Vermont gadfly Senator Bernie Sanders chairs the Senate Budget Committee that held a public hearing last week objectively entitled “Should Taxpayer Dollars Go to Companies that Violate Labor Laws?” One of the prime speakers invited to testify was a fired Amazon employee (Chris Smalls) who helped create the Amazon Labor Union (ALU). Smalls testified that…
Read More »You may remember that just about ten months ago, President Joe Biden signed an Executive Order creating a Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment that was essentially charged with pushing workers into the arms of organized labor. This week, the task force released its long-awaited report recommending how the executive branch can make it…
Read More »Last Friday, February 4, probably even before the task force report was printed, the president signed another executive order that further paves the way for unionization, this one requiring that large federally funded projects use project labor agreements — a pre-contract commitment by employers to enter into a collective bargaining agreement with at least one…
Read More »The temporary victory for federal contractors over the Biden vaccine mandate notwithstanding, those same contractors have little to cheer as relates a different presidential executive order, this one mandating $15/hour minimum wages for their employees. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has published its final rule implementing Executive Order # 14026, which mandates a $15…
Read More »Notwithstanding the difficulties the Biden Department of Labor is currently having with the Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) relating employers with 100 or more employees as outlined above, those businesses operating as federal contractors are still subject to the vaccine Executive Order signed back on September 9 by President Biden and known as the “Federal Contractor…
Read More »President Biden continued to polish his pro-labor bona fides on Monday of this week, when he issued an Executive Order on Worker Organizing and Empowerment that seeks to increase union organization and strengthen the hand of organized labor. The order establishes a Task Force to be chaired by Vice President Kamala Harris and vice-chaired by Labor…
Read More »In one of the record-setting number of Executive Orders he’s signed (32 in his first week in office), President Biden called for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue new COVID-19 protections for workers within two weeks and take a further look at enhancing enforcement measures against employers. The Executive Order on Protecting…
Read More »Just a week after asking in a letter to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin for clarity on President Trump’s Executive Order allowing deferral of Social Security payroll taxes, the US Chamber of Commerce this week came out in opposition to it. In a letter sent this week to Mnuchin, Speaker of the House Pelosi and Senate…
Read More »Last weekend, President Trump followed through on his threat to provide relief to Americans through Executive Orders if Congress couldn’t reach agreement on a new relief bill. They couldn’t so he did, signing 4 EOs under the broad heading of coronavirus stimulus. Of particular import to business interests, he authorized deferral of the employee share…
Read More »Today is the deadline for all federal agencies to post all of their various guidance documents explaining their regulations. As mandated by two Executive Orders issued back in October, the guidance, which includes letters, press releases, adjudication decisions and the like, must now be posted on searchable websites. The Executive Orders signed in October –…
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