AFT’s Weingarten on White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment

WASHINGTON—American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten issued the following statement after President Joe Biden launched a task force to empower workers to organize and successfully bargain with their employers.

“Workers know that labor unions are a ticket out of poverty and into the middle class, but all too often their freedom to organize and bargain has been thwarted. Today, President Biden is acting to remove the structural impediments to the power and promise of unions so workers can join together for a better life.

“Like Franklin Roosevelt, the president believes in the goals of the National Labor Relations Act, which not only permits collective bargaining but actively encourages it. This historic task force, by including senior officials from across the administration, shows just how committed the president and Vice President Kamala Harris are to mobilizing the full force of the federal government to propel organizing and worker activism.

“We look forward to working with the administration to identify opportunities within the current legal framework, as well as new policies and provisions workers need to get ahead, including the Protecting the Right to Organize Act. Workers finally have a champion in Washington, and today’s announcement couldn’t be timelier or more important.”