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Worry over preserving protections for workers

Critics claim Trump's record was pro-business

By: Daniel Munoz
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... President-elect Donald Trump has promised to improve the lives of union members and working-calls Americans.
..... But critics and those in the labor movement said they're worried about what a second Trump presidency would actually mean for workers and unions.
..... "We have a track record from the first term of the impact of workers,: said Debra Coyle McFadden, executive director of the New Jersey Work Environment Council, which promotes workplace safety across the Garden State.
..... When in office, Trump pushed through several picks for the national Labor Relations Board - the agency that protects rights and enforces the nation's labor laws - who ere described as pro-business and anti-union.
..... They include management lawyers John Ring and William Emaunuel, and Marvin Kaplan for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The NLRB general counsel under Trump., Peter Robb, tried to clamp down on the use of "Scabb," a giant inflatable rat displayed during union rallies and strikes.
..... Trump during his presidency also supported "right-to-work: laws, which weaken unions by allowing members to opt out of paying dues.

NKRB 'swings like a pendulum'

..... Once taking office, Trump quickly undid the NLRB's Barack Obama-era traced a union election process a the workplace. The board under Biden reimplemented the rule last year. [2023]
..... "The NLRB swings like a pendulum," said William Gould, who chaired the board during the presidency of Bill Clinton. "When you have a Democratic administration, the statue is interpreted more expansively to protect the rights of employees. When you have a Republican administration, the contrary is true."
..... During an interview with billionaire donor, supporters and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Trump supporter Musk's decision to fire workers who went on strike.
..... But they go on strike and you say, "that's OK. You're all gone," Trump said during the interview.
..... The United Auto Workers has since filed unfair labor practice charges against Musk and Trump over the comments, saying they amounted to intimidation.
..... Musk's SpaceX along with such companies as Amazon and Trader Joe's, have field a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the NLRB.
..... Gould, now a professor at Stanford University, said Trump might force a legal decision on the constitutionality of the NLRB by firing the Democratic appointee, whose terms expire several years into a Trump presidency, essentially creating a constitutional crisis.
..... Ultimately, that route could lead to the agency's being declared unconstitutional, Gold said.
..... "The NLRB is the only game in town if a worker wants protection from discrimination because a boss doesn't like what he's saying about working conditions or because the boss doesn't like what he's saying about joining a union,: Gould said.
..... Earlier this year, [2024] Vice President-elect and U.S. Senator JD Vance of Ohio introduced a bill that would "give employees a voluntary opportunity to negotiate with employers on their own terms and without fear of legal action or bureaucratic meddling, a practice currently prohibited by existing labor laws."
..... Vance was criticized by labor unions last month [10/2024] for publishing an opinion piece in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette while its writers were on strike, essentially crossing a "digital picket line."

What does a Trump presidency mean for workplace safety?

..... The number of workplace inspections carried out by the Trump administration's Occupational Safety and Heath Administration or OSHA, was significantly lower than during prior administrations, according to an analysis by the Center for public Integrity.
..... OSHA inspections were particularly absent during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020, the center reported.
..... Debbie Berkowitz, a former OSHA administrator during the Obama presidency, said agencies such as OSHA, which handles worker safety, would reduce staff, "and thus there will be drastically reduced enforcement" of workplace safety.

Worker safety rules stuck in limbo

..... "What he's probably going to do is put people in charge that don't believe in the mission of these agencies and he's not going to properly fund the agency," essentially undermining that governmental body's goal, be it the NLRB or OSHA, said Todd Vachon, director of the Labor Education Action Research Network at Rutgers University.
..... For example, OSHA under the Biden administration has been in the process of implementing a national "heat standard" to protect worked form the deluge of heat waves and extreme weather advocates say are becoming more commonplace because of climate change.
..... The regulation would cover an estimated 25 million workers across the nation, through it would not go into effect until 2026, well into a Trump administration, federal labor regulators said.
..... Under the federal rule, employers would have to implement measures to protect workers - including providing water and a cool place to rest once the combined heat and humidity levels reach 80 degrees.
..... New Jersey lawmakers have tired to implement a state-level heat standard, but business lobbyists have argued against it, saying it would conflict with the potential federal rule and create confusion for employers.
..... "the Trump administration is expected to just halt all work on the heat standard, further endangering construction, agriculture and other outdoor workers this summer, [2024]as well as workers indoors who must work at temperature higher than 80 degrees," said Berkowitz, who's now an academic fellow at Georgetown University.

Union protections, wage rules weakened, advocates say

..... The federal minimum wage has been at $7.25 an hour since 2009. Harris campaigned on a $15 minimum wage. Trump dodged a question about the minimum on the campaign trail, though in a 2020 presidential debate he said he would consider it if it didn't harm small businesses.
..... Other organizing efforts, like the Starbucks unionization, would have been much harder, if not impossible, under Trump administration, as the likely Republican picks for the NLRB would have ruled in favor of Starbucks rather than union organization, said Vachon, of Rutgers.
..... Meanwhile, the federal Department of Labor implemented a law that goes into effect on January 1 [2025] making 4 million white collar workers eligible for overtime pay.
..... "If the current OT takes effect as slated on January 1, [2025] it is unlikely that the Trump DOL will be able to take action to roll it back right away since administrative agencies need to follow time-consuming regulatory procedures before taking such sweeping actions," reads a spot by Berkeley Heights law firm Fisher Philips.
..... At a September [2024 rally, Trump appeared to brag about not paying overtime to workers, telling supporters that he "hated to give overtime."
..... "I'd get other people and I wouldn't pay,: he continued.
..... The controversial Project 2025, from which Trump distance himself on the campaign trail, would overhaul overtime rules to give more flexibility to employers.
..... Nonetheless, Trump tried to court the working-class vote by proposing to make overtime wages tax-free, a proposal that critics said could cost the government over $1 trillion in the next decade.

Noncompete ban in limbo

..... The Federal Trade Commission under the Biden administration's chair, Lina Khan, has moved to ban noncompete agreements, a practice by which employers prohibit their staff members from working for rival companies, which the federal agency argues stifles economic mobility for workers and keeps down their wages.
..... Almost immediately, the ban faced legal challenges. And in August, [2024] Trump-picked U.S. district Judge Ada Brown ruled that the FTC overstepped its bounds with the law.
..... The FTC has since appealed the ruling but it's unclear whether the agency would continue to support the ruling under a Trump administration, even with two Democratic board members said former FTC general counsel Stephen Calkins.
..... "Maybe what could be done is say 'We're not appealing the case,' and there you go, you leave the injunction in place," said Calkins, who's now a law professor at Wayne State University.
..... This article contains material from USA Today.

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