What Biden’s Worker Organizing Task Force Could Mean for Employers
Date Posted: June 1, 2021
Posted In: Discussion, News,
From Waste Dive: On April 26, President Joe Biden signed an executive order spelling out his administration’s goal of encouraging collective bargaining and other forms of worker organizing, following up on several campaign statements in support of organized labor.
Among other things, the order established the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment. Chaired by Vice President Kamala Harris and staffed by cabinet members, agency heads and various administration leaders, the task force “shall identify executive branch policies, practices, and programs that could be used, consistent with applicable law, to promote my Administration’s policy of support for worker power, worker organizing, and collective bargaining,” Biden said.
The group’s recommendations are due within 180 days of the order. While the task force does not have broad authority to dramatically change work organizing in the private sector, its report is likely to be read “very closely” by the future general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, said Jim Paretti, shareholder at Littler Mendelson.
While the news may not dramatically impact employers in the short term, it could help them to understand the Biden administration’s workforce goals and objectives.
The Protecting the Right to Organize Act, also known as the PRO Act, is a likely talking point for the group, Paretti said. The bill, which has passed the House, would expand certain legal definitions under the Fair Labor Standards Act and permit collective bargaining agreements to require all employees represented by the bargaining unit to pay union dues — potentially overriding state “right to work” laws.