On Feb. 9, the ABC-led Coalition for a Democratic Workplace and 15 employer organizations filed an amicus brief before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in Cemex Construction Materials Pacific v. NLRB, in which the National Labor Relations Board altered the union representation election process to essentially eliminate secret ballot elections in place of card check. The CDW called on the 9th Circuit to set aside and decline to enforce the NLRB’s order, which takes away employees’ right to choose representation without pressure or coercion.

On Feb. 9, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration sent its Worker Walkaround Representative Designation Process final rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the Office of Management and Budget for final review. The rule would allow employees to choose a third-party representative, such as an outside union representative or community activist, to accompany an OSHA inspector into nonunion facilities. The review at the OIRA is usually the final step in the process before a rule is officially published in the Federal Register. ABC will be meeting with the OIRA to express its serious concerns about the rule.

ABC is conducting an important survey of contractor members and chapter staff to gauge opinions on the U.S Department of Labor’s controversial proposed rule, which significantly overhauls regulations for government-registered apprenticeship programs. Ensuring as many members and chapters as possible respond to this survey will be vital so ABC can provide effective, informed comments that seek regulatory clarity and push back against concerning aspects of the DOL’s proposed rule.

On Jan. 30, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council released a proposed rule, Pay Equity and Transparency in Federal Contracting. The proposal would prohibit federal contractors and subcontractors from requesting or considering information about a job applicant’s salary history during hiring for certain positions and would also require them to publicly disclose the salary for certain positions as part of any advertisements for the job opening.

On Jan. 30, 2024, ABC submitted a letter requesting a 30-day extension of the comment period on the U.S. Department of Defense’s proposed rule and guidance documents implementing the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification 2.0 Program.

The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council’s final rule, Use of Project Labor Agreements for Federal Construction Projects, took effect on Jan. 22. The final rule implements President Joe Biden’s Executive Order 14063, which requires federal construction contracts of $35 million or more to be subjected to controversial project labor agreements.

The Biden administration continues to roll back Trump-era initiatives and institute new, pro-union policies that challenge ABC members’ ability to win work. ABC continues to fight against these proposed rules and regulations affecting merit shop contractors and advocate for open competition and free enterprise.

On Jan. 17, 2024, the Federal Register published the controversial 626-page U.S. Department of Labor proposed rule that would make significant revisions to the National Apprenticeship System that will affect ABC members, chapters, apprentices and other industry stakeholders participating in government-registered apprenticeship programs.

On Jan. 11, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a final rule to adjust for inflation the civil monetary penalties assessed or enforced by the DOL, pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015. The Inflation Adjustment Act requires that the agency annually adjust its civil money penalty levels for inflation by Jan. 15 of each year. However, due to a federal holiday on Jan. 15, the new OSHA penalty amounts went into effect on Jan. 16.

ABC members and chapters are encouraged to register for an ABC members-only webinar from 2 to 3:15 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024, where experts will discuss the rule, the OMB memo and ABC’s legal, advocacy and public relations strategies to fight federal PLA requirements.