Businesses battle an onslaught of state and local workplace mandates.
The administration has yet to produce the required Spring 2012 Regulatory Agenda, and there's little expectation that the Fall 2012 agenda will emerge.
The agency is making a lot of noise over a study that claims inspections save lives without costing jobs or other deleterious effects.
The concept of this regulation has has merit but the way OSHA issued it creates some very significant problems.
On January 10, OSHA inaugurated the New Year by issuing a white paper extolling the virtues of Injury and Illness Prevention Programs (also known as IIPPs, I2P2, or just safety and health programs). What the white paper fails to do is make the case for a regulation from OSHA mandating these programs which we know is OSHA's top regulatory priority.
Cass Sunstein, the administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) and the point person for the administration’s overall regulatory agenda, addressed a meeting of the Chamber’s Labor Relations Committee yesterday. He talked about the approach his office is taking to impro
The U.S. Chamber appreciates Rep. Richard Hanna (R-NY) introducing the Regulatory Time-Out Act of 2011 (H.R. 3257). This is the companion to Sen. Susan Collins’ (R-ME) bill (S.1538), and reaffirms that regulations must balance protecting public health, safety, and welfare with economic growth, in
In an op-ed that ran in the Lincoln, Nebraska Journal Star, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka asserts that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is “calling for…targeting OSHA and life-saving safety regulations for cuts.” To be clear: the U.S. Chamber has not advocated cutting or undoing ANY OSHA regulati
In what can only be described as a last ditch, desperate effort to move a workplace safety bill, Rep. George Miller, outgoing chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee brought to the floor on December 7, a bill that would have made radical changes to how the Mine Safety and Health Adminis
First the good news: the Bureau of Labor Statistics (the DOL’s own keeper of stats) just announced that workplaces in 2009 were safer than they were in 2008: "nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses among private industry employers declined in 2009 to a rate of 3.6 cases per 100 equivalent full-t
"U.S. Chamber's "Card Check Compromise" Poll Compromises the Facts" is the title of an SEIU blog post from late yesterday. It is good to see that they found the factual results accurate because they didn't bother to dispute any, merely trying to drown out the public’s voice with a blast of hysteric
The SEIU’s broadside, clichéd attack on the Chamber’s position regarding legislation creating a new mandate for paid leave related to the H1N1 health crisis is missing just one important element: facts. The U.S. Chamber has not opposed the current proposed legislation in this area. If the SEIU had
So I was mowing my lawn this weekend which is an opportunity for my mind to mull over the big issues of the day. Among those that kept me occupied was the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) and the way it would completely rework the process by which a workplace becomes unionized.
To refresh (if you h
As bad as the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is for large employers, it is a far worse threat to small businesses. Under current law, organizing small employers is not very cost effective - small employers are rarely worth the effort and expense given the number of new members the union will get.
by Marc Freedman
Human Resource Executive Online today covers the issue of state laws that mandate extended paid leave for all employees. Proponents of mandating paid leave for family and/or medical issues like to suggest this will inspire loyalty and that good talented employees are more likely to
If this is how they treat other union members, how will they treat those opposed to unions?
From today's Wall Street Journal:An attempt to organize nurses in Ohio is pitting two of the nation's largest labor groups against each other.
The confrontation underscores divisions within the labor movemen
Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle has proven to be the backstop against the assault on common sense and reason, as represented by a state version of the Employee Free Choice Act that passed both houses of the state legislature. She vetoed it on April 14, preserving the secret ballot for employees that
Well you can say this about the labor movement: they are consistent in their view of what constitutes democracy.
Sadly, their view of democracy is for voters or workers to be intimidated and harassed into supporting the position the unions want.
This was on full display during the recent Nevada Dem
