The chief executive officer of the Associated General Contractors of America, Stephen E. Sandherr, issued the following statement in reaction to the passage in the U.S. House of Representatives today of the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act:
“House Democrats today voted in favor of idling workers, stripping their privacy, and denying them the opportunity to establish their own businesses. The PRO Act, which passed largely along partisan lines tonight, includes a host of measures that are anti-worker, anti-privacy, and anti-recovery. The measure, for example, will deny workers the absolute right to a private union election ballot. It also forces employers to disclose private details about their workers to unions, including their home addresses, emails, and shift schedules.
“The measure authorizes a host of long-prohibited labor actions, including secondary boycotts, where unions can picket firms that are not involved in a dispute with that union. These boycotts will force many workers to suffer, without pay, for disputes where they do not stand to benefit. The PRO Act also discriminates against independent contractors. This means workers will no longer be able to successfully establish their own businesses and become their own bosses.
“The broader impact of the PRO Act, should it be enacted, is a new era of labor unrest that will stifle future economic activity and job growth. Instead of helping deliver higher wages and better benefits, the PRO Act will provide labor uncertainty, stagnant economic growth, and diminished entrepreneurial opportunity. That is why the Associated General Contractors of America, including our union and open shop members, will continue to oppose this measure and take every possible step to prevent its passage in the Senate.”
Related Stories
| Jul 27, 2014
Top Data Center Engineering Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Fluor, Jacobs, and Syska Hennessy top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest data center engineering and engineering/architecture firms in the U.S.
| Jul 27, 2014
Top Data Center Architecture Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Gensler, Corgan, and HDR head Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest data center architecture and architecture/engineering firms in the U.S.
| Jul 25, 2014
Grocery stores choosing Green Globes for building sustainability certification
The Green Building Initiative (GBI) has announced a wave of Green Globes certifications for new grocery stores, including New Seasons Markets, Whole Foods, Price Chopper, Aldi’s, Harris Teeter, Wegmans, and Publix.
| Jul 24, 2014
MIT researchers explore how to make wood composite-like blocks of bamboo
The concept behind the research is to slice the stalk of bamboo grass into smaller pieces to bond together and form sturdy blocks, much like conventional wood composites.
| Jul 23, 2014
Meet Acquario Ceará: The giant crustacean-shaped aquarium that's causing concerns
A new aquarium on Brazil's northeastern coast is designed, engineered, constructed and financed by U.S. firms and institutions.
| Jul 23, 2014
Architecture Billings Index up nearly a point in June
AIA reported the June ABI score was 53.5, up from a mark of 52.6 in May.
| Jul 22, 2014
Herzog & de Meuron unveil curvy concrete condo in Manhattan
Herzog & de Meuron have released renderings of their new $250 million New York building, a 12-story condominium with 88 luxury apartments.
| Jul 21, 2014
Designing the process of leadership transition
Transition planning can be one of the more complex challenges that firms face. Effective plans begin by determining the gap between a firm’s current state and the future it envisions for itself. SPONSORED CONTENT
| Jul 21, 2014
16 utility questions to answer during your building project
We need electricity to power our building projects, along with water and gas and a faultless sanitation system. That’s what we think about when we think about utility requirements for our building project, but are we missing something? SPONSORED CONTENT
| Jul 21, 2014
Commercial real estate development growing at strongest pace since recovery began: NAIOP report
Industrial, warehousing, office, and retail sectors see strong gains; Texas leads the nation in construction-value stats.