Biden to allow union reps into nonunion workplaces as part of OSHA inspections

The Biden administration has established a rule allowing outside union officials into nonunionized workplaces as part of Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspections.

The rule is President Biden’s latest election-year gift to organized labor as he piles up endorsements from major unions. He has billed himself as an unabashed friend of labor and often brags that he is the “most pro-union president in history.”

Business groups and Republicans say the OSHA rule permits union representatives into workplaces where they might be antagonistic toward employers. They called it a workaround to traditional union membership drives.

Put into place this week by the Labor Department, the regulation empowers OSHA to approve anyone it deems “reasonably necessary” to conduct a site inspection. That expands the pool of people who can participate in an OSHA inspection to attorneys, translators and union representatives.

OSHA doesn’t need an employer’s approval to bring third-party participants. If an OSHA inspector decides a community activist or a union representative should participate in the inspection of a nonunionized worksite, the employer can’t object.

Employers can prohibit union representatives from locations only where trade secrets might be exposed, the rule states. Organized labor representatives are allowed to participate in official OSHA inspections of unionized locations.

Before the rule was approved, OSHA was permitted to bring only safety engineers and industrial hygienists to assist the agency’s inspectors.

The administration said the rule will improve workplace safety because it increases the number of experts participating in inspections and expands worker access to union representation.

“This proposal aims to make inspections more effective and ultimately make workplaces safer by increasing opportunities for employees to be represented in the inspection process,” Douglas L. Parker, assistant secretary of labor for OSHA, said in a statement.

Unions immediately hailed the rule as a victory.

“This proposal intends to level the playing field and ensure that workers can fully participate in OSHA investigations just as employers and their representatives already do,” said a statement by Rebecca Reindel, the AFL-CIO director of safety and health.

Now that the rule has been established, it heads to Mr. Biden’s desk for approval. He is expected to sign it.

Employers are weighing legal challenges.

Marc Freedman, vice president of workplace policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said his group is considering all options, including litigation, in response to the rule.

“We are disappointed OSHA has chosen to inject union organizing tactics into inspections that should be focused solely on workplace safety,” he said. “This regulation further demonstrates this administration’s determination to aid unions whenever possible, even at the expense of an agency’s core mission.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy, Louisiana Republican, sent a letter to the Department of Labor saying the rule calls into question the department’s impartiality between unions and businesses.

“OSHA inspections are crucial to protect workers’ safety and should never be co-opted to promote a political agenda,” said Mr. Cassidy, the top Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. “The union has a vested interest in harassing a non-union employer. Giving them the power to influence an inspection is a potential weapon against a workplace that has chosen to be non-union. This is wrong.”

Rep. Virginia Foxx, North Carolina Republican, called the rule “regulatory voodoo.”

“This has absolutely nothing to do with keeping workers safe,” she said. “OSHA giving the green light to union operatives and activists to infiltrate non-union worksites during safety inspection walk-arounds is blatantly intended to give unions access to employer private property and aid in organizing efforts. The Biden DOL would do well to respect the autonomy of the private sector and not aid hostile takeover attempts by union cronies.”

The administration fast-tracked the rule, which was proposed and adopted in seven months. A proposed rule regulating OSHA’s COVID-19 policies in the health care sector has been under review for 16 months.

Publication in the Federal Register makes it more difficult for a future president to rescind the rule and blocks Congress from using the Congressional Review Act to cancel it.

The rule is part of Mr. Biden’s plan to bolster his reelection campaign by capitalizing on the power and reach of Big Labor. Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican Party nominee, has tried to make inroads with rank-and-file union workers even as their leaders pump up Mr. Biden.

In 2016, Mr. Trump exploited the divide between union leadership and rank-and-file members by peeling workers away from Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. In 2020, union workers returned to their Democratic Party roots and voted heavily for Mr. Biden.

Roughly 56% of union households supported Mr. Biden in 2020, and 40% went for Mr. Trump.

Polls show Mr. Biden still has the backing of union households, but not as much as in the 2020 campaign. An NBC News poll found that 50% of union households plan to vote for Mr. Biden in November and 41% say they will vote for Mr. Trump.

The same NBC News poll found that Mr. Biden has a 52% disapproval rating in union households, but the 46% approval rating among union households is higher than his overall approval rating of 38%.

Mr. Biden has swept up endorsements from several leading labor groups, including the AFL-CIO, the Teamsters, the United Auto Workers, the American Federation of Teachers, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and the United Steelworkers union.