WASHINGTON, March 14, 2018 — Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement after the committee approved four nominees with “impressive qualifications.”  

Alexander on John Ring, nominated to serve as a member of the National Labor Relations Board: “Mr. Ring has varied experiences that will be a strength as a member of the nation’s labor board – he has worked for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters while attending college and law school, and has been a management lawyer with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius since 1988. I urge the Senate to swiftly to confirm Mr. Ring.” 

Alexander on Frank Brogan, nominated to serve as Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education: “Mr. Brogan brings nearly every possible perspective to this position having served as an elementary school teacher, principal, and superintendent, and as Florida’s Commissioner of Education and lieutenant governor. As we work on legislation to allow states to make their schools safer, Mr. Brogan brings a unique perspective, having prevented a school shooting while assistant principal, so I hope the Senate will quickly confirm him.” 

Alexander on Mark Schneider, nominated to serve as Director of the Institute of Education Services: “Dr. Schneider will oversee the statistics, research and evaluation arm of the Department and brings experience having led the National Center for Education Statistics at the Department and his work at the American Institutes for Research, where he is currently Vice President and Institute Fellow and President of College Measures.”

Alexander on Marco Rajkovich, nominated to serve as a member of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission: “Mr. Rajkovich brings impressive qualifications to this role – having worked as a mining engineer, on surveying crews, as a ventilation foreman, and, for the last 30 years, as a lawyer practicing mine safety and health law, and I hope the Senate will quickly confirm him.”  

All four nominees are now ready for consideration by the full Senate. 

For the official release: https://www.help.senate.gov/chair/newsroom/press/senate-help-committee-approves-nlrb-education-mine-safety-nominees

A recent letter from the House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions to the Department of Labor has called for the Department to close loopholes that allow Work Centers to operate like unions, but without any of the federal oversight laws that apply to the unions, like financial transparency and prohibition from intimidation practices.

In a hearing in November, Secretary Acosta said that the Department of Labor was looking into worker centers, but no action has been taken to date. Hopefully this letter pushes change to the forefront.

Read more about it here.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) voted 3-0 to vacate their decision in Hy-Brand Industrial Contractors, Ltd. and Brandt Construction Co., 365 NLRB No. 156 (2017) on the basis that the Board’s Designated Agency Ethics Official determined Emanuel should have been disqualified from participating in the Hy-Brand proceeding. Emanuel did not participate in the vote.

As a result of this vote, the overruling of the Board’s decision in Browning-Ferris Industries, 362 NLRB No. 186 (2015) is no longer in effect.

Will this mean the return of Obama era joint-employer?

Read the press release here.

Fox Business Network host Maria Bartiromo recently got into an argument with Philip Jennings, general secretary of UNI Global Union, over President Trump’s tax cuts and policies for workers. Jennings claimed the President is “stacking the odds against working people coming together and getting a collective voice” while Bartiromo accused Jennings of “demonizing American workers who don’t belong to unions who are happy in their jobs.”

After the debate, the question remains: Is Jennings advocating for workers, or is he mad that American workers don’t want trade unions? You be the judge. Read The Western Journal‘s summary of the debate and watch the video here.

Union membership has remained stagnant in 2017, according to a January 19 report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Unions remained at 10.7%, adding only 262,000 members over 2016. In contrast, union participation rates were 20.1% in 1983, when union data was first compiled. Data was collected from a Current Population Survey of 60,000 eligible households.

New York state had the highest rate of union participation at 23.8% and South Carolina had the lowest at 2.6%. Union member rates for public-sector employees (34.4%) remained five times that of private-sector employees (6.5%) and, as in previous years, men were more likely to be union members than women (11.4% vs 10%).

Read the full BLS press release, including additional related statistics, here.

Labor Secretary Acosta’s cautious approach to dismantling Obama-era policies has led to rumors that he is using the position to bide his time while he waits for a judgeship nomination, possibly eyeing an appellate bench as a pathway to the Supreme Court. Rumors of his judgeship aspirations are not new, following along with him through a prestigious career that has included legal appointments under President Bush. A recent Bloomberg article, which interviewed friends and associates of Acosta, also seems to point to that belief.

Acosta, a former US Attorney and law school dean, as well as a long-time member of the Federalist Society, checks many of the boxes that would make him a desirable judge candidate. His age of 49 would also mean that he could hold his position for decades. It is unknown if the White House has Acosta on its radar for any judicial positions, but a source close to Acosta credits Acosta’s choice of keeping a low profile during his first year in office to the  delays in confirming DOL personnel.

Read more about the speculations here.