‘War on workers’: Unions condemn Republican efforts to reverse Biden’s pro-worker rules

Nearly 50 unions representing a broad range of workers across the U.S. – from teachers to mail carriers to miners – are urging members of Congress this week to oppose Republican efforts to roll back a series of Biden administration rules designed to protect the nation’s workers from exploitative employers and unscrupulous Wall Street investors.

Led by the AFL-CIO, the country’s largest labor federation, the groups sent a letter to lawmakers on Tuesday warning against Republicans’ attempt to use the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to override pro-worker regulations from the Department of Labor and other U.S. agencies.

Since its passage in 1996, the CRA has only been used to override 20 federal laws. Sixteen of those laws were repealed by the Republican-controlled 115th Congress during the first two years of former President Donald Trump’s first term.

“Clearly, the CRA has become the latest weapon in a war on workers waged by special interests.”

The unions’ new letter lists more than a dozen recently passed or pending regulations that are being targeted by Republicans in Congress, including provisions that would expand overtime protections for millions of workers and protect workers from worthless fees on retirement planning services – a change that is expected to save workers $55 billion over the next decade.

“The CRA is clearly the latest weapon in a war on workers waged by special interests,” the letter says. “Each of the resolutions listed above, some of which have already been passed by Congress, risks permanently undermining critical gains for working people across the country.”

“It is absolutely critical that those who want to stand on the side of workers do so in their opposition to these attacks on pro-worker legislation,” the letter continues. “Every vote for one of these CRA disapproval resolutions is a vote against workers,” the letter continues. “We ask that you not allow private equity, the financial industry, multinational franchisors, anti-union groups, or other special interests to use this tool to undo the progress workers are making through federal legislation.”

If one of the Republican CRA resolutions passes both the House and Senate, unions have called on President Joe Biden to use his veto power to keep the rules in place – something he has done more than 10 times since taking office in 2024.

The labor groups’ call came a day before the House Education and Workforce Committee convened a hearing on HJ Res. 142 on Wednesday, a Republican-authored CRA resolution that seeks to overturn a Labor Department rule that would, in the words of acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, “eradicate junk fees from the retirement savings market.”

The regulation is expected to come into force in September.

Liz Zelnick, director of the Economic Security and Corporate Power Program at Accountable.US, said in a statement Tuesday that the CRA resolution introduced by Republican Rep. Rick Allen (Ga.) “was written by and for Wall Street lobbyists, and any vote for it is a vote against increasing retirement savings for middle-class workers.”

“Simply passing this resolution means giving greedy retirement advisors free rein to put their own interests ahead of those of their clients – and thereby undermining the retirement savings of millions,” Zelnick said. “Right-wing lawmakers are eager to do the dirty work of their big bank donors while simultaneously opposing lower costs for ordinary families. These lawmakers should ask themselves why they believe the workers they represent don’t deserve the same quality of advice from their financial advisors.”