PRO Act Stories: Building A Better Future for All Workers

Desiree Jackson, a bank worker and member of CWA Local 9412 who helped organize a union at Beneficial State Bank in California, spoke about the importance of passing the PRO Act.

At a listening session of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs hosted by chairman Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Desiree Jackson, a bank worker and member of CWA Local 9412 who helped organize a union at Beneficial State Bank in California, spoke about the importance of passing the PRO Act to make sure all workers have the freedom to join a union.

"During my time at Wells Fargo, I was under constant pressure to meet deadlines," Jackson said. "We had to complete all of our assigned tasks each workday or it would result in a meeting with our manager to be reminded of our job expectations."

After experiencing health issues from these pressures, Jackson took a job at Beneficial State Bank, where she began discussing forming a union with her coworkers. Thanks to CWA negotiating a strong neutrality agreement with Beneficial, Jackson and other workers were able to meet with experienced CWA organizers during lunch breaks to learn about the benefits of joining a union. The workers are now negotiating their first contract.

"All workers should have the same opportunity I had on whether to form a union in their workplace," Jackson said. "That's why the Senate should pass the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act."

The PRO Act would ban or put in place financial penalties for some of the most coercive anti-union tactics used by employers during union organizing efforts. Learn more about what the PRO Act would do here: https://www.epi.org/publication/pro-act-problem-solution-chart/.