Jill Schramm/MDN Supporters of the PRO Act rallying Wednesday outside the Federal Building in Minot are, from left, Clay Nagel, president of the Missouri Slope Central Labor Council; Tony Webb, president of Local 714 of the Western North Dakota IBEW; and Jeff Halverson with Local 714.

Supporters of a congressional bill that would strengthen the rights of labor unions rallied at the Federal Building in Minot Wednesday evening.

The Protecting our Right to Organize (PRO) Act passed the House and is now in the Senate. Union supporters gathered at the Federal Building to encourage Sens. John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer, both R-N.D., to support the bill.

“The conditions to form a union have eroded over time, and we’d like to get some of that back, just to make it easier for people to form a union and work in that environment, and maybe bring some equality back to the inequality in the workforce nowadays,” said rally organizer Bob Wolf with Local 714 of the Western North Dakota International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Among provisions in the bill is one that would allow unions to collect a fee from non-union employees in its work place for labor negotiations that take place on behalf of the entire workforce.

More people would participate in unions if they had the opportunity, Wolf said. Giving the National Labor Relations Board the ability to better enforce union protections would help create those opportunities, he said.

Similar rallies were held Wednesday in Fargo and Grand Forks. A rally had been held in Bismarck in April.