Posts tagged Republican
House Oversight Republicans open Congress with rants against telework, unions
January 17, 2025 // Rachel Greszler, a visiting fellow at the conservative Economic Policy Innovation Center and a former Heritage Foundation and Project 2025 contributor, described actions like the Social Security-AFGE telework contract update as an effort to “Trump-proof” agency workforces and suggested Congress should pass legislation allowing presidents to reopen collective bargaining agreements upon assuming office. And they should ban official time, the practice by which agencies agree to pay union officials their normal salary for time spent on representational duties, like in collective bargaining negotiations or representing employees during grievances or disciplinary hearings.
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?
Steelworkers Union Applauds as Biden Blocks Sale of US Steel to Japanese Giant
January 4, 2025 // The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a federal committee that has the power to review certain transactions involving foreign investment in the United States to evaluate a deal's impact on national security, decided to forgo making a formal recommendation about whether the deal should be allowed to proceed last week. The proposal also became ensnared in election year politics, with both presidential candidates saying that U.S. Steel should remain a domestically-owned firm. Rust Belt lawmakers in both parties, including Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)—both of whom lost re-election in November—and Vice President-elect JD Vance, an Ohio Republican, expressed opposition to the deal.
THE TRUMP EFFECT: DARTMOUTH HOOPERS WON’T BE UNIONIZING!
January 3, 2025 // The fight to deem athletes employees isn’t over yet. The Johnson v. NCAA case over athlete employment status is still pending in the federal court system, and a growing chorus of coaches and players (including those involved in the House v. NCAA settlement) have begun to call for collective bargaining. The NCAA and power conferences will continue their multimillion-dollar lobbying push in Congress to pass a law deeming athletes amateurs for good. Their chances of succeeding will be higher with a Republican majority in both houses and Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) as head of the Senate Commerce Committee—though not guaranteed. Labor unions could also mount a lobbying push against the NCAA.
Shawn Fain was Kamala Harris’ most forceful union backer. It could cost him his job
December 30, 2024 // United Auto Workers union President Shawn Fain was one of the most prominent union leaders backing Vice President Kamala Harris in this year’s US presidential election and one of the harshest critics of Donald Trump while on the campaign trail. And because of that, he’ll have a powerful enemy when Trump takes back the White House on January 20.
Walberg and Owens bring different experiences to race for House Education chair
December 11, 2024 // But Reps. Tim Walberg of Michigan and Burgess Owens of Utah have different backgrounds that would shape the way they guide the panel. The House Republican Steering Committee could select a successor to the Education panel’s outgoing chairwoman, Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, as early as Monday.
A California labor union helped oust a Democrat from the state Capitol. His replacement wants to curb union power.
December 10, 2024 // "This is an unprecedented circumstance where a labor union spent well over a million dollars of their members' monies to take down a Democrat with a solid labor record to the benefit of a Republican that has been anti-labor throughout his legislative career," Newman said. "It's really stunning." The California Federation of Labor gave Choi a 6% on its annual legislative scorecard in 2022 when he served in the state Assembly, where he voted against bills to support fast-food workers, allow striking workers to keep health benefits and protect farmworkers who unionize. The same year, Newman received an 87% score, voting in favor of many union-backed bills.
Legal Update: Three Major NLRB Updates Pose New Challenges for Employers
December 9, 2024 // Employers must remain diligent in staying abreast of these recent shifts in labor law and policy, especially on the cusp of an administration change. While GC Abruzzo’s term appears likely to end early in 2025, and the Board majority could flip in 2025 or 2026, the new Republican administration’s position on labor policy remains unclear, especially in light of the recent nomination of a pro-labor nominee to lead the Department of Labor.
Higher Ed Unionization Boomed Under Biden. Will That Change Under Trump?
December 8, 2024 // That National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions study noted that the ranks of union-represented grad workers especially grew in the past few years, increasing by 64,000 between 2021 and 2023. That was nearly triple the uptick over the previous eight years. And, according to National Labor Relations Board data released in October, the number of new undergraduate student unions representing housing and dining facility workers outpaced grad worker teaching and research assistant union formation since April 2023. But Donald Trump’s election and Republicans’ recapture of control of Congress could cast a pall over higher ed labor’s progress—or even undo it.
Labor’s Future After Wisconsin Anti-Union Law Struck Down
December 5, 2024 // For that reason, the law’s categories of general and public safety employees, and its public safety employee exemption, were unconstitutional, Frost wrote then. Frost reiterated that ruling Monday. “Act 10 as written by the Legislature specifically and narrowly defines ‘public safety employee,’” Frost wrote. “It is that definition which is unconstitutional.”