Rep. Stansbury Fights for Workers’ Right to Organize

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Melanie Stansbury (NM-01) co-sponsored H.R. 20, the Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, a comprehensive proposal to protect workers’ right to come together and bargain for higher wages, better benefits, and safer workplaces. 

“Labor is the backbone of our country,” Rep. Melanie Stansbury (NM-01) said. “My mother was fired from her job for attempting to organize her workplace, and if the PRO Act were law, she would have been protected. All across the country, Americans are still facing retaliation for organizing at their workplaces, and it must stop. The PRO Act will protect these fundamental rights for our workers.” 

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 hardworking people.  Through the power of bargaining, the typical union worker earns 16 percent more than the typical non-union worker.  

The American people’s support for unions is surging.  According to a 2024 Gallup poll, 70 percent of Americans approve of labor unions—remaining at near record highs.  Despite growing support for unions, billionaire- and special interest-funded 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 2024.  The PRO Act restores fairness to the economy by strengthening the federal law that protects workers’ right to join a union and bargain for higher pay, better benefits, and safer workplaces. 

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. 

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. 

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