So, now, the fox will guard the henhouse. Gov. Abbott appointed Julian Alvarez to the Labor position on the Texas Workforce Commission board. The three person board is supposed to include one member representing employers, one member representing labor, and one chairman. Gov. Abbott replaced the long-time labor board member, Ronald Congleton, with Mr. Alvarez, a former Chamber of Commerce CEO. … Okay. It never occurred to me the Chamber was such a staunch protector of the rights of labor. Most Chambers of Commerce do not claim to represent the views of the working man and woman. The AFL-CIO objects to the appointment of an employer representative to the labor slot. See Rio Grande Guardian report.

Even with the current board, TWC is generally opposed to claimants for unemployment compensation. I think we can expect that its stance will now grow more antagonistic to folks who get fired. And, that matters. Unemployment benefits are awarded only to those who get fired through no fault of his or hers. So, messing with those folks impacts all of us, in the end.