Fortunes of Historic Labor Legislation Uncertain

With the future of the proposed Protecting the Right to Organize Act not yet clear, some parts of the legislation, according to reports, may see passage instead through the pending and big budget reconciliation bill.

Otherwise known simply as the PRO Act, the legislation was originally introduced in 2019 and would amend the National Labor Relations Act, passed during the height of the New Deal, by expanding labor organizing rights.

In particular, the PRO Act would allow unions to override state right-to-work laws and make it possible to collect dues for all employees in a workplace, whether or not those employees are actual members of the union.

The legislation has spurred the opposition of a large number of business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which calls it a “litany of almost every failed idea from the past 30 years of labor policy.”

The Associated General Contractors of America has said that the legislation has the “potential to cause significant disruption in the construction industry, both for firms and the workers they employ.”

Supporters include the influential 12-million member American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations.

The group Human Rights Watch, in backing the bill, said it would “significantly strengthen the ability of workers in the private sector to form unions and engage in collective bargaining for better working conditions and fair wages.”

After winning approval earlier this year in the House on a 225 to 206 vote, the PRO Act is now facing a vote in the Senate.

The legislation’s chances in the upper chamber appear uncertain, largely because of its provision overriding state-right-to-work laws.

For that reason, notes a report just issued by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, some parts of the legislation have been “shoehorned into the reconciliation bill.”

One of those parts includes a provision providing $1.1 billion for the Labor Department to increase labor law enforcement in the workplace.

The budget reconciliation bill, officially called the Build Back Better Agenda, is expected to come up for a vote in the Senate this week.
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According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 12.6% of the workforce in the construction industry nationally is unionized, with membership averaging around 24% in the Midwest, and under 10% in the Western states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah.

​By Garry Boulard