the primary breadwinner for their families.  Bobby is working to increase workplace protections for expectant mothers by supporting the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and has moved this important bill out of the Education and Labor Committee in January 2020.