Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) released a new report, titled “The Case against the Protecting the Right to Organize Act: Union Wish List Bill Would Harm Workers and the Economy.” The Center for Worker Freedom was a proud contributor to this report, along with the Coalition to Promote Independent Entrepreneurs, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, Americans for Prosperity, and the Center for Independent Employees.

Below is an excerpt from the report:

“The Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019 (H.R. 2474) would radically overhaul United States labor relations law to facilitate labor union organizing without regard to the negative consequences on workers, consumers, employers, and the economy. 

H.R. 2474 is sweeping in nature. It would preempt state labor laws, overrule three Supreme Court decisions, and transform the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from a remedial body to a punitive one. Among other changes, some provisions of the PRO Act would:

• Put workers’ private information at risk;
• Require workers to pay dues to a union as a condition of employment;
• Change the definition of joint employment in order to ease union organizing;
• Amend the definition of employee to increase the pool of employees eligible for unionization;
• Impose government-mandated arbitration to dictate employment terms in first negotiations; and
• Promote card-check organizing, a process that forces union representation on workers without a secret-ballot election.
• Deny workers the opportunity to receive vital information on the organization that will represent them.

What is the underlying premise for this complete overhaul of the nation’s labor law? As Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) puts it, “here in the U.S., a combination of weak labor laws, employer opposition and hostility, and relentless political attacks on union members has driven membership down to historic lows.” On one point, Rep. Wilson is right. Private sector union membership rates have steadily declined for decades, but not for the reasons she states.

Numerous factors have played a role in the precipitous drop, which union officials have failed to grapple with. Since union membership reached its peak in mid-1950s, there has been an expansion of free trade, greater global competition for employees, increased employee turnover, overall better work conditions for non-union employees, and government regulations now establish workplace standards in areas that were previously collectively bargained over. But instead of adapting to respond to these challenges, labor union leaders are seeking to tilt labor law far in favor of union organizing in a way that chips away at the individual right of every worker to refrain from union representation…”

To read the rest of the report, please click here.