The White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment released its long-awaited report of recommendations to tee up regulations and other mandates to increase union density and empower worker organizing. Although the report contains nearly 70 recommendations, few, if any, present immediate concerns for most private sector employers.
However, three areas that may be of particular interest for federal contractors include:
- Increased persuader activity disclosures: Employers would be required to disclose whether they are federal contractors and whether persuader activity (i.e., activities to persuade employees regarding the exercise of their rights to organize and bargain collectively) relates to employees working on or in connection with a federal contract.
- Attaching labor standards to federal grants and funding: Government agencies would attach labor standards – such as job-quality elements, union density preferences, and/or American-made goods preferences – to federal grants and loans. The recommendations do not provide many specifics as to what such “labor standards” might look like. The recommendations also include requiring compensation plans for blue collar workers on federal service contracts.
- Increasing access for union organizers to federal contractor workplaces: The GSA would make it clear that organizing and collective bargaining among employees of contractors in federal government facilities are not restricted by the general prohibition on solicitation and distribution.
Focus remains on NLRB: The smaller impact of the Task Force report highlights the relatively limited ability of the President to impose labor law reforms on private sector employers. Instead, the National Labor Relations Board will continue to be the key agent of change regarding federal labor law and policy, and private employers should watch it closely. The Board has already moved swiftly to issue labor law changes that could have significant impacts on all private employers, regardless of whether their employees are unionized.
Outlook: The report shows a clear commitment from the Biden administration to use all available authority to increase union density. Several components of the report encourage continuation or an uptick of efforts already underway, such as DOL’s crack down on misclassification of independent contractors (see separate story). Further, the Task Force will submit a supplemental report in six months, which could contain additional and more substantial recommendations that may have a larger impact on private sector employers. One significant omission from this report is expansive use of federal contracting authority to impact the labor relations of federal contractors.
