Other States Enact Pro-Worker, Pro-Union Laws in 2023 That Pennsylvania Should Consider
In early November, the Center for American Progress released an article (accessible here) entitled Workers Want Unions: How States have Strengthened Worker Power in 2023. This scan of state-level legislation provides reasons for optimism about the future of workers’ rights in the United States. Seven different states, including some purple ones, enacted laws this year that boosted workers’ rights to unionize and collectively bargain, and to improve job quality and working conditions in other ways. These measures, which Isabela Salas-Betsch and Karla Walter summarize succinctly, provide a menu of options for how other states, including Pennsylvania, can improve the lives of working people moving forward.
Going back to at least the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act (see Box V-B in this report), hostile federal and state legislation, and anti-worker court decisions, have slowly eroded the rights of U.S. workers to collectively bargain and unionize. Public opinion as well as progressive state legislation suggest the possibility of a reversal of that 75-year trend. In the past two years, two thirds or more of Americans hold a favorable view of organized labor, a bigger share than at any time since the mid-1960s. Even bigger shares of young Americans support unions, This should not come as a surprise, unions raise average wages, help workers build wealth, improve conditions for all employees, even when not directly affiliated with a union, and increase racial equity. In the context of strong public support for unions, Michigan, Minnesota, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, New Jersey, and California introduced and passed pro-worker and pro-union legislation this year.
- Minnesota. In part to counter the negative impact of the Supreme Court’s Janus decision (which in 2018 ruled that non-members represented by public sector unions do not have to contribute financially to their union even though the union bargains collectively for those non-members and must represent them in individual workplace grievance and dispute proceedings), Gov. Tim Walz recently signed a labor reform package that includes several updates to the state’s Public Employment Labor Relations Act. These improvements will help unions communicate with employees and maintain contact with them, including by directing public employers to routinely provide updated contact information on all bargaining unit employees to their union representative (a similar law passed in Washington state). MN also authorized recognition of new public sector unions if an employee organization can show that half of the employees in the proposed bargaining unit favor representation. A similar law passed in Oregon. To help private sector workers unionize, MN banned corporate captive audience meetings, in which companies intimidate or coerce workers to attend meetings on the corporation’s religious or political views, including opposition to unions. Four other states have already banned such meetings, and two more states are considering such a ban. Ninety percent of employers use captive audience meetings in private sector NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) union certification elections to discourage unionization.
- Maryland passed legislation that would allow for easier recognition of municipal unions, as well as increasing enforcement of public sector collective bargaining agreements. To standardize public sector employees’ collective bargaining procedure, all three of Maryland’s labor boards (executive branch employees, local school board employees, and higher education employees) will be merged into a single Public Employees Relations Board.
- Nevada has streamlined its governmental collective bargaining timelines to align with the state’s part-time (120 days every other year) legislative calendar, allowing for timely approval of new agreements.
- Colorado passed legislation that would give most local and state workers the right to organize and join a union. Several states that already have bargaining rights for state and local government workers expanded those rights to additional workers (Washington, California, and Illinois).
Michigan, under Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and slim Democratic majorities in the state House (56-54) and state Senate (20-18), has repealed anti-worker legislation and enacted innovative pro-worker legislation. In March of 2023, Michigan repealed its so-called “right to work” law that had been on the books since 2012. Under state right-to-work laws, private sector employees (like Janus for public sector workers across the country) represented by unions do not have to be a member of a union or pay any sort of dues or fees – even though they enjoy the benefits of union representation. Right-to-work laws aim to decrease the amount of funding unions receive, with the goal of reducing their power in collective bargaining, in legislatures, and across the board. With repeal of right-to-work in Michigan, workers do not have to join a union, but they must pay “fair share” fees that offset the cost of union representation. Michigan also passed regulations that allow union members to deduct union dues from their state income tax (though workers cannot itemize union dues on federal income taxes due to Trump-era regulations). Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey have followed suit. Lastly, Michigan has reinstated prevailing wage laws for publicly funded construction projects and repealed local preemption laws, allowing local governments to enter into project labor agreements and giving them the freedom to dictate their own minimum wage laws.
Michigan is not the only state making great strides in promoting workers’ rights. Illinois and New Jersey have all recently passed protections for striking workers within their borders. Illinois passed two measures to protect workers during strikes. HB 2907 prevents striking workers from being sued for unintentional property damage as a result of a strike. HB 3396 seeks to prevent anyone from interfering with a picket line – charging offenders with a class A misdemeanor and slapping them with a minimum $500 fine. To cap off a string of labor wins, Illinois also amended its constitution last year to enshrine workers’ right to bargain collectively. Likewise, New Jersey made it easier for striking workers to collect unemployment insurance benefits and decreased the wait time for eligibility from 30 days to 14 days. These protections make it less costly for workers to strike. They can hasten settlements if employers see the threat of an extended strike as more real.
As well as expanding public sector union rights, California passed an innovative “sectoral standards setting” law that will bring together workers and employers to set wages and other working standards in the fast-food industry. The minimum wage for the state’s more than half a million fast-food workers will rise to $20 per hour beginning in April 2024; these workers average hourly wage in 2022 was $16. A stakeholder council that includes worker and employer representatives will propose annual changes to the minimum wage and develop and propose health and safety standards and training. Since 2018, CAP notes, six states and three local governments have enacted laws on worker standards boards to help set and enforce workplace standards that cover various sectors of the economy.
We encourage Pennsylvania policymakers and their staff, as well as unions and union members, members of the media, and interested members of the public to read the full CAP brief and use it to begin their own planning for which of the laws enacted in other states could move in the Pennsylvania legislature – this session or in 2025-26.