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Labor unions urge committee to pass 'Protect Labor Act' to shore up private-sector rights
Summary
Union leaders, lawmakers and labor advocates urged the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development to report favorably on the Protect Labor Act (H.2086 / S.1327), a trigger law designed to recreate state-level organizing protections if federal safeguards are weakened or removed.
Lawmakers and union leaders told the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development that Massachusetts should adopt the Protect Labor Act (House 2086 / Senate 13 27) to preserve private-sector organizing rights if federal protections are rolled back.
At a hybrid hearing with dozens of testifiers, Christy Lynch, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, described the bill as a “trigger” that would come into force if the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) were repealed or if the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) declined jurisdiction. “We want to inoculate ourselves from the attacks we know are coming,” Lynch said.
The bill would direct the state Department of Labor Relations to certify previously NLRB-recognized unions, expand unfair-labor-practice protections, bar captive-audience meetings, permit virtual union elections and create presumptions to limit misclassification of employees as independent contractors. Supporters said the measure also would…
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