The Protecting the Right to Organize Act, an aggressive push to expand union rights, has been capturing the attention of lawmakers in recent months. The legislation would fundamentally overhaul our country’s labor laws with potentially catastrophic consequences that would infringe on employees’ privacy rights, force small businesses to close permanently and lead to significant job loss.

While the headlines often speak to the benefits of this bill, the typical portrayal of this legislation couldn’t be any less accurate. The PRO Act is not good policy, and it will not help Maine’s workers. It will hurt the state’s economy, and it will undermine the rights of workers and for many it will mean losing their jobs.

This supposed expansion of union rights would require employees to forfeit their privacy and other vital rights. Union organizers could replace secret ballot elections, which allow employees to vote anonymously, with an alternate process known as a “card check.” A card check “requires workers to recruit a majority of individuals to sign authorization cards allowing a union to represent them without a secret ballot election.”

This process for “voting” could skew the results in favor of the unions, and it would require employees to vote in front of others. With the added pressure of voting in this highly coercive manner, it’s extremely likely that employees could feel obligated to vote in favor of joining a union.

Forcing employees to sign authorization cards in front of others should not be considered a valid method for voting whether or not to unionize. And if an employee declines, they may have to worry about the possibility of intimidation tactics or threats from the prospective union, as employers would have to share employee contact information with these labor organizers. Either way, it’s a lose-lose situation.

Another negative component of the PRO Act is the inclusion of the “ABC test” standard, which was first signed into law in California in 2019. This standard makes it more challenging for workers to classify as independent contractors — reclassifying many independent contractors as employees.

The problem with this standard is that if reclassified as an employee, a former independent contractor may have to forfeit their right to choose their own working hours, among other rights. And if adopted nationwide, this could have dire repercussions on the millions of independent contractors who rely on these roles as their primary source of income. The ride sharing drivers, food delivery drivers, freelance consultants and tutors could begin to see their economic opportunities vanish. And the once-thriving gig economy could become a shadow of what it once was.

From February through April 2020, driven by the pandemic, 16%, or approximately 104,000 total jobs in Maine were lost. However, this number does not include the loss of gig economy jobs, as well as the jobs of those who were self-employed. To date, only 56,000 of the more than 100,000 lost jobs in Maine have been restored.

With thousands in Maine having lost their jobs amid the COVID-19 crisis, the PRO Act would harm more livelihoods. Although lawmakers may continue to cite made-up benefits of this legislation, the bottom line is the PRO Act would lead to significant job loss in our state and unthinkable infringement to employees’ privacy.

I urge Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins to oppose the PRO Act and shift their focus to Maine’s economic recovery.

Dale Crafts is a small business owner and former member of the Maine House of Representatives for Lisbon. In 2020, he was the Republican candidate for Congress in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District.

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