The White House on Monday proposed ways to bolster union strength in the federal workforce and support private-sector workers looking to organize as President Biden draws a straight line between the labor movement and America’s history and economic progress.
The White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, which is chaired by Vice President Kamala Harris and co-chaired by Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, detailed 70 recommendations that can be acted on without Congress.
Mr. Biden accepted the recommendations, which call on the federal workforce to serve as a “model-actor” for pro-union behavior.
The task force wants federal employers to inform new hires about their right to organize, to facilitate communication between unions and workers, and to encourage federal workers who haven’t unionized to set up bargaining units, including wildland firefighters who work for the U.S. Forest Service.
“While some past administrations have taken individual actions to empower workers and strengthen their rights, the Biden-Harris administration will be the first to take a comprehensive approach to doing so with the existing authority of the executive branch,” the report said.
“Our goal is not just to facilitate worker power through executive action — it is to model practices that can be followed by state and local governments, private sector employers, and others,” the Biden team wrote.
The Biden administration said it realizes union participation is at its nadir. Only 10.3% of the U.S. workforce was represented by a union last year, down from more than 30% in the 1950s, the report said.
But Mr. Biden believes there is a window to rejuvenate the labor movement.
A recent Gallup poll found 68% of Americans approve of unions, the highest level since 1965, and a growing number of Starbucks coffee employees are generating buzz with their moves to unionize shops around the country. The John Deere company faced a prominent labor strike and Mr. Biden backed Amazon workers looking to unionize in Alabama.
Workers are also rethinking their careers or leveraging pandemic upheaval to their advantage, as employers clamor to fill labor gaps.
“Workers today are demanding more from their jobs, and we know the freedom to exercise their right to collective bargaining is a key component of our efforts to improve working conditions across the economy,” Mr. Walsh said.
The Labor Department said workers should understand their right to unionize, and it wants to protect workers who face retaliation for organizing. It will also shed light on employers’ use of anti-union consultants and produce reports on how unions bolster the U.S. economy.
“The report’s recommendations put the federal government’s policy of encouraging worker organizing and collective bargaining front and center, and empowers workers to build a stronger economy and better quality of life for them and their families,” Mr. Walsh said.
The task force is required to report on progress in implementing the recommendations in six months.
Monday’s report comes as Mr. Biden — who often characterizes himself as a hardscrabble guy from Scranton, Pennsylvania — is increasingly vocal about support for labor unions and their role in society.
“I tell you who built America: the middle class. And the people who built the middle class are organized labor — unions. Unions did it,” Mr. Biden said Friday as he signed an order requiring labor agreements for large federal projects.
“That’s not hyperbole. That’s a fact. That’s a straight fact,” he said.
Efforts to promote unions through administrative action come as legislative efforts stall in Congress.
The House passed the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, or PRO Act, which would expand protections for workers who want to unionize, but it cannot make it through the evenly divided Senate because of filibuster rules.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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