Posts tagged Subcommittee on Health Employment Labor and Pensions

    Congressman Allen Introduces the Employee Rights Act of 2025

    June 27, 2025 // "With Republicans leading the way, our economy is booming like never before—but our federal labor laws are stuck in the past," said Chairman Walberg. "After years of Biden-Harris efforts to manipulate labor laws to favor activists and union leaders, we need updated policies that protect workers’ independence and interests in today’s evolving workforce. The Employee Rights Act is another strong step in reversing policies that undermine workers’ independence and fail to hold union leadership accountable to their members. I will always support giving workers the right to choose their own path to success." "The Employee Rights Act is the most comprehensive labor legislation of this Congress, from protecting the secret ballot and unionization elections, to safeguarding workers from harassment and protecting their privacy, to putting workers in control of their own destiny. It truly puts the American worker first. We applaud Representative Allen for his steadfast leadership and support of worker freedom," said F. Vincent Vernuccio, President of the Institute for the American Worker.

    Hearing Recap: “Restoring Balance: Ensuring Fairness and Transparency at the NLRB” | Committee on Education & the Workforce

    June 12, 2025 // Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) asked Mr. F. Vincent Vernuccio, President of the Institute for the American Worker about the impact of using card check rather than secret ballots during union elections. “Card check is absolutely inferior to a secret ballot election,” said Mr. Vernuccio. “The secret ballot gives [these] workers the opportunity to have a private vote where they can reflect on unionization, where there is not intimidation, where there is not coercion, and make that choice.”

    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.

    New Biden Executive Order Gives Unions Leg Up on Federally Funded Projects, Imposes New Disclosure Requirements

    September 14, 2024 // On September 6, 2024, President Biden announced his new Executive Order on Investing in America and Investing in Americans (“EO” or “Order”), which requires certain federal agencies to consider criteria related to labor standards when prioritizing which projects will receive federal financial assistance. The criteria includes not only traditional labor standards, such as wages, paid leave, and workplace safety, but controversial provisions as well that clearly favor unions, such as project labor agreements and neutrality and card check agreements. The EO will also effectively require agencies to collect information related to labor practices from companies that work on or bid on federally funded projects. The administration claims the Order “supports the creation of well-paying jobs, especially union jobs.” Business groups and Republicans, however, claim the EO is less about setting standards and more about using federal funds to favor unions at the expense of nonunion companies and employees.

    Congressional Testimony Exposes Union Tactics to Undermine Elections

    May 27, 2024 // One of the most popular tactics unions use to drive support is a process known as card check. Union organizers hand workers cards to sign as a way to indicate support for the union. Workers are typically asked to sign these cards in front of organizers, adding an extra layer of pressure when a vote is done publicly. Some unions have intimidated workers who may be reluctant to sign, showing up at people’s homes and threatening a worker’s family. As Delie explains in his testimony, a better way to ensure that an election is fair and workers are free from intimidation is to use secret ballots in union elections.

    House probe starts after $127M in bailout funds paid to dead Teamsters’ pension plan

    January 16, 2024 // Foxx and Good also said the “mismanagement casts doubt on PBGC’s implementation of the larger program, the $91 billion Special Financial Assistance (SFA) program,” saying Central States had sent a follow-up letter to the inspector general’s office that implied it would use the money “as their personal slush fund” to help it “achieve its statutory objective of remaining solvent through 2051.” Inspector General Nicholas Novak previously told The Post that there was no clawback function available to PBGC as part of the American Rescue Plan, through which the Biden administration provided more than $80 billion to other multi-employer pension funds.

    Reps Foxx and Allen Call For Greater OLMS Oversight

    November 18, 2022 // It’s no secret unions aren’t always the best arbiters of members’ funds. Just look at the UAW — several high ranking officials recently went to prison for a wide-scale corruption scandal that included embezzling hundreds of thousands of members’ dues dollars. For the sake of union members across the country, let’s hope we get better insight to OLMS enforcement sooner rather than later.

    U.S. House Republicans urge labor board to curb mail-in union elections

    October 21, 2022 // The 2020 decision requires officials to consider six factors, including the local COVID-19 positivity rate and whether a workplace has had a recent COVID outbreak in determining whether to hold elections via mail. Before the pandemic, the vast majority of union elections were held in person. Between October 2021 and late January of this year, 304 of the 378 elections overseen by the NLRB were conducted via mail ballot, according to a recent board decision. During that period, the voter participation rate in mail-in elections was about 68%, compared to 86% in in-person elections.