Labor and Employment

The manufacturing shop floor has changed. Manufacturers are delivering workplace rules to match - protecting employee rights, keeping teams safe and giving employers the clarity to hire and grow.

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Labor & Employment

The shop floor has changed. Labor law is catching up.

Modern manufacturing runs on engaged, skilled teams in high-tech workplaces — not the assembly lines of decades past. Manufacturers are delivering policies to match: clear standards employers and employees can rely on, workplace rules built for real shop floors and a level playing field that keeps America’s workforce the most productive in the world.

50+
years of Supreme Court precedent behind workers’ right to a secret-ballot election
350+
business associations joined the NAM opposing the Faster Labor Contracts Act
16
U.S. senators echoed the NAM’s call to right-size OSHA’s proposed heat rule
2020
the clear “substantial direct and immediate control” joint-employer standard, now restored

Sources: NAM Legal Center amicus filings and 6th Cir. ruling (2026); NAM-led coalition letters to Congress (2026); Senate HELP Committee letter (March 2026); NLRB final rule rescinding the 2023 joint-employer rule (February 2026).

The priorities

Manufacturers’ labor & employment agenda

Six priorities for workplace law that fits 21st-century manufacturing — protecting employee rights, keeping teams safe and giving employers the clarity to hire and grow.

Secret-Ballot Elections

Every worker deserves a private vote on union representation. The NAM Legal Center’s challenge to the NLRB’s card-check standard prevailed in the 6th Circuit in March 2026, reaffirming five decades of Supreme Court precedent.

Real Contracts, Freely Bargained

The Faster Labor Contracts Act (S. 844 / H.R. 5408) would impose binding two-year arbitration contracts with no appeal and no employee ratification vote. The NAM rallied 350+ groups against it in the House and is making the case in the Senate.

Clear Joint-Employer Rules

The NLRB restored the 2020 “substantial direct and immediate control” standard manufacturers can actually apply. The NAM is filing detailed comments on the Department of Labor’s companion FLSA joint-employer proposal.

Modern Worker Classification

Clear, economy-wide rules for independent-contractor status — the NAM weighed in on the Department of Labor’s 2026 economic-reality framework and petitioned the NLRB for a matching standard under the NLRA.

Safety Rules That Fit Real Workplaces

Manufacturers put safety first — and safety standards should fit diverse shop floors. The NAM’s heat-rule working group is pressing OSHA to right-size heat triggers and plans, and won support for practical fixed-ladder retrofit timelines.

Transparency for Union Members

Workers deserve to see how their dues are spent. The NAM championed stronger LM-2 financial disclosure and supports the Department of Labor’s new tool showing union spending on representation versus politics.

Results

Clarity is returning to workplace law

Manufacturers’ advocacy is restoring standards that employers and employees alike can count on.

Card check struck down
The 6th Circuit struck the NLRB’s 2023 Cemex card-check standard — the NAM Legal Center filed the amicus brief that helped get it there.
Joint-employer rule rescinded
The NLRB formally rescinded the unworkable 2023 joint-employer rule in February 2026, restoring the clear 2020 standard.
Heat rule rebalancing
Sixteen senators pressed OSHA for changes that mirror the NAM’s submission, and OSHA’s revised heat enforcement program now emphasizes early intervention.
“Flexible and forward-leaning federal workforce programs” — paired with permitting reform and energy abundance — are how manufacturers will put AI and new technology to work for American workers. — Chris Phalen, NAM Vice President of Domestic Policy, testifying before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, April 2026

Sources: 6th Cir. ruling, March 2026 (NAM Legal Center amicus, Brown-Forman v. NLRB); NLRB final rule, February 2026; Senate HELP Committee letter to the Labor Secretary, March 2026; OSHA revised National Emphasis Program, April 2026.

In action

Manufacturers’ 2026 labor wins and fights

  • February 2026The NLRB rescinds the 2023 joint-employer rule, restoring the 2020 “substantial direct and immediate control” standard the NAM championed — and the NAM joins a coalition petition for a clear NLRA independent-contractor rulemaking.
  • March 2026The 6th Circuit strikes down the NLRB’s Cemex card-check standard, vindicating the NAM Legal Center’s amicus argument that secret-ballot elections rest on 50+ years of Supreme Court precedent. The Labor Department launches its LM-2 union-spending transparency tool with NAM support.
  • April 2026The NAM applauds NLRB nominations that would restore a functioning four-member Board, and OSHA’s revised heat National Emphasis Program shifts toward employer early intervention. NAM testimony to House Oversight makes the case for flexible federal workforce programs.
  • May–June 2026The NAM files comments supporting OSHA’s practical end-of-service timeline for fixed-ladder retrofits, presses the Labor Department to fix its high-skilled prevailing-wage proposal and prepares detailed comments on the FLSA joint-employer proposal.
  • June 2026After the House passes the Faster Labor Contracts Act 230–193, the NAM takes the fight to the Senate — backed by a 350+ association coalition and the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace — to stop mandatory arbitration contracts that bypass employee ratification votes.

Workplace law built for modern manufacturing

Help the NAM deliver labor and employment policies that respect workers, keep teams safe and let manufacturers in America hire and grow.

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