Manchester, N.H. — This week, Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander helped introduce H.R.20, the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, to ensure Americans have the freedom to organize and that workers have the right to join a union.

“When our unions are strong, New Hampshire is strong. The PRO Act will safeguard the fundamental rights of New Hampshire’s hardest-working women and men to come together and negotiate for a fair deal, better wages, and safer workplaces,” said Congresswoman Goodlander. “I’m proud to be working alongside our union brothers and sisters to get this bipartisan, common sense, and long-overdue bill signed into law.”

“The PRO Act is the most significant worker empowerment legislation since the Great Depression. This bill is critical not only to the labor movement, but to America’s future,” said Glenn Brackett (IBEW 2320), New Hampshire AFL-CIO President. “Both union workers and non-union workers are depending on Congress to update our broken labor law. This bill has passed the House on a bipartisan basis, and we urge our Representatives in Washington to do it again.”

The PRO Act protects the basic right to join a union:

• 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.

The PRO Act is supported by: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Musicians (AFM), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Communications Workers of America (CWA), Department of Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE), International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART), International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers (BAC), International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT), Laborers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA), National Nurses United (NNU), National Postal Mail Handlers Union (NPMHU), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Transport Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO (TWU), United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW), and United Steelworkers (USW).  

Congresswoman Goodlander has dedicated her life to serving New Hampshire and our country and is fighting every day to ensure every Granite Stater gets a fair deal. Before taking the oath of office to represent New Hampshire in the People’s House, she served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the United States Department of Justice, where she took on the corporate monopolies and giant corporations hurting New Hampshire families and 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.