Michael McDermott, Business Manager
Making Promises, and Keeping Them
On the campaign trail and throughout his presidency, Joe Biden has promised to be the most pro-union, pro-worker president in history. As President Biden celebrates his first year in office, his actions are matching his words.
“President Biden has taken significant and historic steps to promote, protect, and enhance the rights of working people,including IBEW members,”President Stephenson said in a statement citing a long list of first-year accomplishments:
1. Appointing a union member to lead the Department of Labor
2. Creating the first-ever White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment
3. Ordering the federal government to spend taxpayer dollars on goods made by American workers
4. Signing dozens of executive orders that promote worker-friendly policies, including those that create good jobs in the energy sector
5.Signing into law the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, giving working families the financial support they needed to make it through the pandemic
6. Championing and signing the Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act, saving pensions for millions and ensuring a retirement with dignity
“And he signed into law the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the single largest investment in infrastructure in American history. This once-in-a-generation investment will put millions to work in good, union jobs modernizing the electric grid, repairing and expanding the vital transportation services Americans rely on, and creating the reduced-carbon energy solutions that will power our economy well into the 21st century and beyond.
“On behalf of the IBEW’s 775,000 active and retired members, I applaud President Biden on these achievements and thank him for prioritizing the needs of working families,” President Stephenson said.