Washington, D.C. (March 5, 2025) — Brent Booker, General President of the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA), made the following statement today regarding introduction of the Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize Act in Congress:

The right to freely join a union is the cornerstone of a prosperous working class in America. Fair pay, essential benefits, and a dignified retirement after a life of hard work are all qualities of the American Dream that have been chipped away as fewer workers are able to join unions.

 

Today, working men and women without a collective voice struggle with multiple jobs, wages that do not cover necessities, and a lack of healthcare and retirement security. At the same time, Gallup polling shows that workers overwhelmingly support unions.

 

Workers want — and America needs — more unions.

 

The Protecting the Right to Organize Act would modernize U.S. labor law to meet the needs of working people, not just Wall Street. It would provide real deterrents against corporations that break labor law. The bill would block misclassification of employees as independent contractors and curb abuses by temporary staffing agencies. It would ban employers from forcing workers into captive-audience meetings and allow them to make their own decisions about union representation. And the PRO Act would mitigate the devastation of working class living standards caused by so-called “right-to-work” laws.

 

On behalf of the more than 530,000 proud men and women who go to work every day to build and serve our nation as LIUNA members, we fully support the PRO Act, applaud its reintroduction in Congress, and look forward to the day it is law.

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The more than a half-million members of LIUNA – the Laborers’ International Union of North America – are on the forefront of the construction industry, a powerhouse of workers who are proud to build the U.S. and Canada.