RELEASE: Gottheimer Celebrates Passaic County Men and Women of Labor, Joins Future Leaders Forum Breakfast

Above: Gottheimer with Passaic County labor leaders.

PARAMUS, NJ — U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) joined hardworking men and women of labor from across Passaic County at the Central Labor Council’s 10th Annual Future Labor Leaders Forum Breakfast. The breakfast honors emerging labor leaders who have completed continuing education programs and policymakers who have a track record of supporting the labor movement. This year, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy was honored as Labor Man of the Year.

“The hardworking men and women of labor have helped build our great state and have helped create the most competitive workforce in the world,” said Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5). “I was honored to join labor leaders from across Passaic County at today’s breakfast. In Washington, I’m fighting to deliver better wages, safer working conditions, more job opportunities, and health care and greater benefits for our state’s workers. We share common goals: the desire to make things better for our hard-working labor force, to gain dignity and respect on the job, and to create economic security for the families we care so deeply about.”

Gottheimer was joined at the breakfast by Governor Murphy, Representative Bill Pascrell (NJ-9), Passaic County Central Labor Council President Tom Kelly (IBEW #827), Passaic County Central Labor Council Director of COPE Pat Glover (IBEW 827), Assemblywoman Rosy Bagolie, Assemblywoman Alixon Collazos-Gill, Assemblywoman Shavonda Sumter, Assemblyman Gary Schaer, Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh, Passaic Mayor Hector Lora, Passaic County Commissioners John Bartlett, Sandi Lazzara, Orlando Cruz, Pat Lepore, and Passaic County Clerk Danielle Ireland-Imhof.

Gottheimer is fighting to support Jersey’s men and women of labor by:

Shaping and passing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill to boost construction and manufacturing jobs — which will fix our crumbling roads and bridges, build the Gateway Train Tunnel, invest in NJ Transit, clean our drinking water in our homes and schools, and create millions of jobs a year for the next decade — all without increasing the tax burden on North Jersey families. This bipartisan legislation will create hundreds of thousands of construction and manufacturing jobs, protected by strong Davis-Bacon Protections, thus ensuring that unions can fairly compete for infrastructure contracts and that workers are well-paid.

Passing the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act to boost domestic semiconductor manufacturing — critical legislation to invest in American competitiveness and address major supply chain issues. This bipartisan bill will boost domestic manufacturing, accelerate U.S. production of semiconductor chips and related equipment, reduce our reliance on foreign countries like China, and help lower costs for North Jersey families and small businesses, all while creating new jobs here in the U.S. It is estimated that the CHIPS and Science Act will create tens of thousands of construction jobs and thousands of high-skilled manufacturing jobs.

Helping make life more affordable, lowering taxes for North Jersey families, and equipping first responders — by crafting and passing the Inflation Reduction Act, which caps the cost of Insulin at $35 per month for more than 77,000 people across Jersey. Gottheimer is also clawing back our federal tax dollars to Jersey from Washington, helping to lower our property taxes, to make life more affordable and safer, and to improve our communities. New Jersey’s Fifth District has clawed 357% more federal tax dollars back from Washington and the Moocher States since Gottheimer took office, including more than $20 million in grants to train and equip our first responders. For 2021 alone, the federal tax dollars clawed back amount to an average savings of more than $750 for each household in the Fifth District. Finally, Gottheimer passed the Invest to Protect Act through the House, which will better equip our cops using federal dollars rather than municipal budgets.

Ensuring that workers have a voice in the workplace by helping lead the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act – by empowering workers to exercise their right to organize by giving the NLRB to quickly intervene in unfair labor cases and enforce their rulings. The legislation, of which Gottheimer was an original cosponsor, holds employers accountable for violating workers’ rights through harsher fines against offending companies and executives. Finally, it secures free, fair, and safe union elections by preventing employers from union-busting and expanding awareness about workers’ rights.

Supporting childcare for hardworking families – by leading legislation to expand childcare options and make it more affordable. Gottheimer is a cosponsor of the ARCC Act, which gives childcare stipends to parents in apprenticeship programs. He is also leading the bipartisan Providing Child Care for Police Officers Act, which provides grants to open childcare for cops working nontraditional hours.

Doing even more to lower taxes for men and women of labor – by leading legislation to treat union dues and public pensions fairly under the tax code. Gottheimer is a cosponsor of the Tax Fairness for Workers Act, which would allow union members to deduct their dues from their taxes. He is also leading the Social Security Fairness Act, which ensures workers can get their full public sector pension and their full social security benefits.

Below: Gottheimer with Passaic County labor leaders.