John,

Right-wing members of Congress are coming after workers’ rights. The National Right to Work Act was recently reintroduced in both the House and Senate by Congressman Joe Wilson and Senator Rand Paul.

If enacted, this legislation will have serious negative repercussions for not just unionized workers, but for all workers.

So-called right-to-work laws are designed to weaken unions by allowing workers to opt out of paying union dues while still benefiting from a union contract. This damages unions' finances and weakens its collective bargaining strength over time, resulting in worse deals for workers and making unions vulnerable to dissolution, which ultimately leaves workers at the mercy of their bosses.

Study after study illustrates the damage done by right-to-work (RTW) legislation in this country.

• States with RTW laws have lower union density. Just 5.2% of workers in RTW states are covered by a union contract, in comparison to approximately 10% of workers in non-RTW states.

• Workers in RTW states have lower wages, fewer benefits, and higher workplace fatality rates.

• RTW weakens unions but hurts everyone, unionized or not, as unions historically have raised wages for all workers as employers compete in the labor market.

Send a direct message to Congress right now demanding they protect workers and reject this anti-union law.

But attacks on workers aren’t limited to Congress. The Trump administration is also undermining protections for working people, putting business interests ahead of workers’ rights.

36 million people are employed with companies that have federal contracts and the federal government has greater oversight when it comes to federal contractors. The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) was created by Executive Order in 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson to allow the government to enforce nondiscrimination in employment with companies that secure federal contracts.¹

One of the first things Donald Trump did after being inaugurated was to rescind this order.

The rescission of this labor enforcement mechanism is a gift to Trump’s corporate donors. The OFCCP was set to investigate claims of discrimination at over 2,000 companies in 2025, but after Trump’s rescission of the OFCCP order, those investigations were canceled. Companies that were to be investigated were Google, Meta, Blackrock, and (of course) Elon Musk’s Tesla.²

Trump’s actions have left over 36 million workers vulnerable to racial, sexual, and religious harassment, and there is very little recourse. The passage of a national right-to-work law would leave workers with even less protection because it would destroy unions.

Demand Congress protect workers’ rights and reject the National Right to Work Act.

Donald Trump has spent his second term attacking workers across the federal government with summary firings, intimidation, and the revocation of civil rights protections. And the OFCCP isn’t the only workers’ rights agency he’s going after.

A little over a week into his term, Trump illegally fired Commissioner Gwynne A. Wilcox from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).³ She was reinstated by a federal judge this week, but the Trump administration is appealing the reinstatement.

Lawmakers from the Congressional Labor Caucus, the Appropriations Committee, and the HELP Committee led a bipartisan group of 265 members of Congress who issued the following statement:⁴

"This firing violates the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), renders the Board unable to effectively enforce federal labor law, and profoundly undermines the independence of the agency. We call on you to reverse this action and to immediately reinstate Member Wilcox.

Furthermore, workers rely on the NLRB to safeguard their rights to organize and collectively bargain to better their working conditions. However, by firing Member Wilcox and leaving the five-seat NLRB with only two Members, you have left the Board without a quorum and effectively shut down its decision-making ability. This simply encourages bad employers to violate the law and trample on workers’ rights, while workers subjected to illegal union-busting will face significant delays in receiving the justice to which they are entitled."

The continued attacks on workers must stop. Join us in sending a message to Congress urging them to reject the proposed National Right to Work Act and to protect all workers.

Thank you for all you do,

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, CHN Action

¹ The Trump Administration Has Made 36 Million Workers Newly Vulnerable to Discrimination and Harassment
² Tesla discrimination probe killed as Trump axes watchdog agency
³ Trump fires two Democratic commissioners of agency that enforces civil rights laws in the workplace
⁴ Bipartisan Group of 265 Lawmakers Urge Trump to Reinstate NLRB Member Wilcox, Protect Workers’ Rights