In early March, the Construction Advocacy Fund financed an AGC effort to engage a construction-friendly audience through the placement of digital ads in the lead up to a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. The ads were run in the following congressional districts where members of Congress were undecided on the legislation: CA-52, FL-25, FL-27, GA-6, MN-8, NY-11, NY-24, NV-3, VA-2, and VA-7. 

The PRO Act would provide unions with additional and significant economic weapons without regard to their detrimental impact on an employee’s right to free choice and privacy and an employer’s ability to effectively manage its operations regardless of whether it is a union or open shop firm.

The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the PRO Act—which it passed in the previous Congress—the week of March 8.

Among the bill’s provisions, it would:

• Threaten workers’ absolute right to a free, fair, and secret union ballot by imposing a “backdoor” card check procedure, a voting process whereby employees sign their name on a union authorization card and submit it directly to union organizers. There are no secret ballots or private votes.
• Force employers to turn over employees’ private, personal information to unions without the ability to opt out;
• Effectively repeals employees’ Right-to-Work protections—established in 27 states—thereby taking away employees’ choice to contribute fees to a labor organization, and instead requiring them to do so;
• Eliminate all prohibitions on picketing that would idle many employees over a dispute where they do not stand to benefit, because unions could then launch protests and pickets against any employer—even those having nothing to do with a labor dispute;
• Allow intermittent strikes and slowdowns that could devastate jobsite progress, production and, in turn, jeopardize many jobs; 
• Codify the “quickie” or “ambush” election rules that limit employees’ access and opportunity to consider information about the union seeking to represent them;
• Establish a restrictive independent contractor test that will undermine many working people’s ambitions to establish their own firms and become self-employed.

Check back soon for campaign materials and results after the campaign has ended in mid-March.

DATE

March 2021

BENEFICIARY

AGC members & the business community

PROJECT TYPE

Digital ad campaign