Pres. Biden Forms Pro-Union Task Force Headed by Kamala Harris
As part of a broader push to strengthen unions after years of declining membership, President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Monday that creates a task force to promote labor organizing.
Based on the order, it will direct the task force to propose new ways of using the policies and programs of the federal government to organize and successfully bargain with employers.
The order of the President came as unions remain to struggle in maintaining their size and power. For decades, membership has been declining. In 2020, about 10.8 percent of U.S. workers belonged to a union, down from over 30 percent in the 1950s.
According to the Boston Globe, Biden set up the task force to be headed by Vice President Kamala Harris alongside Labor Secretary Martin Walsh. It includes much of Biden's cabinet and top economic and domestic policy advisers.
In a span of 180 days, the task force will have to generate recommendations for encouraging worker organizing and determining whether new policies might be needed.
To do this, the panel will have to meet with labor groups, academics, and others to know their concerns and recommendations.
The White House bills it as the most "comprehensive approach" by any administration in determining how the executive branch can advance worker organizing and collective bargaining.
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In February, Biden took the unusual step of recording a video encouraging workers at an Amazon plant in Alabama to vote in a union drive there. The said vote resulted in workers voting against unionizing.
The Biden administration has supported Protecting the Rights to Organize Act. It is a bill that brings additional protections to the rights of employees in organizing and bargaining collectively.
Most Senate Democrats have signed on to the bill, but three holdouts remain. It is still short of the 60 votes needed to clear a filibuster. Bloomberg reported that most lawmakers under the Republican party oppose it, the same with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other major corporate groups.
Kamala Harris on Addressing Root Causes of Migration
After the president appointed Kamala Harris as a point person to address the root causes of migration from the Northern Triangle, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki emphasized that the vice president's focus is not on the border but on a diplomatic level.
Psaki issued the statement after being asked in an interview on Monday about Harris' recent remarks that she had not made any migrant crisis-related trips due to coronavirus risks.
Psaki said that Kamala Harris works in addressing the root causes of migration from the Northern Triangle, Fox News reported.
Psaki noted that this was why most of the vice president's time had been spent working on the diplomatic level. Kamala Harris had a virtual bilateral meeting with the President of Guatemala on Monday.
On May 7, she will meet virtually with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to discuss migration.
WATCH: White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki Holds Press Briefing - From Yahoo Finance
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