This week’s #ThrowbackThursday discusses how a president can influence worker power. Featuring three posts written by Burnes Center Senior Fellow Seth Harris, a former top labor policy advisor to President Joe Biden, this post analyzes the role of the White House when it comes to worker organizing and collective action.
Real Union Membership Growth In the Federal Government (posted March 21, 2023)
President Biden’s Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, which is led by Vice-President Harris, announced that the number of federal employees who are union members had increased by 80,000 from September 2021 to September 2022. This represents an 8% increase in the number of union members in the federal sector according to public information. Apparently using non-public information, the White House claims that this increase amounts to a whopping 20% increase. This union membership growth begs some questions. This post presents those questions and some answers.
Faithfully Executing the Laws by Empowering Workers (posted May 15, 2023)
The President does not make laws regarding worker organizing and collective bargaining. The Constitution delegates that responsibility to Congress. In turn, Congress delegated the administration of private-sector labor law to the National Labor Relations Board. The Supreme Court subsequently built a fortress called “preemption” around the NLRB’s jurisdiction and Congress’ authority. With only limited exceptions, efforts by the states or the President to regulate within the labor relations fortress are preempted and, therefore, void. This post explains how a president can avoid preemption and encourage worker organizing.
The White House Will Not Intervene in These Strikes (posted July 24, 2023)
Presidents in the modern era very rarely intervene in private-sector labor disputes. When Seth Harris hears "intervene," he understands it to mean the President taking some governmental action that would change the course of a negotiation, strike, or lockout. Yet, private-sector collective bargaining is a system for private dispute resolution between private parties. The government doesn't and typically shouldn't have a role, and that includes presidents. That's why this post explains that the White House would not intervene in labor disputes and negotiations underway at the time.
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