Labor Unions Need All the Help They Can Get

The House of Representatives just passed an interesting bill dealing with organized labor. Known as the Protect the Right to Organize Act, the bill would ban states from enacting so-called right-to-work laws. It would make it illegal for employers to permanently replace striking workers, and it would impose a nationwide rule similar to California’s recent AB-5 legislation, reclassifying many independent contractors such as Uber drivers as regular employees. It also would impose various penalties on employers that violated labor laws or retaliated against unions. The bill is unlikely to pass a Republican-controlled Senate, but this could change after the next election.

Unions have historically been a pillar of the middle class, and strengthening them could help reduce wage inequality, increase labor’s share of national income and provide many low-wage workers with much-needed stability. So the PRO Act is a welcome development. But its focus might be too narrow to make much difference.