Dive Brief:
- A group of federal lawmakers have reintroduced the Protecting the Right to Organize Act in Congress, which opponents say would tip the balance of labor relations in favor of unions.
- Resubmitted by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., on March 5, the PRO Act would alter the definitions of employee and employer, make it easier for workers to form unions and increase accountability for employers with labor violations, its sponsors say.
- The bill was first introduced in 2019, and passed through the House in 2020, but stalled in the Senate. It suffered a similar fate in 2021. It has some bipartisan support, as Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., co-sponsored the bill’s reintroduction in the House.
Dive Insight:
The legislation would amend the National Labor Relations Act to alter the meaning of employee and employer, to clarify when a worker is a full-time employee rather than an independent contractor.
As many as 2.1 million, or about 20%, of U.S. construction workers were misclassified or paid off the books in 2021, according to the New York City-based Century Foundation, a progressive think tank and research group. The PRO Act seeks to ensure that those workers receive benefits, such as health insurance, they are owed as full-time employees.
In addition, the PRO Act would change the NLRA to remove some collective bargaining tactics used by employers. That would include:
- Prohibiting employers from permanently replacing employees who strike and from discriminating against employees who supported or participated in a strike.
- Removing prohibitions from unions engaging in “secondary” strikes or boycotts, where workers of one company would strike in support of another company’s workers.
- Prohibiting employers from requiring employees to attend “captive audience” meetings designed to persuade employees against joining a union.
- Clarifying the employers duty to bargain and setting deadlines for reaching a collective bargaining agreement to prevent companies from stalling to give workers a contract.
Response and processes
Employer representatives including Associated Builders and Contractors and the Associated General Contractors of America have long opposed the PRO Act, declaring it not only anti-competitive, but claiming it may force workers to join a union when they don’t wish to.
“While the PRO Act purports to help workers, it actually strips away many of their rights and privacies while expanding opportunities to coerce law-abiding employers, thereby hurting the economy and upsetting a delicate balance of rights and restrictions established by the National Labor Relations Board, the courts, and Congress,” Brian Turmail, AGC’s vice president of public affairs and workforce, told Construction Dive. “If enacted, this measure will harm workers, undermine the economy and end decades of labor stability.”
In a statement, Kristen Swearingen, ABC vice president of legislative and political affairs, called the PRO Act and its provisions harmful.
“The reintroduction of the PRO Act displays continued disregard for the livelihoods of small business owners, employees and independent contractors,” said Swearingen. “While Congress has long rejected the PRO Act and its provisions, these legislators continue to pursue failed policies and attack business models and fundamental freedoms that have fueled entrepreneurship, job creation and opportunity for the American worker.”
From the union perspective, the AFL-CIO calls the PRO ACT “the key to America’s future,” saying it would make it easier for workers to form a union and bargain to improve their workplaces. The AFL-CIO represents more unions in the U.S. than any other group, and claims that the NLRA is currently broken and in need of fixing.
Previous iterations of the law failed. Even when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress and former President Joe Biden touted himself as the most pro-union president ever, the bill never reached the Oval Office.
Nonetheless, there is still a possibility the PRO Act, or its provisions, could find their way into law.
In addition to Fitzpatrick’s backing of the PRO Act, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., introduced a bill to the Senate on March 4 that contains specified deadlines for negotiating once workers have voted to form a union.
ABC CEO Michael Bellaman said Hawley’s bill pursues “the most egregious provision” of the PRO Act.
