Here’s a backwards piece of legislation that I’m voting NO on today. It’s called the “PRO Act” and is a giveaway to labor unions. There are multiple problems with this bill, but let me focus on three of the worst:

FIRST – South Carolina is what’s known as a “right to work” state. This means you are entitled to work in a unionized business without being required to belong to that labor union. You can join or not – it’s up to you. That’s fair, right?

Well, this bill would strip away our “right to work” provisions in South Carolina and 26 other states. That means employees at unionized businesses must either pay union dues or forfeit their job. That’s not fair!

SECOND – Let’s assume you work at a company where a labor union wants to set up shop. Under this law, your company would be FORCED to provide your name, phone number, email and home address to the union in advance of that vote. Talk about the potential for harassment and intimidation – it could come right to your front door! This is entirely inappropriate, and would be a huge violation of your privacy.

THIRD – Let’s assume a vote to unionize does NOT pass. In other words, workers vote against unionizing. There are actual pathways built into this bill that would enable the labor union to turn around and claim some minor “violation” or “interference” and then petition the NLRB to certify & install the union… get this… without even ordering a new election!

Do you see the problem here? If a labor union can’t get enough employee votes to unionize that business, this legislation actually incentivizes the labor bosses to simply cry foul in order to circumvent the results of your vote.

Even if it passes the House of Representatives, it should go nowhere in the Senate. That’s good, because this legislation would be bad for South Carolina employees and businesses.