It’s normal for politicians to honor Labor Day with statements lauding the history of the labor movement or signaling their support for unions. Yet it’s rare to see them do what Joe Biden just did on Monday: brag about support for legislation that would kill millions of jobs.
The Democratic nominee for president celebrated the holiday with a tweet reiterating his support for the sweeping PRO Act and promised to “be the strongest labor president workers have ever had.” But if he ever followed through on this promise, signing the PRO Act wouldn’t help workers. It would threaten millions of people’s livelihoods, taking away earning options they rely on and leaving them financially vulnerable during a pandemic and global recession.
For years, President Trump and Republicans have waged a war on America’s labor unions.
It will end on my watch.
I’ll sign the PRO Act — making it easier for workers to organize and collectively bargain — and be the strongest labor president workers have ever had.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) September 7, 2020
Let’s be clear: Biden’s agenda isn’t pro-labor. It’s pro-labor-union. There’s a big difference.
The PRO Act’s main provisions serve the interests of union officials at the expense of actual workers. For example, the legislation would immediately eliminate “right-to-work” laws nationwide. Currently in effect in 28 states, these laws ensure that no workers are required to pay union fees or be members of a union in order to do their job.
This ensures that unions must actually serve workers’ interests to attract membership because they don’t get to mandate funding or membership by law. It also ensures that a politicized bureaucracy doesn’t hold the keys to your employment unless you agree to it.
Moreover, states with right-to-work laws have, on average, lower unemployment rates, higher statewide production levels, and more competitive business environments. Banning right-to-work laws, as Biden wants to do, means more workers left scrolling through the classifieds looking for work. That’s “pro-labor” by no stretch of the imagination.
Even more importantly, the PRO Act would devastate millions of freelancers and independent contractors, legislating their livelihoods out of existence. It contains similar provisions to the anti-gig economy law California passed that has wrought havoc on freelance journalists, artists, florists, Uber drivers, and other workers.
It is impossible to write even a once-per-week column on an independent basis under the California regulation, making freelance journalism essentially impossible. The bill limited freelance writers to 35 articles for any one publication per year. This was so detrimental that many groups of workers, the very workers this bill was supposed to help, have just successfully lobbied to be exempted from the law. If Biden passes similar regulations nationwide, he would be slapping these millions of workers in the face, not fighting for their interests.
Nothing about Biden’s position is “pro-labor” for the 1 million workers who enjoy flexible earning opportunities driving for Uber. The California legislation may literally force Uber to shut down in the Golden State. Biden’s desire to make full-time independent contracting all but impossible through the PRO Act would likely put many of these drivers in the other 49 states out of work.
Fundamentally, the PRO Act makes employing people much more expensive. It installs giant barriers to work and puts red tape all over the job creation process. You don’t have to have a Ph.D. in economics to understand that this will kill jobs and slow job growth — it’s common sense.
The timing for such sweeping legislation couldn’t be worse. In the middle of a national crisis and recession, there’s nothing “pro-labor” at all about Joe Biden’s plans to disincentive job creation to satisfy labor union officials.
Brad Polumbo (@Brad_Polumbo) is the Eugene S. Thorpe fellow at the Foundation for Economic Education and a Washington Examiner contributor.
