RioSlum Studio

Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2021

Roll Call Number: 70 | Session Number: 1

The PRO Act is one of the most anti-worker and anti-business bills that we have ever seen brought to the House floor, and is an updated version of the PRO Act passed along a near-party line vote during the last Congress in February 2020. The PRO Act is a giveaway to labor unions that would harm our economy and would especially target workers who choose not to join unions. Notably, it would do so by undermining all 27 states — more than half of the country — that have right-to-work laws. Federally coercing all private-sector workers to pay fees to labor unions violates individuals’ First Amendment rights and threatens the increased employment rates commonly seen in right-to-work states. The only thing that this bill is “PRO” is pro-union. It also attempts to apply to the whole country a horrific standard set by California, of all states, regarding worker classification. The PRO Act would codify California’s disastrous “ABC” test that determines whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor. This law throttles the gig economy by making it more difficult for companies to contract with individuals. It should be noted that many independent contractors prefer their status to being a full-time employee. Furthermore, the PRO Act undermines privacy for workers by mandating that employers share their employees’ personal information with unions, with few to no restrictions on what unions can then do with the employees’ information. Such a prospect is terrifying. Needless to say, the PRO Act would do nothing but undermine the rights of workers it claims to help. This is par for the course for the progressive left that has long bowed to the whims of labor unions.1