President Joe Biden has unveiled his misleadingly-named “American Jobs Plan,” a massive infrastructure package funded by a $2 trillion tax hike on the American people.
In the plan, Biden calls on Congress to pass the “Projecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act,” radical legislation that would kill millions of jobs and increase Big Labor’s power at the expense of American workers.
The PRO Act nullifies Right to Work laws across the country, which prohibit employers from forcing their employees to join a union as a condition of employment. Existing Right to Work laws protect 166 million Americans in 27 states, more than half the U.S. population.
Banning Right to Work laws is the last thing workers need as our economy recovers from the Coronavirus pandemic. Research shows that Right to Work states experience stronger growth in the number of people employed, growth in manufacturing employment, and growth in the private sector than states run by union bosses.
According to the National Institute for Labor Relations Research, the percentage growth in the number of people employed between 2007-2017 in Right to Work states was 8.8% and 4.2% in forced-unionism states. Growth in manufacturing employment between 2012-2017 in Right to Work states was 5.5% and 1.7% in forced-unionism states. The percentage growth in the private sector from 2007-2017 in Right to Work states was 13.0% and 10.1% in forced-unionism states.
The PRO Act is a crucial part of the Biden Administration’s full-court press to destroy the gig economy and crush job opportunities for independent contractors. The PRO Act implements California’s harmful “ABC test” for independent contractors, which forced the mass reclassification of California’s freelancers, causing them to flee the Golden State to chase their dreams and earn a living. A nationwide ABC test would threaten the livelihoods of more than 57 million Americans that engage in freelance work.
Under the ABC test, businesses must prove that a contractor is doing duties “outside the usual course of work of the hiring entity” and that “the worker customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business of the same nature as the work performed.” This significantly limits the ability of businesses to retain contractors who may operate within the scope of work sometimes performed by employees in similar circumstances. It’s an unnecessary distinction that prohibits most businesses from working with independent contractors.
The ABC test forced the mass reclassification of California’s independent contractors, forcing countless residents to flee the Golden State to flee the state to pay their bills and chase their dreams. More than 90 percent of California independent contractors opposed the ABC test reclassification
ATR has compiled 655 personal testimonials from independent contractors who details the ways that AB5 has hurt them, which you can view here.
Ultimately, Biden’s aggressive push to implement the PRO Act proves that the so-called “American Jobs Plan” will only kill jobs, not create them.