Cassidy Touts Trump Labor Focus as Pro-Worker, Pro-Business
Senate Committee Continues to Pursue Job Development, Union Reforms
Key Takeaways:
- Senate Labor Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy on Oct. 22 praised the Trump administration’s workforce agenda, highlighting efforts to boost job access and address illegal immigration’s impact on wages.
- The White House has advanced executive orders to streamline federal workforce programs, expand apprenticeships and strengthen English-language proficiency standards in the freight industry.
- Republicans plan further workforce and freight policy initiatives, while Democrats, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders, criticized the agenda as limiting workers’ union rights.
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WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Senate’s committee on labor policies on Oct. 22 touted the Trump administration’s focus on workforce initiatives as Congress signals consideration of freight and supply chain measures.
At a hearing of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-La.) described the administration’s directives as a “pro-worker, pro-business, pro-family agenda.”
The Louisiana Republican said that since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, the White House has been promoting job access and security by addressing the impact of illegal immigration on the workforce. As the chairman explained, such illegal activity means “taking jobs and driving down wages for hard-working Americans.”
To help industries advance economic priorities, Cassidy emphasized that the Trump administration has made workforce development a priority and that the committee will examine it closely.
The chairman said Congress must restore worker choice in the unionization process, including enhancing the integrity of union elections, helping workers reach their first contract in a timely manner, and ensuring they can determine when their labor contract is working for them.
“These are key principles that will guide this conversation and hopefully future legislative action,” Cassidy said.
Since the start of the year, freight stakeholders have praised White House efforts on workforce reforms while pressing for additional recruitment and retention efforts. Earlier this month, American Trucking Associations urged federal policymakers to adopt proposals meant to improve safety and efficiency for workers and the traveling public.
Spear. (American Trucking Associations)
Specific to the freight workforce, ATA urged Congress to enhance entry-level driver training as well as English-language proficiency (ELP) requirements. In an Oct. 8 letter, ATA President Chris Spear affirmed, “ATA and its members — who work tirelessly to ensure safe operations over millions of miles traveled each year — have identified a set of strategies to address these challenges, in line with the industry’s commitment to reducing crashes and fatalities.” Central to this point, Spear said, would be codifying an executive order by Trump regarding ELP guidelines.
In another presidential executive order, titled “Preparing Americans for Hi/articles/ata-independent-contractorgh-Paying Skilled Trade Jobs of the Future,” the president in April proposed to “consolidate and streamline fragmented federal workforce development programs that are too disconnected from propelling workers into secure, well-paying, and high-need American jobs.”
The April order specifically calls for establishing a comprehensive worker investment and development strategy as well as expanding the portfolio of registered apprenticeships. Doing so would entail “avenues to expand registered apprenticeships to new industries and occupations, including high-growth and emerging sectors” as well as “measures to scale this proven model across the country, improve its efficiency, and provide consistent support to program participants,” according to the White House.
(Forbes Breaking News via YouTube)
Further emphasizing the April executive order’s expected impact nationwide, the White House argued, “As the potential of American [artificial intelligence] increases, and as America reshores manufacturing and makes Made in America a mark of international envy, America will need more skilled tradesman than we’re prepared to train.”
The White House and congressional Republican leaders said they plan to continue pursuing policy and legislative efforts designed to improve freight workforce conditions.
Senior Democrats on Capitol Hill, meanwhile, have criticized aspects of the administration’s workforce-centric agenda. At the Oct. 22 hearing, Senate HELP Committee ranking member Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) pushed back on legislative priorities promoted by his Republican counterparts. For Sanders, ensuring equality and financial opportunities in the workplace is central to the ongoing debate in Washington.
“If we want to grow the middle class in this country maybe we should allow workers in this country to enjoy their constitutional rights to form a union,” he said at the hearing.
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