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The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation has expressed support for the Department of Labor's proposal to repeal a rule from the Biden administration that would have given union officials significant bargaining authority over temporary agricultural workers. The Foundation submitted formal comments on the matter, contending that the regulation, titled “Improving Protections for Workers in Temporary Agricultural Employment in the United States,” also included provisions allowing union representatives broad access to private farm property.
According to the Foundation, these actions conflict with existing federal law. The organization’s comments state that agricultural workers are exempt from the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which grants union leaders monopoly bargaining rights in most private sector workplaces. Instead, agricultural employees—many of whom work under H-2A visas—are governed by state laws rather than federal labor statutes. The Foundation argued that “as now recognized by DOL and various courts considering the Final Rule’s provisions, DOL not only lacks Congressional authorization to take this action, it is defying Congress’ intent to exclude agricultural employees from the…NLRA.”
The Foundation further stated that the Biden-era rule would allow union officials nearly unrestricted access to farms, even if both workers and employers objected. Their comments said this policy could result in “nearly unrestricted harassment by ‘potential guests’ or unwanted guests of other employees.” They also noted a lack of enforcement mechanisms within the rule and pointed out there were no protections for workers who did not want union affiliation. The submission read: “If Congress had intended DOL to regulate the ability of agricultural employees to unionize, it would have created an enforcement mechanism within DOL and provided sufficient funding for enforcement.”
