Monday morning musings for workplace watchers.
Harris Speaks at AFT Convention|What’s Next on Equal Pay Efforts?
Ian Kullgren: The Democratic Party is sending a clear message to unions regarding the presidential election: Kamala is Joe and Joe is Kamala.
As Harris began to court labor leaders last week in her run for the White House, she and her allies repeatedly made the case she’d be as pro-union as Biden—a picket-line-walking, hardhat-wearing comrade.
Harris sought to attach herself to Biden’s record, suggesting she would fulfill all the policy goals of a Biden second term that unions want. In a speech July 25 at the American Federation of Teachers national convention—her first address to a labor group since announcing her candidacy—she called AFT President Randi Weingarten an “incredible friend and adviser,” noting that AFT was the first union to endorse her.
Harris promised to push the PRO Act, a sweeping package of labor reforms, through Congress, even though it has struggled to gain traction. Still, she said, “President Biden and I promised to sign the PRO Act into law, and I promise you I’ll keep that promise.”
Democrats are trying to draw a sharp contrast between Harris and former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio). The DNC hosted a virtual press conference late last week where union leaders dunked repeatedly on the Republicans’ record on labor policy. Participants included Service Employees International Union President April Verrett; Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union President Stuart Appelbaum; and Michigan AFL-CIO President Ron Bieber.
“This is who Trump has always been,” Appelbaum told reporters. “He tries and fails to play a man of the people when the cameras are on.”
Unions stuck by Biden until the bitter end, telling anyone who would listen he was the most pro-union president in history and deserved a second term. No major national union pulled their endorsement, even as defections grew on Capitol Hill.
Their steadfastness suggests that neither Harris—nor any contender—would live up to Biden. While she represented California in the Senate, where unions like SEIU hold outsized sway in politics, it’s a different vibe than the blue-collar midwesterners Scranton Joe connected with so naturally, and who will decide the election.
Organized labor ultimately coalesced around Harris as nearly all of her potential rivals stepped aside, and insist now that they’ll be just as loyal to her. “We know that she is the candidate that can beat Donald Trump,” Verrett told reporters.
Union leaders on the July 25 DNC call all brought up Project 2025, a Heritage Foundation-backed policy document aimed at guiding a second Trump administration, betting it will help win over swing voters. It proposes a dramatic overhaul of US labor law, including rescinding “regulations prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, transgender status, and sex characteristics”—including stripping the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission of its rulemaking authority.
The project also proposes changing the NLRA to allow for “formal worker-management cooperative organizations,” narrowing the definition of protected concerted activity to be more employer-friendly, and return to Trump-era DOL and NLRB independent contractor rules.
Lilah Burke: In the first half of 2024, the Biden-Harris administration announced a series of policies to advance pay equity. With Harris securing enough pledged delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination, advocates for workers and employers have begun thinking about her history regarding pay equity and the impact of a potential Harris administration on national policies.
“Harris has consistently shown in how she talks about equal pay that she doesn’t just care about the issue, but also understands the big picture harms from failing to address the wage gap,” said Vasu Reddy, director of state policy for workforce justice at the National Women’s Law Center. “I have reason to be confident that whatever is doable legally, she would pursue all those avenues.”
Before she was vice president, Harris championed several wage equity policies. She co-sponsored a version of the Paycheck Fairness Act in the Senate in 2019, which would make it easier for workers to bring pay discrimination claims against employers. That year, during her initial run for president, she announced a plan to levy significant fines on employers who couldn’t show employee wage gaps were due to differences in job titles, experience, or performance.
In her role as vice president, Harris has supported administration policies that would promote pay equity within the government and its federal contractors. The US Office of Personnel Management issued a final rule in January under direction from the Biden administration to limit the role salary history plays in setting pay for federal employees. The US Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council issued a proposal that same month to implement a similar policy for federal contractors.
Discrimination is only one factor that can lead to earnings gaps for women and minority workers, observers say.
Caregiving responsibilities and occupational segregation also play a role, said Jocelyn Frye, president of the National Partnership for Women and Families. Harris has addressed both of those issues, Frye said, promoting paid leave policies and childcare funding, as well as emphasizing the role of women in nontraditional occupations through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
“One of the things I most appreciate about the vice president’s long time focus on the wage gap is that it is important not only for women broadly but for women of color in particular,” Frye said. “The need to close the wage gap is not just a nice thing to do. It actually is very connected to the economic stability of families.”
Business and employer groups say they want to prioritize flexibility for companies around equal pay policies.
“We cannot paint this picture with a broad brush,” said Emily Dickens, chief of staff and head of government affairs at the Society for Human Resource Management. “Every employer, every industry, every group is different.”
Tim Bartl, president and CEO of the HR Policy Association, noted that the way Harris talks about the wage gap has evolved since her time as a senator. Where she once spoke of the plain difference between the wages of women and men, she has since begun to refer to the gaps that remain after adjusting for performance and seniority, he said.
“It’s a more direct comparison of equal pay for equal work,” Bartl said.
The HR Policy Association doesn’t support the need for further regulation or legislation related to equal pay, as pay auditing and adjustments have become a more ingrained part of the business world, Bartl said.
Advocates, however, say they’re hopeful that Harris would continue to promote more regulation as president.
“I would anticipate the vice president, if she becomes the president, to really build on and continue that legacy,” Frye said.
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