Over the past 50 years, organized labor has been under siege in this country. Not so coincidentally, income inequality has exploded during the same period.

Last week, the Democratic majority in the U.S. House decided to do something about it. The House passed the PRO (Protecting the Right to Organize) Act, a bill that imposes strict penalties on businesses that take coercive or retaliatory action against workers attempting to unionize.

Rep. Henry Cuellar of Laredo, whose district includes part of San Antonio, was the only Texas Democrat — and one of only seven representatives among the 232 Democrats in the House — to vote against the bill.

This afternoon, the Communications Workers of America will express its displeasure with the veteran congressman by staging a protest at his downtown San Antonio district office.

Harrison Hiner, the Austin-based protest organizer, says the gathering is a policy statement and not a political act. But it comes at a time when Cuellar faces a serious primary challenge from ultra-progressive Laredo attorney Jessica Cisneros, a candidate endorsed by the CWA.

In the days leading up to last week’s congressional vote, Cisneros’ campaign launched a petition drive urging Cuellar to back the bill.

“His vote on this was not a surprise,” Hiner said. “I think this vote is a symbol of his numerous stances and votes where he’s chosen corporations and big-money donors over the interests of working families. Whether it be on trade, increasing wages, time and time again, he’s sided with corporations over the interests of working people.”

The PRO Act faced bitter opposition from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — which argued that it would damage the economy and destabilize the workplace. It also received harsh criticism from the administration of President Donald Trump.

Mick Mulvaney, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, said the PRO Act would “kill jobs, violate workers’ privacy, restrict freedom of association and roll back the administration’s successful deregulatory agenda.”

Cuellar defended his vote by contending that he’s always “been a champion for the working men and women of this country” but found several elements of the bill unacceptable. In particular, he cited a provision that holds large companies responsible for workplace infractions committed by their franchisees or vendors.

On ExpressNews.com: Cuellar faces his first serious test in 14 years

Critics of the bill warn that this provision could scare companies away from partnering with franchisees.

“The PRO Act effectively eliminates the opportunity for entrepreneurs to achieve the American dream by opening and operating a franchise business,” Cuellar said in a Feb. 6 statement. He added that his congressional district contains more than 1,000 franchise establishments, providing more than 12,000 jobs, that could be put at risk by the PRO Act.

The act is the product of decades of frustration from Democratic lawmakers and union leaders over the shrinking role of organized labor in American life.

In 1983, 20.1 percent of U.S. workers were members of labor unions. By 2018, the union membership rate was down to 10.7 percent.

That drop was the result of right-to-work state laws passed by GOP lawmakers, the shipping of jobs to foreign countries (which spooked many American workers into thinking that they’d lose their jobs if they asked for too much) and political messaging that often framed organized labor as greedy and corrupt.

A mid-1950s Gallup poll found that 75 percent of Americans approved of unions. By 2009, that approval number was down to 48 percent.

The passage of the PRO Act, however, coincides with a resurgence of support for unions, fueled by grassroots anger over corporate excesses and the growing scale of this country’s income gap. (In 1965, the ratio between CEO and average worker compensation was 20-1; now it’s more than 220-1.)

Public approval for unions has exceeded 60 percent for the past three years, and last year’s 64 percent was the highest since 2003.

That’s where the energy resides among young Democratic voters. That explains the success of avowed democratic-socialist Bernie Sanders in the 2020 presidential race, the rock-star emergence of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and the decision of Cisneros to take on Cuellar.

The PRO Act surely will be stymied by Mitch McConnell and the Republican majority in the Senate. If it miraculously survives that hurdle, it will face an emphatic veto from Trump.

That means the PRO Act’s major impact will be symbolic. Cuellar’s opposition to the bill symbolizes his natural adherence to the concerns of entrepreneurs, while Cisneros’ support indicates that she puts the interests of workers above all others.

Today’s protest will act out this political divide — only four days before the start of early voting.

Gilbert Garcia is a columnist covering the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | ggarcia@express-news.net | Twitter: @gilgamesh470