Posts tagged Bill Cassidy
U.S. labor board delays new unionization rule after business groups sue
November 20, 2023 // The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups — including the American Hotel and Lodging Association, the International Franchise Association and the National Retail Federation — sued the NLRB in federal court in Texas last week to block the rule. They say the rule upends years of precedent and could make companies liable for workers they don’t employ at workplaces they don’t own. But the NLRB says the current rule makes it too easy for companies to avoid their legal responsibility to bargain with workers.
New federal rule could allow millions of workers to more easily unionize at big companies
November 16, 2023 // The rule only applies to labor relations. The Department of Labor sets its own joint employment standards for issues like meeting minimum wage requirements. Still, the new rule could have a major impact. Local franchise owners employ more than 8 million people in the U.S., according to the International Franchise Association. Millions more work for subcontractors or temporary agencies.
Ranking Member Cassidy Rebukes DOL’s Failure to Provide Requested Information on New Policy Unfairly Targeting Businesses
October 25, 2023 // U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, rebuked the Department of Labor (DOL) for failing to provide details on its new policy that compels businesses to produce information related to union activity beyond the scope of DOL’s authority. Earlier this year, Cassidy requested DOL provide details about its enforcement of this policy as well as its legal authority to force businesses to provide this information. To date, DOL has failed to provide adequate responses to Cassidy’s inquiry. Under the Landrum-Griffin Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA), employers are required to disclose any funds spent on “persuader activity,” or funding used during union representation campaigns to persuade employees against unionizing. The Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS), the office within DOL responsible for enforcing LMRDA, has begun enforcing a new policy that compels employers to provide information such as employee wages that is not related to LMRDA and beyond the scope of its enforcement power.
Labor Day 2023: Here’s a principled way for workers ‘to make their own choices’
September 1, 2023 // The best way to help workers and families is to remove barriers to their freedom and opportunity, instead of erecting new ones. That means empowering workers to make more of their own choices instead of letting bureaucrats and union officials control what they earn, where they work, and how our economy functions. Workers don’t need more leaders who advocate the failed ideas of the past. They deserve leaders who respect their role as the protagonists in their own and their families’ lives and will deliver better jobs, bigger paychecks, and a brighter future.
Joe Biden and fellow Democrats are bullying job creators to boost unions
August 4, 2023 // Cassidy called out President Biden’s Department of Labor for “weaponizing its enforcement power against business,” specifically by ratcheting up rhetoric against job creators while loosening regulations on unions. Yet such actions are par for the course in an administration whose leader promised to be “the most pro-union president” in history.
White House braces for legal challenges over acting labor secretary’s authority
July 26, 2023 // “Congress has become relatively useless at reining in executive power,” Painter, now a University of Minnesota professor, said. “Democrats were furious about Trump raiding the defense budget without the permission of Congress. But then Biden did his $400 billion student loan deal, and Democrats didn’t say a word." "The parties just switch playbooks depending on whether their guy is in the White House or not," he added.
Was This The Plan All Along?
July 26, 2023 // Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, asked the Biden Administration Thursday to withdraw the nomination and warned that “(A)ny attempts to bypass the will of Congress, especially its constitutionally mandated advice and consent role, is unacceptable.” Su was the deputy labor secretary until her predecessor, Marty Walsh, left to take over the NHL players union, triggering her acting secretary status. Typically, under a law called the Vacancies Act, Su, who was nominated about four months ago, would have a 210-day time limit – for her, that’s mid-October – to her “acting” term. However, the Labor department has its own “succession statute” which states that the deputy becomes the acting secretary automatically and shall “perform the duties of the Secretary until a successor is appointed…” The labor statue has no time limit – confusion aspect one. The second issue is that Su’s nomination is still technically “pending” before the Senate.
Is She? Can She? Should She? Julie Su Labor Secretary Confirmation Battle Takes New Twists
July 10, 2023 // Finally, the latest news that Su literally ran the EDD into the ground – it has been determined by state Legislative Analyst’s Office to now be “structurally insolvent” while she was in charge has critics again calling for Biden to drop her nomination. “As a result of Julie Su’s historic unemployment insurance fraud and California’s budgetary mismanagement, state businesses are facing billions in tax hikes over the next several years,” said California’s-own Rep, Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin). “California’s EDD debacle and the incompetence tax small businesses are now forced to pay demonstrate that California’s policies are a warning to, rather than a model for, the nation. They also illustrate just how ill-advised Julie Su’s nomination for US Labor Secretary is.”
PRO Act Debate Dominates Senate HELP Markup
June 27, 2023 // “One piece of legislation under consideration today is the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. It is not pro-worker. The PRO Act is not pro-worker, it is just pro-big union. Being pro-worker means defending the rights of all workers, including those who decide they don’t want to join a union,” Ranking Member Senator Bill Cassidy said in his opening remarks. “It eliminates secret ballot elections for unionization, the gold standard to keep somebody from being put into a corner and intimidated until they vote the way the intimidator wishes them to vote. Secret ballot elections also protect workers from retaliation if they choose a different way.” Senate HELP Republicans offered amendments to the bill, but their recommendations were rejected by the Committee Chair and chief sponsor of the bill, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT). The bill passed out of committee and no date has been set for a full Senate vote. This markup comes in the wake of 33 Senate Republicans urging the Biden administration to withdraw Julie Su’s nomination to helm the Labor Department. Su would oversee the enforcement of the PRO Act and other labor policies if she is confirmed.