![]() ![]() Critics claim that this provision would have the same effect as AB5, a 2019 California law reclassifying contractors and limiting freelance work that is widely seen as having harmed freelancers.īut such a critique is either a misunderstanding or a bad-faith attack, Indianapolis-based labor lawyer Brandon Magner told me. One section of the PRO Act that has weathered some critique is its provision amending labor law to reclassify many non-salaried workers from being contractors to employees, which would make them eligible to unionize. Having a much larger movement would mean that we’d be able to be on the attack.”įrom that new, stronger position, Isser believes the movement would be in a better position to fight for goals like universal health care and green jobs programs. “We’d be able to stop being so defensive, fighting rollbacks and attacks on working people. It will give millions of workers the right to form a union,” Isser said. “The PRO Act will revolutionize workers’ lives in this country. The bill, which passed the House of Representatives on March 9, would provide a dramatic boost to the United States’ beleaguered labor unions by weakening state right-to-work laws, allowing the National Labor Relations Board to fine companies $50,000 per violation of labor laws, and banning companies from holding mandatory anti-unionization meetings, among other provisions. In the PRO Act, the groups have found something that they can both fully get behind. “It takes time for trust to be built, but we’re building it.” “Unions may think, ‘We’ve been around forever, we’ve been representing our members’ interests forever, we’ve never heard of these people, and suddenly they want to call the shots,” she said. The mistrust may have come from DSA’s newness as a major political force, Philadelphia-based DSA organizer Mindy Isser suggested. Though DSA is officially a staunch supporter of organized labor, relations between DSA and major unions have not always been smooth. ![]() Both sides of the coalition told me that they hope that this campaign is just the beginning of a much closer working relationship between organized labor and the socialist left. The unions, for their part, are able to access DSA’s passionate volunteer base. Though individual DSA chapters have worked with IUPAT and CWA locals before, walking picket lines and providing strike support, collaborating with unions on the national level offers the organization the credibility of labor groups that are major representatives of the working class, something that has so far proved elusive for the socialist group. ![]() The collaboration offers something new to both sides, organizers told me. This month, DSA and the unions plan on escalating the campaign with in-person rallies and town halls. Over the past month, thousands of volunteers and organizers representing both DSA and the unions have made over five hundred thousand phone calls to voters in key legislators’ home states, asking voters to tell their representatives to support the PRO Act. If signed into law, the legislation would be the most significant labor rights bill since the New Deal era. On March 7, DSA, the Communications Workers of America (CWA), and the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) launched an effort with an ambitious goal: getting Congress to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. ![]() The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is joining forces with major unions on a national campaign for worker rights. ![]()
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