Backgrounder
*Updated on 2/24/21*
Bill name: Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act
Bill sponsor: Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA)
Summary: The PRO Act would weaken worker freedom and protections, increase regulation of businesses, and strengthen collective bargaining to increase the union share of the workforce.
What’s new in the 2021 PRO Act:
First introduced in 2019, the PRO Act was made even worse via amendments adopted by House Democrats in the 116th Congress. Those amendments now appear in the recently introduced 2021 version and include the following:
Background: This is a comprehensive rewrite of labor rules for the workplace. Provisions impact employees and employers alike, while greatly expanding the union privileges.
The PRO Act, would:
Bill Status: The PRO Act was reintroduced in the Senate and House on February 4, 2021, nearly one year after it was approved by the House in a near-party-line vote. The Senate did not take up the PRO Act in the 116th Congress, either in committee or on the floor.
Click here to read the updated bill language.
Click here to download the updated PRO Act Backgrounder.
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PRESS RELEASE: Reject the PRO Act
February 4, 2021, Americans for Prosperity
https://americansforprosperity.org/afp-reject-the-pro-act/
Letter to House Committee on Education and Labor
February 4, 2021, Americans for Prosperity
https://americansforprosperity.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/AFP_PROAct_OppositionLetter.pdf
Study: Protecting the Secret Ballot: The Dangers of Union Card Check
October 22, 2019, Mackinac.org
F. Vincent Vernuccio, Mackinac Center for Public Policy
https://www.mackinac.org/26955
H.R.2474 – Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019
Introduced on May 2, 2019, Congress.gov
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/2474/text
Op-ed: New name, same bad ideas: Democrats introduce union wish list
May 4, 2019, The Hill
F. Vincent Vernuccio, Mackinac Center for Public Policy
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/442024-new-name-same-bad-ideas-democrats-introduce-union-wish-list
Report: Labor’s Litany of Dangerous Ideas: The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
https://www.uschamber.com/stop-the-pro-act
Blog: Protecting the Right to Organize Act
Coalition for a Democratic Workplace
https://myprivateballot.com/issues/pro-act/
Op-ed: PRO Act’s stealth ‘card check’ option gives unions unfair advantage
August 9, 2019, The Hill
F. Vincent Vernuccio, Mackinac Center for Public Policy
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/456434-pro-acts-stealth-card-check-option-gives-unions-unfair-advantage
Blog: The Case against the Protecting the Right to Organize Act
August 27, 2019, CEI.org
Trey Kovacs, Competitive Enterprise Institute
https://cei.org/content/case-against-protecting-right-organize-act
Op-ed: Unions Still Want to Repeal the Workers’ Private Ballot
November 6, 2019, The American Spectator
Vincent Vernuccio, Mackinac Center for Public Policy
https://spectator.org/unions-still-want-to-repeal-the-workers-private-ballot/
Op-ed: Democrats lurching leftward exemplified with new labor bill
November 18, 2019, The Hill
Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC)
https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/labor/470977-democrats-leftward-lurch-exemplified-with-new-labor-bill
Blog: Independent contractor status under threat
November 2019
Coalition for a Democratic Workplace
https://myprivateballot.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Indep.-Contactor-Fact-Sheet-11-19.pdf
Blog: PRO Act targets mainstreet consumers and businesses
May 2019, Myprivateballot.com
Coalition for a Democratic Workplace
https://myprivateballot.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/PRO-Act-Fact-Sheet-5.19.pdf
Letter to Congress: Opposition to Protecting the Right to Organize Act
November 20, 2019, Myprivateballot.com
Coalition for a Democratic Workplace
https://myprivateballot.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Senate-PRO-Act-Letter-11-20-19.pdf
Blog: The PRO Act Gives Unions Everything They Could Want
November 20, 2019, Nlpc.org
Carl Horowitz, National Legal & Policy Center
https://nlpc.org/2019/11/20/the-pro-act-gives-unions-everything-they-could-want/
Letter to Congress: Concerns with Independent Contractors in the PRO Act
July 24, 2019
Coalition for Workforce Innovation, Workforceinnovation.net
https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/afca31c0-5c41-4b51-a572-dc8f062842f4/downloads/CWI_PRO_Act_Hearing_Final_Letter_7_25_18_pdf.pdf?ver=1564064534806
Op-ed: Leading retailers are pro-worker – why isn’t the PRO Act?
February 1, 2020, The Hill
Evan Armstrong, Retail Industry Leaders Association
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/481017-leading-retailers-are-pro-worker-why-isnt-the-pro-act
News: Pro-union bill in U.S. House a serious threat to gig economy in North Carolina
February 6, 2020, CarolinaJournal.com
Kari Travis, The Carolina Journal
https://www.carolinajournal.com/news-article/pro-union-bill-in-u-s-house-a-serious-threat-to-gig-economy-in-north-carolina/
A California-style Brexit: Freelancers are rising up in opposition to the state’s new law regulating “gig workers”
February 13, 2020, City Journal
Erica Sandberg, consumer-finance reporter
https://www.city-journal.org/california-gig-worker-law-revolt