Labor Secretary Marty Walsh postured for a photo-op with truckers in Pennsylvania Tuesday to promote his department’s efforts to “strengthen our workforce.” The income of truckers across the country could be interrupted if the Senate on Wednesday authorizes Walsh’s nomination for a vacant department position, according to over a dozen trucking organizations. With the recent Freedom Convoy standing as a rallying point, the Biden regime is picking a fight.
Joe Biden nominated David Weil to function as administrator of the Wage and Hour Division, a role held throughout the Obama administration, where he pushed for guidelines that would certainly have made it harder for truckers to be independent specialists. The Trump administration junked Weil’s suggested regulations, truckers now fret Weil’s reappointment might lead to a crackdown on independent chauffeurs who, rather than functioning as well as joining a union for a solitary business, acquire their own automobiles and take specific contracts from different companies.
Today I joined @GovernorTomWolf in Carlisle, PA as Yellow Corporation launched its truck driving apprenticeship program.
Programs like these produce some of the safest, most skilled drivers on the road today. They strengthen our workforce and our supply chains. pic.twitter.com/es5DPuGmXh
— Secretary Marty Walsh (@SecMartyWalsh) March 29, 2022
At least twelve trucking organizations, including the National Association of Small Trucking Companies and Truckload Carriers Association, signed a February letter opposing Weil’s nomination, saying the Biden nominee’s “political agenda will disrupt the lives and livelihoods of millions of Americans” by working to eliminate independent contractor status for truckers.
“The independent contractor model, primarily owner-operators, is critical in interstate, long-haul trucking,” National Association of Small Trucking Companies spokesman James Edwards told the Washington Free Beacon. “This business model—blue-collar entrepreneurs—sits in the crosshairs of Mr. Weil.”
The Senate is likely to vote Wednesday on whether to confirm Weil for the senior position. Biden nominated Weil in June 2021 to fill up the vacant seat however the nomination has encountered hold-ups due to widespread opposition to Weil’s previous work for the Labor Department and as a professor. Walsh supposedly rallied the assistance of Weil’s nomination in spite of early opposition from trade unions.
Weil took tens of thousands of bucks from labor unions in consulting fees prior to joining the Labor Department. He then took a role as dean at the Heller School for Social Policy and also Management at Brandeis University. The college under his management introduced a “21-Day Racial Equity Challenge” that included readings such as the New York Times‘s 1619 Project and “In Defense of Looting.”
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and also Pension Committee in January advanced Weil’s election along partisan lines with an 11-10 vote thanks to a Republican absence. Sen. Mike Braun (R., Ind.) claimed Weil’s severe policy propositions will certainly injure employees financially nationwide.
“David Weil is an out-of-touch academic who will work against independent contractors and entrepreneurs and will put the gig economy as we know it in jeopardy,” Braun told the Free Beacon.
Biden has actually described his as one of the most pro-union administrations and has continued to rally Congress to pass the PRO Act, which moved with the House in 2014 but has stalled in the Senate. The bill contains measures that restrict the certifications of independent contractors– similar to the regulations Weil promoted during the Obama administration. Once again as legal efforts to embrace them are delayed, labor professionals claim the department under Biden is established to push for these plans ‘with executive guidelines’.
Mark Mix, head of state of the National Right to Work Committee, stated the Democrat-led initiatives to restrict independent service provider qualifications are intended to boost their union allies, which can extra easily maximize their membership of permanent employees.
“This is about paying back union officials,” Mix told the Free Beacon. “The unions don’t want anyone who can’t unionize to be in the workplace.”
The Labor Department did not respond to a request for comment.
H/T The Washington Free Beacon
