Biden vs. Trump: The Union Difference [View all]
I am a retired Business Agent who worked in one of the largest local unions in the United States. Part of my job was lobbying for Union legislation, principally at the state and local level. However, I sat in more than a few union strategy meetings that dealt with federal legislation.
I remember back in the Bush years that there was a U.S. Seante Republican proposal to bail out weak union pensions with funds from the stronger unions. I worked for one of the strongest unions. This legislation would have resulted in weakening every union. Every union opposed this legislation. If my memory serves me, the final bill failed by a single vote, and I remember that Republican Ohio Senator Rob Portman was that vote.
Of course, this still did not fix the problem. It wasn't until President Biden and the Democrats passed the bi=partisan American Rescue Plan that $20 Billion was earmarked to save the struggling union pensions and hold the stronger union pensions harmless.
Fast forward to the Trump infrastructure plans and the Biden infrastructure Bill. The key to both bills was the Davis-Bacon Act. Republican leadership always opposes this act being included, which was passed during FDR's years. The act requires all federal projects which includes this provision to pay prevailing wages at every location. In other words, if a union electrician made $37 an hour in Alabama, then all bidders needed to pay their electricians $37 in that area, whether or not the company employed union labor. If the bidders were in Boston and the prevailing wage was $53 an hour, the same thing happens.
Not only did Trump not insist on Davis-Bacon, but he couldn't get a bill through at all. Biden not only passed an historic infrastructure bill, but the bill included a strong Davis-Bacon provision.
These little-known achievements by Joe Biden for union members are in addition to his more visible support for unions, including walking a UAW picket line.
No US President has done more for working men and women since FDR, than Joe Biden.
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