Unions threatening to withhold financial support for Democrats; President Biden appears in awkward and scripted video supporting PRO Act

Click here for fact sheet on union’s history of intimidation and harassment

 

Washington, D.C. – The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW), composed of hundreds of organizations representing millions of businesses that employ tens of millions of workers nationwide in nearly every industry, released the following statement today in response to union bosses ramping up pressure on Democrats and the Biden administration to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which CDW says will harm America’s workers and small businesses in an effort to boost union coffers.

POLITICO reported last week that union bosses told Senate Democratic leaders that they will withhold support from lawmakers that do not support the PRO Act. Jacobin Magazine, a self-proclaimed news outlet for socialists, reported that the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and unions are teaming up on a campaign to pressure senators to support the PRO Act, which they claim “flipped” Senator Manchin (D-WV) last week. The White House released a video filmed with the United Auto Workers (UAW) about the PRO Act where President Biden said he is “pushing it hard.”

The following statement is attributable to CDW Chair Kristen Swearingen:

“Big Labor is going all out to pressure and even intimidate Members of Congress into passing the anti-worker, privacy invading and job-killing PRO Act. American workers have been rejecting unionization efforts across the country, and now labor bosses want to change to rules to force employees to join the union and fork over their hard-earned income into the labor’s coffers.

“With a long history of using intimidation and harassment against employees and even their own members, union bosses and organizers have now turned their repertoire of tactics against Members of Congress. Democrats risk alienating the vast majority of American workers who are not union members if they capitulate on the radical and overreaching PRO Act.

“From taking away independent contracting jobs from moms working at home to stripping vital privacy protections from all Americans to forcing many small businesses to close their doors, the PRO Act would radically change our country’s labor laws and lead to a significant regression in our recovery from the COVID pandemic.

“One of the most frightening components of the PRO Act is the fact that the law would force employers to hand over personal contact information of employees to labor organizers, even for those employees who have no interest in the union. With unfettered access to employees, labor organizers would have the ability to harass and bully workers into joining a union. They could show up at their home, spam them on email and even bully them on social media. The PRO Act is incredibly short-sighted, especially given growing concerns regarding privacy in this country.

“The drastic restructuring of the nation’s labor laws and resulting economic upheaval would cost millions of American jobs, threaten vital supply chains, and greatly diminish opportunities for entrepreneurs and struggling small businesses.”

Click here for more information on the negative impacts of the PRO Act.

 

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About The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace

CDW is a broad-based coalition of hundreds of organizations representing hundreds of thousands of employers and millions of employees in various industries across the country concerned with a long-standing effort by some in the labor movement to make radical changes to the National Labor Relations Act without regard to the severely negative impact they would have on employees, employers, and the economy. CDW was originally formed in 2005 in opposition to the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) – a bill similar to the PRO Act – that would have stripped employees of the right to secret ballots in union representation elections and allowed arbitrators to set contract terms regardless of the consequence to workers or businesses.

 

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