BREAKING: The 45-Page White House Task Force Report On Worker Organizing And Empowerment has been released. Here it is...
BREAKING: The 45-Page White House Task Force Report On Worker Organizing And Empowerment has been released. Here it is...
** UPDATED AT BOTTOM **
QUICK FACTS:
On Monday, the White House released a 45-page task force report to encourage unionization and collective bargaining
The report lists 70 specific proposals affecting both federal government and private sector workplaces
The full report can be found here [in PDF].
DETAILS
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Only days after announcing the effective ban on non-union construction workers on most large federal infrastructure projects, on Monday, the Biden administration released a 45-page report (in PDF) entitled the White House Task Force Report On Worker Organizing And Empowerment.
The report lists over 70 policy proposals—nearly all aimed at increasing union membership in the public and private sectors.
The Task Force, co-chaired by Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, “developed a set of recommendations that, when implemented, will promote worker organizing and collective bargaining for federal employees and for workers employed by public and private-sector employers,” the report states on the first page. “Additionally, recommendations have been made about ways to increase interested private sector workers’ access to information about their existing right to join and/or organize a union, and the legally-defined process of how to do so.”
Both Public and Private Workplaces Targeted
“Many of the proposals to increase unionization are specific directions focused on the federal government as an employer,” ABC News reports. “The Interior Department is among four agencies that will now let union organizers talk with employees on federal property, a rule that applies to private-sector employees on contract with the government.”
A press release from the Department of Labor highlights some of the goals of the policy proposals:
The U.S. Department of Labor will work across agencies to implement the task force’s recommendations, including the following:
Ensuring workers know their organizing and bargaining rights.
Protecting workers who face illegal retaliation when they organize and stand up for workplace rights.
Establishing a resource center on unions and collective bargaining.
Shedding light on employer’s use of anti-union consultants.
Collecting and reporting more information on unions and their role in the U.S. economy.
Advancing equity across underserved communities by supporting worker organizing and collective bargaining.
“The U.S. Department of Labor will play a critical role in helping the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment to achieve its mission,” stated Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh. “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,”
“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,” the Secretary added.
Read the report here [in PDF]
UPDATE:
House Education and Labor Committee Republican Leader Virginia Foxx (R-NC) gave the following statement after the White House released its plan, via the task force on union organizing, to increase union bosses’ stranglehold over American workers:
“It’s truly baffling to watch a President openly collude with anti-worker groups to identify government actions which will provide union bosses with more power and ensure Democrats are more thoroughly entrenched in the Big Labor movement. Democrats lack the moral compass to defend our freedoms, choosing instead to follow the flow of campaign donations. But hardworking Americans are drowning under a tsunami of new, burdensome regulations, and this report is akin to tying bricks to their feet.
“Our economy needs a hand up by ensuring additional freedom for workers and businesses to pursue opportunities. I’m calling on President Biden to suspend the task force’s recommendations, slow the tsunami of regulations, and throw workers the lifeline they desperately need.”