ATR Applauds Senate Report on Biden’s Labor Overreach

A new report from Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La.) describes a wide range of Biden administration policies that place the interests of Big Labor ahead of the rights of workers.

Senator Cassidy, the Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, on Wednesday released the report entitled “How Biden’s Labor Agenda Puts Politics Over People.”The report notes regulatory abuses from Biden’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Department of Labor (DOL), and agencies of the DOL such as the Office of Labor Management Standards (OLMS) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

At the heart of President Biden’s labor policy agenda is his oath to be the “most pro-union President in American history.” In return for labor union bosses bankrolling his presidential campaign and providing endorsements, Biden has instructed his top bureaucrats to tilt the playing field further in favor of union bosses and against the interests of individual workers.

At DOL, Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su (who still has yet to be confirmed after nearly 15 months in the position) has attacked independent contractors by pushing forward a new rule that seeks to force them into W-2 employment status instead, where they can be unionized. The report from Senator Cassidy also notes that DOL “has ensured government dollars easily flow to contracts that hire union labor” through its overhaul of regulations related to the Davis-Bacon Act and project labor agreements, which bias government-funded projects against nonunionized contractors.

The NLRB similarly overhauled the joint employer standard to make it easier for unions to bring workers under their control in business models like franchising, while increasing costs and legal liabilities for the companies. Through recent decisions which promote “card check” instead of secret ballot elections and which speed up union election timelines, the NLRB has “sacrificed an employee’s choice to unionize – or not – for rules that facilities unionization,” according to Cassidy’s report.

Other pro-union initiatives by the Biden administration highlighted in the report include OLMS’s simultaneous loosening of financial disclosure requirements on union trusts and tightening of disclosure requirements for companies that hire labor relations consultants, as well as OSHA’s new walkaround rule which would allow union organizers to join OSHA officials on workplace inspections. This rule could allow organizers to enter the property of a nonunionized workplace, collect information about the business, and give the misleading appearance of an endorsement of unionization by the government.

“The Biden administration’s attempts to serve its political allies is a shortsighted strategy that harms workers more than it helps labor unions,” wrote Senator Cassidy in a news release about his report. “These actions have stalled economic growth and disadvantaged American workers – including the millions who choose to not unionize. The ceding of power to labor unions has turned federal agencies into slush funds for special interest groups, leaving workers and their families behind in the process.” 

Americans for Tax Reform applauds Senator Cassidy for the release of this comprehensive report as the Senate HELP Committee minority continues to push back on President Biden’s regulatory overreach.