Press Releases

WASHINGTON – Today, Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) submitted a comment letter to Department of Labor (DOL) Acting Secretary Julie Su urging the Department to withdraw the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) proposed rule which would undermine and politicize workplace safety and open the door for unions and left-wing activists to weaponize OSHA inspections to the detriment of workers and employers.  
 
In the letter, Foxx writes: “In reality, the entire purpose of OSHA’s proposed walkaround rule is to permit third parties onto a worksite who otherwise would not be allowed by the employer. In so doing, OSHA upends longstanding inspection procedures, inappropriately inserts agency officials into labor-management disputes where they have no expertise, puts union bosses ahead of workers, and increases costs for job creators.” 
 
The letter continues: “OSHA under the Obama administration briefly enacted a policy similar to the proposed rule via a letter of interpretation in 2013 known as the ‘Fairfax Memo’… When the Fairfax Memo was in place, unions weaponized the OSHA inspection process against employers during the course of organizing campaigns in an attempt to tarnish the employer’s image, pressure workers, and collect information about the workplace.” 
 
The letter concludes: “Congress created OSHA and entrusted it with the important mission of protecting the health and safety of the nation’s workers. In order to uphold this vital mission, OSHA should abandon the proposed walkaround rule, which will upend the longstanding inspection process, interfere with labor-management relations, and harm employers and workers. It is long past time for the Department to stop putting its political goal of promoting unionization at all costs ahead of keeping workers safe.”
 
To read the full letter, click here. 

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