Education and Labor Committee Republican Leader Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee Republican Leader Rick Allen (R-GA) sent a letter yesterday to Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Marty Walsh to oppose DOL’s new rule which could severely restrict the free speech of federal contractors.
In the letter, Foxx and Allen write: “The information the Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) plans to collect from this revision will have a chilling effect on federal contractors’ right to engage in lawful speech. Federal agencies could also use the information to disqualify companies that engage in lawful persuader activity from being awarded federal contracts. With this proposed rule, the Biden administration continues tilting the playing field in favor of unions, demonizing employers for speaking with employees about unionization, and stifling employer free speech during unionizing campaigns."
The Members continue: “[T]he clear intent of the proposed rule is to encourage labor unions and other pro-union advocates to pressure federal agencies to stop awarding contracts to federal contractors who engage in lawful persuader activity."
The letter concludes: “The right of an employer to communicate its views on unionization is longstanding, and one which the National Labor Relations Board has upheld for decades. … We are concerned the proposed rule will be used to steer federal contracts away from companies that exercise their right to speak with their employees about unionization. The U.S. government should consider factors such as price, capability, and past performance when awarding government contracts, not whether a company engages in lawful persuader activity. The proposed rule is nothing more than a component of the ongoing administration-wide effort to use the federal government’s power to benefit labor unions."
BACKGROUND: OLMS requires certain employers to report in the LM-10 Form on payments related to the employer’s “persuader" activity, which is when an employer communicates with employees about whether to choose union representation. The proposed rule requires employers who engage in persuader activity to indicate in the LM-10 Form whether they are federal contractors or subcontractors, as well as the federal contracting agency. DOL’s proposed changes to Form LM-10 will have a chilling effect on federal contractors’ free speech rights and create opportunities for federal agencies to refuse contracts to federal contractors who educate their employees about the effects of unionization.
Read the full letter here.
