Catherwood LibraryILR School

A new bill was introduced by Senate Republicans on Thursday aiming to radically reform how unions operate in the U.S. The proposed legislation, titled the “Employee Rights Act”, would require unions to have written permission from their members to use dues toward political causes, would discard the NLRB’s rule shortening the time period between a union’s election authorization and when the election takes place, and would allow employers to refuse to disseminate workers’ contact information to union organizers. Overall, supporters of the bill claim that it is a logical and bipartisan undertaking which forces unions to convince members and prospective members that they have their best interests in mind as opposed to taking it for granted that a union will accurately and fairly represent its members. Opponents of the legislation feel that these claims are pretext for past, mostly Republican-led attempts to undermine organized labor and empower employers, not employees. The bill undertakes a massive overhaul of many labor laws enacted under the Obama administration and, should it be signed into law, would mean a significant shift in landscape for labor unions.