E&W Blog

Last week, Democrats spent the better half of a day grilling Labor Secretary Acosta with shots aimed at undermining the roaring economy and bemoaning the additional hard-earned money sitting in American pockets. They followed up this week with a hearing hailing labor unions as the cure for many of society’s ills and pointing to union achievements from 80 years ago as evidence.

Today, we’re seeing the American worker take home a fatter paycheck on a faster wage growth trajectory, but that’s no thanks to labor unions. In the last two years as union rates have declined, the unemployment rate has dropped to the lowest it’s been in 50 years and the disparities in income inequality have shrunk.  Non-union workers have reaped greater fruits of these economic improvements than their union counterparts, since they aren’t being forced into one-size-fits all union contracts.

Despite this, House Democrats are seeking to enact radical legislation that will increase the power of union leaders, deprive members of privacy rights, and add layers of  government regulations to monitor private business matters. Their proposed legislation forces employers to surrender employees’ personal information to union bosses without the consent of the individuals, a mandate one of the Democrat witnesses admitted makes it so unions can more effectively coerce workers in their homes. Additionally, the bill forces  workers to pay union fees even if they don’t want or need union representation. This tramples on workers’ First Amendment rights and shrinks their paychecks.

The radical and misguided “PRO Act” (H.R. 2474)  hurts the American worker, infringes on his or her individual privacy and Constitutional rights, and does nothing to contribute to a more lucrative and thriving economy. When the Democrats stop succumbing to union leader asks and consult the real American worker, Republicans stand ready to work with them on more pro-worker and pro-economy legislation.