Labor unions sue to cover smaller businesses

Several of the nation’s largest labor unions are suing over President Joe Biden’s vaccine and testing requirements, not to overturn them, but to expand them to cover more businesses.

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union and the AFL-CIO asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia last week to review the requirements. The AFL-CIO is the largest federation of trade unions in the U.S., and the UFCW is the largest meatpacking and food processing union.

While the unions did not provide arguments in their petition, a spokesman for the food workers union told CNBC the group wants the mandates expanded to cover as many businesses as possible. The union also wants the new Labor Department rule to ensure employees don’t have to cover the costs of Covid testing and face masks. The Biden mandates don’t force companies to cover those costs.

The food workers’ union said in a statement to CNBC it wants to “strengthen the worker protections to ensure that as many workers are covered as possible, that frontline employees have a voice in how vaccine requirements are implemented, and that employees do not shoulder the cost of masks, testing, or other critical safeguards needed to keep workers and customers safe.”

The Service Employees International Union also challenged Biden’s vaccine and testing requirements last week in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. SEIU local 32BJ represents 175,000 workers — primarily building security guards and cleaners — across New York, New England, New Jersey, parts of Pennsylvania, the D.C. metro area and Florida.

The service employees, in their petition, said the Biden policy “fails to adequately protect all workers who face a grave danger from COVID-19 exposure in the workplace.” SEIU 32BJ President Kyle Bragg told CNBC in a statement Friday that his local wants the mandates expanded to include all businesses.

“We believe that we all have to do our part to help our communities return to normal and that the COVID vaccine or test mandate should be broader in scope to also apply to employers with less than 100 employees,” Bragg said. “An exemption for these employers undermines the effort to protect public health.”

The Labor Department declined to comment on the unions’ lawsuits. Biden, in a speech shortly after Labor Day, said he intends to be “the most pro-union President leading the most pro-union administration in American history.” 

The AFL-CIO, food workers and service workers unions lobbied White House officials in conference calls with the Office of Management and Budget last month to include broader protections in the mandates for workers, such as ventilation standards and requirements for businesses to ensure physical distancing where appropriate. The administration did not include those measures in its vaccination and testing policy.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which will enforce the mandates for the Labor Department, has said it set the threshold…