Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Workplace Action for 
a Growing Economy Act’’ or the ‘‘WAGE Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The National Labor Relations Act (29 
U.S.C. 151 et seq.) was enacted to encourage the 
practice of collective bargaining and to protect the 
exercise by workers of full freedom of association in 
the workplace. Since its enactment in 1935, tens of 
millions of workers have bargained with their em-
ployers over wages, benefits, and other terms and 
conditions of employment and have raised the stand-
ard of living for all workers. 
(2) According to research by the Bureau of 
Labor Statistics, through acting collectively and bar-
gaining with their employers, workers who are 
unionized earn 25.2 percent more than workers who 
are not covered by a collective bargaining agreement. 
They are 40.8 percent more likely to be offered 
health insurance through work and nearly 5 times as 
likely to have employer-provided defined benefit pen-
sions. The wage differential is significant for women 
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and people of color. Unionized African-American 
workers earn 25.1 percent more than African-Amer-
ican workers who are not unionized, and unionized 
Latino workers earn 45.7 percent more than their 
peers who are not unionized. Unionized women earn 
32.1 percent more than women who are not union-
ized, and the wage gap between men and women is 
much smaller at unionized workplaces. The wage 
gains achieved through collective bargaining agree-
ments benefit workers and their communities. 
(3) Unions and collective bargaining ensure 
that productivity gains are shared by working peo-
ple. The decline in the percentage of workers covered 
by collective bargaining has contributed significantly 
to skyrocketing income inequality and flat wages. 
(4) As enacted in 1935, the National Labor Re-
lations Act (29 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) protects the 
right of all workers to join together with their co- 
workers to advocate for improvements in their pay, 
benefits, and working conditions, regardless of 
whether they seek representation by a union. The 
law protects the right of workers to discuss issues 
like pay and benefits without retaliation or inter-
ference by employers. However, the awareness of 
workers regarding their rights under the law is lack-
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ing, and many employers maintain policies that re-
strict the ability of workers to discuss workplace 
issues with each other, directly contravening these 
rights. Research shows that more than one-half of 
workers report that their employers have policies 
that prohibit or discourage workers from discussing 
pay with their co-workers. These policies and prac-
tices impede workers from exercising their rights 
under the law and impair their freedom of associa-
tion at work. 
(5) Retaliation by employers against workers 
who exercise their rights under the National Labor 
Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) persists at 
troubling levels. Employers routinely fire workers for 
trying to form a union at their workplace. In one out 
of 3 organizing campaigns, one or more workers are 
discharged for supporting or joining a union. From 
fiscal years 2014 through 2016, the National Labor 
Relations Board obtained reinstatement orders for 
6,997 workers and obtained awards totaling over 
$193,000,000 for backpay and other damages for 
workers who faced illegal retaliation for exercising 
their rights. 
(6) The current remedies are inadequate to 
deter employers from violating the National Labor 
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Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 151 et seq.). The remedies 
and penalties for violations of the National Labor 
Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) are far weaker 
than for other labor and employment laws, including 
the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000a et 
seq.). Unlike other major labor and employment 
laws, there are no civil penalties for violations of the 
law. Workers cannot go to court to pursue relief on 
their own; they must rely on the National Labor Re-
lations Board to prosecute their case. 
(7) Unlike orders of other federal agencies, the 
National Labor Relations Board’s orders are not en-
forced until the Board seeks enforcement from the 
Court of Appeals. As far back as 1969, the Adminis-
trative Conference of the United States recognized 
that the absence of a self-enforcing agency order im-
poses wasteful delays in the enforcement of the Act, 
and recommended that the Board’s orders be made 
self-enforcing like those of other agencies. Congress 
did not act upon this recommendation, and delays in 
the Board’s enforcement remain a problem for the 
Act to be an effective law. 
(8) Many workers do not currently enjoy the 
protections of the Act because they are excluded 
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from coverage by the statute or interpretations of 
the statute. 
(9) Too often, workers who choose to form 
unions are frustrated when their employers use delay 
and other tactics to avoid reaching an initial collec-
tive bargaining agreement. Estimates are that in as 
many as half of new organizing campaigns, workers 
and their employers fail to reach an initial collective 
bargaining agreement. 
(10) In order to make the right to collective 
bargaining and freedom of association in the work-
place a reality for workers, the National Labor Rela-
tions Act (29 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) must be strength-
ened. 
SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 
The purposes of this Act are to— 
(1) strengthen protections for employees en-
gaged in collective action to improve their wages, 
hours, and terms and conditions of employment; 
(2) expand coverage under the Act to more em-
ployees; 
(3) provide a process by which workers and em-
ployers can successfully negotiate an initial collective 
bargaining agreement; 
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