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March 24, 2017 202-677-7060

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

How President Trump Can Restore Sanity To America’s Labor Laws

Heather Greenaway

March 24, 2017

The Hill

In President Trump’s first two months in office, it’s become abundantly clear that his administration is serious and well on its way to getting our economy back on track after eight years of burdensome and detrimental regulations.

From President Trump’s “one-in, two-out” executive order, to his administration’s signal concerning the harmful and arbitrary overtime rule, the administration has gotten immediately to work cutting through bureaucratic red tape and unleashing employee freedom. Indeed, these are the free market ideals, commitment to putting Americans back to work, and pledges to grow our economy that swept Donald Trump into office.

The nomination of Alexander Acosta, a former member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights division, to head the Department of Labor has provided yet another sign that the president will fulfill his campaign promises and reshape labor policy in a way that works for all Americans, workers and job creators alike.

However, there is still plenty of work to be done. Now that the President’s cabinet is filling out, it’s time for the Trump administration to appoint two new, pro-business board members to fill the vacant NLRB seats. President Trump’s appointment of Philip Miscimarra, a pro-employee and employer board member, as acting head of the NLRB is a great start, but these two additional seats must be filled quickly for the real work to begin.

When the NLRB was created decades ago by the National Labor Relations Act, lawmakers envisioned it as an unbiased arbiter of labor disputes to ensure that our nation’s workers were protected from unfair labor practices. What they did not envision, however, was a job-killing agency undertaking the bidding of Big Labor that makes it harder for businesses to open and operate, and in turn, hire new workers.

The last eight years have sullied the board’s reputation, as the Obama administration tirelessly employed it as a tool to do the bidding of union bosses. The list of egregious, labor-law-changing decisions made in recent years is quite long. From a Joint Employer Standard that deconstructs America’s franchise model to rules tipping the scales toward workplace unionization, such as ambush elections and micro-unions, each decision seemed worse than the next.

But finally, under President Trump, we have a chance to restore sanity to our labor laws and bring the NLRB back to its original charter: maintaining workplace fairness and balancing the interests of business, labor, and of course, employees across the country.

With President Trump in office and, if confirmed, Alexander Acosta at the helm at the Labor Department, we have an opportunity to restore balance to labor relations in our country by removing unnecessary constraints and unleashing our nation’s economic potential.

And that’s what American workers so badly want. They cherish their individual freedoms and recognize the interests of union bosses do not align with their own. This has been clearly evidenced by the drastic decline in union membership nationwide. Our economic policies should be focused on protecting workers and putting America first, not pandering to the desires of Big Labor.

That’s why it’s so important President Trump get to work installing pro-workers, pro-jobs, and pro-growth board members at the NLRB to counterbalance the strong union influence we have today. These vacancies present a real opportunity to turn the board’s agenda around, and to get to work rolling back many of the disastrous decisions of the past several years. President Trump must use his executive power to fill these seats — and soon — as it’s critical for our nation moving forward.

 

Heather Greenaway is a spokesperson for the Workforce Fairness Institute.

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

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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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