A labor rights workforce led by US Vice President Kamala Harris revealed recommendations Monday aimed at strengthening the capacities of workers to unionize, stating that “strong worker organization can result … in a stronger economy and democracy.”

The Harris-led Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment had initially presented the recommendations to US President Joe Biden in October, but they were only released publicly this week.

The nearly 70 recommendations aim to promote organizing and collective bargaining, and bolster transparency both about private-sector employees legal rights to unionize, as well as legal procedures for doing so.

The Biden-Harris administration aims to take a “comprehensive approach” to strengthen worker rights using “existing authority of the executive branch,” the White House said, against the backdrop of high-profile organizing efforts by Starbucks baristas and US congressional staffers.

On April 26, 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order 14025 mandating the creation of the Task Force and requesting a report from the team in 180 days. The order appointed Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh as chair and vice chair, respectively.

According to the report, economic problems like inequality and pay gaps for women and people of color are “caused, in part, by the declining percentage of workers represented by unions.” The report puts forth nearly 70 recommendations to executive branch agencies. The recommendations follow three core goals of the Task Force: (1) Make the federal government a model for union representation and management, (2) Use federal authority to empower workers and increased access to existing pro-worker services, and (3) Leverage the government’s financial power to bolster unionizing employees and pro-worker employers.

In a statement, Walsh said:

Workers today are demanding more from their jobs, and we know the freedom to exercise their right to collective bargaining is a key component of our efforts to improve working conditions across the economy . . . The report’s recommendations put the federal government’s policy of encouraging worker organizing and collective bargaining front and center, and empowers workers to build a stronger economy and better quality of life for them and their families.

A 2018 Princeton study cited in the report examined 980,000 data points over 500 surveys and found that union members have consistently earned 10 to 20 percent more than non-union members over the past 80 years.