Posts tagged U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Senate confirms Keith Sonderling, a business ally, as labor secretary
October 1, 2026 // As Sonderling officially takes over at the agency, labor and business groups expect its focus on Trump’s priorities to continue, including deregulation, expanding apprenticeships, reshoring manufacturing jobs and readying the workforce for the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence. Sonderling, who is popular in Republican policy circles in Washington, previously served as a top Labor official during Trump’s first term before an appointment to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Faster Labor Contracts Act Is a Back Door to Unions’ DEI Agenda
August 29, 2026 // The FLCA empowers federal bureaucrats to impose agreements without ever allowing a membership vote. These agreements may include workplace rules that may or may not benefit employees, as well as DEI mandates, pronoun rules and transgender preference provisions. Some Republicans don’t seem to understand the danger of this bill. Democratic-leaning voters will not vote for Republicans who support the bill when they can vote for a Democrat who will take a more radical pro-labor stand. The left-leaning voters in districts held by Republicans are smart, and they will not be fooled into supporting Republicans because of a single talking point: that they supported the FLCA.
Trucking groups challenge bill that expands labor arbitration
August 7, 2026 // Representing American Trucking Associations as president, Chris Spear described the bill as government-mandated contracting instead of collective bargaining. He said if passed, the changes would eliminate employees from voting to approve an arbitration-imposed contract.
Commentary: Trump’s labor agencies get to work for independent workers
March 12, 2026 // Calming fears that appointing a pro-union Labor Secretary meant the Trump administration would side with Big Labor rather than American workers and businesses, the Department of Labor and National Labor Relations Board are taking steps to protect independent workers and business relationships outside Big Labor’s orbit.
A new California law gives the state more power over workplaces. Trump is suing to block it
January 1, 2026 // With the NLRB unable to fulfill its duties, states are trying to fill the gap in enforcing the National Labor Relations Act, which Congress passed in 1935. But labor experts contacted by CalMatters do not have high hopes for the California law, which is similar to a law passed in New York this year. They said courts, including the Supreme Court, have ruled that states cannot decide matters pertaining to federal labor law because of preemption, the doctrine that a higher authority of law overrides a lower authority.
Op-ed: She looked like a pro-worker Trump cabinet appointee. But now she’s gutting the Labor Department
July 17, 2025 // The standards on the chopping block include those issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a unit of the Labor Department, that were developed after years of effort. OSHA standards, Reindel told me, take an average of seven years — and as long as 20 years — to draft. “This is an onslaught on people’s basic protections at work.”
NC Farm Bureau sues US Dept of Labor
October 29, 2024 // “Our complaint is that the DOL doesn't have the authority to require collective bargaining or to provide collective bargaining and self-organization rights to workers; that's Congress' job,” said Jake Parker, general counsel for the North Carolina Farm Bureau Federation.
Commentary: Democracy Is at Risk and on the Ballot in November Employee and Employers Are at Risk
October 27, 2024 // With membership down to a little more than six percent in the private sector, unions have grown desperate. They have run a highly effective PR campaign to reinvent themselves as human rights groups, appealing to the millennials and the plurals which are making up the workforce. As Vincent Vernuccio has recently written in his report, “Unions Need Democracy, “private sector unions are becoming less democratic and representative — even as they claim to represent all workers at unionized worksites. Ninety-five percent of union members in the private sector never had the opportunity to vote to be in the union.”
Employer Free Speech on the Ballot in Alaska
October 10, 2024 // The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) protects such meetings, and the Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized their legality and importance in helping employees gather information on potential union representation. As a result, even if the referendum were to pass, a court would likely find it unlawful. Alaska’s referendum also increases the state’s minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2027 and provides at least 40 hours of paid sick leave to many workers.
Illinois bans companies from forcing workers to listen to their anti-union talk
August 2, 2024 // U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business are challenging similar laws in other states. The groups say the laws are a violation of the First Amendment, denying employers their right to free speech, and are also in conflict with the National Labor Relations Act, which protects an employer's communications with employees as long as they do not contain threats of reprisals or promises of benefits.