The U.S. Senate could soon take up legislation that would devastate Pennsylvania’s employer community at a time when so many are still struggling to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic. The so-called “Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act” would upend decades of established labor law to fulfill practically all of Big Labor’s lengthy legislative wish list – and in addition to hitting employers, it would even weaken workers’ rights.

The bill undermines the right for employees to cast a private ballot during union elections; forces employers to turn over their workers’ personal contact information to unions – including cell phone numbers and home addresses – even if an employee objects; and inhibits workers from decertifying a union if they grow to oppose it.

As PA Chamber President Gene Barr recently wrote in an op-ed, imagine being confronted at work by a group of union supporters and asked to sign a union certification card. Or, now that they have your personal address, hearing a knock on the door at dinnertime and finding a group of organizers asking you to sign. The law should not allow this type of behavior, let alone encourage it – and that’s exactly what the PRO Act would do.

Additionally, this bill will encourage unfair lawsuits, stifle employers’ right to communicate with their workforce during union elections and force an unrealistic standard for hiring independent contractors that will also hurt free-lancers and gig workers.

In a PA Chamber webinar that was held just last week, attorneys with law firm McNees Wallace & Nurick warned of the significant negative impact that the PRO Act would have on the private sector workforce, and stated that the measure is a grab by Big Labor to garner more dues-paying members and increase their political capital.  Later in the program, U.S. Chamber Senior Vice President, Employment Policy Division Glenn Spencer detailed the next steps for the PRO Act in the halls of Congress – including the efforts by supporters of the bill to end the long-held and historically bipartisan practice of the filibuster rule and quickly get the bill to President Biden, who has enthusiastically voiced his support.

You can help in our efforts to stop this misguided effort from becoming law. Join us in urging U.S. Sens. Pat Toomey and Bob Casey to vote NO on the PRO Act and keep the Senate operating procedures intact. Fill out the form on this page to send an e-mail today!