President Biden sure gave nursing homes the stink eye during his State of the Union address.
Care quality is down while charges are up, he alleged. He added that Medicare rules need to be tightened. Then there was the suggestion that the sector is infected with opaque private equity ownership structures.
That’s a lot to unwind. And given the gravity of such accusations — plus the promise each will be addressed — it’s easy to overlook a demand he made elsewhere in the speech.
“Let’s pass the PRO Act,” he stated. As for why the legislation should become law, Biden offered this rationale:
“When a majority of workers want to form a union, they shouldn’t be stopped.”
Now last time I checked, the National Labor Relations Act ensures workers are legally entitled to form unions. If workers are being prevented from doing a protected activity, maybe what’s really needed is better enforcement of an existing law.
As for the PRO Act itself, let’s just say its passage wouldn’t do nursing home owners and operators many favors. That is, unless the prospect of even more labor-related headaches is desirable.
Now to be fair, the proposed legislation does have some worthy components. It includes penalties for companies that violate workers’ rights, easing access to elections, and requiring firms to respect election results.
However, there are some unhealthy provisions in the bill as well. To cite but a few: The proposal would repeal right-to-work provisions used in 27 states, allow “ambush elections” (which shorten the election period once a petition is filed to as little as 10 days) and allow unions to use authorization cards in lieu of federally supervised elections for unionization under certain circumstances.
Gee, what could possibly go wrong?
To be clear, I am not against unions. The fact is, they have helped reduce and eliminate many hardships foisted on workers. These include unsafe working conditions, excessive hours and inhumane treatment, just to name a few.
And if we’re going to be honest, the Trump years were not exactly kind to organized labor. But the PRO Act does not simply level the playing field. It tilts it too far in labor’s direction.
In fact, of all the anti-nursing home industry measures Biden endorses, the PRO Act might turn out to be the most damaging of all.
John O’Connor is Editorial Director for McKnight’s.
