Posts tagged Pro-union
Commentary ABC: PRO Act Reintroduction Is a Ruse To Appease Union Bosses
March 6, 2025 // “The reintroduction of the PRO Act displays continued disregard for the livelihoods of small business owners, employees and independent contractors,” said Swearingen. “While Congress has long rejected the PRO Act and its provisions, these legislators continue to pursue failed policies and attack business models and fundamental freedoms that have fueled entrepreneurship, job creation and opportunity for the American worker. “The PRO Act and its harmful provisions would have a devastating impact on the U.S. construction industry and cause significant harm to the nation’s economy,” said Swearingen. “Further, the bill’s provisions would significantly raise economic costs for the nation’s 27 right-to-work states in an effort to increase union power at the expense of worker freedoms and small businesses.”
White House requires federal agencies to disclose time spent working for unions instead of taxpayers
March 4, 2025 // A Feb. 27 memo from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to all federal departments and agencies declared they can only authorize official time in amounts that are “reasonable” and that they must “monitor its use to see that it is used efficiently.” They must also submit annual reports to OPM on the amount authorized. Union members traditionally elect a fellow worker to act as their representative for issues like bargaining contracts or dealing with grievances. This person, usually called a “shop steward,” is expected to perform union activities in addition to their regular job. In some cases, these union officials are paid through membership dues and work exclusively on their members’ behalf. The federal government, however, allows the workers to do union stuff full-time while still technically drawing a salary from their official job. The practice is dubbed “official time.”
‘Now hold up’: MSNBC host stunned by GOP senators pulling support for Trump nominee
February 9, 2025 // Referring to a report that Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has claimed he thinks at least 15 GOP senators will not vote to confirm the nominee, Steele made a point about the hypocrisy involved in the confirmation process. With Paul stating Chavez-DeRemer won't get his vote and telling reporters, "I’m the national spokesman and lead author of the right-to-work bill. Her support for the PRO Act, which would not only oppose national right to work but would pre-empt state law on right to work — I think it’s not a good thing," Steele reacted to "The Weekend' co-host Alicia Menedez's reporting.
Department of Labor welcomes President Biden as newest Hall of Honor inductee
December 19, 2024 // “History will record Joe Biden as the most pro-worker, pro-union President this nation has had,” said Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su. “Leadership matters. And President Biden demonstrated his commitment to working people daily by taking bold actions and daring to fight the big fights. In the last four years, that has meant fighting to increase overtime pay, pushing for a national heat standard, protecting retirees’ pensions and putting more than $1 billion in wages and damages into workers’ pockets, to name a few. But no example says more about who President Biden is than the day he walked the picket line with striking autoworkers,
The strike at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is now the longest in the nation. And it’s not over.
December 9, 2024 // Zack Tanner, the Newspaper Guild’s president, stood away from the crowd, wearing a Penguins jersey and smoking a cigar. His dog, a 103 lb. Akita named Bella, had been a little too excited by another, smaller dog in the crowd. “This has been elongated to this point solely because of the people inside,” he said. “In a labor battle, there’s strikers and there’s scabs. There’s two sides to a picket line.” As the strike has gone on, tensions between both sides have grown, and it’s unclear how or when the strike will end. On Nov. 13, the first negotiations between the Post-Gazette’s lawyers and the union in over a year ended after Tanner threw a chair at the wall of a conference room in the Omni William Penn Hotel.
Opinion: An Anti-Worker Warrior at the NLRB
December 2, 2024 // The window for Democratic nominations will close when Republicans run the Senate in January, and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer isn’t sparing any time. “Confirming the NLRB nominees is one of our highest priorities,” he said last weekend on X, committing to a vote by the end of the year. The goal is to reconfirm Lauren McFerran, the board’s current chairman and a reliable vote for union coercion.
News outlets push pro-union stories while taking undisclosed cash from organized labor
November 25, 2024 // For instance, Courier Newsroom, which runs a dark money-funded network of left-leaning publications operating out of 11 swing states, received $500,000 from the NEA and $35,000 from the AFT between 2022 and 2024. Following the donations, Courier’s outlets in Arizona, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, Nevada, New Hampshire, and Texas all published stories portraying the NEA favorably.the funding arrangement
Democrats make last stand for unions ahead of Trump administration
November 15, 2024 // In a final push to bolster union rights ahead of a Trump presidency, the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday banned employers nationwide from forcing workers to attend antiunion meetings. Separately, Democrats are also deploying a last-ditch effort to try to get the Senate to reconfirm NLRB Chair Lauren McFerran in the last December session, allowing the agency to maintain a Democratic majority and continue its labor-friendly rulings into the next Trump administration.
How Trump’s win could end the new era of labor power
November 13, 2024 // It's likely a raft of Biden-era labor regulations, some facing steep court challenges, are on the chopping block. The big picture: Trump's populist economic messaging seemed to resonate. While most union leaders endorsed Vice President Harris, members in the more blue-collar unions were less enthusiastic. Trump picked up support from rank-and-file members, particularly in more traditional male-dominated unions.
Freelancers Aim to Overcome Legal Setback Against Biden-Harris IC Rule
October 28, 2024 // Four additional federal lawsuits against the DOL’s rule are pending, including cases in Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, and Tennessee. In several of these cases, the plaintiffs are companies suing from the position of hiring entities, which legal experts believe might better position them to overcome the standing hurdle.