Biden signs labor order as both parties fight for union votes
Megan Engle | Sept. 12, 2024
President Joe Biden signed the “Good Jobs” executive order and met with union members in the battleground state of Michigan on Sept. 6. With less than 50 days until the election, both parties remain focused on wooing over union voters.
The executive order represents the Biden-Harris administration’s latest effort to strengthen labor protections, expand workforce development programs, and support unions. In 2022, Biden signed an executive order calling for federal agencies to adopt higher labor standards and enhance union protections for construction workers involved in government-funded projects. The latest order extends those standards and protections to all federally contracted workers. It also calls for the creation of a new White House task force to oversee policy development and implementation.
“Wall Street did not build America. The middle class built America,” Biden said before signing the order at UA Local 190’s Job Training Center in Ann Arbor. “Labor and unions built the middle class.”
The order comes as both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump vie for union support. Accounting for one in five swing state voters, union workers hold substantial sway in battleground states. With current polls showing razor-thin margins in Midwestern swing states, union votes could be crucial in determining who wins this November.
Currently, more than a dozen unions have endorsed Harris, according to The Hill. Explaining their decision, union leadership has drawn stark contrasts between Harris’ and Trump’s economic records.
“In 2024, we’ve got a choice. We can put a billionaire back in office and let him and his buddies get even richer. Or we can elect somebody who’s ready to stand with us. Somebody who’s walked a picket line,” said president of the UAW Shawn Fain in the union’s endorsement announcement.
While union leadership has overwhelmingly lined up behind Harris, a growing share of rank-and-file members are supporting Trump, according to a recent Gallup poll. The Teamsters, an influential union that decided not to endorse either candidate this election, recently released internal polls showing nearly 6 in 10 of its members support Trump.
“[Union members] want President Trump back in the White House. These hardworking men and women are the backbone of America and President Trump will strongly stand up for them when he’s back in the White House," Karoline Leavitt, a national press secretary for the Trump campaign, said in a statement following the release of the Teamsters’ poll.
The growing divide between union leadership and rank-and-file members could shape the outcome of this election.
