Federalized AB 5 must be defeated

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives voted 225 to 206 to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize Act or PRO Act.

The union-backed bill seeks to trample over states with right-to-work laws protecting the rights of workers to opt out of joining and paying into unions if they don’t want to join them.

The PRO Act would grant unions the power to collect dues from workers at unionized workplaces who don’t want to contribute to the union. According to Eric Boehm at Reason, the PRO Act would “force employers to turn over employees’ private information — including cellphone numbers, email addresses, and work schedules — to union organizers.”

Whatever the merits of unionizing in particular circumstances, it’s clear that the PRO Act is intended to put a thumb on the scale in favor of unions that have seen declines for many decades now.

Most troubling, though, are provisions establishing a multifactor test, similar to the “ABC” test codified into California law by Assembly Bill 5, which will significantly restrict the ability of workers to work as independent contractors.

As Californians learned the hard way in 2019 and 2020, the result of such changes isn’t the empowerment of workers, but the decimation of the livelihoods of workers who happen to want the flexibility that comes with being an independent contractor. Yet, that very same approach tried under AB 5 is what the PRO Act seeks to federalize.

“Expanding it nationwide would mean limited opportunity for individuals to work as independent contractors in numerous industries, including those who drive for ridehailing platforms such as Uber and Lyft and those who provide important services to retailers,” notes the National Retail Federation.

The primary reason for that provision isn’t to help workers, but to maximize the potential reach of unions in workplaces.

Federal policymakers should not be in the business of meddling in the freedom of workers primarily for the benefit of unions, especially when doing so will do so much more harm than good.

Fortunately, the bill is unlikely to proceed in the Senate. However, it remains a long-term threat to worker freedom.