Chris Van Hollen: “I oppose the nomination of David Black to be Deputy Commissioner of Social Security. I have longstanding concerns about…”

“I oppose the nomination of David Black to be Deputy Commissioner of Social Security. I have longstanding concerns about how management at the Social Security Administration has treated the unions representing their workforce, and I am concerned about the role that Mr. Black may have played in these anti-union practices. SSA was especially hostile towards its workers when it implemented the anti-union Executive orders that President Trump issued on May 25, 2018. SSA was one of the few agencies to evict unions from office space pursuant to the Executive orders, in the brief time before a Federal district court issued an injunction blocking key parts of the Executive orders. SSA also abrogated its unexpired contract with administrative law judges who are represented by the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, which even the Executive orders themselves expressly prohibited. After the Executive orders were blocked in court, SSA went to the Federal Service Impasses Panel to impose a contract on workers represented by the American Federation of Government Employees, and the terms of this contract were highly similar to provisions of the Executive orders. SSA is now using similar tactics against workers represented by National Treasury Employees Union. We need to stop a bad situation from getting worse. The Senate should demand stronger commitments to improve labor relations from President Trump's nominees for leadership positions at SSA.…”