Obama Creates Task Force to Rebuild Middle-Class Working Families

The labor movement was officially welcomed back to the White House to witness the establishment of the White House Task Force on Middle Class Working Families, intended to help raise the living standards of the middle class, and President Obama's issuing of executive orders rolling back anti-labor policies of the Bush administration.

President Obama welcomed CWA President Cohen and other labor leaders to the White House.

With CWA President Larry Cohen and other labor leaders attending the signing ceremony, President Obama said the task force would produce an action plan to help working Americans achieve a secure future.  "We need to level the playing field for workers and the unions that represent their interests because we know that you cannot have a strong middle class without a strong labor movement," he said.

Vice President Biden will head the task force, which will work to:

• Protect the incomes of middle-class working families
• Protect retirement security
• Restore labor standards
• Expand education and lifelong training opportunities
• Improve work and family balance

The task force will post materials at www.astrongmiddleclass.gov and workers are invited to share their ideas and experiences on the website.

President Obama also used the occasion to emphasize the vital role that workers and their unions have in the nation. "I do not view the labor movement as part of the problem, to me it's part of the solution," he said.

President Obama issued three executive orders restoring the rights of workers who are employed by federal contractors. One executive order revokes the Bush administration order that required federal contractors to post notices informing employees that they were not required to join a union. However, employees during the Bush years were never informed that they had the right to join a union. Another executive order signed by President Obama prohibits contractors from using taxpayer money to try to influence employees' choice about union representation. The third requires successor contractors to offer jobs to qualified employees who worked for the previous company.