High Country Times

Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx and Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee Chairman Bob Good have raised concerns about the Department of Labor's handling of worker centers. In a letter to Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su, they questioned how the Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) enforces disclosure requirements for these entities.

The lawmakers pointed out that recent changes to the OLMS Interpretive Manual could exempt certain worker centers from the disclosure rules outlined in the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA). These centers are increasingly seen as fronts for Big Labor, performing union-like functions while avoiding regulatory scrutiny.

Foxx and Good wrote: “The Manual … states that OLMS has analyzed several worker centers and, based on its analysis, found that the listed organizations ‘did not demonstrate that they existed for the purpose of dealing with employers, either through statements in their governing documents or through an actual or attempted pattern of dealing.’”

They further stated: “In other words, Biden-Harris officials within OLMS seem to have exempted several worker centers from LMRDA disclosure requirements by listing them by name in the text of the manual. This is concerning because determining whether an organization is a labor union is supposed to be a fact-based analysis based on a ‘pattern or practice.’ If OLMS is exempting these worker centers from disclosure requirements, this undermines the analytical framework for determining whether an organization is a labor union based on examining the patterns or practices of the organization over time. It is improper for the Manual to exempt these specific organizations from disclosure requirements prospectively.”

The letter requests detailed information from Acting Secretary Su regarding why specific worker centers were listed in section 030.613 of the Manual and how they were evaluated. The lawmakers seek clarity on whether these analyses were part of formal proceedings or if any technical assistance was requested by these centers.

They also ask if any analyses were conducted without prior requests for technical assistance or advisory opinions.