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Opinion

Torgeson: Arizona senators should oppose Protecting the Right to Organize Act

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I’m writing today in response to a highly misleading opinion piece (“Working families go beyond negotiation tables to secure democracy,” Daily Independent, Nov. 4 2021).

Written by Fred Yamashita, the executive director of Arizona AFL-CIO, the piece touts the Protecting the Right to Organize Act.

He gets one thing right: the PRO Act is indeed “the most transformative piece of labor law reform we’ve seen in generations.” Just not in the way that Yamashita is claiming.

Yamashita says that the PRO Act “would make it easier for people to join and form unions.” In reality, the PRO Act would make it easier for unions to force themselves onto workers and businesses alike by removing critical protections from workers, such as use of a secret ballot during union-organizing elections.

Yamashita also urges our own Sen. Sinema to support the PRO Act. But Sinema has already proven she won’t fall for his arguments. She needs to keep up the good fight for Arizona workers and businesses and not sign on to support this deeply flawed bill — or support efforts to pass it piecemeal through the budget.