Smucker Votes Against The Pro Act: A Radical Union Boss Wish List

Statement

Congressman Lloyd Smucker (PA-11) voted against The Pro Act- H.R. 2474 - legislation contains numerous radical provisions that will force hardworking Americans into unions, and subject more workers and employers to union harassment.

"Today's egregious legislation mislabeled as the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, should really be renamed the Unfair to American Workers, or UAW Act. I strongly agree that our constitutionally-guaranteed rights like the freedom of association should be protected. But this bill doesn't strengthen protection for all Americans, this bill upsets the balance between the right of employees to form a union, and the right of individuals to refrain from joining." said Smucker

"H.R. 2474 deliberately speeds up the union election process so that employees do not have the time to fully vet the pros and cons of joining a union. This bill also strips away critical privacy right by forcing employers to hand over sensitive, private employee information, such as where an employee lives, what shifts they work, and more. Why do they want this information? So union leaders can stalk and harass employees until they agree to sign up.

"The PRO Act leaves no corner of labor-law untouched. This bill will disrupt the franchise model to eliminate a franchisee's ability to operate their business as their own, and even decimates the sharing economy by codifying California's ABC test.

"What's worse, this bill repeals every right-to work law in the nation, forcing millions of Americans to contribute to a union they do not want or need.

"I offered a commonsense amendment that would require unions to seek employee consent when using dues for political purposes, but my amendment was blocked by Democrats from being debated on the House floor.

"The left claim that economic inequality has resulted because of declining union membership. We know this isn't true. The economic success we're seeing today, particularly for minority groups who have historically faced the most inequality, is changing thanks to policies put in place by a republican Congress and President Trump.

"Wage growth is rising faster for minorities and individuals most impacted by economic inequality than any other group. Rather than innovating to become more attractive to employees so they want to join, the unions are trying to change federal law to stack the deck against hardworking Americans.

"Americans aren't rejecting union membership because current labor law acts as a barrier to forming one, they're declining to join because they're sick of seeing union leaders harass and coerce their colleagues, line their own pockets with dues -- as we've seen exhibited in the rent racketeering acts committed by former UAW leaders -- and use employee dues to support political platforms that don't align with an individual's views.

"I strongly oppose this radical, backwards-looking bill that will diminish the rights of workers and employers alike while harming the economy and providing a political gift to labor union special interests."

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