Democrats to introduce anti-right-to-work bill

Congressional Democrats are planning to introduce legislation that would invalidate all right-to-work laws, stripping employees in 27 states of the right to decide whether they wish to join or otherwise support a union.

The legislation, dubbed the "Protecting the Right to Organize Act" includes several other changes that would benefit unions. A House Education and Labor Committee source confirmed that Democrats plan to unveil the bill in a matter of weeks.

Right-to-work laws prohibit union-management contracts that obligate all employees to either join a union or to pay one a regular "fair share" fee. The fees supposedly cover the costs of the union's collective bargaining on behalf of the workers and are automatically deducted. The worker has no say in the matter. Unions in right-to-work states typically suffer membership losses and depleted treasuries due to the laws.

The Democrats' proposed legislation would rewrite the National Labor Relations Act to make fair share fees legal in all states.

The proposed legislation was announced in a "dear colleague" letter by committee Chairman Bobby Scott, D-Va., and others on the committee. Scott said it would be an updated version of a bill last year called the Workers’ Freedom to Negotiate Act. That legislation said that: "[t]o prevent free-riders from benefiting from the representation and services unions must render without paying their fair share for those services, this legislation allows employers and unions to enter into a contract that allows unions to collect fair-share fees that cover the costs of collective bargaining and administering the agreement."

The legislation also increased penalties on businesses for labor rights violations, rolled back existing limits on worker strikes, and made forming unions easier.

"The NLRA has few tools to deter persistent violations — such as firing workers who support forming a union. This has contributed to the erosion of union density, which has decreased from 33.2 percent of the total workforce in 1956 to only 10.5 percent in 2018," said Scott in the dear colleague letter.

The legislation is unlikely to be taken up by the Republican-controlled Senate.

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