How do the Candidates for President of the United States Support Workers and their Unions?
JOBS AND WAGES
Wages: The Biden-Harris administration modernized the federal prevailing wage law, the Davis-Bacon Act, to increase wages for workers, making it easier to update wage scales, and enforce prevailing wage requirements. It will help prevent low-road companies from winning bids by exploiting workers.
Infrastructure: The Biden-Harris administration enacted the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). The IIJA is a once-in-a-generation investment in our nation’s infrastructure; providing much needed resources to help address critical infrastructure needs, including roads, bridges, railroads, airports, public transit, and water systems. The IIJA will improve economic productivity and create more than two million jobs over the next decade. In addition, thanks to the strong labor protections included in the law, most of those jobs will be career-sustaining, union jobs.
Project Labor Agreements: The Biden-Harris administration issued an Executive Order requiring that all federal projects over $35 million be done using Project Labor Agreements (PLAs). PLAs require the payment of union wages and benefits on projects. This Executive Order has resulted in the most federal PLAs in history.
RETIREMENT SECURITY
As vice president in 2021, Kamala Harris cast the tiebreaking vote to save more than 1 million union members’ pensions by passing the Butch Lewis Act as part of the American Rescue Plan. Her vote prevented massive cuts to the pensions of 1 million workers and retirees, including thousands of BAC members, to ensure they wouldn’t face poverty in retirement through no fault of their own.
JOB SITE HEALTH & SAFETY
The Biden-Harris administration increased the number of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspectors by 11% over the Trump administration and increased the number of worksite inspections by 31%. Under the Biden-Harris administration, OSHA also announced an extreme heat rule to address some of the most basic needs for workers’ health and safety including water, shade, and rest breaks.
UNION RIGHTS
The Biden-Harris administration appointed the most pro-union National Labor Relations Board—the agency responsible for protecting workers’ organizing and bargaining rights—in history. For the first time in decades, organizing was made easier for workers. The Board has gone after illegal, corporate union-busting and made it easier for workers to organize new unions. This led to the largest one-year increase in union victories on record.
Vice President Harris has committed to sign the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act into law if/when Congress passes it. The PRO Act is a landmark labor bill that would end union-busting “right to work” laws and make it easier for workers to form unions and win strong contracts.
TRAINING / APPRENTICESHIPS
The Biden-Harris administration has invested $730 million to expand, modernize and diversify the use of Registered Apprenticeships to create and strengthen career pathways for all workers to obtain good jobs with competitive wages.
JOBS AND WAGES
Wages: The Trump administration failed to effectively enforce prevailing wage requirements and allowed the number of investigators enforcing Davis-Bacon to fall to record lows. Trump’s Project 2025 agenda proposes to repeal Davis-Bacon and gut protection for all construction workers.
The Trump administration’s overtime rule left many workers without needed protections. As this issue was being finalized for press, Donald Trump boasted to a campaign rally in Erie, PA that he “hated” overtime pay, and that in the past he “wouldn’t pay” overtime to his workers.
Infrastructure: For the Trump administration it was all talk and no action when it came to doing anything to address the long and growing backlog of much needed infrastructure investment. Trump promised to invest in infrastructure, but after four years all we ever got was a PR sound bite of “infrastructure week.” Project Labor Agreements: The Trump administration ignored the rights of workers and refused to fight for any standards on federal construction projects. As a result, there were exactly zero federal PLAs during the Trump administration. Trump’s Project 2025 Agenda would eliminate PLAs.
RETIREMENT SECURITY
When President, Trump was well aware of the multi-employer pension crisis, and even promised to fix it. Not only did he not fix the problem, but the measures that he and his allies proposed would not have made the plans solvent. Even worse, the Trump plan would have put even the most well-funded pension plans in jeopardy.
JOB SITE HEALTH & SAFETY
Under the Trump administration, workplace safety was such a low priority that they never even named a director of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. They also let the number of inspectors drop to historic lows.
UNION RIGHTS
Trump appointed union-busters to the NLRB, and they did everything in their power to weaken the rights of workers to collectively bargain and form unions. Among other things, Trump’s NLRB made it harder for unions to win elections, allowed forced arbitration, and made it easier for employers to make contract changes without negotiating with unions. Trump has said he would veto the PRO Act if passed by Congress. His opposition to workers and their unions is well documented, such as his recent conversation with Elon Musk where he complemented Musk for firing his Space X workers for exercising their right to strike. Trump said: “they go on strike, and you say, ‘That’s OK. You’re all gone.’”
TRAINING / APPRENTICESHIPS
The Trump administration introduced IRAPs, Industry Recognized Apprenticeship Programs. While building trades unions successfully fought off IRAPs in the construction industry, their introduction threatened to undercut our established apprenticeship programs across the country and allow the nonunion sector to abuse and underpay their workers in the guise of training.