On the recordFebruary 6, 2020
My amendment strikes the language in the PRO Act that would, in effect, repeal right-to-work laws nationwide. Currently, 27 States have adopted right-to-work laws that protect workers in their States from forced unionization. Eight of these States further protect their workers by enshrining right to work in their State constitutions. At their root, right-to-work laws let workers choose whether or not to join a union. Right-to-work laws do not ban union membership. Instead, they let workers, not their employer and not the government, make the choice for them. My colleagues opposite want to make the government the answer to everything. Yet, here we are today, and we should be protecting American values, American freedoms, that freedom of speech and that freedom to associate as a worker chooses. The Supreme Court already recognized these rights in the union context when it ruled that government workers cannot be forced to pay union dues. Taking away this freedom in the private sector would reverse decades of protections that the States have given their workers. I might add that some of the best growing economies are States where we have this ability, and my colleagues opposite want to, indeed, come in and reach into States and tell them how to operate when we have growing economies? If California wants to make sure that everybody has to be in a union, let them move to California. But do you know what? The verdict is already in.…
