Biden Signs Executive Order for Workers’ Rights

In the latest effort to cement his pro-labor legacy before leaving the White House, President Joe Biden signed an executive order surrounded by union presidents in Ann Arbor to bolster workplace conditions for jobs supported by a slate of federal clean energy and manufacturing investments.

The "Executive Order on Investing in America and Investing in American Workers" — nicknamed the "Good Jobs EO" — directs federal agencies overseeing new programs to onshore manufacturing, make infrastructure upgrades and promote clean energy to adopt new labor standards in administering federal grants, according to a summary of the order provided in a White House news release.

"My vision has always been to grow our economy from the middle out and bottom up instead of the top down," Biden said during remarks at the UA Local 190's Job Training Center, where apprentices receive on the job training for careers in the plumbing and mechanical construction industry. Biden was introduced by one of the apprentices and was greeted by loud "Thank you, Joe" chants from the crowd. Biden said it was great to be in the "proud union state of Michigan" as he stood under blue banners reading, "Good Jobs" and "Better Pay."

Among its components, the order directs agencies to secure commitments to voluntarily recognize unions for federally funded projects as one way to make it easier for workers to collectively bargain. It also orders agencies to consider favoring projects that provide workers with paid leave, retirement and other benefits, the White House release states. Biden described it as a "groundbreaking" order.

Biden's visit to battleground Michigan comes as his Vice President Kamala Harris enters into the final stretch of her presidential campaign against her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump.