Making Promises, and Keeping ThemOn the campaign trail and throughout his presidency, Joe Biden has promised to be the most pro-union, pro-worker president in history. As President Biden celebrates his first year in office, his actions are matching his words.
“President Biden has taken significant and historic steps to promote, protect, and enhance the rights of working people,including IBEW members,”President Stephenson said in a statement citing a long list of first-year accomplishments: |
Recommending EVITP in EV Charging BuildoutIn guidance released on Feb. 10, the Federal Highway Administration suggested the use of the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program (EVITP) in its implementation of the electric vehicle charging infrastructure build out.
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Mandating PLAs on Federal Construction ProjectsPresident Biden on Feb. 4 issued an Executive Order requiring project labor agreements (PLAs) on large-scale federal construction projects.
“When big construction projects are completed efficiently and with the highest degree of professionalism, it’s good for the American taxpayer,” |
Underscoring the Importance of Public Works ProjectsPresident Biden was already slated to visit Pittsburgh on Jan. 28, when a 50-year-old bridge near the speech venue picked that day to give way, collapsing under its weight and injuring several people on it at the time.
Luckily none of the injuries were serious and no one was killed. But the tragedy horrifically
emphasized the message of the day: the urgency of accomplishing all of those long-deferred infrastructure projects.
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Leveraging the Federal Government to Grow UnionsA task force created by President Biden in the early days of his administration to promote worker organizing and collective bargaining has produced a report with nearly 70 recommendations.
“The Biden-Harris Administration believes that increasing worker organizing and empowerment is critical to growing the middle class, building an economy that puts workers first, and strengthening our democracy,” the report says.
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Adding Chops to Toothless Labor LawsNational Labor Relations Board general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo announced an effort to pursue employers in court for engaging in illegal anti-union retaliation.
The memorandum released on Feb. 1 seeks injunctions to stop coercion in its tracks – before ongoing employer harassment has the potential to intimidate the entire workforce and stop a nascent organizing effort.
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Advocating for Democratic Reforms with New Senate RulesIBEW President Lonnie Stephenson is rallying members to help protect the country from undemocratic forces in state legislatures and in the U.S. Congress seeking to limit voting rights. |
Pledging Pro-Worker Approach to Trade, Foreign PolicyAt a roundtable with union leaders, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged that new trade pacts and related foreign policy will help American workers.  |
Acting to Move Spent Nuclear Fuel to Permanent LocationsThe Biden administration is taking a new approach to the tons of spent nuclear fuel temporarily housed at nuclear plants across the country. The Department of Energy has announced a search for willing communities to store the nuclear waste after abandoning the decades-long effort to designate Nevada’s Yucca Mountain as a repository following local opposition. |
Assisting Coal and Power Plant CommunitiesAs part of the Biden administration’s ongoing commitment to energy workers, an online system has been launched to match $45 billion in investment opportunities with local economic revitalization programs. |
Ordering the Federal Government to Go GreenPresident Biden signed an executive order requiring the federal government to reduce emissions from its buildings, vehicles and operations. With it, the administration seeks to transform how the government builds, purchases and operates while supporting the growth of the domestic clean energy and clean technology industries. |
IBEW Members At White House For Infrastructure Bill SigningWitnessing History: With the stroke of the pen, alongside more than 10 IBEW members and a bipartisan group of lawmakers at the White House on Nov. 15, President Biden made official one of the biggest infrastructure investments in U.S. history.  |
‘He's Scranton’: IBEW Member Meets President Biden In Childhood HometownPresident Biden appeared at the Electric City Trolley Museum in Scranton on October 20 to promote his domestic agenda and the hundreds of thousands of jobs that will be created to rebuild the nation’s degraded infrastructure.  |
BOOSTING THE POWER OF THE FEDERAL WORKFORCEIn a welcome reversal from past administrations’ attempts to stifle the power of unions in the federal sector, the Biden administration is actively encouraging more worker participation in collective bargaining |
FORMER MINE WORKERS OFFICIAL APPOINTED AS OSHA HEADAfter nearly five years without a confirmed leader, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is headed by worker safety advocate Doug Parker. |
PRESSING CONGRESS TO PASS THE BUILD BACK BETTER AGENDAHistoric and transformational change for America’s infrastructure and jobs is the order of the day on Capitol Hill as negotiators seek to construct legislation containing President Biden’s bold plan for America.  |