FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                CONTACT: Ryan Williams
September 25, 2017                                                                                            202-677-7060

 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

How To Keep Score On Labor Issues

Heather Greenaway
September 25, 2017
Washington Examiner

For years, members of Congress fighting for balance in American workplaces have been stymied, frustrated, and ignored. They recently watched in horror as the activist Obama administration and the federal bureaucracy put the interests of Big Labor first, rejecting at every turn sound policies that would help actual workers and boost the economy.

They were also dispirited to see other lawmakers support anti-worker, anti-business, anti-growth policies at the behest of union bosses with few repercussions. These pols even looked the other way as former President Barack Obama’s supposedly independent National Labor Relations Board overstepped and overreached, undoing decades of labor precedents as naked political payback.

With all that in mind, the Workforce Fairness Institute, my organization devoted to educating workers, employers, and citizens about issues affecting the workplace, introduced a new tool that will allow everyday citizens concerned whether their elected representatives are standing up for their rights, to measure who talks the talk versus who actually walks the walk.

Last week, WFI launched a “Congressional scorecard” that will grade elected officials on their voting record pertaining to issues affecting the workplace. The scorecard will update regularly based on legislative activity in both chambers, and Members of Congress will receive a score at the conclusion of each session. Overall scores will be calculated based on sponsorships, co-sponsorships, and votes on key issues affecting workers’ rights.

Under eight years of the Obama administration, the NLRB’s power and influence ballooned, stripping workers and job creators of rights, and handing them over to union bosses. Three such examples are the Board’s “ambush election” ruling, “micro-union” decision and new “joint-employer” standard.

The ambush election ruling shortened the timeframe for union elections to an unprecedented 11 days, allowing union organizers to quietly garner support for unionization, then ambush workers with a vote before they had a chance to receive and review information concerning the positive and negative aspects of unionization.

On micro-unions, the NLRB decided to create out of whole cloth a new pathway for organizing composed of gerrymandered bargaining units of small groups of employees as opposed to the traditional standard of the majority of workers. In the Specialty Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center of Mobile decision, Obama’s “independent” labor board turned on its head decades of established labor law and bypassed Congress entirely.

The new joint-employer standard once again rewrote labor law in forcing businesses to assume responsibility for workplace violations under their “indirect control.” This presents an existential threat to various industries, including franchises representing 7.6 million jobs. By forcing businesses to assume liability for workplace violations that occur outside their control, the NLRB has put job creators under constant threat.

Thankfully, there is legislation in Congress to amend these misguided policies and restore the balance of power in American workplaces in favor of employees. With the WFI scorecard, workers and job creators alike will have a mechanism to measure what is taking place on Capitol Hill and thank those keeping true to their word and working hard to ensure their rights are protected. At the same time, employees and employers will be able to see who stands on the side of union bosses seeking special deals and preferential treatment at the expense of rank-and-file workers who do all the heavy lifting, day in and day out.

It is high time for this kind of clarity. WFI is working to offer it to America’s workers, employers, and citizens so they can make fully informed choices about workplace issues.

Heather Greenaway is a spokesperson for the Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI).

To access the op-ed, click here.

The Workforce Fairness Institute is an organization committed to educating voters, employers, employees and citizens about issues affecting the workplace.  To learn more, please visit: http://www.workforcefairness.com.

 

To schedule an interview with a Workforce Fairness Institute representative, please contact Ryan Williams at (202) 677-7060.

 

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Featured Blog

AZ Daily Sun--Coconino Voices: PRO Act legislation would hurt local businesses

— 05.13.2021 —
By: Julie Pastrik Arizona businesses and workers have had an incredibly challenging year given the economic slowdown that followed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. However, local businesses and industries across the state are resilient and on the road to a strong recovery that will mean more jobs for Arizona workers and increased economic development to strengthen our communities. That is, as long as Congress does not move forward with potentially devastating legislation that would hurt local employers and employees alike while impeding our state’s economic recovery. Unfortunately, some members of Congress seem determined to do just that by pushing through the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. As harmless as the name may sound, the PRO Act would have serious repercussions for local businesses, particularly smaller ones, while undermining long-standing rights for employees and threatening the growing gig economy that has helped provide much-needed income for so many during this time. Arizona is fortunate to have leaders like Senators Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema, who have both refrained from joining the vast majority of their Democratic colleagues in cosponsoring the PRO Act. In a slap in the face to Arizona workers, the PRO Act removes one of the most fundamental rights a worker has when it comes to voting in elections to determine whether to unionize: the secret ballot. Instead, workers could be forced to sign union authorization cards in front of other employees, their employer, or union organizers. This bill would also destroy workers’ right to privacy by allowing unions access to personal information, including their home address and personal phone number. If that doesn’t open the door to union intimidation and harassment, I don’t know what does. As if that was not bad enough, the PRO Act would create major new challenges for Arizona businesses, making it harder for them to create jobs, expand in their communities, and even keep their doors open. It would redefine what it means to be a “joint employer” under national labor law, greatly complicating existing relationships between franchisors and franchisees as well as between business owners, contractors, subcontractors, and vendors and suppliers. At the same time, it would interfere with attorney-client confidentiality and make it much more difficult for small businesses to secure a legal advice on labor issues. Particularly harmful during these times, the PRO Act would apply a failed policy from California to national labor law by using the “ABC” test to determine whether a worker is an independent contractor or employee. This makes it much harder to qualify as an independent contractor, threatening the freedom and flexibility that tens of thousands of Arizonans find in independent contracting and gig economy work. Ultimately, the PRO Act is bad public policy that only works for union leaders to inflate their falling ranks while threatening workers’ rights, undermining small businesses, and jeopardizing a growing part of our economy. This is not a good solution for Arizona, and Senators Sinema and Kelly should stay firm and not cosponsor this misguided legislation.
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