With organized labor increasingly under attack in the U.S., a handful of lawmakers is pushing to make it easier for workers to join unions, allowing them to pool their collective power to bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) on Tuesday unveiled new legislation, dubbed the Workplace Democracy Act, which would expedite the process for forming labor unions and penalize companies that delay negotiations.

“Millions of Americans who want to join unions are unable to do so because of the coercive and often illegal behavior of their employers,” Sen. Sanders, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, said in a press statement. “The benefits of joining a union are clear: higher wages, better benefits and a more secure retirement.”

He added, “If we are serious about reducing income and wealth inequality and rebuilding the middle class, we have got to substantially increase the number of union jobs in this country.”

The legislation would allow the National Labor Relations Board to certify a union if a simple majority of eligible workers sign valid authorization cards. Under current law, 30 percent of employees must sign union cards to trigger an election, which is followed by another vote, during which the majority must voice favor for the union to get it certified.

“This legislation is simple common sense,” writes AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka in a blog post Tuesday. “Its passage would provide the most significant opportunity yet for working people to rewrite the rules so that it’s not just big corporate CEOs who dictate our economic futures.”