“New overtime salary threshold ignores the economic realities middle-class workers are facing”

by: Mark Takano (D-CA, 41st)

Washington, D.C. - March 4, 2019 - (The Ponder News) -- Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA, 41st) released the following statement following reports that the U.S. Department of Labor plans to raise the overtime pay threshold to $35,000 from $24,000 through new rule making

“The Department of Labor’s new overtime salary threshold ignores the economic realities middle-class workers are facing across the country. The $35,000 overtime pay threshold is woefully inadequate compared to the Obama-era regulations that would have increased the threshold to nearly $50,000 a year.

“The fact that there hasn’t been a meaningful update to overtime rules in more than four decades presents the Trump Administration with an opportunity to implement significant reforms to how workers are compensated for overtime hours. Unfortunately, this new proposed threshold falls drastically short of what is needed to bring overtime compensation up to date for our current economy.

“It’s clear that President Trump and his Administration are not doing enough to change the rules that have long been rigged against American workers. Therefore, it is up to Congress to step up and take bold steps on behalf of middle-class families – that includes expanding overtime pay for millions of Americans. In the coming days, I plan on introducing the Restoring Overtime Pay Act to codify into law a meaningful overtime pay threshold that is responsive to the current needs of workers.”

Brady Statement on September 2017 Jobs Report

Source: House Ways and Means Committee

Washington, D.C. - October 9, 2017 - (The Ponder News) -- House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) released the following statement in response to the Labor Department’s September 2017 jobs report:

“It’s clear from this jobs report that Hurricanes Harvey and Irma not only devastated communities in Texas and Florida, they devastated their local economies as well. Record-high flooding, wind gusts, and power outages kept thousands of Americans from going to work and earning a paycheck – money they desperately need to recover from these disasters,

“As Congress and President Trump continue working to help those hurt by recent hurricanes regain their strength, we’re also taking action on transformational tax reform that will grow our economy and help Americans of all walks of life. By passing a budget that paves the way for tax reform, the House took a major step yesterday toward creating more jobs, fairer taxes, and bigger paychecks. In the weeks ahead, the Ways and Means Committee will move forward with pro-growth, pro-middle-class tax reform legislation that Congress will ultimately send to the President’s desk this year, for the first time in 31 years.”

Note: The U.S. Department of Labor reported today that the economy lost 33,000 jobs in September and the unemployment rate was 4.2 percent. The jobs report covers the 50 states and District of Columbia, but not Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Persuader Rule would have shined a spotlight on the union-avoidance industry—but the Trump administration is rescinding it

Washington, D.C. - August 10, 2017 (The Ponder News) -- In a new comment submitted to the Department of Labor, EPI Associate Labor Counsel Marni von Wilpert argues that the “Persuader Rule,” which is designed to add transparency to union elections by requiring companies to disclose when they hire professional union busters, should not be rescinded.

Von Wilpert notes that up to 87 percent of employers fight their employees’ efforts to unionize by hiring professional anti-union consultants—“persuaders”—to thwart union organizing drives. Union-busting firms promise to equip employers with campaign strategies and opposition research, as well as produce anti-union videos, literature, and PowerPoint presentations for employers to deploy. Employers spend large amounts of money to hire these anti-union consultants—sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars. The union-avoidance industry has been estimated to be a $1 billion industry.

Despite a federal law that requires employers and anti-union consultants to publicly disclose their persuader activities, a significant amount of anti-union organizing has gone unreported because of a loophole in DOL’s regulations. DOL issued the Persuader Rule in 2016 to close that loophole, so that employees in the workplace can understand the source of the anti-union information they are given during a union election campaign.

“As we saw recently in Mississippi, companies can employ all sorts of anti-union tactics, which in this case resulted in the National Labor Relations Board filing an unfair-labor-practice complaint against Nissan. But without the Persuader Rule, employees and the public have no way of knowing what role anti-union persuaders may have played behind the scenes,” said von Wilpert. “The Department of Labor should hold employers accountable for disclosing their anti-union activities, which is required by federal law, and is in the best interest of American workers.”

DOL’s mission is to safeguard the welfare of America’s workers by, among other things, “strengthening free collective bargaining.” The Persuader Rule furthers that mission by taking a modest step toward leveling the playing field for workers during organizing drives, ensuring that they receive the information they deserve before choosing whether or not to form a union.

“Working people should be free to join together to bargain collectively to negotiate for higher wages and better benefits,” said von Wilpert. “An important reason behind the past four decades of stagnant wages is the decline of workers’ ability to join together and negotiate for better pay. If the DOL rescinds the Persuader Rule, it will be further evidence that Trump administration is on the side of corporations over working people.”