Biden is pro-union, not pro-worker

The last thing hardworking men and women in the construction industry should be facing is more union coercion — but that’s precisely what they’ve received in President Biden’s latest Executive Order. Mandating the use of project labor agreements (PLAs) on any federal construction project which costs more than $35 million disenfranchises the majority of hardworking men and women in the construction industry who choose not to join a union.

Overregulation never begets efficiency, but this administration and its allies are mistakenly operating under the assumption that it does. Rather than streamline the logistics of federal projects, this order does the exact opposite. By requiring labor union participation on federal projects, Biden’s executive order allows unions to hold important federal projects hostage. PLAs virtually guarantee bureaucratic bloat and wasted taxpayer dollars.

When President Biden pledged to be “the most pro-union president leading the most pro-union administration” on the campaign trail, he meant it. Union bosses have a tight hold on President Biden — with no plans of letting go. In fact, his presidency is almost entirely dependent on pleasing them.

President Biden seems oblivious to the fact that supporting overzealous union bosses isn’t the same as supporting workers. According to the Associated Builders and Contractors, his executive order would significantly raise construction costs and exclude non-unionized construction workers.

Democrats’ Big Labor policies allow union bosses to seize political influence and ultimately implement policies that harm America’s workforce. 

Conveniently, this order comes days before Biden’s union task force issued a list of recommendations to force more workers into a union. This report and the recent PLA executive order spit in the face of workers who have chosen not to join a union. It also comes on the heels of an onslaught of pro-union efforts from the left. Democrats’ PRO Act, which passed the House in March 2021, would overturn Right to Work laws in every state and mandate California’s ABC test nationwide, further limiting the economic opportunities of millions of Americans.

Moreover, in December 2021, the Biden Department of Labor lifted rules requiring unions to report their spending and finances. After the United Autoworkers Union was found embezzling workers’ dues, Biden’s blessing makes it harder to hold unions accountable for wasting — and stealing — workers’ hard-earned wages.

Union affiliation should never be the precursor to accessing federal projects or economic opportunity. Yet Biden’s executive order rewards special interests and effectively shuts out 87 percent of construction workers who choose not to belong to a union, regardless of whether unionization is the best option for them. In deference to his union potentates, President Biden signed an order which discriminates against the vast majority of construction workers and brings American infrastructure improvement to a crawl.

Biden has proven himself to be the most anti-worker president.

Virginia Foxx is Education and Labor Committee Republican leader.