While Gov. Josh Shapiro and Democrats have been campaigning with unions and holding events in their union halls throughout this election season, Republican Treasurer Stacy Garrity received the endorsement of an organization that wants to turn Pennsylvania into a right-to-work state.
The gist
The Associated Builders and Contractors Keystone Chapter PAC endorsed Garrity on Thursday. According to the organization’s national website, it will continue to support pursuing right-to-work laws, which undermine workers’ ability to form unions and collect dues to pay for the services that they provide.
The organization also lobbies against the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which would make it easier to organize by removing unnecessary hurdles.
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Opponents of the Pro Act believe that the legislation would upend right-to-work laws in 26 states.
“We need change in Pennsylvania. The current administration is not helping create family-sustaining jobs and has been willing to play politics over real policy,” ABC Keystone President and CEO G. David Sload said in a statement on Wednesday.
He added, “Stacy Garrity has shared her intention to expand registered apprenticeship opportunities to 100 percent of the construction workforce, rather than the Shapiro administration’s focus on a fraction of politically aligned programs.”
Why it matters
There are nearly 620,000 union members living in Pennsylvania, and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, union workers account for 10.9% of the commonwealth’s workforce, higher than the national average.
A 2025 report from the Illinois Economic Policy Institute found that workers living in the 24 states that protect collective bargaining rights earn higher wages and have better healthcare benefits than those living in right-to-work states.
Word on the street
Labor has been front and center since the start of Shapiro’s reelection campaign. In January, Shapiro launched his campaign by hosting events in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh that prominently featured labor leaders, union workers, and apprentices.
“ Pennsylvania’s proud to be a labor union state,” Shapiro said at the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 520 union hall in Dauphin County last month. “I made a commitment to you that on my watch Pennsylvania will never be a right-to-work state and we value the union way of life here.”
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Garrity, who had the backing of some building trades and other labor unions during her 2024 reelection campaign for treasurer, recently accused Shapiro of being “in the pockets” of the building trades while speaking to supporters in Erie last month.
“ We have to look at workforce development. We don’t do enough, and that is because the governor is in the pocket of the trades,” Garrity said.
