POLITICS
Biden Talks Pro-Worker, Pro-Union Policies At Labor Day Event in Philadelphia
Courtesy of @joebiden via Instagram
President Joe Biden visited Philadelphia on Monday to speak to union workers in celebration of Labor Day.
Speaking to the audience at the Tri-State Labor Day event at the Sheet Metal Workers Local 19 office in South Philadelphia, Biden said he is “proud to be the most pro-union president,” and touted his administration’s pro-worker policies, along with the effects of “Bidenomics.”
Among those policies, the Department of Labor last week proposed a new rule that would extend overtime protections to salaried workers making up to $55,000 per year, increasing the cutoff from its current level of $35,568.
While hourly workers are required to receive time-and-a-half overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours a week, most salaried workers are not. According to the agency, the rule change would affect some 3.6 million workers.
Other newly announced actions include proposed rules around incentives that support well-paid construction jobs in the clean energy sector under the Inflation Reduction Act, and pathways into construction careers.
Last month, the Department of Labor updated the Davis-Bacon Act for the first time in nearly 40 years, raising wages for more than 1 million construction workers on federally funded or assisted projects.
According to the White House, the Biden–Harris Administration is also responsible for recovering more than $690 million for nearly half a million low-paid workers in wage-theft enforcements.
To protect unions and workers hoping to unionize, the Department of Labor in July published a new regulation requiring employers to disclose when they hire anti-union consultants to persuade workers against unionizing or surveil workers and unions involved in labor disputes. Employers must also disclose whether they are federal contractors or subcontractors.
The Labor Day holiday falls against a backdrop of high-profile Hollywood strikes by writers, represented by the Writers Guild of America, and actors, represented by SAG-AFTRA, and a looming strike by auto workers represented by the UAW.
“While Biden has been in office we have seen a record number of filings for union organizing drives throughout the country, in addition to new protections for workers that have been put into place by the National Labor Relations Board,” said employee and labor relations consultant Jason Greer, co-author of “Bias, Racism and the Brain.”
“For as much flack as President Biden catches for ‘not doing enough for organized labor’, it is hard to argue against his solid pro-union policies,” Greer said.
“Worker rights and fair pay will continue to be front and center as the future of work unfolds — particularly as the presence of artificial intelligence increases in blue- and white-collar work,” said futurist and entrepreneur Elatia Abate, creator of The Future of Now podcast.
“We’re seeing this with the ongoing strikes of SAG-AFTRA and the Writer’s Guild. Shaping national policy for this impact before it spreads further is of critical importance,” Abate said.
Biden also touted overseeing “one of the greatest job creation periods in American history,” with more than 13 million jobs created since beginning his term.
“The guy who held this job before me was just one of two presidents in history … who left office with fewer jobs in America than when he got elected,” Biden said, referring to former President Donald Trump. The other was Herbert Hoover, who held office during the Great Depression.
The Labor Department in its latest jobs report said the economy added 187,000 jobs in August, with the pace of hiring slowing less than expected given the Federal Reserve’s series of interest-rate hikes over the past 18 months.
TMX contributed to this article.
