The White House has meanwhile undertaken a legal inquiry to ensure that any statement is in line with the president’s commitment to maintaining the independence of the National Labor Relations Council. Officials would not say when the investigation was completed. But Klain privately indicated last week that he wanted to see the president in a video message. The outside pressure for Biden to get involved only increased from there.
Finally, late Sunday, the president released the 2-minute video. While omitting the name of the mighty giant for e-commerce, his remarks are seen as an unmistakable proof of solidarity with a labor movement that could not secure something similar from its recent predecessors.
“This is the most pro-union statement of a president in American history,” Stuart Appelbaum, president of Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, told POLITICO. “The workers understand who he was talking to. This is a clear message and is interpreted by employees, observers and the media as such. ”
Pronunciation is one thing. The reversal of reality around the demise of organized labor is quite another. After decades of steady decline in union membership, the workforce in Washington has declined significantly. Biden’s refusal to name Amazon, a powerful company that contributed to its inauguration and promised to help its government fight the Covid-19 pandemic, did not go unnoticed by Democrats and labor activists.
Union officials said they believed the failure was intentional. By not explicitly telling workers to vote ‘yes’ to the union, the leaders argue that Biden promotes the ideals of the National Labor Relations Act by letting workers decide for themselves whether or not they want to join a union.
“Biden fights for workers, he does not fight against a specific company,” sen said. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said in an interview. Brown said it was clear that Biden’s statement was aimed at the Alabama election. Amazon managers understand this. Managers in my state understand. I always come on the side of the workers and Biden’s reputation is increasingly that he comes on the side of the workers. ”
It is unclear how much pull the Biden video will have for undecided workers at the Amazon plant. Biden’s remarks came more than halfway through the seven-week election to determine whether workers should be represented by the RWDSU, raising concerns by people close to the process about how much the president will be able to move the needle. There is also the issue that Alabama is a right to a workforce, which means that even if the Amazon union is successful, workers at the Bessemer Fulfillment Center can sign up for membership, which can effectively weaken the union being created.
“Many workers voted,” remarked Chelsea Connor, director of communications for the warehouse union. “For workers, their focus right now is to get all their colleagues to vote.”
Appelbaum, the president of the RWDSU, added that many of those who have not yet voted are probably still undecided. “Now we are building support throughout the facility,” he said. “People will be emailing ballots over the next four weeks.”
Biden’s decision to wave in public on behalf of a trade union, especially at a time when the private sector is facing difficulties, is difficult to occupy its ranks, showed a major shift in the way in which presidential governments have addressed labor policy.
Labor historians believe that the last time a president showed so much support for a union was in 1944, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered that the properties of Montgomery Ward be seized after the trade giant repeatedly refused to abide by labor agreements that mediated with the RWDSU. Before a federal judge could decide on the legality of the move, the union completed its election and employees went back to work.
During the Obama years, meanwhile, the president has regularly disappointed union activists by fending off major fighting, even after promising to follow a candidate. Biden made similar promises along the way, but he indicated he intends to remain more loyal to them while in office.
“It’s different for a president. But it’s consistent for Joe Biden, ”said Faiz Shakir, a former top assistant to Senator Bernie Sanders and founder of More Perfect Union, which helped with the Amazon association effort and was in communication with the White House. “It was a wonderful opportunity for him and the first important step to speak.”
Rep. Andy Levin (D-Mich.), One of the first officials to approach Biden’s team across Alabama, said he encouraged advisers to “understand the seriousness of the moment.” Trade union elections with about 6,000 workers are becoming increasingly rare, in part because workers do not have the protection that Levin demanded in Congress.
“If these workers can get it right, it’s going to be the 21st century David and Goliath in American labor relations,” said Levin, who has been strongly critical of Amazon’s tactics and plans to travel to Alabama this week to support them. the workers. “We have never seen a president like this. Just forget that I’m a member of Congress, ”adds Levin, a former AFL CIO official and one-time member of labor law reform bill Bill Clinton. “I’m really moved by it.”
Amazon did not respond to a request for comment on this story.
Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants Union, said even if Biden’s message does not show the scale in the election, it still changes ‘everything’.
‘This post was not just about Bessemer, but also not just about this one Amazon store. “It was all about workers’ rights,” Nelson said. She added that Biden, by advertising the benefits of joining a union, is also building support for its labor agenda – which calls for a broad overhaul of federal labor laws that will make it much easier for workers to form unions.
And AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is using the president’s new message to advocate for the speedy passage of the Right to Organize Protection Act. If passed, the measure would be the first bill to review labor rights since the Taft-Hartley amendments of 1947 to the National Labor Relations Act, which banned some organizational tactics and allowed states to institute legislation. The new bill will, among other things, extend collective bargaining rights to performance workers, overthrow the right to work legislation and enable the federal labor council to impose fines on businesses that violate federal labor law. Biden, Trumka wrote in a statement Monday, ‘proved that he is willing to talk to us and stand by us. It is now time to follow words with action. ”
The mere fact that Biden’s statement came as a video was also not a small thing for unions who prefer the format as a tool to provide support among the House of Commons. Indeed, outside allies used videos to reach the workers, including targeted digital ads in Bessemer with Sanders.
Biden’s move could allay fears that the Democratic Party will lose contact with blue-collar workers, particularly in the area of trade and immigration. He promised to find a way to pass the $ 15 minimum wage, and also supported the Pro Act, the long list of trade union priorities strongly opposed by businessmen and Republicans.
While labor leaders hope his remarks are good for the bill, they also say it is refreshing to have only a president who is comfortable speaking their language. On a recent visit to the Oval Office, Brown said he stopped Biden from giving him a message.
“I said, ‘I really appreciate it,'” Brown told Biden. As a candidate and as president, he uses the word ‘union’. Many candidates have not done so yet. Most presidents have not done so yet. ”