White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment Issues Report

On Monday, February 7, 2021, the Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment – led by Vice President Harris as Chair and Labor Secretary Walsh as Vice-Chair – released a detailed blueprint 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. The 43-page report is a strikingly pro-union document, seeking to connect the history of union organizing in the United States to its importance for the country’s economic well-being. The report comes at a time when union organizing in the United States is near a historic low, with just 10.3 percent of wage and salary workers belonging to a union in 2021, down threefold from a high in the 1950s. Just 6.1 percent of private-sector workers were members of unions. But the public favorability of labor unions is its highest in more than 50 years, and at least 48 percent of nonunion workers have said on surveys that they would join a union if given the option. The recommendations of this report were developed in collaboration with the over 20 executive agencies, departments, and White House offices that are members of the Task Force, and have been arrived at after careful review of the legal guidelines defining the Executive Branch’s authority.

Read the full report HERE.

The Fifth Circuit Set to Review Biden’s Unprecedented Firing of Trump-Era NLRB General Counsel

President Joe Biden’s unprecedented Inauguration Day firing of the federal labor board’s top lawyer during the Trump administration is teed up for judicial review at a Republican-dominated U.S. appeals court in New Orleans. Business software firm Exela Enterprise Solutions Inc. has told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that Biden lacked the legal authority to remove former National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Peter Robb. The unlawful termination made the actions of Robb’s replacement—including issuing an unfair labor practice complaint that led to an NLRB ruling against Exela—legally invalid, the company argued in court filings. The Fifth Circuit is set to be the first court to rule directly on the legality of Robb’s ouster, an issue with long-term implications for future presidents’ sway over the NLRB and the agency’s independence from the White House. Judicial disapproval of Biden’s firing of Robb could hinder the agency in the short term, since that may delegitimize the work of Peter Sung Ohr after he replaced Robb and served as acting general counsel. Ohr now serves as deputy general counsel. But current General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, who took over for Ohr after her Senate confirmation in July, has taken administrative steps that may protect Ohr’s actions even if his appointment was deemed invalid. The Fifth Circuit hasn’t set an oral argument date or announced the three-judge panel that will consider Exela’s case.

Biden Infrastructure Goals Challenged

The Biden administration wants federal infrastructure money used to fix crumbling roads and bridges before being spent to build new ones, in part to limit climate change. Even so, the White House may have little say in how hundreds of billions of dollars are deployed. Republicans are bashing administration directives on how to spread the infrastructure funds as federal overreach, and the back-and-forth has become contentious in recent weeks as money from the new law has started to flow to states. States are getting $52.5 billion this fiscal year for federal-aid highway formula funding, a 20% boost, according to the administration’s infrastructure guidebook. Despite letters from Republican-led states complaining about the instructions, the guidance isn’t binding. Governors have the power to dole out formula funds—the larger pot of money—where they want. Still, the Transportation Department retains control over other discretionary monies in the bill, including billions in grants, signaling years of political wrangling ahead over what the White House declared a “once-in-a-generation investment in our nation’s infrastructure and competitiveness.”

ICYMI: GCCA Launches Grassroots Campaign Opposing Card Check Provisions in the America COMPETES Act

On Friday, February 4, 2022, the House of Representative passed HR 4521, the America COMPETES Act by a vote of 222-210. The bill is aimed at improving the United States’ ability to compete with China.  It is a wide-sweeping bill that includes several provisions that GCCA supports such as the Ocean Shipping Reform Act.  GCCA also worked with coalition partners to support Representative Angie Craig’s (D-MN) amendment, which directs the newly created position of the Assistant Secretary for Supply Chain Resilience and Crisis Response to consult with the Secretary of Agriculture and evaluate the stability of the Agriculture and Food System supply chain, and to provide a report to Congress on vulnerabilities in this supply chain and ways to address those vulnerabilities.

Unfortunately, there are also some provisions in the bill that are of great concern to GCCA.  For example, the bill contains provisions related to “card check” and mandatory arbitration of collective bargaining agreements. The card check provision would increase the instances under which the government could impose union representation despite employees voting against such representation in a secret ballot election. Card checks should not be a substitute for a secret ballot election. This proposed process would be a public one, that is inherently susceptible to coercion, since union organizers can present employees with cards to sign in front of coworkers. Organizers are then free to share with employees who has or has not signed cards, which exposes workers to intimidation and possibly harassment. While there are some positive provisions in the bill, it is critical that the card check and arbitration provisions be removed prior to finalization of the legislation.

The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration, and we encourage GCCA members to contact their Senators and let them know you oppose the card check and mandatory arbitration of collective bargaining agreements provisions!

If you have not done so already, please take action and contact your Senators HERE.

Read our letter of support on Representative Angie Craig’s (D-MN) amendment HERE.