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Priority Issue Briefs

Right to Work

Status

Employees in 26 states enjoy the benefits of right-to-work laws prohibiting employers from requiring employees to join unions as a condition of employment, incentivizing competition and producing a better work environment for businesses and workers. However, the ABC-opposed and House-passed PRO Act would completely reject this choice by eliminating these independently passed state laws, forcing individuals to join a specific union and forfeit a portion of their hard-earned paychecks to support the activities and influence of unions if they want a job at a unionized factory, jobsite, school or company.

According to a report issued by the American Action Forum on Aug. 13, 2021, the PRO Act’s provisions would produce significant economic costs for the nation’s 27 right-to-work states in an effort to increase union power at the expense of worker freedom and small businesses.

Desired Outcome

ABC will continue to support the right of all individuals to work without having to join a union or pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment. Right-to-work laws ensure workers have an opportunity to choose whether union representation makes sense for them and allow workers who do not want to participate in the union to opt out of joining the union or paying dues or fees. Further, right-to-work laws do not eliminate unions or outlaw the right to organize or eliminate government-mandated PLAs. ABC is supportive of the National Right to Work Act (S. 406), which would preserve and protect the free choice of individual employees to form, join or assist labor organizations or to refrain from such activities.

Salting Abuse

Status

“Salting” abuse is the intentional placement of trained union professional organizers and agents in a merit shop facility to harass and/or disrupt company operations, apply economic pressure, increase operating and legal costs and ultimately put the company out of business.

Salting is not merely an organizing tool—it has become an instrument of economic destruction aimed at nonunion companies. As part of this strategy, unions send their agents into merit shop workplaces under the guise of seeking employment. Once hired, these salts often try to create a toxic work environment, by misleading coworkers and deliberately increasing costs through various actions, including workplace sabotage and frivolous discrimination complaints with various agencies.

Frivolous salting costs companies significant time, money and resources, and prevent them from hiring more employees, investing in equipment and securing more work to grow the company and provide additional jobs in the community.

On March 25, ABC wrote a letter in support of H.R. 7784, the Start Applying Labor Transparency Act or SALT Act (introduced by Rep. Burgess Owens, R-Utah), which would amend the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959. Its purpose is to clarify that labor organizations and their consultants must report when they engage in salting. This change would ensure workers have the transparency they deserve and a fair environment to determine what is best for their workplace.

ABC wrote, “The SALT Act provides workers with transparency and, at the same time, protects small businesses from the toxic work environment salts often seek to create.”

The ABC-led Coalition for a Democratic Workplace also sent a letter in support of the SALT Act to members of the U.S. House of Representatives on April 10, 2024.

Desired Outcome

ABC will continue to work with the House Education and Workforce Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to advance legislation that promotes workplace transparency and counters the detrimental impacts of union salting.

Tax Reform

Status

With many of the beneficial tax policies under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act set to expire at the end of 2025, it is imperative that the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate work to preserve critical tax policies to ensure certainty for thousands of small businesses throughout the construction industry in the United States.

Prior to passage of the ABC-supported TCJA, the construction industry faced the highest effective tax rate of any industry, at 31%. While the TCJA reduced tax rates for construction businesses, the industry continues to pay the highest effective tax rate relative to other industries, and any changes to the tax rates disproportionately affect construction firms.

On Jan. 1, 2024, Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., introduced H.R.7024, the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act, which would extend the key deduction for research and development and the 100% bonus depreciation provision. The bill passed the House and awaits consideration by the Senate. ABC and a coalition of hundreds of thousands of businesses who collectively employ millions of Americans in all sectors of the U.S. economy have sent letters of support urging the Senate to pass the bill.

On July 18, 2023, Rep. Lloyd Smucker, R-Pa., and Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., introduced H.R.4721/S.1706, the ABC-supported Main Street Tax Certainty Act. This legislation would make permanent the 20% deduction for small and individually owned businesses (Section 199A) before they expire at the end of 2025. Section 199A is an essential part of the tax code. Without it, individually and family-owned businesses would pay significantly higher taxes, putting them at a competitive disadvantage and accelerating the economic consolidation taking place in our economy.

Desired Outcome

Maintaining pro-growth tax policies will be essential to ensuring the economy’s growth. ABC will continue to advocate for the beneficial tax proposals included in the TCJA that will spur economic growth and create jobs throughout the country.

Waters of the United States

Status

On March 29, 2024, ABC and 25 members of the Waters Advocacy Coalition submitted a letter to the U.S Environmental Protection Agency Office of Water and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers seeking implementation guidance on the agencies Sept. 8, 2023, Revised Definition of "Waters of the United States” conforming final rule. The conforming rule applies in states where it is not blocked by the courts and arose following the U.S. Supreme Court’s May 25, 2023, decision in Sackett v. EPA, which narrowed the agencies initial final rule published on Dec. 30, 2022.

While the conforming final rule implements some of the key wins from the Sackett decision, ABC notes it fails to fully implement the court’s opinion, including on the definition of “relatively permanent” waters, and may result in continued regulatory uncertainty.

On Feb. 16, 2023, 24 state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against the EPA and the Corps, seeking to overturn the 2022 WOTUS final rule. On April 12, a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota issued a ruling blocking the EPA and Corps from enforcing the rule. The preliminary injunction applied to Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming. This decision followed a March 19 ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, which blocked the EPA and Corps from enforcing the WOTUS final rule in Texas and Idaho. On May 10, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a ruling blocking the rule’s enforcement in Kentucky. The courts’ rulings bring the total number of states blocking the WOTUS rule to 27.

Prior to the courts’ decisions on the 2022 WOTUS final rule, Congress passed H.J. Res. 27, a joint resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act to nullify the regulation. ABC key-voted the resolution, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a bipartisan 227-198 vote on March 9, 2023. Following House passage, the U.S. Senate passed the resolution in a 53-43 vote. President Joe Biden vetoed the resolution on April 6.

On Dec. 30, 2022, the EPA and the Corps issued a final rule to revise the definition of WOTUS applicable to all Clean Water Act programs, repealing the ABC-supported 2020 Navigable Waters Protection Rule, which provided a new, clear definition for WOTUS. ABC issued a statement on the final rule, calling it the rule a “significant step back” that will “delay critical infrastructure projects and raise costs for the construction industry.”

In December 2021, the agencies issued a proposed rule that would repeal the 2020 NWPR and restore the pre-2015 definition of WOTUS. ABC submitted comments urging the EPA and the Corps to withdraw the proposed rule.

In 2019, the EPA under President Donald Trump and the Corps repealed the ABC-opposed 2015 WOTUS rule and replaced it with the 2020 ABC-supported NWPR. However, in August 2020, following a federal court decision, the agencies halted nationwide implementation of the NWPR.

Desired Outcome

For decades, uncertainty surrounding the scope of federal authority under the Clean Water Act has resulted in litigation, regulatory uncertainty and confusion in the business community. ABC urges the EPA and the Corps to return to the clear, concise definition of WOTUS implemented in the 2020 NWPR final rule so that its members have the information they need to comply with the law while also serving as good stewards of the environment.

Workforce Development

Status

President Biden supports the  ABC-opposed National Apprenticeship Act of 2023 (H.R. 2851), which would not achieve its goal of expanding apprenticeship opportunities, as it would further restrict small businesses’ ability to access federally registered apprenticeship programs, limit job opportunities in the construction industry and create additional obstacles for the construction industry to meet future workforce demand and needs. The bill, reintroduced in the 118th Congress by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), would:

  • Further enshrine the rigidity of the federal registered apprenticeship system into law;
  • Limit access to apprenticeship opportunities for hardworking Americans;
  • Directly discriminate against the industry performing on a merit shop basis;
  • Allow unions involved in a collective bargaining agreement to restrict the pool of apprentices;
  • Limit the portability of registered apprenticeship programs throughout the country; and
  • Limit the availability of many Americans in the construction industry from furthering their career.

Recent analysis of DOL data by ABC found that it would take 12 years for all federal and state construction industry government-registered apprenticeship programs to educate the more than half a million workers the construction industry needs to hire in 2023. ABC estimates that the construction industry’s federal and state registered system yielded just 45,000 completers of four-to-five-year apprenticeship programs, and just 250,000 apprentices were enrolled in all construction industry registered apprenticeship programs in 2022.

On Dec. 14, 2023, the DOL’s Office of Apprenticeship announced a proposed rule that would make significant and controversial revisions to the National Apprenticeship System.

On Dec. 18, ABC issued a press release in response to the ABC-opposed proposal.

Results from ABC’s February 2024 survey of contractors and ABC chapter GRAP providers confirmed that the proposed rule will strongly discourage GRAP participation, with 96% of respondents stating new recordkeeping and reporting requirements will make them less likely to participate in or start their own GRAP.

ABC launched an action alert via ABC’s Action Center and app that stakeholders can use to oppose this costly new rule by the DOL’s March 18 comment deadline. ABC will request feedback from affected parties and submit comments on the proposed rule to help create a final rule that can deliver value to taxpayers, the construction industry workforce and employer participants in the government-registered apprenticeship system.

On March 6, Vice President Kamala Karris and U.S. Department of Labor Acting Secretary Julie Su announced President Joe Biden’s new Executive Order  on Scaling and Expanding the Use of Registered Apprenticeships in Industries and the Federal Government and Promoting Labor-Management Forums, with the stated goal of expanding the usage of government-registered apprenticeship programs by the federal government. While specific details on how these new requirements will be implemented are not yet available until a rulemaking is completed, in a March 6 statement ABC expressed concerns that any new mandates or incentives on federal contracts and grants will reduce competition from contractors that choose not to participate in the GRAP system or lack access to these programs.

Desired Outcome

ABC will continue to advocate for an all-of-the-above workforce development strategy, including industry-driven and government-registered apprenticeship programs, so workers and employers have freedom to choose the best way to provide value and help rebuild America.

ABC supports the Training America’s Workforce Act, which would allow for the federal recognition of industry and market-driven apprenticeship programs in the United States through third-party entities, approved by the DOL, to recognize and perform oversight of apprenticeship programs developed by the private sector.

On April 21, Republican Sens. John Thune, S.D., Tim Scott, S.C., Mike Braun, Ind., and Tommy Tuberville, Ala., reintroduced the Training America’s Workforce Act for the 118th Congress. This bill would expand opportunities for careers in construction, allowing for the federal recognition of industry and market-driven apprenticeship programs developed by the private sector. ABC worked closely with Sen. Thune’s office in drafting this legislation.

The legislation mirrors much of the efforts of the Trump administration’s Industry Recognized Apprenticeship Program rule. While the Trump rule explicitly excluded construction, ABC worked to ensure that the construction industry and associations like ABC, its chapters and its members are able to participate under this new proposal.

OSHA Worker Walkaround Final Rule

Status

On May 21, ABC joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a coalition in business groups in filing a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Waco Division against the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Worker Walkaround Representative Designation Process final rule. Read the news release announcing the lawsuit.

Effective on May 31, the final rule will allow employees to choose a third-party representative, such as an outside union representative or community organizer, to accompany an OSHA safety inspector during site inspections, regardless of whether the workplace is unionized or not.

Now, construction employees and employers could face serious safety concerns because the final rule has the potential to allow anyone on a jobsite. There simply is no business case for this final rule and no benefit during a compliance inspection.

By allowing outside union agents access to nonunion employers’ private property, OSHA is injecting itself into labor-management disputes and casting doubt on its status as a neutral enforcer of the law. This final rule negatively impacts the rights of employers while simultaneously ignoring the rights of the majority of employees who have not authorized a union to represent them. OSHA’s rule also poses unnecessary risk to the individual joining the inspection and others on the jobsite if the authorized person is not trained to safely walk a construction jobsite. The rule does not include any requirement that the authorized person be equipped or conduct themselves to the same standards as OSHA safety inspectors. Further, the final rule fails to answer who is legally responsible if the third party gets injured during the inspection or harms someone else.

In addition to the lawsuit, on May 17, ABC, as a steering committee member of the Coalition for Workplace Safety, and 57 other employer organizations sent a letter to members of the U.S. House of Representatives urging them to pass Rep. Mary Miller’s, R-Ill., Congressional Review Act resolution to nullify the final rule.

The CWS letter states, “The resolution is vital to safeguarding the mission of workplace health and safety inspections. Without this legislation, OSHA CSHOs will be forced into an impossible position of policing labor disputes, for which they are simply unequipped. It would protect employers against individuals looking to further their own agendas and safeguard their property rights. It would also protect workers’ right to have their voice heard when determining workplace representation.”

Background on the final rule:

On March 29, OSHA announced its Worker Walkaround Representative Designation Process final rule and ABC issued a news release opposing the rule.

OSHA Resources on the final rule:

On Nov. 13, 2023, ABC submitted comments urging the DOL to withdraw its Worker Walkaround Representative Designation Process proposed rule. ABC also signed on to comments submitted by the Coalition for Workplace Safety and Construction Industry Safety Coalition.

Desired Outcome

ABC opposes the final rule because it does nothing to promote workplace health and safety and pushes the administration’s agenda to encourage unions and collective bargaining. OSHA should instead foster positive partnerships with employers and promote safety practices that produce results.

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