Introduction and summary

Policymakers and advocates in New York and California are fighting for workers’ rights by enacting union trigger laws. Massachusetts is debating a similar policy, as are several other states. These laws would regulate private sector workers’ right to organize and bargain at the state level if the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)—the primary federal law guaranteeing the union rights of private sector workers—is struck down or ceases to be enforced.¹ Far more states should advance union trigger laws so that workers are able to exercise their rights in the future.

Yet union trigger laws should do far more to promote unions and expand collective bargaining. Existing union trigger laws include needed protections to block corporations from undermining workers’ efforts to unionize but are inconsistent in their approach and do too little to reverse decades of decline in union membership.

Specifically, union trigger laws should:

• Fix workplace-level bargaining: Workers must be able to unionize free from coercive corporate tactics such as captive audience meetings, companies that break the law should be held accountable with strong penalties, and workers should be empowered to pursue justice through a private right of action.
• Allow all workers to bargain: Farmworkers and domestic workers should be included in bargaining protections, and employment definitions should be strengthened so that companies cannot avoid bargaining by misclassifying workers or...

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