House Passes Pro Act -Adopts Labor Provisions Championed by Sherman & Elizabeth Warren

Press Release

Today the House passed the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which protects workers' right to organize a union and bargain for higher wages and better benefits. Congressman Sherman applauds Chairman of the Education & Labor Committee, Bobby Scott, for including a provision in the PRO Act that eliminates so-called "right-to-work' laws nationwide. This provision is similar to the Nationwide Right to Unionize Act, a bill which Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA) and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) introduced together last year. Sherman said, "We hope this bill passes the Senate, and is signed into law."

"Right-to-work provisions undermine the right to unionize because our basic labor law requires a union to represent all those in the bargaining unit, and everyone in the bargaining unit benefits from the union contract," said Congressman Sherman. "If you tell people you don't have to join, you don't have to pay the union dues, you don't have to pay a fee and you still get all the benefits, then right-to-work is really code for right to free ride."

Congressman Sherman has been working on this problem for decades. That's why he introduced the Nationwide Right to Unionize Act first in 2008 during the 110th Congress, then again in the 111th Congress, the 112th Congress, the 113th Congress, the 114th Congress, the 115th Congress, the 116th Congress, and soon in the 117th Congress, each time with many cosponsors. Sherman has worked on this bill with Senator Elizabeth Warren in every Congress since 2017, when she first introduced companion legislation in the Senate.

We need to end the race to the bottom and raise wages nationwide. We need the right to organize.

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