Posts tagged Senate
A Labor Dispute Inside The Department of Labor?
October 24, 2024 // Acting DOL Secretary Julie Su (dubbed "the union whisperer") is being accused of acting in "bad-faith" by her own DOL employees' union and wasting tax-payer resources.
Largest Public Sector Labor Unions Unite to Get Out the Vote in Battleground States
October 23, 2024 // This joint action represents a significant escalation of labor's political engagement, with the unions pooling resources and mobilizing their combined membership of several million workers and includes people of all backgrounds working across the public service – as nurses, child care providers, sanitation workers, first responders, teachers, education support professionals and higher education workers, among others.
Striking Boeing workers boo after Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell criticizes Trump
October 20, 2024 // She was drowned out by booing from the crowd in addition to some inaudible remarks. "My point is this," the senator began again after being unable to speak over the disruption. "Everywhere in America we need more affordable housing." "When you first hear that audio clip, it appears that they're booing whatever Donald Trump had done. The exact opposite is true," IAM 751 union member Dan Zahlman said in an interview Tuesday with "The Jason Rantz Show" on KTTH Seattle.
Why is DOL Letting Front Groups for Big Labor Avoid the Law?
October 17, 2024 // An explanation of why OLMS chose the specific worker centers that it listed in section 030.613 of the Manual. An explanation of the methodology that OLMS used in evaluating each of the worker centers listed in section 030.613 of the Manual and OLMS’s analysis for each. An explanation of the circumstances in which OLMS initiated its analyses for the worker centers listed in section 030.613 of the Manual.
Harris faces challenge with union voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania
October 9, 2024 // One labor official who requested anonymity said many members of his union come from more culturally conservative households and aren’t very familiar with Harris’s record on labor issues. “We have a lot of Republicans in our membership,” the official said, adding that union members reflect society’s spectrum of different political views. That diversity within union membership, however, didn’t stop labor groups from embracing Biden in 2020, as well as Clinton in 2016 and former President Obama in 2012 and 2008.
New proposed federal law would bar unions from promoting antisemitism
October 7, 2024 // Title VII of the Civil Rights Act allows employees not to pay dues or fees to a union based on their religious beliefs or practices. But Cassidy said many workers were unaware they have the right to pull their union dues from activities that have nothing to do with union bargaining for salaries and benefits. As part of the Senate committee’s probe into antisemitism, the senator also found that unions make it difficult to opt out of these unrelated costs — including bogging down workers with lawsuits that end up costing more than the actual dues. “Union members pay unions to represent before management. This legislation keeps unions focused on that,” said Cassidy.
Senate Recesses without Vote on Controversial NLRB Nominee
October 1, 2024 // The U.S. Senate left Washington, DC, on September 27 without having voted on the controversial nomination of Lauren McFerran to serve another term as Chair of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Employment Policy Network has posted several times on McFerran’s inappropriate nomination and tenure leading the NLRB, including the lack of a confirmation hearing on her nomination and a Wall Street Journal op-ed condemning McFerran’s legacy. McFerran’s tenure on the Board has included severe criticisms from federal courts, its own Office of the Inspector General, and Congress. Many of the most egregious condemnations are listed below.
Feeding the Kitty
September 30, 2024 // Unions have pursued shareholder resolutions asking for a “free and fair election process,” meaning card check and neutrality. They have also sought to pass resolutions demanding audits of a company’s labor practices. It’s not hard to see how a future resolution could explicitly try to prohibit companies from using independent contractors.
NLRB Chair Sows Discord, Disruption for Workers & Businesses
September 11, 2024 // Under her leadership the actions of the NLRB have created an unlevel playing field filled with procedural landmines that undermine historical commonsense policies for the workplace that work for employees and employers. She has allowed increasingly aggressive, untenable, and at times unlawful positions on many significant issues that have only increased uncertainty in the workplace and litigation in the courts, making retail business operations more difficult for workers and the communities they serve.
Trump and Harris, with starkly different records on labor issues, are both courting union voters
September 5, 2024 // By comparison, two days after taking office in 2021, Biden issued an executive order that established masking guidelines, and his administration made health and safety protocols on the job during the rest of the COVID-19 pandemic a high priority. Compared with the inaction by the Trump administration during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Biden administration has been more active in proposing health and safety measures. For example, in July 2024 it proposed rules designed to protect some 36 million workers from health risks associated with extreme heat. After a period for written comments, public hearings will be held on the bill. When Trump tried cutting OSHA funding for 2018 by approximately US$10 million, Congress blocked his efforts. The Biden administration is seeking a 3.7% increase in OSHA’s budget for the 2025 fiscal year.