Federal right-to-work bill would weaken union funding nationwide
S. 533 — National Right-to-Work Act · Filed by Rand Paul (R-KY) · 23 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 12, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill eliminates 'union security agreements' — contracts that allow unions and employers to require employees to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment. It amends the National Labor Relations Act and Railway Labor Act to strike language permitting such agreements, making it illegal for unions to collect mandatory fees from non-members and allowing employees to work without joining or financially supporting a union. The bill applies to agreements made or renewed after enactment.
Why we flagged it
The bill removes a regulatory permission (union-security agreements) that has existed since the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act. It is functionally a deregulation of union power and a shift in the balance of labor-organizing rights, not a new restriction on employers or unions — it eliminates an existing legal tool.
What the text implies
- Union funding models will shift: unions will need to rely on voluntary dues or alternative revenue, potentially reducing their capacity to fund organizing, legal defense, and workplace safety advocacy — effects that may fall hardest on lower-wage workers who benefit most from collective bargaining.
- The bill applies only to agreements 'entered into or renewed' after enactment, meaning existing union-security agreements remain valid until renewal, creating a multi-year transition period during which union leverage gradually erodes.
- Eliminates the 'Proviso' language in NLRA § 8(a)(3) that currently permits union-security agreements; this is a direct repeal of a 78-year-old carve-out, not a new restriction — the baseline labor law without this amendment already prohibited most mandatory union fees, so the bill restores that stricter baseline.
- May increase 'free rider' dynamics: workers who benefit from union-negotiated wages and benefits but do not pay dues, reducing union incentive to negotiate on behalf of non-members and potentially creating a race-to-the-bottom in workplace standards.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Workers gain the right to refuse union membership and dues without losing their jobs — a genuine freedom. However, unions lose the ability to fund collective representation, potentially weakening workplace bargaining power for all workers (including those who want union protection), and may reduce union capacity to enforce labor standards, safety rules, and wage protections that benefit the broader workforce.
Who stands to gain
- employers (reduced union leverage in wage/benefit negotiations)
- non-union workers (freedom to avoid dues without job loss)
- right-to-work advocacy organizations
Named in the bill
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), Railway Labor Act, labor unions, employers, employees
Where it stands
23 cosponsors: 23 Republicans.
- Feb 12, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Feb 12, 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
5 lobbying clients named this bill on 8 disclosure filings across 3 quarters, Sep 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $2,298,844 in lobbying spend. A filing names 30 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 78% of bills with at least one filing.
Rand Paul, the sponsor, reported $94,645 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Int'l Ass'n of Sheet Metal Air Rail & Transp Workers Transp Div — $1,188,640 on 3 filings
- American Trucking Associations — $720,000 on 1 filing
- International Association of Fire Fighters — $380,304 on 2 filings
- Association of People Supporting Employment First (apse) — $9,900 on 1 filing
- National Organization on Disabilities — $0 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 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 (1,864 characters) on Sep 23, 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 Sep 2025 to Jun 2026. 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 Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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