The U.S. House of Representatives voted 206-177 on Jan. 12 to pass a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to overturn the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB’s) new joint employer rule. The resolution now awaits a Senate vote. If it passes, it will go to President Joe Biden, who has pledged to veto it.
“Workers have the right to bargain for fair wages and working conditions with every company that directly or indirectly controls their terms and conditions of employment,” the White House Office of Budget and Management said in a statement on Jan. 8. “Too often, companies deny workers this right by hiding behind subcontractors, staffing agencies, and temporary agencies.”
The final rule states that two entities are considered joint employers if they share or co-determine the employees’ essential terms and conditions of employment, such as pay, benefits, scheduling, hiring, discharge and discipline. The previous standard implicated joint employers only when they had direct and immediate control over working conditions, but the new standard applies even when there’s indirect or unexercised control. Joint employers must participate in collective bargaining if employees for one of the organizations are represented by a union.
Twenty-two Democratic senators applauded the new rule in a letter to the NLRB, arguing that it correctly interprets employers’ legal obligations under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
“Through their unions, workers should...
A front-page article with the byline of veteran New York Times opinion writer Nicholas Kristof is the latest poisonous example of what I call the NGO “halo effect.” Headlined “The Silence That Mee...