Biden walks the union line, making a play for blue-collar workers

Rep. Andy Levin (D-Mich.) called soon-to-be White House counselor Steve Ricchetti in December with a plea: urge Joe Biden, who was about to become president, to support Amazon employees in Alabama waging a historic push to form a union. It could be a defining moment in Biden’s relationship with the working class, Levin, a longtime labor organizer, told him.

By February, the pitch from Levin and a chorus of labor leaders paid off. Seth Harris, now a top labor adviser to Biden, wrote a script for a Biden video promoting the union effort. Biden’s speechwriters tinkered with it, the president added some personal touches, the White House recorded it — and on Feb. 28, it went online.

The decision to publish the video, described by people with knowledge of its creation, was hailed by allies as proof that Biden is committed to being, as he promised, “the most pro-union president you’ve ever seen.” Its influence will be tested shortly; Monday is the final day for Amazon workers to vote on unionization, though it may take time to finalize the results.

The video culminated a series of early policy, political and personnel decisions by Biden to champion organized labor, perhaps more aggressively than any president since Franklin D. Roosevelt. (Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-unions-labor/2021/03/27/bb99172c-88c4-11eb-82bc-e58213caa38e_story.html