February 7, 2022

The White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment released its long-awaited report recommending a series of actions that the President may take without Congress to promote greater union density in the U.S. workforce. Among its recommendations, beginning on page 28 of the report, the Task Force responds to concerns SWACCA and our union partners pressed regarding the Department of Labor prioritizing efforts to prevent and remedy the misclassification of workers as independent contractors.  The report seeks to address this concern through: (1) rigorous enforcement; (2) partnerships with other relevant federal and state agencies, such as the Internal Revenue Service; (3) new guidance, rules, and/or education for employers and workers, as needed; and (4) robust outreach to workers, employers, unions, and worker advocates.

In addition, the report recommends that the President instruct the General Services Administration to coordinate with the Department of Labor to investigate the feasibility of developing payroll certification “bots” to review and compare Davis-Bacon prevailing wages to actual weekly certified payroll data. The report also recommends that the President instruct the Department of Housing and Urban Development to review current policies around monitoring and enforcing prevailing wage rates. The report notes that better enforcement of these wage rates would provide an incentive to contractors to submit bids that account for appropriate wages and labor standards and, therefore, are more likely to include unionized construction.

You can read the report in its entirety here.

© 2024 Signatory Wall and Ceiling Contractors Alliance (SWACCA). All rights reserved.