Asheville Reporter

A union-supported piece of legislation currently in the U.S. House is being criticized as an attempt to hinder the gig economy and right-to-work laws.

Carolina Journal believes that the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO) would result in the repealing of the right-to-work law that collected nonunion workers from having to pay union dues, and also employment was not depending on a status of union membership.

According to Jon Sanders, the director of regulatory studies at the John Locke Foundation, North Carolina, which has long enjoyed its right-to-work privileges, would be endangered by PRO. This is because workers would have to pay union dues even in the event that they did not want to be a part of the union or be represented by the union.

Sanders said that this legislation would do nothing short of force a "20th century model of collectivism on a different world."

PRO, Sanders said, would make it more difficult for individuals to work as independent contractors, which is a critical class of employees in this gig economy day and age.

"It would make it more expensive to employ contract services and force money away from hard-working individuals, both of which would have terribly negative implications for the state’s economy," Sanders said.