Last Updated on August 6, 2023, 2:54 AM | Published: March 27, 2022
This guest opinion column is provided by Tim O’Connor, president of the Central Oklahoma Labor Federation.
OKLAHOMA CITY (Free Press) — Union rights and union jobs are at the center of the Biden Administration’s agenda. The Building a Better America agenda puts working families first. It is about raising wages and breaking down barriers that have kept so many out of the workforce. It is focused on meeting the economic moment we are in.
The Biden administration recognizes that if the United States is going to be competitive in a global economy, we cannot be beholden to international supply chains. We have to make products we need here in America and we need highly trained union members doing those jobs.
As President Biden said so perfectly during his State of the Union, if we want to fight inflation and confront the economic challenges our country is facing, we need to lower everyday costs and not wages for Americans. President Biden has called for increasing the minimum wage to $15 because one job should be enough and no one should have to raise a family on the current minimum wage.
This agenda is about fairness not just about who manufactures products or where they are made, but more on how no one should be excluded from our workforces because of factors out of their control. We’ve heard it over and over again that many people, mainly women, have been sidelined during the pandemic because they’re the primary caregivers. We need to fix the child care system in our country. We need to pass President Biden’s agenda to provide universal pre-K.
In conclusion, fair wages, paid family leave, freedom to organize and training programs for future union members are major priorities of the labor movement, and they are critical to make our economy fair for everyone.
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