Tyranny Triumphs in the Great Lakes State
Ignoring ample evidence of forced unionism’s unfairness and its damaging impact on jobs and incomes, Big Labor Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed Right to Work destruction in 2023.
Biden Nominee Will Wage War on Self-Employment
Millions Could Be Barred From Working as Independent Contractors
On January 13, the union boss-controlled U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee set off alarm bells for tens of millions of Americans who support themselves and their families or earn extra income by working as independent contractors.
That morning, in a party-line vote, Big Labor Chairman Patty Murray (Wash.), the nine other Democrats on the HELP Committee, and avowed socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vermont) joined together to push ahead union-label President Joe Biden’s nomination of academic-turned-bureaucrat David Weil.
‘Californization’ of U.S. Labor Policy Would Be Disastrous For Employees
The National Right to Work Committee is strongly urging every senator to oppose Mr. Biden’s scheme to install this anti-Right to Work radical as head of the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) Wage and Hour Division.
Based on his track record and his public statements, Mr. Weil can be expected to reclassify, by bureaucratic fiat, millions of independent contractors as “employees.”
And his motive for doing this is plain: to help Big Labor bosses corral such workers into unions and force them to fork over union dues or fees in order to continue plying their chosen trade.
National Right to Work Committee Vice President Greg Mourad commented:
“During the 2020 presidential campaign, Joe Biden time and again touted his support for robbing independent contractors of their workplace freedoms as a means of motivating the union hierarchy to pour more and more money and manpower into putting him in the White House.
“Now that he is President, Mr. Biden is determined to seal the deal.
“He would love to do so legislatively, by signing into law the grossly misnomered ‘Protecting the Right to Organize’Act [or “PRO” Act].
“This collection of giveaways to union bigwigs [H.R.842/S.420] includes language imposing a test blocking independent contractors in all 50 states from doing work for clients that is in the ‘usual course of business’ of the client.
“The “PRO” Act would thus replicate on a national scale what Big Labor Sacramento politicians have imposed on California through A.B.5, which took effect at the beginning of 2020.
“The reality is that A.B.5’s impact has been disastrous for workers. Far from hiring erstwhile California contractors as payroll employees, companies simply cut ties with them.
“The repercussions were so bad that lawmakers finally exempted more than 100 professions from A.B.5’s provisions to limit the damage.”
With “PRO” Act Stalled, David Weil is ‘Plan B’ For Biden White House
Fortunately, thanks to intense public opposition mobilized in part by National Right to Work, the “PRO” Act is at this time stalled on Capitol Hill.
But that emphatically does not mean the Biden White House is calling off its war on independent contractors. Biden appointees at federal agencies are already signaling their intent to criminalize independent contracting through bureaucratic “reinterpretations” of federal labor law.
At the USDOL, David Weil is clearly the man for the job. During a previous stint as head of the Wage and Hour Division during the Obama Administration, he took several steps towards redefining practically all independent contractors in the U.S. as “employees.”
Before it could do too much damage, Mr. Weil’s Obama-era crusade against independent contractors was stopped, and finally reversed, by Trump appointees.
But if the Senate now puts him back at the helm of the Wage and Hour Division, he is sure to pick up where he left off.
‘A Vote For David Weil Is a Vote Against Employees’ Right to Work’
“Most independent contractors put a high value on the advantages they have over employees, such as being able to set their own hours and work for competing companies at the same time,” said Mr. Mourad.
“They shouldn’t lose those advantages simply because Big Labor wants them to be vulnerable to union monopoly bargaining, and to being forced to pay union dues, on pain of termination. That’s why Right to Work is fighting to stop the Weil nomination.”
Shortly after the Weil nomination was approved by the HELP Committee, 11-10, National Right to Work contacted all 100 senators to ask for their full-fledged opposition to this nomination once it came to the floor.
“A vote for David Weil is a vote against employees’ Right to Work,” said Mr. Mourad. “Voting to install a bureaucrat who will impose the “PRO” Act bureaucratically is just as bad as voting for the “PRO” Act itself.”
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