Posts tagged PRO Act
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.
Republican Senator Surprises Employers By Releasing Framework for Pro-Labor Bill: 7 Key Sections to Track
January 15, 2025 // Senator Josh Hawley’s (R-MO) “Pro-Worker Framework,” revealed on January 10, calls for pro-labor changes historically advocated for by Democrats and mirrors many aspects of the proposed PRO Act that has been long championed by labor leaders. Is this the beginning of a true labor revolution that will upend the traditional status quo, a plan destined to go nowhere, or something in between?
Independent Contracting in 2025
January 8, 2025 // Independent contractors forgo workplace benefits that employees receive. Portable benefits are a way to give them access to benefits untethered from employment with one employer.
A year later, where does the UAW’s southern organizing campaign stand?
December 11, 2024 // That's where many auto manufacturers, both foreign and domestic, are locating their plants in recent years, and that trend will continue if it means automakers can pay less for labor. In 2023, the UAW's membership shrunk to about 370,000 members, the lowest number since the Great Recession. "The rule in labor organizing is, you have to organize the critical labor market," Schurman said. But the UAW also must prepare to play the long game, even if it means losing elections on the initial try.
Will Trump’s Labor Secretary Pick Be a Big Win for Public Sector Unions?
November 22, 2024 // Politico reported earlier this week that Chavez-DeRemer was "in the mix" to run the Labor Department, and she has the backing of some high-profile labor union leaders including Teamsters President Sean O'Brien. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), tweeted approvingly of Chavez-DeRemer's consideration for the job on Thursday. The outpouring of support for Chavez-DeRemer from labor unions probably reflects her record as one of the most pro-union Republicans in Congress. She's one of three House Republicans to endorse the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act), a grab bag of big labor agenda items that would extend some of California's awful independent contractor regulations nationwide, abolish so-called "right to work" laws in the 27 states that have passed them, and expand the powers of the National Labor Relations Board, among other things.
Congresswoman Chavez-DeRemer is not qualified to be Labor Secretary
November 22, 2024 // Chavez-DeRemer represented her northwestern Oregon district for a single term before narrowly losing her re-election bid this year. Prior to that she was a mayor of a town of 25,000 people for eight years. She has no particular background in union-related activity as a worker, activist, or attorney aside from serving on the Education and the Workforce Committee during her single term in Congress. During that brief period, she did not distinguish herself on labor-related issues. She is, in short, not qualified for the position of Labor Secretary.
COMMENTARY: You Can’t Support Trump and Government Unions
November 21, 2024 // Trump and his allies have talked endlessly about the need to take on the “deep state” or “drain the swamp” in Washington, D.C. Sometimes such talk veers into conspiracy-theorizing, but it’s certainly true that many federal bureaucrats are opposed to Trump and their obstruction can prevent him from governing as he was elected to govern. For years, conservatives have been raising the alarm about the constitutional problems that an entrenched, unelected administrative state presents when it hinders the elected leaders from making decisions. Government unions stand in the way of making many reforms to the civil service that Trump would like to see.
Op-Ed: Follow Trump 45 Labor Policy, Not the Teamsters Union
November 21, 2024 // By pushing Rep. Chavez-DeRemer for secretary of labor, O’Brien is essentially asking the winner of the 2024 presidential election to concede to the loser on one of the most important pieces of domestic legislation after the winner has already won in exchange for nothing. Rather than taking labor policy advice from a union boss, President Trump would do much better to follow the example he himself set in his previous term.
Business Group Alarmed by Rumored Candidate for Secretary of Labor
November 21, 2024 // CDW Chair Kristen Swearingen: “We were alarmed by press reports that President-Elect Trump is considering Rep. Chavez-DeRemer to lead the Department of Labor given her past support of the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which is a signature bill for President Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders and opposed by the vast majority of Republicans. The legislation has been repeatedly rejected on a bipartisan basis by Congress and opposed by business groups representing almost every industry, as was evident when 280 organizations signed onto a CDW letter opposing the bill in July 2021.
COMMENTARY: Don’t Let the Teamsters Pick the Labor Secretary
November 20, 2024 // It’s not as though congressional Republicans don’t have an alternative. The Employee Rights Act would protect secret-ballot elections, independent contracting, and franchising and prohibit union intimidation and the collection of personal information, while continuing to allow states to enact right-to-work laws. It has 84 Republican co-sponsors, and the latest two were added within the last week. Yet rather than support that bill that would build on conservative labor-policy successes, Chavez-DeRemer was one of only three Republicans who supported the PRO Act instead.