Tag Archives: pro-union president

White House labor task force holds first meeting to help more workers join unions

By Nandita Bose

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The White House labor task force, headed by Vice President Kamala Harris, is set to meet for the first time on Thursday, to promote labor organizing at a time when just over 6% of U.S. private-sector workers belong to unions, according to White House officials and the Department of Labor.

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh will serve as vice chair of the group and will attend the meeting in person, a Labor Department spokesperson said.

President Joe Biden last month signed an executive order to create the task force, whose goals include facilitating worker organizing around the United States, increasing union membership and addressing challenges to labor organizing in underserved communities.

Biden’s executive order directed the task force to devise a set of recommendations within 180 days to address two key issues: How existing policies can promote labor organizing in the federal government, and looking at necessary new policies and the associated regulatory challenges.

Biden is widely considered to be the most pro-union president in decades and has earned praise from the country’s labor leaders. He has moved quickly to oust government officials whom unions deemed hostile to labor and reversed Trump-era rules that weakened worker protections.

The task force, which includes more than 20 heads of agencies and Cabinet officials, including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, is an extraordinary effort by the president to help reverse the decades-long decline in union membership and power, labor experts said.

Over 65 percent of Americans approve of unions, the most since 2003, according to a 2020 Gallup poll, despite the much lower membership rate.

The labor movement faced one of its biggest setbacks in recent history after an organizing drive at an Amazon.com facility failed earlier this month.

Unions have lobbied for the passage of the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, or PRO Act, which prohibits employers from holding anti-union meetings and imposes penalties for violating workers’ rights. The House passed the measure in March and Biden supports the legislation, but it faces long odds in the Senate.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham, William Maclean)

Biden raises minimum wage for federal contractors to $15/hour

By Nandita Bose and Jarrett Renshaw

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden on Tuesday will continue his push for a national $15 minimum wage with an executive order that raises pay to at least that level for hundreds of thousands of federal contract workers, according to senior White House officials.

The move will increase the current minimum wage of $10.95 by nearly 37% by March of next year and continue to tie future increases to inflation.

It will apply to federal workers from cleaning and maintenance staff to food service contractors and laborers, sweeping in tipped workers who were previously left out of the last increase under former President Barack Obama.

White House officials insist it won’t increase costs for taxpayers because of benefits including increased worker productivity.

Biden has expressed his belief that strong unions and higher wages can resurrect America’s middle class while helping bridge economic and racial inequities, and the executive order is his latest step in support of the organized labor movement.

Biden has often been called the most pro-union president ever by labor groups.

On Monday, he signed another order to create a White House task force that will promote unions and labor organizing, which will be headed by Vice President Kamala Harris. The move was a significant attempt to use the federal government’s resources to help stem a decline in union membership in the country.

Since taking office, Biden has also ousted government officials whom unions have called hostile to labor and reversed Trump-era rules that weakened worker protections. He even appeared in a video alluding to workers in an Amazon facility in Alabama to vote to form a union – an effort that did not end in success.

Biden tried to insert a federal $15 minimum wage into the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill signed in March, but it was tossed on a procedural matter by the Senate parliamentarian.

The move to hike base wages for federal contractors was an ask Biden made of his administration in the first few days after taking office and he has vowed to keep pushing for it.

It builds on an order issued by former President Obama, which required federal contractors to be paid $10.10 an hour indexed to inflation. That rate now stands at $10.95 an hour.

“This would not lead to reduced employment…but would enhance worker productivity and then create higher quality work by boosting workers’ health, morale and effort,” a senior administration official said.

The administration official said the order’s impact was reviewed by Biden’s Council of Economic Advisors which found the decision would help employers reduce turnover and lower recruitment and training costs.

Biden’s latest executive order will require all federal agencies to include the increase in new contract solicitations by January 30, 2022. Two months from then they will be required to implement the base wage into new contracts.

The order also indexes the raise to inflation after 2022, and ends the tipped minimum wage for workers such as those offering seasonal recreational services, food servers and shuttle bus drivers. It also ensures $15 an hour for federal contractors with disabilities.