What People Are Saying: Protecting the Right to Organize Act
WASHINGTON – Yesterday, a bipartisan group of House and Senate Members introduced the Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act of 2025 (H.R. 20), a comprehensive proposal to protect workers’ right to come together and bargain for higher wages, better benefits, and safer workplaces. Here is what leading advocates and experts are saying about the PRO Act:
American Federation of Musicians: “The PRO Act gives workers essential safeguards against anti-union attacks. The American Federation of Musicians of the US and Canada thank Reps. Scott and Fitzpatrick and Sen. Sanders for their leadership and recognition that all people have the right to join a union and negotiate for a fair contract.”
International Association of Machinists Aerospace Workers (IAM): “I thank Senator Bernie Sanders and Congressmen Bobby Scott and Brian Fitzpatrick for leading this very important piece of bipartisan legislation. For far too long, American workers have been denied the right to freely form a union without the threat of company intimidation or interference. The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act is long overdue legislation that grants our nation’s workforce the protections to form a union if they wish, while also including provisions to punish employers who break the law.”
International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers (SMART): “Year after year, we hear about the tens of thousands of workers who want to organize for the pay, job security and safety protections they deserve — but were unable to do so because of our nation’s broken labor law. The PRO Act is the common sense, bipartisan legislation we need to fix our damaged system and empower American workers, from sheet metal shops to railyards, on buses and freight locomotives, in classrooms, hospitals and beyond. We thank Reps. Bobby Scott and Brian Fitzpatrick in the House and Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Senate for reintroducing this legislation, and we call on any legislator who considers themselves a worker ally to add their support.”
Labor Caucus Co-Chair Congressman Donald Norcross (D-NJ-01): “I know how important it is to give workers a voice and protect them from unfair labor practices because I lived it. Workers win when they band together and collectively bargain for safer workplaces, higher wages, and better benefits. At its core, the PRO Act carries Richard L. Trumka's legacy forward by promoting worker solidarity, giving hardworking women and men a voice in their workplace, and holding accountable corporate bosses who violate workers’ rights. I first met Rich back in the 80s at a union hall in Cherry Hill, where he was collecting donations to support striking coal miners. The Pro Act strengthens union protections, and I can think of no better person to name this critical piece of legislation after than Rich.”
National Nurses United: “National Nurses United, the largest union and professional association of registered nurses in the country, welcomes the reintroduction of the Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize Act. When passed, the PRO Act will strengthen federal labor laws to improve protections for workers who organize to have a collective voice in their workplace. For nurses, the ability to organize a union and collectively bargain allows us to advocate for safe working conditions that improve health and safety for workers and patients in our nation’s hospitals. The PRO Act is an important step forward to ensure that every worker can organize without fear of retaliation, and NNU urges every Member of Congress to support this critical legislation.”
SEIU: “Bills like the PRO Act are greatly needed at a time when working people are facing unprecedented attacks by politicians, greedy corporations and billionaires pushing an extremist agenda. This Act changes rules that corporations have used to keep people out of unions. We have to make it easier for working people to stand together in unions if we are serious about building a future where every worker, of every race and from every place, can thrive.”
Transport Workers Union (TWU): “It is time for Congress to step up and support workers. Republicans and Democrats alike talk a good game about supporting working people – signing onto the PRO Act and working to pass it into law shows which lawmakers will back up their words with action.”
Ana Reyes, Line Cook, St. Anselm D.C., UNITE-HERE Local 25: “Federal labor law goes out of its way to stack the odds in management's favor. After 80% of the workers at our restaurant, St. Anselm in Washington, DC, asked Stephen Starr to recognize our union, he made coming to work hell with threats, bribes, and one-on-one meetings where he attempted to persuade us to back down. Even after a majority of us voted to unionize in an NLRB election, he still won't stop fighting us. He is challenging the election results in court, dragging the process out in hopes that we will lose our resolve. If we pass the PRO Act, other workers won't have to endure what we have just for seeking change in our workplaces.”
For the bill text of the PRO Act, click here.
For a fact sheet on the PRO Act, click here.
For a section-by-section summary of the PRO Act, click here.
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