Democrats in Congress are proposing a massive giveaway to unions they’re calling the “Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act.” But a more accurate title would be the “Throw the Unions a Bone Because They’re Being Curb-Stomped Act.”
With a Republican majority in the Senate and President Trump in the White House, the measure — sponsored in the Senate by Washington’s Patty Murray and in the House of Representatives by Virginia Rep. Bobby Scott — has zero chance of passage anytime soon.
Still, the Freedom Foundation and a broad coalition of free-market public organizations across the country are working to expose the bill, which threatens to impose a federal ban on right-to-work laws, reinstate “card-check” union authorization, empower the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to decertify elections wherein a labor union loses and much more.
The PRO Act would respond by forcing as many people as possible to provide financial support to union coffers and, by extension, fill the war chests of their Leftist friends in political office. Specifically, the measure would:
- codify the “ambush elections” rule, shortening the time frame of an election to unionized workplaces so employees have less time to educate themselves about how unionization would impact them;
- violate employee privacy rights by granting union organizers access to personal and contact information;
- make it harder for employers to hire independent contractors (such as ridesharing workers), yet make it easier for unions to organize workers;
- increase liability risks and make it easier to sue both contractors and subcontractors, and corporations and franchisees and third parties down the chain of supply, putting many small businesses and employees out of work;
- force all private-sector employees to pay fees to labor unions whether or not they want to be a member; and,
- give more power to the NLRB to declare employer interference if a union loses a certification election.
The Freedom Foundation will not relent in its mission to help free as many people as possible from forced unionization. The PRO Act is antithetical to this goal, therefore we must oppose this nakedly political attempt to boost union coffers and their influence on public policy.
Read the coalition letter opposing the PRO Act and view the coalition here.
