Bill would eliminate state right-to-work laws, mandate union dues nationwide
S. 2729 — Nationwide Right To Unionize Act · Filed by Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) · 15 cosponsors · Introduced Sep 4, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill repeals the federal provision that allows states to pass 'right-to-work' laws—statutes that let workers opt out of paying union dues even if a union represents their workplace. Repealing this provision would make union-security agreements (requiring membership or dues payment as a condition of employment) enforceable nationwide, overriding state right-to-work laws and shifting power toward unions in labor negotiations.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is federal preemption of state right-to-work laws by repealing the statutory carve-out that permits them. It is a straightforward labor-law amendment with no hidden riders or misdirection.
What the text implies
- Eliminates worker choice in right-to-work states: employees who object to union membership or dues would lose the ability to work in unionized workplaces without paying, potentially forcing job changes or union membership against preference.
- Shifts labor-negotiation leverage: unions gain automatic dues revenue and membership, which may increase union political spending and lobbying power independent of worker consent.
- May increase labor costs for employers in right-to-work states, potentially affecting hiring, wages, or business location decisions in those states.
- Creates a federal-state conflict: overrides 27 state legislatures' explicit policy choices to permit right-to-work employment, raising federalism questions about labor regulation.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Workers who want union representation and collective bargaining gain enforceable union-security agreements nationwide; however, workers in right-to-work states who prefer not to pay union dues lose that choice, and the bill imposes a mandatory financial obligation on them as a condition of employment. The balance between collective-bargaining power and individual opt-out choice is genuinely contested.
Who stands to gain
- labor unions (mandatory dues revenue and membership)
- union-affiliated political organizations (increased union funding)
Named in the bill
National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), Section 14(b) of NLRA, state legislatures (right-to-work states), labor unions, workers in right-to-work states
Where it stands
15 cosponsors: 14 Democrats, 1 Independents.
- Sep 4, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Sep 4, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. Those filings disclosed $170,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 43 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Elizabeth Warren, the sponsor, reported $19,000 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- National Right to Work Committee — $170,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jan 16, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (192 characters) on Sep 27, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jan 16, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Bill would eliminate state right-to-work laws, mandate union dues nationwide” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s2729 Report an error
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