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Biden responsible for American resurgence of unions: Biden’s NLRB Brings Workers’ Rights Back From the Dead (prospect.org)

submitted 9 months ago by DarkGamer@kbin.social to c/politics@lemmy.world

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The National Labor Relations Board released its most important ruling in many decades. In a party-line decision in Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, LLC, the Board ruled that when a majority of a company’s employees file union affiliation cards, the employer can either voluntarily recognize their union or, if not, ask the Board to run a union recognition election. If, in the run-up to or during that election, the employer commits an unfair labor practice, such as illegally firing pro-union workers (which has become routine in nearly every such election over the past 40 years, as the penalties have been negligible), the Board will order the employer to recognize the union and enter forthwith into bargaining.

The Cemex decision was preceded by another, one day earlier, in which the Board, also along party lines, set out rules for representation elections which required them to be held promptly after the Board had been asked to conduct them, curtailing employers’ ability to delay them, often indefinitely.

Taken together, this one-two punch effectively makes union organizing possible again, after decades in which unpunished employer illegality was the most decisive factor in reducing the nation’s rate of private-sector unionization from roughly 35 percent to the bare 6 percent at which it stands today.

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[-] rockSlayer@lemmy.world 62 points 9 months ago

Biden helped. The workers did all the fighting and organizing.

[-] DarkGamer@kbin.social 39 points 8 months ago

Biden's appointments to the NLRB changed the rules so that businesses can't just delay, close stores, and fire organizers when they try to unionize. These rulings are related to unions being more bold lately.

[-] chuckleslord@lemmy.world 15 points 8 months ago

Those rule changes were made AFTER a lot of growing union attempts started growing. It's mostly labor wins, with Biden Admin making those wins easier to protect/achieve.

[+] givesomefucks@lemmy.world -8 points 9 months ago

Biden helped as much as Clinton did with the dotcom boom...

People want to give credit to Biden for everything that happens, but also say that he's just a president and can't do anything.

[-] Cornelius_Wangenheim@lemmy.world 24 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

The current rebirth would be stillborn if it had to go up against a hostile NLRB.

[-] DarkGamer@kbin.social 16 points 8 months ago

How to tell us you didn't read the article without telling us you didn't read the article.

[-] krellor@kbin.social 14 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I mean, there are things the president can directly influence as head of the executive and things he can't. Blaming Biden for the failed student loan forgiveness is ignorant of the limits of the office, or for the overturning of RoeVwade. At the same time, he directed the HHS to make abortion pills widely available through the mail, and worked through the department of education to find traunches of loans that could be forgiven. In the case of unions, on the one hand he killed the railroad strike, but also facilitated contracts to get the workers sick days, etc in the following months of negotiations. There is plenty of legitimate criticism you could make of Biden, but we should also recognize the good as well.

[-] Lasherz12@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago

This is one of Biden's strongest leftist positions, you should probably look into it to avoid looking partisan. Not only did he help change the direction of the NLRB, he's spoken stronger than anyone in the know expected for Unions. Presidents don't ever take sides with workers as directly as he has.

There's plenty of bad positions of his but this ain't it.

[-] Eldritch@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago

The Clinton administration was essential to the arpanet becoming the internet. So you're not wrong, but only in an ironic sense.

[-] vynlwombat@lemmy.world -1 points 9 months ago

[-] RandomPancake@lemmy.world 42 points 9 months ago

Everyone should have the right to organize. Unions are why most of our labor laws, including pesky things like overtime and workplace safety, exist.

It doesn't really matter what someone's personal thoughts are on the subject. Don't like unions? Don't join one. I know the common response to this is "but what if I'm management and I have to deal with a labor contract", and honestly, that's why you get the big bucks. I'm management. I deal with a labor contract. It's far from the worst thing I have to contend with.

[-] Jaysyn@kbin.social 15 points 9 months ago

Unions are why most of our labor laws, including pesky things like overtime and workplace safety, exist.

GOP: Hold my beer!

[-] banneryear1868@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

Should overturn Taft-Hartley

[-] DarkGamer@kbin.social -1 points 8 months ago

Agreed, provided he has the votes.

[-] DarkGamer@kbin.social 25 points 9 months ago

It's from August but still very relevant, as it seems many people are not aware of this huge accomplishment. Too many are complaining on Lemmy about Biden being anti-union, despite him being the most pro-union president in my lifetime.

[-] speff@disc.0x-ia.moe 23 points 9 months ago

It's easier to tear things down / trash talk things rather than advertise accomplishments / build something. That's why the R agenda of the govt doing nothing can be fulfilled by just having either the House, Senate, or Presidency, but the Ds need all three to do anything meaningful.

The same concept goes for Biden's accomplishments. It's easier / more palatable to go with the status quo and say lol milquetoast, all of them are the same, too old than actually make people care about what he did do. It takes multiple sentences to explain his positives (like what actually happened with the rail strike) and just a few words to call him useless and dismiss the conversation entirely.

this post was submitted on 21 Dec 2023

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