Labor/Employment

The United Auto Workers has endorsed Rep. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) in his primary battle against Rep. Hansen Clark (D-Mich.).

Peters's district was dismantled when Michigan redrew its congressional maps, forcing Peters to square off against a fellow incumbent if he wanted a chance to keep his seat in the House.

Peters and Clark will face each other in an Aug. 7 primary.

The backing of the union, a major player in Michigan Democratic politics, will likely help Peters make his case to blue-collar voters, and follows other endorsements including those from about a dozen other state and local unions.

"Gary Peters has shown tremendous leadership and courage by leading the fight for the automotive industry, including his work to secure the auto loans which saved over a million American automotive jobs,” said Chuck Hall, who directs the union's Detroit-area branch.

Republicans looked to smooth a major House transportation bill's passage over objections from the right and left.

Taking a cue from Republican presidential candidates, President Obama will visit one of airplane manufacturer Boeing's plants that was the focus of the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) complaint against the company.

But unlike Republicans, who visited Boeing's plant in Charleston, S.C., after the NLRB's allegation the company built a facility there in retaliation for strikes by workers at its existing facilities, Obama will visit Boeing's plant in Washington state Friday.

The NLRB's case against Boeing, which has been dropped, sparked a national debate regarding labor unions. 

A pair of unions said Friday they would enter into a partnership to more effectively bargain for transportation workers.

The partnership, between the parent group of the union for flight attendants and a union that represents airline, transit and rail workers, comes on the heels of Congress approving a funding bill for the Federal Aviation Administration that some said they could live with and others strongly opposed.

But the Washington-based Communication Workers Association and Transit Workers Union said they would be more effective at lobbying lawmakers if they worked together.

The bill increases from 35 percent to 50 percent the workers who must favor unionization for a vote to happen.

After 23 short-term extensions and a partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration last summer, the Senate is expected to bring the first long-term funding measure for the beleaguered aviation agency in for a landing this week.

The Senate will hold a floor vote on the conference report on the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (H.R. 658) sometime after the chamber convenes at 2 p.m. Monday.

The vote will should end a fight over the FAA that has lasted since the agency’s last authorization bill expired in 2007.

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The government charged that Boeing built the plant in a non-union state to retaliate against unions in Washington State.

Rep. Jeff Landry (La.) and 20 other House Republicans introduced legislation this week that would limit the authority of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to operate as long as they are headed by appointees who were recess-appointed while the Senate was not in recess.

The bill is a reaction to President Obama’s Jan. 4 appointment of Richard Cordray to head the CFPB, and three other appointees to the NLRB. Republicans in both the House and Senate said these appointments were an illegal power grab, as the Senate was not in recess, and instead was holding pro forma sessions every few days.