Here’s what the Biden Administration has been doing for workers like you this summer
In Joe Biden’s youth, unions were a major source of support for the Democratic Party and vital to curbing economic inequality. Republicans had been trying to undermine that support and reinstitute trickle-down economics for years, dressing up “Reaganomics” as “supply-side economics.” They used “Federal Workers for Reagan” to further damage that union connection. In August 1981, Reagan fired 11,000 air traffic controllers who hadn’t broken the strike called by their union, PATCO. Reagan characterized the strikers as selfish lawbreakers who were screwing over regular Americans. Business owners capitalized on that concept, and in the 1980s many strikes were broken by employers who wanted workers to strike so they could fire them and replace them with non-union workers.
The successful union busting of the 1980s made Clinton seek other big donors, which created a schism in the Democratic party that persisted for years. The big donors also supported the globalization of manufacturing, “just in time” production in which corporations sought out the cheapest labor overseas and shipped those products back to the USA. Biden knew that the US economy is consumer driven, so building our economy from the bottom up and sides out would be most successful. He saw the supply-chain disruptions of the pandemic as an opportunity to prove that again and made manufacturing more in America a key to Bidenomics. He has proven that to the whole world with our economic success: the lowest sustained unemployment rate since the 1960s, with wages rising and good new jobs upgrading the infrastructure in all fifty states going on right now.
The Biden-Harris administration has continued its focus on the needs of workers this summer, steadily reported on the Department of Labor’s (DOL) press releases page and the news page of the Occupational and Health Administration (OSHA):
Keeping workers safe on the job
Department of Labor announces settlement with Dollar General requiring corporate-wide safety investments in stores nationwide, DOL, 7/11/2024
Biden-Harris administration announces proposed rule to protect indoor, outdoor workers from extreme heat, OSHA, 7/02/2024
Department of Labor announces $12.7M funding opportunity to support delivery of employee safety, health training, education, OSHA, 6/27/2024
Growing the workforce
Biden-Harris administration awards over $244M to modernize, diversify, expand Registered Apprenticeships in growing industries , DOL, 7/11/2024
US Department of Labor awards more than $39M in grants to expand, diversify state Registered Apprenticeship programs, DOL, 7/10/2024
US Department of Labor announces 8 additions to program to deliver employment assistance to transitioning service members, spouses, DOL, 6/26/2024
Ensuring workers are paid fairly
DOL Recovers More Than $71K for 3 Workers Denied OT Pay at a Sonoma County Restaurant, DOL, 7/12/2024
US Department of Labor recovers $45K in back wages, damages for 14 workers denied overtime pay by Walnut Creek restaurant, DOL, 7/11/2024
US Department of Labor recovers $555K for more than 2,500 Intuit employees after software provider’s recordkeeping errors denied overtime wages , San Jose, 7/02/2024
Arakelian Enterprises (San Francisco) will pay $104K to resolve alleged hiring discrimination , DOL, 6/04/2024