Biden EOs support unions, set $15 minimum wage for federal contractors

President Joe Biden recently signed two Executive Orders (EOs) with substantial implications for nonunion employers as well as those employing workers on federal contracts and subcontracts. Let’s take a closer look.

Union organizing

On April 26, President Biden signed an EO establishing the “White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment.” It requires the task force to create recommendations for actions “to promote worker organizing and collective bargaining in the public and private sectors, and to increase union density.” Another goal is to increase worker power in marginalized communities, hard-to-organize industries, and changing industries.

Vice President Kamala Harris will chair the task force, and Marty Walsh, secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), will serve as vice chair.

$15 minimum wage

On April 27, President Biden signed an EO requiring federal contractors and subcontractors to pay certain covered workers at least $15 an hour. The minimum wage for tipped workers was increased to $10.50 hourly. Critically, if tipped workers don’t receive enough tips for their total wages to equal $15 hourly, employers are required to increase their wages to make up the difference.

The increased minimum wages must be paid beginning January 30, 2022, and are thereafter set to go up yearly on January 1 in an amount determined by the DOL secretary.

The EO applies to a number of federal contracts, including: