Posts tagged Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks in Philadelphia at union leaders’ meeting
June 8, 2023 // Henry and Verrett introduced Harris by highlighting her lived experience as a woman of color and her track record of supporting unions and workers. “She's joined fast food workers on the picket lines, she's joined striking home care workers, and she's been to South Carolina with hospital workers, and the list goes on and on and on,” Verrett said. “Her street cred is real.” Harris, the chair of the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, highlighted the recent accomplishments of local unions and thanked workers for their efforts.
EXPERT INSIGHT: White House Claims that Federal Union Membership Grew Under Biden Appear Incorrect
May 3, 2023 // Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data reinforces this conclusion. BLS works with the Census Bureau to conduct monthly surveys used to calculate the unemployment rate. The interviewers also ask respondents questions about where they work and whether they are union members. Economists use the survey data to estimate union membership in various industries, including the federal government. Because the BLS data comes from a survey, it has a statistical margin of error and is less precise than union financial filings. Nonetheless, the BLS data shows the same pattern as union financial filings: A slight increase in 2022 and a modest overall decrease since 2020.
Why Biden can’t build back better
February 22, 2022 // Biden supports the PRO Act (Protecting the Right to Organize), which would significantly enhance the power of workers to unionize and bargain collectively. Now stalled in the Senate, he could use the bully pulpit to rally the base and push for a filibuster exception to get the bill to his desk. The president also has the power to enact major pieces of the PRO Act through executive order.
White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment
February 11, 2022 // When setting the scene for their recommendations, the task force complains that card check union organizing campaigns are not required, right to work laws allow private-sector workers to opt out of a union, and the U.S. Supreme Court’s Janus decision allows the same for public-sector workers. Card check is when union organizers use public card sign-ups that expose workers to intimidation tactics rather than using a secret ballot election.
Biden endures up-and-down first year on labor issues
January 18, 2022 // The administration’s decision to weaken COVID-19 isolation guidelines and rescind the emergency temporary standard for health care worker protections puts Biden in rare disagreement with labor unions.