Status

Employees in 26 states enjoy the benefits of right-to-work laws prohibiting employers from requiring employees to join unions as a condition of employment, incentivizing competition and producing a better work environment for businesses and workers. However, the ABC-opposed and House-passed PRO Act would completely reject this choice by eliminating these independently passed state laws, forcing individuals to join a specific union and forfeit a portion of their hard-earned paychecks to support the activities and influence of unions if they want a job at a unionized factory, jobsite, school or company.

According to a report issued by the American Action Forum on Aug. 13, 2021, the PRO Act’s provisions would produce significant economic costs for the nation’s 27 right-to-work states in an effort to increase union power at the expense of worker freedom and small businesses.

Desired Outcome

ABC will continue to support the right of all individuals to work without having to join a union or pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment. Right-to-work laws ensure workers have an opportunity to choose whether union representation makes sense for them and allow workers who do not want to participate in the union to opt out of joining the union or paying dues or fees. Further, right-to-work laws do not eliminate unions or outlaw the right to organize or eliminate government-mandated PLAs. ABC is supportive of the National Right to Work Act (S. 406), which would preserve and protect the free choice of individual employees to form, join or assist labor organizations or to refrain from such activities.