Sept. 6 (UPI) — President Joe Biden is traveling to Michigan Friday to sign what the White House said is a landmark pro-union labor standards Executive Order to give workers free and fair opportunities to join unions.
Friday Biden will sign his labor standards order at UA Local 190’s Job Training Center in Ann Arbor, meeting with union workers and apprentices the White House said have benefitted from Biden’s agenda.
“The Good Jobs EO promotes strong labor standards such as family sustaining wages, workplace safety, and the free and fair opportunity to join a union, and encourages agencies to implement these standards through their Investing in America programs.”
The labor standards EO will promote Project Labor Agreements which encourage voluntary union recognition and employer neutrality with respect to worker efforts to join unions.
It will promote worker economic security by directing federal agencies to prioritize “projects that supply the benefits that workers need-including child and dependent care to health insurance, paid leave, and retirement benefits.”
The order supports workforce development using registered apprenticeships, pre-apprenticeships, labor-management partnerships, and partnerships with training organizations including community colleges, public workforce boards, and the American Climate Corps.
Biden’s EO will support workplace safety by having agencies prioritize reporting structures that help ensure compliance with all workplace health and safety laws.
Friday’s signing event is part of a bigger tour across America to profile workers and communities the White House said are “reaping the rewards of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda.”
The White House statement Friday highlighted Biden’s strong pro-union stance, which included becoming the first sitting president to walk a union picket line in 2023 when Biden joined UAW workers in the Detroit area to support their strike.
Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign has said as president she will support the Protecting the Right to Organize, or PRO Act. The bill was passed by the Democrat-controlled House in 2021 but was opposed by Republicans with 205 GOP House members voting against it.
The bill would make significant upgrades in labor law to strengthen worker rights to freely join unions.
