Worker Organizing and Empowerment, 22829-22832 [2021-09213]

Agencies

• Executive Office of the President

[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 81 (Thursday, April 29, 2021)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 22829-22832]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-09213]



[[Page 22827]]

Vol. 86

Thursday,

No. 81

April 29, 2021

Part III





The President





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Executive Order 14025--Worker Organizing and Empowerment


                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 86 , No. 81 / Thursday, April 29, 2021 / 
Presidential Documents

___________________________________________________________________

Title 3--
The President

[[Page 22829]]

                Executive Order 14025 of April 26, 2021

                
Worker Organizing and Empowerment

                By the authority vested in me as President by the 
                Constitution and the laws of the United States of 
                America, it is hereby ordered as follows:

                Section 1. Policy and Findings. The National Labor 
                Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 151) proclaims that the policy 
                of the United States is to encourage worker organizing 
                and collective bargaining and to promote equality of 
                bargaining power between employers and employees. In 
                the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute 
                (5 U.S.C. 7101(a)(1)), the Congress found that 
                ``experience in both private and public employment 
                indicates that the statutory protection of the right of 
                employees to organize, bargain collectively, and 
                participate through labor organizations of their own 
                choosing in decisions which affect them . . . 
                safeguards the public interest, . . . contributes to 
                the effective conduct of public business, and . . . 
                facilitates and encourages the amicable settlements of 
                disputes between employees and their employers 
                involving conditions of employment.''

                In the past few decades, the Federal Government has not 
                used its full authority to promote and implement this 
                policy of support for workers organizing unions and 
                bargaining collectively with their employers. During 
                this period, economic change in the United States and 
                globally, technological developments, and the failure 
                to modernize Federal organizing and labor-management 
                relations laws to respond appropriately to the reality 
                found in American workplaces, have made worker 
                organizing exceedingly difficult.

                The result has been a steady decline in union density 
                in the United States and the loss of worker power and 
                voice in workplaces and communities across the country. 
                This decline has had a host of negative consequences 
                for American workers and the economy, including 
                weakening and shrinking America's middle class. 
                Meanwhile, some workers have been excluded from 
                opportunities to organize unions and bargain 
                collectively with their employers by law or practice, 
                and so have never been able to build meaningful 
                economic power or have a voice in their workplaces.

                Confirming the policies declared in Federal labor laws, 
                substantial evidence shows that union membership 
                increases wages, the likelihood of receiving employer-
                provided benefits, and job security. Union membership 
                also gives workers the means to build the power to 
                ensure that their voices are heard in their workplaces, 
                their communities, and in the Nation.

                Therefore, it is the policy of my Administration to 
                encourage worker organizing and collective bargaining.

                Sec. 2. Task Force on Worker Organizing and 
                Empowerment. There is hereby established within the 
                Executive Office of the President the Task Force on 
                Worker Organizing and Empowerment (Task Force).

                    (a) The Vice President shall serve as Chair of the 
                Task Force. In addition to the Vice President, the Task 
                Force shall consist of the following officials or their 
                designees:

(i) the Secretary of Labor, who shall serve as Vice Chair of the Task 
Force;

(ii) the Secretary of the Treasury;

(iii) the Secretary of Defense;

(iv) the Secretary of the Interior;

[[Page 22830]]

(v) the Secretary of Agriculture;

(vi) the Secretary of Commerce;

(vii) the Secretary of Health and Human Services;

(viii) the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development;

(ix) the Secretary of Transportation;

(x) the Secretary of Energy;

(xi) the Secretary of Education;

(xii) the Secretary of Veterans Affairs;

(xiii) the Secretary of Homeland Security;

(xiv) the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency;

(xv) the Administrator of General Services;

(xvi) the Administrator of the Small Business Administration;

(xvii) the United States Trade Representative;

(xviii) the Director of the Office of Management and Budget;

(xix) the Director of the Office of Personnel Management;

(xx) the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers;

(xxi) the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy;

(xxii) the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy;

(xxiii) the Assistant to the President and National Climate Advisor; and

(xxiv) the heads of such other executive departments, agencies, and offices 
as the President may from time to time designate upon the recommendation of 
the Chair of the Task Force.

                    (b) The Task Force and its members shall identify 
                executive branch policies, practices, and programs that 
                could be used, consistent with applicable law, to 
                promote my Administration's policy of support for 
                worker power, worker organizing, and collective 
                bargaining. This identification shall include policies, 
                practices, and programs that could be used to promote 
                worker power in areas of the country with hostile labor 
                laws, for marginalized workers (including women and 
                persons of color) and hard-to-organize industries, and 
                in changing industries. The Task Force and its members 
                also shall identify statutory, regulatory, or other 
                changes that may be necessary to make policies, 
                practices, and programs more effective means of 
                supporting worker organizing and collective bargaining.
                    (c) The functions of the Task Force are advisory in 
                nature only; the purpose of the Task Force is to make 
                recommendations regarding changes to policies, 
                practices, programs, and other changes that would serve 
                the objectives of this order.
                    (d) The Task Force should invite the National Labor 
                Relations Board, the Federal Labor Relations Authority, 
                the National Mediation Board, and other executive 
                agencies, boards, and commissions with responsibility 
                for implementing laws concerning worker organizing and 
                collective bargaining to consult, as appropriate and 
                consistent with applicable law, with the Task Force.
                    (e) The Chair may establish such sub-committees or 
                other working groups composed of Task Force members or 
                their representatives as may be necessary to accomplish 
                the objectives of this order.

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                    (f) Consistent with the objectives of this order 
                and applicable law, the Task Force may gather relevant 
                information from labor organizations, other worker 
                advocates, academic and other experts, and other 
                entities and persons it identifies that will assist the 
                Task Force in accomplishing the objectives of this 
                order.
                    (g) The Task Force shall, within 180 days of the 
                date of this order, submit to the President 
                recommendations for actions as described in subsection 
                (b) of this section to promote worker organizing and 
                collective bargaining in the public and private 
                sectors, and to increase union density. The Task Force 
                may, at the Chair's discretion, recommend appropriate 
                or time-sensitive individual actions to promote worker 
                organizing and collective bargaining before the 
                deadline established by this section. The Task Force 
                and its members shall work to implement all 
                recommendations that the President may approve, to the 
                extent permitted by law, and shall report their 
                progress as directed by the Chair.

                Sec. 3. Definitions. For purposes of this order:

                    (a) ``Policies, practices, and programs'' includes 
                regulations; guidance and other formal policy 
                documents; procurements; grants and other direct or 
                indirect Federal investments; tax and trade 
                administration and enforcement; administration and 
                enforcement of labor, employment, and other relevant 
                laws; property management; and human resources 
                management and labor relations.
                    (b) ``Worker organizing and collective bargaining'' 
                encompasses the private sector, State and local 
                governments, and the Federal Government. It also 
                includes those sectors of the economy and those workers 
                who have not historically been able to unionize, or 
                whose ability to effectively collectively bargain or 
                organize has been undermined.
                    (c) the term ``agency'' refers to all agencies 
                described in section 3502(1) of title 44, United States 
                Code, except for the agencies described in section 
                3502(5) of title 44.

                Sec. 4. Revocations. (a) Executive Order 13845 of July 
                19, 2018 (Establishing the President's National Council 
                for the American Worker), and Executive Order 13931 of 
                June 26, 2020 (Continuing the President's National 
                Council for the American Worker and the American 
                Workforce Policy Advisory Board), are revoked.

                    (b) The Director of the Office of Management and 
                Budget and the heads of executive departments and 
                agencies shall promptly consider taking steps to 
                rescind any orders, rules, regulations, guidelines, or 
                policies, or portions thereof, implementing or 
                enforcing Executive Order 13845 or Executive Order 
                13931, as appropriate and consistent with applicable 
                law, including the Administrative Procedure Act (5 
                U.S.C. 551 et seq.). In addition, they shall abolish 
                any personnel positions, committees, task forces, or 
                other entities established pursuant to Executive Order 
                13845 or Executive Order 13931, as appropriate and 
                consistent with applicable law.

                Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order 
                shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or 
the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

                    (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with 
                applicable law and subject to the availability of 
                appropriations.

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                    (c) This order is not intended to, and does not, 
                create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, 
                enforceable at law or in equity by any party against 
                the United States, its departments, agencies, or 
                entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any 
                other person.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

                THE WHITE HOUSE,

                    April 26, 2021.

[FR Doc. 2021-09213
Filed 4-28-21; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3295-F1-P