EPI Finds Current Labor Laws Don’t Protect Workers Organizing

The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)—first passed in the 1930s—is supposed to provide workers protection from anti-union retaliation in the pursuit of organizing and collective bargaining. However, a new report from the Economic Policy Institute finds that the NLRA is no longer up to the task of protecting workers from anti-union actions by our employers. The report states, “[I]n reality, this right is largely hollow because of fundamental and structural weaknesses in the NLRA that make it far weaker than other labor and employment laws with regard to anti-retaliation protections. As a result, current law fails to provide an effective deterrent against employer retaliation—an all too common occurrence in organizing campaigns.”

This is another important demonstration of why we need to update our labor laws by passing the PRO Act.