Joe Biden’s Amazon Workers Statement Was a Start. But the PRO Act Is the Litmus Test.

Joe Biden’s statement yesterday about the Amazon union drive in Alabama hit pro-labor notes. But he’ll have to back up his rhetoric with concrete action: Biden must fight to pass the PRO Act.

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Joe Biden meets workers as he tours the Fiat Chrysler plant in Detroit, Michigan on March 10, 2020. (Mandel Ngan / AFP via Getty Images)


Before he took office, President Joe Biden vowed to be “the most pro-union president you’ve ever seen.”

Just hours after being sworn in, he fired Peter Robb, general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, who previously worked for union-busting law firms and the Reagan administration during the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) strike. Biden subsequently issued executive orders guaranteeing collective bargaining rights and a $15-per-hour minimum wage for federal employees and government contract workers. And on Sunday, in his most surprising pro-union action yet, Biden released a video referencing the Amazon organizing drive in Alabama, warning employers not to retaliate against workers.

“There should be no intimidation, no coercion, no threats, no anti-union propaganda,” Biden said. “No supervisor should confront employees about their union preferences. You know, every worker should have a free and fair choice to join a union. The law guarantees that choice.”

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