Golden reintroduces PRO Act to protect workers’ right to organize

WASHINGTON – Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02) last night reintroduced H.R. 20, the Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, a comprehensive proposal to protect workers’ right to bargain collectively for higher wages, better benefits and safer workplaces.

The American people’s support for unions is surging. According to a 2024

Gallup poll, 70 percent of Americans approve of labor union — remaining at near record highs. Despite growing support for unions, coordinated attacks on workers’ unions and labor laws have eroded union density and made it harder for workers to organize. The share of American workers who are union members has fallen from roughly one in three workers in 1956 to a new low of 9.9 percent in 202. The PRO Act restores fairness to the economy by strengthening the federal law that protects workers’ right to join a union and collectively bargain.

“Strong unions make for a strong middle class,” Golden said. “When workers come together in a union to collectively bargain, they get a voice on the job to fight for fair wages and benefits and safer working conditions. The PRO Act restores democracy on the job by strengthening workers’ rights and clamping down on union-busting tactics so that those who want to form a union can do so and get to the business of securing better conditions in the workplace.”

“Labor unions are extremely popular with Americans because they know being part of a union is the most effective way to gain better wages, health insurance, retirement security and a dignified life,” said Cynthia Phinney, president of the Maine AFL-CIO. “But for too long, anti-worker policies and bad legal decisions have made it too easy for employers to crack down on our rights and retaliate against working people forming unions because the penalties for breaking labor laws are just absorbed as a cost of doing business. The PRO Act would level the playing field and allow workers to freely choose to join a union and bargain for a better life. We applaud Congressman Jared Golden for his consistent support for this critical reform that will hold union-busting corporations accountable, repeal anti-worker laws, and remove barriers to organizing and bargaining.”

"Unions are essential for a fairer economy. Unions don’t just help their own members — They also push wages and benefits higher for everyone,” said Arthur Phillips, economic policy analyst at the Maine Center for Economic Policy. “This helps close pay gaps, so people are treated more fairly at work. But federal labor law today falls woefully short in effectively enabling workers to organize and bargain union contracts, as shown by the wide gap between the number of workers who would vote to join a union and the number who are represented by one. The PRO Act would help close this gap. In the end, strong unions mean better pay, fairer workplaces and an economy that works for everyone — not just those at the top."

Large corporations and the wealthy continue to capture the rewards of a growing economy while working families and middle-class Americans are left behind. From 1979 to 2023, annual wages for the bottom 90 percent of households increased just 44 percent, while average incomes for the wealthiest 1 percent increased more than 180 percent.

Unions are critical to increasing wages and creating a strong economy that rewards working people. Through the power of bargaining, the typical union worker earns 16 percent more than the typical non-union worker.

The PRO Act protects the basic right to join a union by:

• Holds employers accountable for violating workers’ rights by authorizing meaningful penalties, facilitating initial collective bargaining agreements, and closing loopholes that allow employers to misclassify their employees as supervisors and independent contractors.
• Empowers workers to exercise their right to organize by strengthening support for workers who suffer retaliation for exercising their rights, protecting workers’ right to support secondary boycotts, ensuring workers’ unions can collect “fair share” fees, and authorizing a private right of action for violation of workers’ rights.
• Secures free, fair, and safe union elections by preventing employers from interfering in union elections, prohibiting captive audience meetings, and requiring employers to be transparent with their workers.

Golden has been a cosponsor of the PRO Act in every Congress since he was first elected in 2018. He helped bring the bill to the House floor in 2020and 2021, when it passed with bipartisan support. The bill has never received a vote in the Senate. 

Golden continues to stand in support of workers’ rights and encourages both chambers to pass the PRO Act this Congress.

For the bill text of the PRO Act, click here.

For a fact sheet on the PRO Act, click here. 

For a section-by-section summary of the PRO Act, click here