Democrats and Republicans unite in Congress against sexual abuse at work

Actress Angelina Jolie speaks to the press about the law on violence against women. DPA via Europa Press (DPA via Europa Press)

In a gesture almost disappeared from the current politics that is practiced every day in the United States Capitol, Democratic and Republican senators have managed to pass a bipartisan bill this Thursday to guarantee that victims of sexual harassment or assault in the place have the freedom to bring lawsuits in court.

So far, some 60 million Americans, according to lawmakers, are subject, sometimes without even knowing it, to a clause that requires workers to bring claims of sexual misconduct through arbitration and outside of the judiciary's courts. .

The norm had already had the approval of the House of Representatives on the 7th and is now moving towards the table of President Joe Biden in the Oval Office.

The president has already stated that he supports the measure because "it advances efforts to prevent and address sexual harassment and assault, strengthen rights, protect victims and promote access to justice."

“Never again can victims of sexual assault or sexual harassment be told that they are legally barred from suing their employer because somewhere hidden in their contract is a mandatory arbitration clause buried,” said New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who together with the Republican senator from South Carolina Lindsey Graham wrote the text.

“Those days are over,” Gillibrand remarked.

The rule is a major victory for the movement that began under the banner of #MeToo, which brought to light binding arbitration agreements that favored the employer and kept victims of harassment in the dark.

For the leader of the majority in the Senate, Democrat Chuck Schumer, the measure is "one of the most significant changes in labor legislation in years."

This has been a week of good news in politics regarding abuse and mistreatment, both in the workplace and in the home.

Last Wednesday, Biden asked Congress to act without further consideration or further delay and return to force a law that he himself promoted when he was a senator in 1994 and that the Republicans let expire and did not renew it in 2019, under the mandate of Donald Trump, because they refused to include protections for transgender people.

Through a statement, the president of the United States celebrated shortly after a group of Democratic and Republican senators had reached an agreement so that the norm known as the Law Against Violence Against Women (VAWA, Violence Against Women) would come back into force. Women Act, in English).

“Combating domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking shouldn't be a Democrat or Republican issue.

It is a matter of justice and compassion,” Biden said.

Senators from both parties pledged in an act to promote a "modernized" version of that law.

The act was attended by actress Angelina Jolie, whose voice cracked on several occasions as she recalled the ordeal experienced by victims of gender-based violence, to whom Congress has turned its back.

"Standing here in the center of power in the nation, I can only think of all those who were made to feel powerless," Jolie said in front of a packed room at the Capitol, according to the press. Efe agency

The actress alluded to the fact that the Republicans left the VAWA without effect, which for decades served to finance aid programs for victims of abuse and sexual abuse.

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