It’s no secret that labor unions in America are struggling to remain relevant. But that doesn’t mean efforts aren’t underway to reverse their downward spiral. Or that operators shouldn’t be paying attention to recent developments.
Consider: The House of Representatives last week approved a measure that would make it far easier for workers to unionize – and far more difficult for operators to prevent that from happening.
Among the provisions in the Protecting the Right to Organize Act:
- Quickie elections would return,
- Right-to-work laws would be outlawed, and
- Permanent replacements for striking employees would discontinue.
The measure also would prohibit firms from communicating with employees about work conditions during organizing campaigns.
Those are just some of the greatest hits. You can read the entire bill here.
All told, the House-approved legislation reads like a wish list for union organizers.
Is that a bad thing? Well, as they say, where you stand depends on where you sit. For most people running a senior living business, unions are not exactly what you might call welcome.
Like so many other things in Washington, support for the PRO Act splits pretty much along party lines. So long as Republicans control the Senate and the White House, there’s not much chance the measure will become law anytime soon.
Then again, we do happen to be in an election year. In the unlikely event Democrats take control of the Senate and the White House, things could get interesting.
As for those taking comfort in current polling numbers that indicate the status on both fronts will remain quo, let me remind you that President Trump trailed badly in the polls throughout most of his 2016 campaign.
That’s the funny thing about elections. You never really know how they’ll turn out until the ballots are counted. But what can be said with certainty is this: The results always have consequences.
