ICYMI: Vice President Harris and Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh Release Labor Task Force Report to Promote Worker Organizing and Collective Bargaining

Today, the Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment – led by Vice President Harris as Chair and Labor Secretary Walsh as Vice-Chair – released publicly the report it delivered to President Joe Biden that includes nearly 70 recommendations to promote worker organizing and collective bargaining. The President accepted the recommendations, and as a follow up, the Task Force will submit a second report to the President in six months which will describe progress in implementation and contain additional proposals for further action.

See below for coverage of today's release:

Reuters: White House releases labor report seeking to boost union membership
[Nandita Bose 2/7/2022]

"This report is going to do some good things for workers in America," U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh told Reuters in an interview.

Harris and Walsh, who held more than two dozen meetings with stakeholders around the country, met Biden on Friday to discuss the report, a source with knowledge of the matter said.

[…]

Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, which comprises 57 affiliated unions and 12.5 million workers, told Reuters the U.S. labor movement will "be the eyes and ears on the ground," making sure the report gets implemented.

"I think this could be a game changer, to have the power of the federal government examining itself and how its practices can be utilized to advance worker organizing," she said.

The Guardian: 'Unions benefit all of us': new Biden plan encourages federal workers to unionize
[Steven Greenhouse, 2/7/2022]

The taskforce, which includes 13 members of Biden's cabineand is chaired by Vice-President Kamala Harris, calls for stepping up enforcement to ensure that money going to federal contractors – whether manufacturers, food-processing companies or other contractors – is not spent on anti-union campaigns.

[…]

The report is likely to strengthen the notion that Biden is the most pro-union president since Franklin Roosevelt – and perhaps the most pro-union president in US history.

CNN: White House workers' task force releases pro-union recommendations in new report
[Jasmine Wright, 2/7/2022]

The White House workers' task force, which is chaired by Vice President Kamala Harris, publicly released a report Monday that offers nearly 70 recommendations to promote pro-union policies and practices in the federal government.

[…]

Those recommendations include eliminating "barriers to union organizers being able to talk with employees on federal property about the benefits of organizing a union," at agencies including the General Services Administration and the Department of Interior.

AP: Biden task force releases report to strengthen labor unions
[Josh Boak, 2/7/2022]

A Biden administration task force on organized labor on Monday issued a set of recommendations that could make it easier for federal workers and contractors to unionize.

The report submitted to President Joe Biden included 70 distinct policy proposals, according to a release by the White House. Biden created the task force chaired by Vice President Kamala Harris, with Labor Secretary Marty Walsh as vice chair, through an executive order last April.

"We had the ability for people to come in and give testimony on what they want to see in strengthening workers' rights," Walsh said. "This is a very strong, worker-centered document."

Bloomberg Law: Biden Labor Task Force Targets Anti-Union Activity, Access
[Rebecca Rainey, 2/7/2022]

A White House task force created to promote union organizing is recommending more transparency for employers' anti-union spending, automating prevailing wage enforcement, and expanding access for organizers on federal property.

[…]

The task force is led by Vice President Kamala Harris and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh and includes 20 participant agencies.

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"Common sense proposals like drawing on the power of federal offices to help workers better understand their rights and coordinating across agencies to enforce existing labor laws will work to reset the balance of power and pave the way for workers to achieve better wages, safer working conditions and more secure retirements," USW International President Tom Conway said in a statement.

[…]

New York Times: President Biden adopts steps for promoting union membership
[Noam Scheiber, 2/7/2022]

One key premise of the task force was that the National Labor Relations Act, the 1935 law that protects federal labor rights, explicitly encourage collective bargaining, and yet, according to the Biden White House, no previous administration had explored ways that the executive branch could do so systematically.

The ambition of the task force was twofold: to enact policies for federal agencies and contractors that encourage unionization and to model best practices for employers in the public and private sectors.

[…]

Union officials and labor experts consider Mr. Biden to be among the most pro-labor presidents ever. He moved quickly to oust Trump appointees viewed as unsympathetic to labor and to undo Trump-era rules that weakened protections for workers, and signed legislation that secured tens of billions of dollars to stabilize union pension plans.

Washington Post: White House offers blueprint for union growth as labor movement struggles to gain ground
[Eli Rosenberg, 2/7/2022]

The White House released a detailed blueprint Monday for how the federal government can work to increase union participation and strengthen workers' right to organize in the absence of legislative actions, another sign of the Biden administration's historic support for organized labor.

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"Like the rest of the Biden administration, this report shows nearly unprecedented attention to the demands of organized labor in the recent Democratic Party," said Erik Loomis, a labor historian at the University of Rhode Island.

The task force, which was created by President Biden last April, includes most members of the Cabinet and is chaired by Vice President Harris and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh.

The Root: White House Workers' Task Force Led By Vice President Harris Proposes Strengthening Unions In New Report
[Murjani Rawls, 2/7/2022]

The pandemic has given America time to look at the scope of employment and what means the most to workers ranging from hybrid/work from home, wages, and job titles. In April 2021, President Joe Biden signed an executive order establishing the Worker Organizing and Empowerment task force headed by Vice President Kamala Harris.

[…]

These recommendations come on the heels of President Biden's signing an executive order seeking to strengthen union construction jobs last week and his comments backing an Amazon union in Alabama last year.

HuffPost: White House Looks At Ways To Reverse Decline In Union Membership
[Dave Jamieson, 2/7/2022]

A task force led by Vice President Kamala Harris and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh sent dozens of recommendations to President Joe Biden on Monday that could "facilitate worker power through executive action." The basic idea is to make the government a "model employer," through federal agencies and their contractors, by encouraging workers to organize.

[…]

Indeed, Biden has taken several steps to help unions, including overhauling the National Labor Relations Board and immediately firing the general counsel appointed by former President Donald Trump. He has also used the bully pulpit, including in unprecedented fashion, to encourage collective bargaining.