Two ways that Biden has surprised me

When Biden became president I had almost no expectations. He had a horrible Senate record, so I expected more of the same. However, he has exceeded my expectations in two ways - labor union policy and anti-trust enforcement. A good rule of thumb is that the media doesn't cover things that are actually important, which explains why you probably haven't heard about these things.
When it comes to unions, it starts with the NLRB.

Indeed, on his very first day in office, Biden, at the urging of labor advocates, removed then-General Counsel of the NLRB Peter Robb, a deeply anti-labor attorney appointed by Trump, from his post...
To replace the ousted Peter Robb, Biden installed former labor lawyer Jennifer Abruzzo, who, strongly endorsed by unions, has been remarkably effective and successful, rapidly emerging as the most pro-union GC in decades. Abruzzo has released a series of memos advising the Board to, among other things, ban captive audience meetings, expand the coverage of federal labor protections, strengthen the Board’s enforcement powers and remedial arsenal, and facilitate the union organizing process, policies which she has urged the Board to adopt in countless cases her office has prosecuted before the agency. For its part, the Board’s Democratic majority—including two Biden appointees—has proven largely receptive to the GC’s progressive proposals. The agency’s recent Cemex decision, for example, is one of several rulings and regulations the Biden Board has promulgated to facilitate organizing and collective bargaining, and its potential to meaningfully deter unlawful employer obstruction of organizing drives has excited labor proponents. Moreover, since Biden’s inauguration, the NLRB has intensified its processing of ULP charges and election petitions—and unions have prevailed in a higher percentage of such proceedings.

The NLRB has ordered corporations to reinstate more illegally fired workers in the first year of the Biden administration than it did during all four years of the Trump administration. The Biden administration updated Davis-Bacon standards to prevent federal construction contractors from paying below-market wages. In contrast, Republicans in Congress introduced legislation to overturn the updated Davis-Bacon standards.
It's not a coincidence that labor unions in this country are scoring victories while the Biden NLRB has made organizing easier.
In response companies have taken the NLRB to court, while Republicans in Congress have tried to slash the NLRB budget (The number of staffers dropped by 30 percent between 2010 and 2021) while also pushing for a national right to work law.
At a time that American workers are much more receptive to joining a union, Biden had made it easier for them to do so.

On Aug. 24, the NLRB issued a final rule that will speed up union elections, screwing up Step 2 of employers’ union-busting playbook. The rule, effective Dec. 26, will eliminate common delay tactics that help employers: pointless waiting periods, the chance to request numerous extensions, and the opportunity to flood the process with irrelevant arguments.

In an even more important move, on Aug. 25, the board decided a case called Cemex that should prevent employers from using Steps 1 and 3 of the anti-union strategy. Under Cemex, if a majority of co-workers agree to form a union and ask their employer to bargain with them,

It's unfortunate that none of these are laws passed by Congress, but then the GOP would never allow that anyway. So if Trump wins you can bet these NLRB rules to be immediately thrown out.
Biden has also made symbolic gestures that add up.

Biden criticized Kellogg’s use of permanent replacements in 2021, for example, and in 2022 he publicly encouraged efforts to organize Amazon. Most dramatically, President Biden, in a historical first, joined striking UAW workers on a picket line last month.

According to the Economic Policy Institute, petitions for union elections grew by 53 percent between October 2021 and September 2022. Moreover, the rate at which workers win unions in NLRB elections climbed steadily during the first two years of the Biden administration, exceeding any level achieved under the previous administration.

Last year Biden's anti-trust enforcement division set a new record for merger challenges. It's been almost 50 years since anti-trust laws have been enforced, so it was very surprising when Biden reversed this trend.

Khan’s appointment to lead the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) just four years later angered big tech, but it has become increasingly clear that Khan, and the Biden administration have an even bigger agenda: resetting the federal government’s decades-old stance on competition in a manner unseen in decades.
All that changed under Joe Biden, who has consistently attacked the monopolization of US business. Khan is his most high-profile warrior. She has redefined the battlefield in such a sweeping manner that some argue there is no going back no matter who wins 2024’s election. But tough talk is just that – talk. Drawing a line under an era of light-touch antitrust enforcement has proven easier said than done.

Sine M&A is a huge money-maker on Wall Street, this has made some serious well-financed enemies.

The Biden administration’s aggressive set of antitrust enforcers have created powerful enemies: in big business, in media, in academia, and in Washington. For the most part, the main antagonists of the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division have been Republicans, though there are a few Khanservatives. But now, pro-corporate Democrats are getting in on the act, targeting an obscure but critical policy designed to give enforcers the information they need to judge proposed corporate mergers.

On Monday afternoon, House Antitrust Subcommittee chairs Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Rep. Lou Correa (D-CA) assembled a staff-only briefing to inform members about the new merger guidelines, finalized by FTC and DOJ last year, as well as a proposed rule still in the works that would modify implementation of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act.

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child labor

We tend to think of child labor under harsh conditions as a problem in developing countries, or in this country a century ago. So it was a shock to see this headline in the last couple of days: “Louisiana lawmakers vote to remove lunch breaks for child workers.”

No lunch breaks? Child workers? In America in 2024?

It turns out that not only does child labor underpin large segments of the U.S. economy — an ugly outgrowth of corporate greed and our broken immigration system — but conditions for minors in the workforce are actually getting worse.

The last few years have seen a spike in violations of child labor laws. The Department of Labor reports an 88 percent increase in these violations nationwide between 2019 and 2023. Some states wildly exceed that number; in Pennsylvania, violations rose 276 percent in one year from 2022 to 2023.

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@gjohnsit Biden seems to want to piss off the Big Banks

Banking regulators are setting their sights on renewing efforts to tighten executive compensation at large banks. The regulatory agencies aim to restart a prior proposal that would require big banks, such as JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, to defer compensation for executives and claw back bonuses if losses at their companies become too high, the Wall Street Journal reported.
...
The new push to revive the executive compensation rules comes amid renewed scrutiny of bank practices following the collapses of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

The proposal was made by six agencies, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, but the Federal Reserve bank under Chair Jerome Powell has expressed reluctance to consider the measure this year.

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usefewersyllables's picture

someone crosses his palm with some extra bucks (or gives him some more ice cream), you can expect his labor pandering to stop. But if you prefer to think of him more kindly than I ever will, there's this article from The Nation indicating specific things that he could do to try and actually *semi-earn* that "best-ever president for labor" title: https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/labor-president-joe-biden/

As for me, I'm not holding my breath. Speaking freely here: since he and his administration are actively trying to kill us all on a daily basis, those "good works" are simple pandering, window dressing, and/or bullshit in any of its various forms. Uncle Tapioca is just playing the game, and reading the good-for-reelection script his handlers put on the teleprompter. And I, for one, am very much done with him, and whoever it is who has their hand up his ass, flapping his arms and lips and basically using him like some kind of obscene undead meat-puppet.

Meanwhile, Amazon happily hires heavy-hitter dem PR firms to run their anti-union initiatives, so the rest of the dems have to pretend to recoil in horror that their wholly-owned presstitutes would do such a thing. Right. That must be so hard for them. No sale.

But we can agree to disagree. And while everyone else's mileage will certainly vary, I have come to hate the dems even more than I hate the repubs, for having utterly and permanently removed themselves from consideration as a realistic alternative. It didn't have to be this way...

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Twice bitten, permanently shy.

@usefewersyllables It's up to you to hear them or not.

some extra bucks (or gives him some more ice cream), you can expect his labor pandering to stop

Biden has been in politics since the 70's. If he was going to be bribed to change his labor policy it would have happened decades ago.

Here's where I throw you a bone.

Of the nearly 150 judges he has named to the federal bench, only two are former union lawyers. And despite two years of Democratic majorities in both congressional chambers, Biden proved unable to engineer passage of the PRO Act. Biden also sought to avert a nationwide rail strike last year by signing a statute imposing a rejected labor agreement on railway employees, a measure which unions bitterly decried and some workers deemed a betrayal.
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Cassiodorus's picture

@usefewersyllables It hardly matters if the NLRB is strong or weak if what you have to do to pay the rent is to work on commission.

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"the Democratic Party is not 'left'." -- Sabrina Salvati

usefewersyllables's picture

@Cassiodorus

The NLRB is meaningless unless you are in an industry they recognize doing things that they recognize the way they recognize them- and there are damned few of those, and less every day. Contractors, consultants, gig workers, tipped people: take a friggin’ hike.

When my consulting practice collapsed (by being legislated out of existence), I used up my 401k, in order to stave off the bankruptcy that (in retrospect) I should have just taken- we lost the ranch anyway. I ended up working for Home Depot for a while, as they were the only people hiring people my age. The mandatory “new employee orientation” is two hours of haranguing and videos about the evils of unionization, and the things they will do to organizers if they ever sniff them out. Pro tip: never say “card check” in a big box store… That was the hardest $10/hr I ever earned, and certainly accelerated the inevitable course to my knee replacements- I don’t recommend it for over-60 folks.

Now, I work for a smallish high-tech company, haven’t had a raise in 8 years, and will never be able to retire- or even change jobs, since I’m well past retirement age and am therefore unhireable. Like those who work gig roles, or on commission, or depend on tips, you rapidly find that nobody gives a shit.

So, for those who *do* have a union available- use it while you can, before they make it illegal. Money talks, and the rest of us, we ain’t got enough of it to be worth listening to. According to the conventional wisdom, we aren’t “labor”. We’re on our own. Ain’t capitalism wonderful?

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Twice bitten, permanently shy.

snoopydawg's picture

@usefewersyllables

who said that one reason he’s raising interest rates was to keep wages from rising as they were. High interest rates hurt the poor and gives the rich extra benefits.

I think the rail workers unions aren’t that impressed with Biden’s bragging that he’s the best union president ever. He totally screwed them. And what has the labor board done to Mr. Starbucks who fires people trying to form unions or closes down stores that have?

Finding anything good in Biden is trying to find a piece of one’s poo that doesn’t stink. Biden has been fcking the working class since he got to congress. If he or democrats really wanted to help people saddled with student loan debt they would have changed the bankruptcy laws long ago. How many of the hinky colleges are still ripping off students? Obama gave them cover when they were found guilty.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

@snoopydawg The poo thing, my sentiments exactly. He’s systematically destroying the country in so many ways that it seems he’s doing it on purpose.

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Anya

snoopydawg's picture

@Anya

He’s systematically destroying the country in so many ways that it seems he’s doing it on purpose.

That everything has gone up since he became president and his bringing the world to the brink of world war 3 or nuclear war shows how much has changed since Trump was president makes me think it’s deliberate too. The flood of immigrants is a bipartisan issue since neither party has ever talked about arresting the oligarchs that hire them. Plus they are bankrupting cities and states who are giving them benefits that Americans have been asking for for decades. Free healthcare is causing states to go into dire financial straits. How long have we been begging for this?

The Supreme Court is debating making homelessness a crime. But no talk about restricting banks from buying up homes or whole neighborhoods and taking those homes off the market and becoming rentals after they jack up rents.

The UN wrote about poverty and homeless levels during Obama’s tenure and things have gotten much worse since then because congress would rather send our money to foreign countries than address the issues.

Doing it on purpose indeed. The billions being sent to Ukraine could cure homelessness 5 times over, but then this country has spent billions already on it and it keeps getting worse. Whose pockets did that money go into? California has spent $100 million or billion on it and no one knows where the money went.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

The Liberal Moonbat's picture

When I'd heard she'd gotten a spot in his Cabinet (even if only for Judasing Bernie), I did think that maybe there'd be a silver lining in seeing some trust-busting. Let me know if they go after Google, or Disney - or BLACKROCK.

Still, this is a much more anemic silver lining than those found in, say, the Adolf Hitler chancellorship (Rocket research that set the groundwork for space-travel! Tobacco research that proved how bad it was! Animal-rights legislation [odd as it seems]! Resurrecting the national highway system for the first time since Ancient Rome! FANTA™!).

I respect what you're trying to do, gjohnsit, but there's only so much practical use for this knowledge and no way in hell does it make up for NeoCon/globalitarian atrocities, so that's why this is getting an underwhelmed reception.

AVP-Alien-vs_-Predator-movie-poster-3651455371.jpg

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In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

FTC

Federal regulators on Tuesday enacted a nationwide ban on new noncompete agreements, which keep millions of Americans — from minimum-wage earners to CEOs — from changing jobs within their industries.

The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday afternoon voted 3-to-2 to approve the new rule, which will ban noncompetes for all workers when the regulations take effect in 120 days. For senior executives, existing noncompetes can remain in force. For all other employees, existing noncompetes are not enforceable.

The antitrust and consumer protection agency heard from thousands of people who said they had been harmed by noncompetes, illustrating how the agreements are "robbing people of their economic liberty," FTC Chair Lina Khan said.

The FTC commissioners voted along party lines, with its two Republicans arguing the agency lacked the jurisdiction to enact the rule and that such moves should be made in Congress.

NLRB

(Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday signaled support for Starbucks, opens new tab in the coffee chain's challenge to a judicial order requiring it to rehire seven employees at a Memphis cafe who were fired as they pursued unionization.

The justices heard arguments in the Seattle-based company's appeal of a lower court's approval of an injunction sought by the U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ordering reinstatement of the workers. The case could make it harder to quickly halt labor practices challenged as unfair under federal law while the NLRB resolves complaints.

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Cassiodorus's picture

Biden has surprised me by being worse than I thought possible. Today's discussion bears that out.

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"the Democratic Party is not 'left'." -- Sabrina Salvati