Murray, Schumer, Sanders, Colleagues Introduce PRO Act to Protect Workers’ Right to Organize and Make Economy Work for Workers

***WATCH: Senator Murray joins colleagues, labor leaders to introduce PRO Act***

Senator Murray first introduced the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act to help build a fairer, more inclusive economy

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, joined her colleagues in Congress to reintroduce the Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, comprehensive labor legislation to protect workers’ right to stand together and bargain for fairer wages, better benefits, and safer workplaces. Senator Murray introduced the legislation—which was renamed in honor of former AFL-CIO President Richard L. Trumka—alongside Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Congressman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA), and Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA).

“We have made really important progress recovering from the pandemic and building a better, fairer economy over the last few years—but the fact is too many workers are still getting left behind while the biggest corporations make a killing,” said Senator Murray. “That’s why I’m glad to join my colleagues today in reintroducing the PRO Act to protect every worker’s right to organize and fight for better pay, quality health care, a safer workplace, and a secure retirement. Unions give workers a powerful voice to demand better. It’s far past time we pass this critical legislation to build a stronger and fairer economy—and ensure workers get their fair share of the wealth they help create.”

The PRO Act would protect the right to organize and collectively bargain by:

• Bolstering remedies and punishing violations of workers’ rights through authorizing meaningful penalties for employers that violate workers’ rights, strengthening support for workers who suffer retaliation for exercising their rights,  and authorizing a private right of action for violation of workers’ rights.
• Strengthening workers’ right to join together and negotiate for better working conditions by enhancing workers’ right to support secondary boycotts, ensuring unions can collect “fair share” fees, modernizing the union election process, and facilitating initial collective bargaining agreements.
• Restoring fairness to an economy rigged against workers by closing loopholes that allow employers to misclassify their employees as supervisors and independent contractors and increasing transparency in labor-management relations.

Throughout her career, Senator Murray has championed workers’ rights and fought to protect their right to join and form a union in order to stand together and demand better pay, benefits, and working conditions. Senator Murray—former Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee—first introduced the PRO Act in the 116^th Congress and has helped lead the charge to get it passed into law. She held a hearing urging action to protect workers’ right to organize, and has worked the phones and knocked on her colleagues’ doors to build support for the bill. Last year, Senator Murray held a roundtable in Seattle with U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh and Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) to discuss the importance of protecting workers’ right to form a union and pass the PRO Act. In the spending bill passed into law last December, Senator Murray secured a long overdue $25 million increase in funding for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to help ensure the agency can protect the rights of workers everywhere.

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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