AGC of America on Feb. 4 released a white paper titled The PRO Act: What Union Contractors Need to Know. The PRO Act is a bill that would make vast, transformational changes to labor laws and upsets the delicate balance of rights and restrictions established over decades by the NLRB, courts, and Congress. While the union-favoring legislation presents obvious concerns for open-shop contractors, union contractors may not realize the detrimental impact it could have on them.
As the white paper explains, the bill would change the entire landscape of organizing, bargaining, and employer-employee rights. It has the potential to cause significant disruption in the construction industry – even and especially for union contractors. This includes such union contractor concerns as expanding permissive picketing, promoting slowdowns and intermittent strikes, providing unions with greater leverage in bargaining, exposing employers to greater lawsuits and penalties, and expanding joint employer liability.
The bill recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives. While it is highly unlikely to become law as long as the U.S. Senate and White House are under Republican control, the radical bill has gained the support of every major 2020 Democrat presidential candidate and presents a serious threat. AGC is actively opposing the bill. To add your voice, visit AGC’s PRO Act grassroots advocacy page.