Posts tagged Democrat
Trump’s labor secretary pick Lori Chavez-DeRemer advances to final Senate vote
March 7, 2025 // In a 66-30 vote, 15 Democratic senators signaled support for President Trump’s pick, as Chavez-DeRemer advanced to a final vote on her nomination – which is scheduled to take place on Monday. Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Ruben Gallego of Arizona, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, John Hickenlooper of Colorado, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Jon Ossoff of Georgia, Gary Peters of Michigan, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, Adam Schiff of California, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, Mark Warner of Virginia, Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island voted in favor of Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was the only Republican opposed to Trump’s labor pick.
Teamsters’ President O’Brien Shares ‘Inside Baseball’ Into NLRB and PRO Act Machinations in Washington “The PRO Act was going to be used as a political pawn.”
March 6, 2025 // When Williamson goes after Trump for “destroying” the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) by firing Gwynne Wilcox, O’Brien explains the “inside baseball” being played inside Washington, explaining to Williamson how the “PRO Act was going to be used as a political pawn” (by Democrats). O’Brien then explains how the Teamsters are working with Democrats and Republicans to enact a “version” of the PRO Act and how his union avoids using the NLRB.
Opinion: Unions fight Trump to the detriment of workers they’re supposed to represent
February 24, 2025 // These unions are bargaining with the federal government over the height of cubicle desk panels. They’re demanding smoking areas on federal properties where smoking is banned. And government unions are even negotiating over workers’ right to wear spandex in the office. Is that really why workers join a union? To protect their ability to smoke and wear yoga pants? And every time unions negotiate over these things, taxpayers get hit, because they’re paying for the bureaucrats who have to sit at the bargaining table to negotiate for things like the right to wear spandex.
South Hampton Roads mayors form regional coalition against collective bargaining
February 18, 2025 // Virginia Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer said he’s recruiting mayors in South Hampton Roads and plans to reach out to mayors on Peninsula to form a group and hold meetings “to fend off collective bargaining because of the incredible cost.” “They’re (state lawmakers) trying to impose collective bargaining on every city, and making sure the city has no choice,” said Dyer in an interview.
Worker rights? Racial bias? A law change for manicurists prompts debate, confusion
February 17, 2025 // Since the beginning of the year, licensed manicurists and nail salon owners in Orange County and across the state have been confused about whether a change in state law allows the business practice of renting a booth to continue or not. After an exemption expired under state law, nail salon workers are now subject to a rigorous test to determine if they are independent contractors while licensed aestheticians, electrologists, barbers and cosmetologists remain exempted from it.
Hawley Sells Moreno on Government Control of Private Contracts
February 7, 2025 // PunchbowlNews has reported that Senator Bernie Moreno (R-OH) is cosponsoring one of the bills based on Senator Josh Hawley’s (R-MO) recently released legislative framework implementing a “new direction” for Republican labor policy, which ironically appears to consist entirely of provisions stolen from Senator Bernie Sanders’ (D-VT) Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act (S 567, HR 20, 118th Congress) and Senator Markey’s bill that brings the warehouse sector under government control and creates a new subagency at the Department of Labor (Warehouse Worker Protection Act, S 5208, 118th Congress). The framework is expected to be broken down into five pieces, and Moreno is reportedly cosponsoring the legislation that would implement government control over management-union contract negotiations. The legislation, the Faster Labor Contracts Act, requires employers and unions to begin negotiating collective bargaining agreements within 10 days after a union wins a representation election and execute their agreement within months
Trump fires US labor board member, hobbling agency amid legal battles
January 28, 2025 // As a board member, Wilcox voted to bar employers from holding mandatory anti-union meetings, to create a new path for unions to represent workers outside of the decades-old election process, and to make it easier to require companies to bargain with contract and franchise workers. Abruzzo in a statement said the board's efforts to empower workers in recent years would have a lasting impact. "So, if the Agency does not fully effectuate its congressional mandate in the future as we did during my tenure, I expect that workers with assistance from their advocates will take matters into their own hands," she said.
COMMENTARY: The SEIU and the Teamsters Changed to Lose
January 16, 2025 // Give O’Brien credit as an adversary; he is at least trying something new, even if it is for the same old Big Labor policy program of forced dues, forced representation, rigid work rules, and government control of the economy. His shift in tone—only tone—has already paid dividends for him and his fellow union bosses, including such left-wing luminaries as Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers, in the coming second Trump administration.
Democratic legislative staff in Washington approve first-ever labor contract
January 13, 2025 // The contracts also outline new ways to resolve conflicts between elected officials and legislative staff. And there are provisions to create a “transition” pool for union members facing the loss of a job because the lawmaker they work for retires, loses re-election or leaves office for another reason. Knapp said the Senate contract lays out how a person facing the loss of work could get a job as a session aide to avoid unemployment. There’s also language ensuring the employer provides workers, who are at-will employees, with two weeks notice before being let go or two weeks pay if fired.
Shawn Fain was Kamala Harris’ most forceful union backer. It could cost him his job
December 30, 2024 // United Auto Workers union President Shawn Fain was one of the most prominent union leaders backing Vice President Kamala Harris in this year’s US presidential election and one of the harshest critics of Donald Trump while on the campaign trail. And because of that, he’ll have a powerful enemy when Trump takes back the White House on January 20.