Dear Mr. Petrole: On March 3, 2011, the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections of the Committee on Education and the Workforce held an oversight hearing on safety inspection and enforcement practices of the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). The hearing examined a previously unreleased March 25, 2010 MSHA report to the Senate Appropriations Committee highlighting serious deficiencies in ... Read more »
Dear Chairman Liebman: Thank you for your partial response to the March 7, 2011 letter from Chairman Issa and myself requesting documents and communications referring or relating to Specialty Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center of Mobile and United Steelworkers, District 9, case 15-RC-8773, and the Specialty notice and invitation to file briefs. Serious concerns regarding the National Labor Relat... Read more »
Dear Acting General Counsel Solomon: The National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) recent action against The Boeing Company is deeply troubling. Although the facts of the case are still in dispute, its eventual outcome could have significant consequences for job-creators and workers. In light of the potential impact on the nation’s workforce, apparent inconsistencies surrounding the NLRB’s April 20,... Read more »
Dear Secretaries Solis and Geithner and Commissioner Shulman: Recently, the Employee Benefits Security Administration ("EBSA") of the Department of Labor (the "Department") proposed to change the regulatory structure for and definition of the term "fiduciary" under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA"), Definition of the Term "Fichiciary," (RIN 1210-AB32) . The term fiduci... Read more »
Dear Secretary Vilsack: Last year, Congress passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 to reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act and the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act. One key provision included in the law requires the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to update the meal pattern and nutrition requirements of the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program.... Read more »
Dear Chairmen Rogers and Rehberg and Ranking Members Dicks and DeLauro, We understand negotiations are ongoing on the fiscal year 2011 Continuing Resolution (CR), but important issues remain unresolved. As you finalize the CR, we urge you to include a bipartisan provision that prohibits the U.S. Department of Education’s implementation of gainful employment regulations. These troublesome regulati... Read more »
The Honorable Hilda L. Solis Secretary of Labor U.S. Department of Labor 200 Constitution Ave., N.W. Washington, DC 20210 Dear Secretary Solis: On January 26, 2011, the Committee on Education and the Workforce held a hearing entitled “State of the American Workforce,” during which several witnesses testified that federal regulations make businesses in the United States less competitive, stifling ... Read more »
On December 22, 2010, you, along with Members Becker and Pearce, and Hayes dissenting, published a notice and invitation to file briefs on Specialty Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center of Mobile and United Steelworkers, District 9, Case 15-RC-8773. In Specialty, the United Steelworkers petitioned for an election of certified nursing assistants (CNA) at a nursing home, the employer objected arguin... Read more »
Dear Assistant Secretary Main: Thank you for your recent testimony before the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections. Our members recognize the importance of improving mine safety; accordingly, we made this topic the focus of one of the earliest oversight hearings undertaken by the Committee on Education and the Workforce in the 112th Congress. As this Congress proceeds, I look forward to continuin... Read more »
Dear Chairman Liebman: The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) protects employees’ “right[s] to self-organize, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection” and “right[s] to refrain from any or all of such act... Read more »
