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Democrats Pass Union Boss Wish List at Workers Expense

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 25, 2019

Today, Committee Democrats convened a markup of H.R. 2474, the PRO Act, far-reaching legislation that will increase the coercive influence of unions, subject more workers to unwanted unionization, and undermine the rights of workers and employers. Instead of increasing transparency and accountability to serve union members better, this bill diminishes the rights of workers and employers while providing a political gift to union special interests.
 
“The bill before us takes our labor laws backwards. The future of work in America should not be governed by the radical and coercive policies contained in this legislation,” Republican Leader Virginia Foxx (R-NC) said in her opening statement. “H.R. 2474 will subject more workers and businesses to union harassment, force more workers into one-size-fits-all union contracts, and increase disruptive and economically painful strikes and boycotts—returning America to the chaotic labor landscape of the 1930s.”
 
The amendments offered today by Democrats make the bill more extreme and more anti-worker; they will:

  • Codify the Obama NLRB’s 2014 Specialty Healthcare decision, which allows unions to gerrymander the workplace and win an election simply by handpicking a small group of preferred employees for the union;
  • Overturn a NLRB ruling that would allow many workers to vote on the union representing them for the first time ever;
  • Require a voter list be provided to the union in a searchable electronic format, making workers’ private, personal information subject to hacking and misuse;
  • Further undermine independent-contractor status so organized labor can subject every worker in America to a one-size-fits-all union contract; and
  • Deprive employees of the right to decide when to lock the doors of their own business, making it such that only a union, never an employer, can respond in the event of a collective bargaining impasse.

Committee Republicans offered more than 30 amendments to H.R. 2474; they included efforts to protect: state right-to-work laws, workers from union retaliation, employees’ right to secret-ballot elections, small businesses, freedom of speech and association, and workers’ health insurance plans.

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