With all of Washington focused on Congress’s efforts to move the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, Congressional Democrats last week quietly reintroduced the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. This particularly harmful proposal would radically change U.S. labor laws to juice the muscle of big labor unions at the expense of workers. NTU strongly opposed this legislation when it passed out of the House of Representatives in 2020, and we plan to do so again should it come up again for a vote.
The PRO Act is Frankenstein's monster of bad policies that would increase the coercive power of big labor unions under the guise of being pro-worker. Specifically, this legislation imposes California's disastrous independent contractor test, undermines worker freedom and privacy during unionization drives, and threatens an employer’s ability to end worker strikes. Rep. Virginia Foxx, Ranking Member of the Education and Labor Committee summarized the PRO Act perfectly: this legislation “redraws the playing field to favor union bosses sends a clear message: House Democrats’ allegiance is with Big Labor, not workers or small businesses.”
Of the many dubious provisions in the PRO Act, perhaps the most economically damaging would be repealing right-to-work laws, which provide workers the freedom to choose whether or not to join a union in the workplace. A majority of U.S. states have passed laws that allow workers to opt out of paying union dues if they desire, ensuring that union participation is voluntary and not coerced. According to the National Institute for Labor Relations Research, the rate of job growth was two times higher in right-to-work states between 2008 and 2018 than in states where unionization was mandatory as a condition of employment.
Additionally, H.R.842 would subject workers nationwide to California’s controversial “ABC” test in Assembly Bill 5 (AB 5) to determine if a worker is an employee or a contractor. Much like the PRO Act, AB 5 was billed as a win for workers, but in reality the law wreaked havoc on independent contractors. In realistic terms, the misguided regulations restrain workers’ freedom by applying an antiquated employment status model that fails to take into account innovative developments in the workplace. Numerous employers have pointed to this law’s onerous rules as a reason for thousands of layoffs. Under the California approach, mimicked in the PRO Act, freelancers that previously enjoyed the freedom and empowerment of independent contracting could find themselves unemployed.
If this standard is enacted on a national level, hundreds of thousands of workers could find themselves out of a job in the midst of this economic crisis stemming from the coronavirus.
The PRO Act would also send privacy the way of the dodo bird. This proposal would bring back “card check,” a dangerous policy that effectively ends the secret ballot of union elections. That, coupled with a requirement that workers’ personal home and work contact information be shared with a union, could lead to the intimidation and harassment of workers. Finally, this bill would increase the likelihood of coercion, boycotts and picketing by legalizing secondary boycotts against any employer and bans employers from hiring temporary workers during a strike
It’s clear the PRO act is one of the most overreaching labor bills ever considered by Congress. This legislation, in conjunction with the push to enact a $15 minimum wage, would throw America’s labor market into a tailspin and make it that much harder for businesses to rehire workers once the pandemic subsides. Americans want to get back to work, but if the PRO Act along with a $15 minimum wage become law, many people won’t have a job to go back to. Fewer government mandates, not more, will bring about a faster, stronger economic recovery.