Posts tagged Department of Labor
Stefanik, Hochul spar over rehiring COs who participated in strike
September 10, 2025 // Officers and union officials have said that some of the 2,000 people fired were on approved leave, medical and family leave included. Some came in later that day, expecting to work their normal shift, but were told they’d been fired when they arrived. Under the terms of the Taylor Law, striking employees must be penalized up to two days pay per day on strike, and the state can appeal to the courts for orders to get people back to work under penalty of fine or prison time. Unions are absolutely barred from participating in or encouraging the strike, and can be decertified by the state if they’re found to have done so. The Watertown Daily Times reported in May that the department was proceeding with the grievance process for about 600 people; not everyone was going to get an offer to come back from that, and not all who did get an offer were going to take it. The union said they were working on 3,200 grievances.
Report urges ending the unauthorized Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs
September 9, 2025 // “The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs created an expansive and costly regulatory regime and imposed it on private parties—federal contractors and subcontractors – without any authority from Congress,” explained David McFadden, author of the report. President Trump drew attention to the OFCCP in January 2025 when, soon after assuming office, he revoked a 1965 Executive Order issued by President Lyndon B. Johnson (E.O. 11246) that led to the establishment of the OFCCP. The Trump E.O. 14173, “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” ordered the OFCCP to cease requiring contractors to implement affirmative action plans, among other activities unauthorized by Congress. Since then, the Labor Department has indicated plans to shut the office down.
Trucking industry reacts to Trump administration move to protect independent contractors
September 5, 2025 // According to the ATA, for more than 90 years, independent contractors have played a vital role in trucking, providing flexibility for drivers and capacity for the supply chain. More than 350,000 professional truck drivers choose to run their own businesses, set their own hours, and chart their own routes.
Steelworkers President Michael Evanovich Faces Indictments
August 21, 2025 // Michael Evanovich, President of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1219, faces indictments for embezzlement and false reporting. From the Department of Labor:
This union cut a check to a business watchdog. Weeks later, they were doing its bidding
August 10, 2025 // Between March 2024 and February 2025, the Office and Professional Employees International Union paid out $144,000 to the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, also known as Financial Services Stakeholder Action, public records show. After the initial payment landed, PESP began writing blog posts, publishing reports, and hosting events targeting Sorenson Communications and ZP Better Together, both of which are owned by private equity firms, arguing that their workers should unionize through OPEIU. Expand article logo Continue reading Nowhere in the materials published by PESP, however, does the organization disclose that it was paid well over six figures for an “organizing program” by the OPEIU, opening the door to ethics concerns.
Supreme Court clears way for Trump to downsize the federal workforce
July 10, 2025 // The labor unions and nonprofit groups that sued over the downsizing offered the justices several examples of what would happen if it were allowed to take effect, including cuts of 40% to 50% at several agencies. Baltimore, Chicago and San Francisco were among cities that also sued. “Today’s decision has dealt a serious blow to our democracy and puts services that the American people rely on in grave jeopardy. This decision does not change the simple and clear fact that reorganizing government functions and laying off federal workers en masse haphazardly without any congressional approval is not allowed by our Constitution,” the parties that sued said in a joint statement.
Commentary: Workers Need More Transparency from Unions
June 5, 2025 // We’re not labor experts or lawyers. We’re too busy doing our day jobs. Unions should be required to disclose a lot more information. Things such as who funds unionization drives, which other unions or groups they’re affiliated with, and whether they’re paying workers to push unionization. This information could have changed the outcome at my old Trader Joe’s store. The best system would equip workers with the facts well before they’re expected to vote. If workers unionize, unions should be required to more regularly provide some of this timely information. Additionally, the Department of Labor should publish the data more often and in a more user-friendly format. For instance, at my old store, we didn’t know that the union officers would be taking salaries from the union — we only found out 18 months later, and we had never agreed to them, which upset many of my co-workers who had supported unionization.
WGA Members Uphold Vote to Expel Two Members for Strike Violations, but Rescind Censure Over Facebook Joke
May 12, 2025 // In a statement on Friday, Roth said she found it “disappointing” that WGA board members “decided to send out mass emails during the voting round to tip the scale in their favor and unfairly influence what was supposed to be a fair appeals process.” “This result will undoubtedly shape the standards by which the WGA and its Board continues to operate moving forward,” she said. “I hope members will submit their candidacy to run for the WGA Board before the May 15th deadline to address these serious issues.”
President Trump Takes Real Action to Promote Jobs in the Skilled Trades
May 11, 2025 // President Trump has directed the Departments of Education, Labor, and Commerce to develop a plan to surpass one million new active registered apprentices. Agency heads are directed to identify opportunities to expand registered apprenticeships in new industries and to prioritize program efficiency and consistency. Agency heads are further directed to identity opportunities to enhance connections between America’s colleges and universities and apprenticeship programs through federal career and technical education (Perkins V) grants and student aid.
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