As Joe Biden enters the White House with slim majorities in the House and Senate, organized labor is making a concerted push for a major piece of legislation: the PRO Act. The bill is a wide-ranging labor law reform that would help workers fight back after decades of retreat in the face of aggressive employers. The AFL-CIO recently declared the PRO Act one of its top priorities.

The International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) is leading the push for the PRO Act. The painters’ union organized its electoral work around the bill and has been holding public events on the legislation. Now, IUPAT is building up allies as it prepares to push the new presidential administration and Congress to pass the act. Recently, the union organized a town hall on the PRO Act, featuring IUPAT’s Jim Williams, vice president and director of organizing, along with AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, Communications Workers of America (CWA) secretary treasurer Sara Steffens, House Education and Labor chair Bobby Scott, and Congressman Conor Lamb, among other speakers. Jacobin’s Alex N. Press spoke to Williams about the campaign.