National Right to Work Foundation comments: Biden DOL lacked authority to impose pro-union boss regulation over temporary agricultural workers

Washington, DC (September 4, 2025) – The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation has submitted comments supporting the Department of Labor’s (DOL) proposal to scrap a Biden-era rule that lays the groundwork for giving union bosses monopoly bargaining powers over temporary agricultural employees. The Biden DOL rule, misleadingly titled “Improving Protections for Workers in Temporary Agricultural Employment in the United States,” also contained provisions that would have given union officials nearly unrestricted power to enter farmers’ private property.

The Foundation’s comments argue that the repeal is justified because the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the federal law that lets union bosses gain monopoly bargaining power over most private sector workplaces, specifically exempts agricultural workers from its strictures. Such workers, who often are in the country on H-2A visas, are subject to state agricultural laws. The Biden Department of Labor’s rule, the comments say, is effectively an attempt to override Congress’ exclusion of agricultural workers from the NLRA.

“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 comments say.

Biden DOL Rule Gives Workers No Power to Resist Unwanted Union Intrusions

The Foundation’s comments also explain that the Biden DOL rule should be repealed because it grants union officials enormous power to enter private farm property to engage in agitation or other disruptive union activities – even over the objections of both workers and employers. Notably, the Biden rule goes well beyond giving union bosses who are invitees of agricultural workers the power to enter private farms, and opens the door to “nearly unrestricted harassment by ‘potential guests’ or unwanted guests of other employees,” the comments state.

The comments further contend that the Biden-era rule on temporary agricultural workers is impracticable because it lacks any kind of enforcement mechanism, and lacks protections for temporary agricultural workers who want to abstain from union affiliation. “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,” the comments detail.

Foundation staff attorneys are providing free legal aid to agricultural workers around the country, especially in efforts to challenge state agricultural labor regimes that deny them basic rights of free choice. Employees in California and New York are engaged in federal lawsuits attacking labor laws that let union officials sweep them into dues-paying union ranks without a vote, impose union monopoly bargaining contracts over worker and employer objections, or deny workers the right to file unfair labor practice charges against union officials.

“The Biden DOL rule was a slapdash attempt by federal bureaucrats to give union officials massive new powers over workers in an area that is solely the domain of state law – the agricultural labor sector,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Of course, while claiming to care about temporary agricultural workers, the Biden Labor Department’s rule denied them any kind of right to resist unwanted union campaigns or to file charges against union officials who violate their rights.

“It’s obvious that this union boss power grab lacks any sort of legal underpinning. But it’s important to remember that, outside the agricultural sector, workers all over the country are subject to the National Labor Relations Act’s broken monopoly bargaining system, where union officials in a unionized workplace can impose their will over dissenting workers and often force those employees to pay them union dues or fees,” Mix added. “American workers in all sectors deserve the right to choose freely whether or not union representation is right for them.”

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, assists thousands of employees in about 200 cases nationwide per year.