Sharon Block is a Professor of Practice and the Executive Director of the Center for Labor and a Just Economy at Harvard Law School.
Chris Lu served in the Obama administration as the Deputy Secretary of Labor, and is now a Senior Fellow at the University of Virginia Miller Center.
This post originally appeared in The Huffington Post.
As former political appointees in the Obama administration’s Labor Department, we can think of few areas where we are in agreement with Donald Trump. In fact, we have fundamental differences with him about how to build an economy that works for everyone.
Yet, we share his belief that government needs to do more to lift up American workers. If the new president is interested in delivering on his promise of creating jobs and growing wages for workers, there’s an executive order already in place that he should support.
Every year, the federal government spends hundreds of billions of dollars on procurement contracts. By some estimates, one quarter of all American workers are employed by a federal contractor — that’s millions of families whose livelihoods are connected to the federal procurement system.
In 2014, Barack Obama signed an executive order called “Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces” that was premised on two fundamental principles: doing business with the federal government is a privilege, not a right; and taxpayer money should only go to companies that are abiding by the laws that protect American workers. Under the Obama executive order, the federal government would give contracts only to companies that pay their workers the wages they’ve earned, protect the health and safety of employees, and prohibit discriminatory practices.
Donald Trump’s early interaction with the Carrier Corporation — before he was even inaugurated — affirms the core belief that companies that profit from federal contracts should help American workers. Trump implicitly threatened Carrier’s future as a government contractor because of corporate behavior that he perceived to be contrary to the best interests of its employees – namely, by moving their jobs out of the country. Judging from his tweets on the subject, Trump seems more than willing to use his new position as purchaser-in-chief to exact similar promises from other federal contractors to act in the best interest not only of their bottom line but the bottom line of American workers too.
We challenge the new president to show us that he is committed to standing up to federal contractors to deliver lasting wins for American workers – and not just looking for press-friendly sound bites. If he is serious about helping workers, Donald Trump will have a powerful tool in the federal procurement system. He could make transformational, not just anecdotal, change to ensure that all companies doing business with the federal government are good corporate citizens.
For the contracting community, the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces executive order laid out a detailed set of principles about which labor violations would be considered and how companies could ensure they were in compliance for contracting purposes. An objective, rule-based system provides predictability to companies about their ability to secure government contracts – a far better outcome than living in fear that their business practices will draw the ire of a presidential tweet.
This week, the House will consider legislation to roll back the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces executive order. President Trump claims that he is willing to take on corporations to advance the interests of American workers. His position on this executive order will demonstrate whether that claim is a hypocritical slogan or a real commitment to stand with American workers.
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April 18
Disneyland performers file petition for unionization and union elections begin at Volkswagen plant in Tennessee.
April 18
In today’s Tech@Work, a regulation-of-algorithms-in-hiring blitz: Mass. AG issues advisory clarifying how state laws apply to AI decisionmaking tools; and British union TUC launches campaign for new law to regulate the use of AI at work.
April 17
Southern governors oppose UAW organizing in their states; Florida bans local heat protections for workers; Google employees occupy company offices to protest contracts with the Israeli government
April 16
EEOC publishes final regulation implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, Volkswagen workers in Tennessee gear up for a union election, and the First Circuit revives the Whole Foods case over BLM masks.
April 15
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of bakery delivery drivers in an exemption from mandatory arbitration case; A Teamsters Local ends its 18-month strike by accepting settlement payments and agreeing to dissolve
April 14
SAG-AFTRA wins AI protections; DeSantis signs Florida bill preempting local employment regulation; NLRB judge says Whole Foods subpoenas violate federal labor law.