Congressional Labor Caucus Urges Commerce to Prioritize Labor Standards for CHIPS Implementation
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congressional Labor Caucus Co-Chairs Representatives Donald Norcross (D-NJ), Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Steven Horsford (D-NV), and Mark Pocan (D-WI) led a letter with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and more than 120 Members of Congress urging the Department of Commerce to ensure companies receiving CHIPS and Science Act funds adopt strong labor standards that support middle-class wages and benefits, address the culture of union-busting and union-avoidance in the semiconductor industry, and improve workers’ health and safety on the job.
“This legislation is a significant step towards strengthening U.S. manufacturing capacity and competitiveness, and it has the potential to create thousands of new, good jobs in the semiconductor industry,” the Members wrote in a letter to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “However, given the significant, longstanding opposition to worker organizing in the semiconductor industry and lingering safety concerns regarding the semiconductor manufacturing process, we are urging the Commerce Department as it moves forward in awarding funds from the CHIPS & Science Act to use its full authorities to ensure that recipients adopt the necessary criteria to support high-quality jobs in the semiconductor industry.”
The letter urges Commerce to ensure that CHIPS funds recipients: utilize project labor agreements throughout the life-cycle of a facility; sign community benefits agreements that include commitments to respect workers’ right to organize and to pay industry-leading wages; and include specific, measurable data on wages and benefits in contracts to receive CHIPS funds. The letter also urges Commerce to include worker-led health-and-safety committees when negotiating contracts, facilitate union participation in local and regional workforce development partnerships, and utilize a portion of research and development funds to improve the safety of semiconductor manufacturing.
A full copy of the letter can be found here.
The letter was signed by 126 Members of Congress, including: Reps. Alma Adams, Colin Allred, Gabe Amo, Becca Balint, Nanette Barragán, Jamaal Bowman, Julia Brownley, Nikki Budzinski, Cori Bush, Salud Carbajal, André Carson, Troy Carter, Matt Cartwright, Greg Casar, Sean Casten, Joaquin Castro, Judy Chu, Yvette Clarke, Emanuel Cleaver, Angie Craig, Danny Davis, Donald Davis, Madeleine Dean, Rosa DeLauro, Christopher Deluzio, Mark DeSaulnier, Debbie Dingell, Lloyd Doggett, Dwight Evans, Bill Foster, Valerie Foushee, Maxwell Frost, John Garamendi, Jesús García, Robert Garcia, Sylvia Garcia, Daniel Goldman, Jimmy Gomez, Josh Gottheimer, Al Green, Raúl Grijalva, Jahana Hayes, Steven Horsford, Val Hoyle, Glenn Ivey, Jonathan Jackson, Sheila Jackson Lee, Pramila Jayapal, Henry Johnson, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Marcy Kaptur, William Keating, Robin Kelly, Ro Khanna, Daniel Kildee, Andy Kim, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Greg Landsman, Barbara Lee, Summer Lee, Susie Lee, Teresa Leger Fernandez, Ted Lieu, Stephen Lynch, Seth Magaziner, Lucy McBath, Betty McCollum, Morgan McGarvey, James McGovern, Robert Menendez, Grace Meng, Gwen Moore, Joseph Morelle, Frank Mrvan, Kevin Mullin, Grace Napolitano, Joe Neguse, Wiley Nickel, Donald Norcross, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Bill Pascrell, Donald Payne, Mary Peltola, Scott Peters, Chellie Pingree, Mark Pocan, Katie Porter, Ayanna Pressley, Mike Quigley, Delia Ramirez, James Raskin, Andrea Salinas, Linda Sánchez, John Sarbanes, Janice Schakowsky, Adam Schiff, Bradley Schneider, Mikie Sherrill, Elissa Slotkin, Adam Smith, Eric Sorensen, Darren Soto, Melanie Stansbury, Haley Stevens, Eric Swalwell, Emilia Sykes, Mark Takano, Shri Thanedar, Bennie Thompson, Dina Titus, Rashida Tlaib, Jill Tokuda, Paul Tonko, Ritchie Torres, Lori Trahan, David Trone, Lauren Underwood, Marc Veasey, Nydia Velázquez, Maxine Waters, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Susan Wild, Nikema Williams, and Frederica Wilson.