Posts tagged federal government
Looming auto strike puts Biden’s labor loyalty to the test
September 1, 2023 // On Monday, the Treasury Department sent a love letter to unions in the form of a new report, arguing that unions are central to the U.S. middle class. “The Biden-Harris Administration recognizes the benefits of unions to the middle class and the broader economy and is committed to fulfilling the policy objectives of the [National Labor Relations Act],” the report said. While unions are seeing a surge in popularity in the U.S., organized labor has been in long-term decline, with union participation rates falling by half since they first started being measured in the early 1980s.
Commentary: Shrinking labor unions flex their muscles
August 23, 2023 // Clearly, labor unions are flexing their muscles. But every year, a smaller percentage of workers belong to a union. That’s especially true for those in the private sector. Membership is down from 10.3 percent in 2021 to 10.1 percent last year, making it the lowest on record, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The percentage of union workers has nearly been cut in half since 1983, when 20.1 percent were represented. And it’s been dropping faster than that in the private sector. Government employees now make up one third of all union members. Law enforcement officers, firefighters, teachers and library employees have the highest percentages of union workers. Those workers earn, on average, 15 percent more than workers not in a union.
Pro-Union Advocates Push to Fill NLRB Vacancy for Wrong Reason
August 22, 2023 // Union officials are seemingly concerned her absence will thwart the advancement of a pro-union agenda. As one labor leader lamented, it is “certainly in the interest of the unions … to have a functioning board with good, strong, pro-worker advocates. The NLRB is supposed to make it easier for workers to organize, not harder.” There are two problems with such complaints from union leaders. The first is that being pro-union is not the appropriate role for the NLRB, which is supposed to be neutral, not biased in favor of unions. Yet, it is a common misconception that even President Biden repeated by saying, “the policy of the federal government has been to encourage worker organizing and collective bargaining, not to merely allow or tolerate them.” Related National Labor Relations Board Says Profanity in the Workplace Is Just Fine As a recent report from the Competitive Enterprise Institute notes, “the claim that the NLRA [National Labor Relations Act] was meant to encourage unionization is contrary to the repeated claims of the late Sen. Robert Wagner, a New York Democrat and author of the law.” Instead, the NLRA attempted to strike a balance between providing the right to bargain collectively through a union while at the same time ensuring workers are free not to do so either.
End the Practice of Federal Government Serving as Unions’ Bill Collector
August 9, 2023 // The Paycheck Protection Act would help federal employees by requiring their unions to be more transparent and accountable to them. It would protect taxpayers by no longer requiring them to foot the bill for a private organization’s bill collections. And it would eliminate the special-interest bill collection subsidy granted to federal employee unions.
Burlison introduces bill to stop automatic Union payroll deductions
July 31, 2023 // Missouri 7th District Representative Eric Burlison introduced the Paycheck Protection Act, which will establish transparency and protect the rights of federal employees by prohibiting labor unions from deducting dues directly from their paychecks. Labor unions, unlike other dues-paying membership groups, are allowed to deduct dues directly from paychecks. The Paycheck Protection Act would eliminate this practice by requiring federal labor unions to collect dues payments directly from their members. Burlison said the measure will empower workers with vital information about the exact amount of dues they pay, thereby promoting transparency, financial awareness, and informed decision-making.
Commentary: To Unions, Organizing Time Is Fine When It’s on the Taxpayers’ Dime
June 29, 2023 // Despite public sector unions, and particularly teachers’ unions like Weingarten’s American Federation for Teachers, facing mounting scrutiny for their role in school closures and broader left-wing political activism, the practice of release time has garnered little attention.
Why Work from Home Jobs are Here to Stay for Federal Government Employees
May 31, 2023 // Given that passage into law would require a Democratic-controlled Senate and President Biden to go along, enactment of the Republican bill seems very unlikely. Potentially, Republicans could use passage of a final budget or even an increase of the debt ceiling, as a negotiation to push the measure into law, assuming they can get the votes. However, union agreements would still pose a serious challenge. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) boasts a membership of over 281,000 individuals working in almost every agency of the federal and D.C. governments, spanning across 936 local unions. In December 2022, after prolonged legal battles with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the union announced that they had reached a settlement for immediate flexible work arrangements while they negotiate terms for a permanent telework program.
GOP Lawmaker Introduces Bill to Curb Labor-Relations Board’s Authority over Small Businesses
May 18, 2023 // “Labor law is woefully out of date. The Small Businesses Before Bureaucrats Act brings much needed updates to the jurisdictional standards that would benefit small employers. Congressman Good is simply bringing those standards in line with what Congress originally intended. Small businesses do not have and should not need an army of lawyers and HR professionals to comply with the NLRB’s increasingly aggressive regulatory agenda. Congressman Good should be applauded for his efforts to protect mom and pop shop businesses and other job creators.” – F. Vincent Vernuccio , President, Institute for the American Worker
Julie Su, AB-5 Supporter and Inexperienced Nominee, Faces Criticism for Handling of California’s Unemployment Program
April 26, 2023 // Katy Grimes of the California Globe provides a detailed report. On February 28, when Biden nominated Su, California owed $18,868,506,716.36 to the federal government for unemployment benefits during the pandemic. By the time of Su’s hearing last week, the figure was $19,258,996,070.59, an increase of $390 million. Julie Su oversaw the unemployment program but blamed the Trump administration for the $40 billion loss. Su did not correct false claims that California had one of the lowest fraud rates under her leadership. Su also claimed that 95 percent of the fraud was related to Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). As Grimes notes, California spent about $25 billion in PUA and lost about $40 billion overall, a fraud rate of almost 160 percent. So Su’s claim was false.