Promoting a Historic Overhaul to Make Labor Laws Fairer

New research from the Economic Policy Institute demonstrates the broken system of labor laws in the United States and the necessity of passing the PRO Act.

It's the rare employer who voluntarily recognizes its employees' efforts to join together, meaning that workers must fight for their rights in an arena that offers few penalties for anti-union employers and considerable risk for the employees. This imbalance, says EPI, is due to weaknesses in the National Labor Relations Act.The solution: the PRO Act. It's been called the most significant piece of labor legislation in decades, with more than 30 proposed changes to existing law. Among those are increased protections against employer retaliation. Workers would have access to fullback pay for time out of work, front pay if reinstatement is not feasible and damages to compensate for harm. The PRO Act passed the House of Representatives in March and has the support of President Joe Biden, as well as a majority of likely voters according to a new poll, but has stalled in the Senate.

Read more in the August issue of The Electrical Worker