Posts tagged DOL
Commentary: The Hyperventilating Over the DOE Restructuring Is Ongoing
December 16, 2025 // Perhaps no one fully comprehends the DOE’s uselessness and waste more than former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. She contends that it shuffles money around, imposes unnecessary requirements and political agendas through its grants, and then shirks responsibility for evaluating whether any of what it does actually adds value. “Here’s how it works: Congress appropriates funding for education; last year, it totaled nearly $80 billion. The department’s bureaucrats take in those billions, add strings and red tape, peel off a percentage to pay for themselves, and then send it down to state education agencies.”
Largest Flight Attendant Union In The U.S. Faces Computer Fraud Allegations In Ongoing Skywest Unionization Lawsuit
December 15, 2025 // A federal judge has allowed a counterclaim accusing the largest flight attendant union in the United States of conspiracy to commit computer fraud to proceed following months of legal wrangling in a Utah District Court. The contentious allegations were made against the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA) by a staff association representing crew members at the major regional carrier SkyWest, which provides services to the likes of Alaska Airlines, Delta, and United Airlines.
Largest US teachers’ union to host training that attacks Republicans as ‘racist and transphobic’
November 25, 2025 // America’s largest teachers’ union accused Republicans of promoting “racist and transphobic troupes” in teaching materials for an upcoming training program, according to documents obtained by a conservative activist group. The National Education Association is hosting a training from Dec. 2-4 at an undisclosed location called “Advancing LGBTQ+ Justice and Transgender Advocacy” aimed at dismantling “strategic racism and transphobia,” the group Defending Education uncovered. The group released information on the training that is targeted for union staff and teams as part of the NEA UniServ and Organizing Training Program 2025–2026.
Education and Workforce Committee Passes 3 Bills to Expand Flexibility, Boost Earnings, and Hasten Back Pay
November 25, 2025 // On Thursday, the House Education and Workforce Committee passed three bills to boost flexibility, wages, and efficiency for workers. These three bills would modernize the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act to provide flexibility for workers, simplicity for tipped employees, and more efficient resolutions to payroll errors. Importantly, none of these provisions will cost taxpayers a single dime because they simply remove unnecessary barriers to flexibility and higher pay. In fact, at least one of the bills would likely save taxpayers from unnecessary administrative costs.
RADIO: Vincent Vernuccio- Pro-Worker Labor Legislation That Promotes Worker Freedom
November 17, 2025 // Senator Bill Cassidy announced a swath of pro-worker labor legislation that promotes worker freedom and curbs undue influence and abuse by unions
Furloughed federal workers face delays getting unemployment pay during shutdown
November 4, 2025 // The specifics vary. Massachusetts has a high-end weekly benefit of $1,105 per week for up to 30 weeks. In Mississippi, it’s no more than $235 weekly for up to 26 weeks. Roughly half the states pay less than $600 a week maximum, according to U.S. Department of Labor numbers. Not everyone gets the maximum weekly rate. Some states offer fewer than 20 weeks. And the limits can grow in some states when unemployment rates are particularly high. Around the nation’s capital, the maximum weekly payment is $444 in Washington, D.C., $430 in Maryland and $378 in Virginia. In Texas, where Avila-Thomas lives, the weekly maximum is $605, for up to 26 weeks.
Chicago Teachers Union spent $173K on poolside recording studio, won’t show audit to members
October 29, 2025 // CTU’s filing shows it spent $173,000 on a “recording studio” in New Mexico with no helpful context on its purpose. But it did have a pool. If CTU released its annual audits to members, as required in its internal rules, spending on a “recording studio” in New Mexico might have an explanation. But since it hasn’t released those audits since September 2020, members can only guess.
DOL Awards $86M for Skilled Trades Training
October 29, 2025 // Administered by the department’s Employment and Training Administration, these grants will provide outcome-based reimbursements to employers for providing training in high-demand and emerging industries that align with President Trump’s Executive Order 14278, Preparing Americans for High-Paying Skilled Trade Jobs of the Future, and Executive Order 14629, Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance. These priorities are also in line with the goals published in America’s Talent Strategy and America’s AI Action Plan. “President Trump has directed the Labor Department to Make America Skilled Again by providing states with the resources they need to expand on-the-job training opportunities,” said Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer.
Newt’s World Episode 899: Employee Rights Act
October 13, 2025 // Newt talks with Vincent Vernuccio, President of the Institute for the American Worker about the Employee Rights Act of 2025, a legislative proposal aimed at enhancing and safeguarding the rights of American workers while promoting fairness and accountability in the workplace. Introduced by Senator Tim Scott and Congressman Rick Allen, the bill represents a Republican vision for the workforce, focusing on empowering workers, improving unions, and fostering innovation and growth. Vernuccio highlights the outdated nature of current labor laws,
The future of white-collar work may be unionized
October 10, 2025 // “The way layoffs happened at Google, where it wasn’t clear what the reason for people getting laid off was, definitely created a sense of job insecurity and mistrust,” says Parul Koul, a software engineer at Google and president of the Alphabet Workers Union. Another driver has been artificial intelligence threatening to replace entry-level knowledge work. Few white-collar industries epitomize the challenge of integrating AI into workflows more than the practice of law. While many legal experts say AI will have a transformative impact by automating repetitive research tasks, some also fear it will dilute entry-level associate roles at law firms.