Obama cracks down on labor breaches by contractors
Source: AP-Excite
WASHINGTON (AP) — In an election-year rebuttal to Republicans, President Barack Obama will sign an executive order Thursday requiring federal contractors to give their workers more rights in labor disputes. The move comes one day after House GOP lawmakers voted to sue Obama for allegedly misusing presidential powers.
Under the order, companies seeking large federal contracts will be barred from making workers sign agreements saying that an arbitrator, rather than a judge, gets to hear sexual assault or civil rights grievances and make binding decisions. The order also requires that workers be given information in each pay period to help them determine whether their paychecks are accurate, White House officials said.
Hoping to nudge companies into fixing their problems, Obama will also require companies to make public any violations in the past three years when they're seeking contracts exceeding $500,000. Officials said federal agencies that award contracts will be given better guidance about factoring violations into their decision-making, a move aimed at persuading the most egregious violators to resolve back wage claims and enter remediation agreements out of fear they'll start losing contracts.
Obama's order, which doesn't require approval from Congress, comes as the White House seeks to exploit what it sees as incessant attempts by Republicans to dissuade Obama from taking action on his own. On Wednesday, minutes after Republicans pushed a plan through the House to sue Obama for allegedly overstepping his authority, his senior adviser, Dan Pfeiffer, announced in a letter to the White House's email list that Obama would sign the labor order.
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President Barack Obama waves after stepping off Marine One helicopter on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, July 30, 2014, as he returns from Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Read more: By JOSH LEDERMAN
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