PRO Act Now!

In Washington, D.C., Democratic lawmakers have once again introduced the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. The PRO Act is, simply put, the most potentially impactful labor law reform since the codification of organizing rights in the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) in 1935. However, limitations in the NLRA’s language combined with decades of anti-worker court decisions have left unions under attack and more vulnerable than ever before. That is why it is crucial that you learn about how the PRO Act helps workers and engage with your elected officials in Washington to ensure that it gets passed.

Key aspects of the PRO Act include: 

Bargaining rights for more workers

• One of the most important features of the PRO Act is a straightforward, pro-worker definition of “independent contractor,” a classification employers use to deprive workers of benefits and bargaining rights. The PRO Act tightens the definition of “independent contractor” to extend bargaining rights to more workers, and similarly restricts the definition of “supervisor.”
  
• The PRO Act also clarifies that workers can have more than one employer for the purposes of collective bargaining, and that employers must bargain with employees on employment conditions that they control or influence. This is especially important due to the increased financialization of the economy and large corporate behemoths with countless subsidiaries.
  

Expanded rights during organizing campaigns

• Many companies invest thousands of dollars trying to prevent union elections from even happening. The PRO Act addresses this by preventing employers from mandating employees to attend anti-union meetings. If this is violated or an employer otherwise makes a fair election impossible, the NLRB is empowered to require the employer to bargain with the union. Employers will no longer be legally allowed to use such underhanded tactics to crush organizing campaigns.
  
• Union organizing campaigns are often unsuccessful due to an employer’s unwillingness to bargain a union’s first contract in good faith. The PRO Act would prevent this by requiring mediation and arbitration to settle disputes between newly certified unions and employers during first contract negotiations.
  

Increased solidarity and access to justice for workers and union members

• The PRO Act greatly improves legal protections for workers’ right to strike. It removes prohibitions on workers acting in solidarity with workers at other companies. The PRO Act also safeguards “secondary strikes” aimed at companies that have sway over workers’ direct employer and would protect “intermittent strikes” by reversing court precedent and prohibiting employers from hiring permanent replacements of striking employees. 
  
• The PRO Act overturns the majority opinion in Epic Systems v. Lewis by codifying that employers cannot force their workers to waive their right to engage in class-action litigation.
  
• The PRO Act heightens transparency in labor-management relations by requiring that employers post notices informing workers of their rights under the NLRB. Employers are also required to disclose contracts with consultants they have hired to influence how employees are exercising their rights.  
  

Enhanced penalties violations of workers’ rights

• While workers are technically legally protected from employer retaliation for organizing their workplace, organizers are still targeted and suffer immense economic hardship while fighting their case. The PRO Act takes on employers who retaliate against workers by requiring that the NLRB seek an injunction to reinstate the employee while their case is pending, while also giving the NLRB the power to enforce its own rules rather than waiting for a decision from the Court of Appeals. 
  
• The PRO ACT also empowers the NLRB to assess monetary penalties for each violation where a worker has been wrongfully terminated or suffered serious economic harm. The Board will also be able to impose liability on corporate directors and officers who violate workers’ rights or have knowledge of violations and fail to prevent them.
  
• Currently, workers can only seek enforcement of their labor rights through the NLRB General Counsel. The PRO Act creates a private right of action for workers whose employers have interfered with their rights or retaliated against them.