Posts tagged U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Union advocate ‘salts’ quietly take jobs inside NC Amazon warehouse
May 7, 2024 // Around 5,000 people work at RDU1, Amazon's sprawling four-floor fulfillment center in the Wake County town of Garner. A few clock in harboring covert intentions. Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment, or C.A.U.S.E., launched in early 2022 to unionize the facility's workforce.

Biden vetoes bid to repeal US labor board rule on contract, franchise workers
May 3, 2024 // Matthew Haller, president and CEO of the International Franchise Association, said the rule would cause particular harm to underrepresented groups including minorities, women and veterans who have often turned to franchising as a path to business ownership. “President Biden claims to be a champion for small businesses, but today he turned his back on franchising," Haller said in a statement. The rule was set to take effect in February, but was delayed and ultimately blocked by U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker in Tyler, Texas, in a lawsuit by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups.

How changes to ‘noncompete’ agreements and overtime could affect workers
April 26, 2024 // They’ll also have to determine how they will budget for the extra pay for overtime. Small businesses will have the toughest time. “Some are going to have to cut workers,” Hollis said. “Others will have to cut hours from existing workers. “Some are going to have to raise prices, and some probably won’t be able to figure out a way to make it economically work and wind up having to shut down, unfortunately.”
Biden claims to stand for women, but his new regulation will kill jobs that women want
March 30, 2024 // Patrice Onwuka, director of the Center for Economic Opportunity at the Independent Women’s Forum, is extremely concerned about how Biden’s rule will affect women. Jennifer Oliver O’Connell, a visiting fellow at the Independent Women's Forum, is a small business owner and independent contractor who learned firsthand about how government intrusion into this realm is harmful.
Commentary: ATR Applauds House Education & Workforce Committee for Defending Independent Contractors
March 22, 2024 // “Independent contractors want to be their own boss. But Biden and the Democrats want to force them to HAVE a boss,” said Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform. Americans for Tax Reform applauds the House Education & Workforce Committee majority for passing Congressman Kiley’s resolution to nullify the Biden DOL’s harmful reclassification of independent contractors.
Gig Workers Need Flexibility, Not More Rules | Opinion
March 20, 2024 // Su and the Biden administration are missing one important thing, however: most contract workers don't want those protections. Or rather, they consider the reward of the contract work and compensation to be greater than the risk of not having the traditional protections a full-time employee might enjoy. Many contract workers also work full-time jobs that offer said protections. The gig economy has exploded in the last two decades. Before the pandemic, it was estimated to employ 36 percent of American workers, or about 57.2 million people. Statistics from last year suggest there are over 73 million freelancers in the U.S.
Commentary: Biden’s Independent Contractor Rule Threatens the Evolution of Work
March 15, 2024 // So what's the advantage of reclassifying independent workers as employees? The same as the disadvantage: It makes it harder for workers to be their own boss, to choose their own schedules, to represent themselves, to set their priorities as they see fit. If you believe in the evolution of the workplace and worker self-determination, this is bad. But if you believe in a one-size-fits-all work model where individuals are employed by traditional businesses and represented by traditional unions, this is great.

Everything You Need to Know About the Department of Labor Independent Contractor Rule
March 12, 2024 // The DOL does not provide an analysis of how many independent contractors will actually become employees. Let’s say a company is contracting with 100 photographers, all of whom are affected by this rule: how many of those photographers will become employees? It’s clearly not all 100 of them. To unpack the potential benefits (and costs) on workers, we need some analysis into how many of those 100 freelance photographers would become employees. Another consideration for the benefits side of the equation is whether most independent contractors are currently working with small businesses or larger ones. This matters because, as I point out in a previous post, many small businesses do not provide healthcare insurance, retirement benefits, or maternity benefits to their employees. This means that the “benefits” differences between an independent contractor and an employee at a small business are smaller than expected.

Texas judge vacates joint employer rule
March 9, 2024 // Judge J. Campbell Barker of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas vacated the National Labor Relations Board’s joint employer rule late Friday. The rule was set to go into effect Monday. The new rule would be “contrary to law” and “arbitrary and capricious,” Barker ruled. The court had been considering a legal challenge brought in November by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, along with other business groups.
Commentary: The Georgia Model for Putting Workers’ Rights ahead of Union Demands
March 8, 2024 // The United Auto Workers’ endorsement of Joe Biden’s reelection was in large part payback for the president’s efforts to help organize southern automakers. The Biden administration has issued a slew of policies that will enable the UAW to make inroads at factories that have repeatedly rejected union representation. Most notably and recently, in its Cemex decision last August, the National Labor Relations Board made it easier for unions to ignore workplace elections while publicly intimidating workers into supporting unionization. Georgia is going in the opposite direction, putting workers’ rights ahead of union demands. It’s on the verge of enacting a law that would guarantee secret-ballot elections at automakers and parts manufacturers. The Peach State’s pending reform should spread nationwide.