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- President Joe Biden's new task force on strengthening unions kicked off on Thursday.
- The task force is chaired by Vice President Kamala Harris, with Labor Secretary Marty Walsh as vice chair.
- In opening remarks, Harris blasted the impact declining union membership has had on workers' wages.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
President Joe Biden's new task force on strengthening unions and their participants officially kicked off on Thursday. In her opening remarks, Vice President Kamala Harris, who is chairing the task force, emphasized the impact declining union membership has had on American workers.
Because of the decline in union membership, "American workers are losing $200 billion a year," she said, citing unspecified research. "So, this impacts not only the quality of life of the American worker, this impacts the quality of life of all Americans because it impacts our economy."
"And to the extent that we are interconnected – when our economy does well, when the middle class does well – we all do well, which means unions must do well."
The task force is aimed at bolstering union membership and worker power, specifically in organizing and bargaining. Harris seemed to be citing research from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute (EPI), which studied the impact of "deunionizing" over the past few decades.
EPI found that, from 1979 to 2019, the share of workers who are covered by a collective bargaining agreement dropped to 11.6% from 27% – and they attribute a rise in inequality to that drop. That's where the $200 billion a year figure comes from.
On the whole, unionized workers are paid more: Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics found "Nonunion workers had median weekly earnings that were 84 percent of earnings for workers who were union members ($958 versus $1,144)."
Biden has established himself as a vocal union supporter since taking office: "I'm a union guy. I support unions. Unions built the middle class. It's about time they start to get a piece of the action," he said in Pittsburgh remarks introducing his American Jobs Plan.
The task force - which includes various cabinet members, such as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland - will review existing policies, and look into the need for new ones. They'll report back recommendations within 180 days. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, vice chair of the task force, said that as a second-generation union member, it was an "honor" to be at the table.
"The bottom line is that we believe when workers organize, our economy gets stronger," Harris said. "And right now, we need our economy to get stronger."