a union allows workers to join together to promote their

The mission of the Task Force will be to mobilize the federal government’s policies, programs, and practices to empower workers to organize and successfully bargain with their employers.

That is why, today, the President is establishing the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment (“Task Force”). While some administrations have taken selected actions to strengthen workers’ rights, no previous administration has taken a comprehensive approach to determining how the executive branch can advance worker organizing and collective bargaining. In the 86 years since the Act was passed, the federal government has never fully implemented this policy. Since 1935, when the National Labor Relations Act was enacted, the policy of the federal government has been to encourage worker organizing and collective bargaining, not to merely allow or tolerate them. Government into Action: Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment The Task Force is the next step in these efforts. There is still much more the federal government can do to empower workers. It has endorsed the Protecting the Rights to Organize (PRO) Act and other labor law reform bills, issued Executive Orders restoring collective bargaining in the federal sector, and rescued the hard-earned pensions for millions of Americans through the American Rescue Plan. The Administration has already taken a number of steps to empower workers to organize. Unions ensure workers’ voices are heard in their workplaces, communities, and government. The decline of union density has also weakened our democracy. In addition, lower union membership rates have exacerbated the pay gap for women and workers of color. Widespread and deep economic inequality, stagnant real wages, and the shrinking of America’s middle class are all associated with the declining percentage of workers represented by unions. The President and Vice President believe that the decline of union membership is contributing to serious societal and economic problems in our country. The President’s and Vice-President’s Commitment

workforce, down from more than 30% in the 1950s. In 2020, union members made up just 10.8% of the U.S. The result has been a steady decline in union membership in the United States over past decades. Economic change in the United States and globally, technological developments, and the failure to modernize federal organizing and labor-management relations laws so they respond appropriately to the reality found in American workplaces have made worker organizing exceedingly difficult. They also experience drastically lower rates of labor standards violations, like employers wage theft or workplace safety and health hazards.ĭespite the importance of unions to our economy and democracy, and nearly 60 million workers today saying they would join a union if given the chance, American workers have faced increasing barriers to organizing and bargaining collectively with their employers. Union workers earn roughly 13% more than non-union workers on a similar job site. Sixteen million workers in the United States are union members or in a job that provides them union representation. More than six in ten of those workers are women and/or people of color. They have fought for higher wages, greater job security, safety and health laws, essential benefits like health insurance and retirement plans, and protections from discrimination and sexual harassment for millions of workers across the country.

Throughout our country’s history, unions have been the driving forces for advancements in workers’ rights and improved living standards for union and non-union workers. As the President has said: America was built by the middle class, and unions built the middle class.

President Biden and Vice-President Harris have long championed workers’ rights. Chaired by Vice-President Kamala Harris and Vice-Chaired by Secretary Marty Walsh, the Task Force will include more than twenty cabinet members and heads of other federal agencies who will take a whole-of-government approach to empower workers. The Task Force will be dedicated to mobilizing the federal government’s policies, programs, and practices to empower workers to organize and successfully bargain with their employers. Today, President Biden will sign an Executive Order establishing the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment.

A union allows workers to join together to promote their