Congress just reintroduced the Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act of 2023 (H.R. 20) last week. Which is not true about the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act?

A. Forces independent contractors to be reclassified as employees or end up jobless.
B. Forces non-union workers to pay union dues against their will.
C. Protects non-union workers from being harassed or retaliated against if they don’t join a union.

A. Truth. The PRO Act will reduce independent contract work across the country. The bill would adopt nationally California’s ABC test for determining if a worker is an independent contractor (codified as the AB5 law). This provision of the PRO Act would eliminate the flexible work opportunities that workers depend on to help them balance other priorities such as caregiving for children and aging parents. Freelance workers would also see their income-generating opportunities disappear. Employers will opt to eliminate their independent contractor workforce rather than incur the costs of bringing those contractors on as full employees. When AB5 took effect, thousands of independent contractors in California lost incomes, contracts, and jobs.

B. Truth. If you are not a union member, you should not be forced to pay dues. Right-to-work laws in 28 states have freed American workers from having their hard-earned income taken away by unions without their say. However, the PRO Act would overturn those laws and outlaw states from passing new ones in an effort to boost union coffers, which they spend on causes that many Americans disagree with. 

C. Lie. The PRO Act requires that employers hand over workers’ private, personal information to union organizers without their consent. This includes home addresses, cellphone and landline numbers, personal email addresses, and more. There is a documented history of what union organizers have done with that kind of information and it’s not pretty: harassment, intimidation, and deceit.

Bottom Line:

The PRO Act is neither pro-worker nor pro-woman, it’s just pro-union. Like AB5, it will hurt the freedoms and flexibility that today’s workers enjoy.