Biden signs Good Jobs executive order during Ann Arbor-area visit

WASHTENAW COUNTY, Michigan — President Joe Biden told a group of skilled workers and students from the Ann Arbor area on Friday that he is excited about what the future holds for the country.

“I have never been more optimistic about the future of America,” he said, speaking at the United Association Local 190 training center on Jackson Road in Scio Township.

“We are witnessing a great American comeback story,” he said, noting that the U.S. economy added 142,000 jobs in August and that the clean energy sector is growing rapidly.

“When I think about climate, I think about jobs — good-paying union jobs,” he said.

In the final months of his presidency, Biden traveled to Ann Arbor on Sept. 6 to sign what the White House described ahead of the event as a landmark “Good Jobs” executive order on investing in America and American workers.

He wrote it in the presence of union activists and U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, a Democrat from Ann Arbor, who stood nearby and handed Dingell a pen.

With this order, the White House says the Biden-Harris administration is the first in history to set a clear list of labor standards that federal agencies are to prioritize.

This includes standards that support workers’ economic security, well-paying jobs with benefits, workforce development such as registered apprenticeships, fair hiring and management practices, workplace safety, and a free and fair choice to join a union through federally funded projects.

Biden said that from now on, these are the standards that will apply unless a future president repeals the order, and that he would dare to see anyone try to do so.

The union group that hosted the president represents plumbers, pipefitters and other workers who Biden says are the real heroes in the story of America’s return to growth.

The president spoke about his work with labor unions, which began in 1972, when he was elected to the U.S. Senate from Delaware at the age of 29.

“Wall Street didn’t build America, the middle class did,” he said, adding that the middle class was built by unions.

Biden attacked former President Donald Trump several times during his speech, portraying him as a union-busting activist who doesn’t understand the concept of a hard day’s work. Biden said he was proud to make history as the first president to join a picket line when he stood with the United Auto Workers in Michigan.

“When Trump was president, he appointed union busters,” Biden said.

Friday’s event is part of a broader tour designed to showcase workers and communities across America that are benefiting from the Biden-Harris administration’s Investing in America agenda, according to the White House, which says the U.S. has created nearly 16 million jobs since Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took office, with the lowest average unemployment rate of any administration in 50 years.

“Already, their Investing in America program is catalyzing more than $900 billion in private-sector investment in clean energy and manufacturing,” the White House said in an announcement. “Last year, clean energy jobs grew twice as fast as the rest of the economy, and unionization rates in clean energy reached an all-time high. Good Jobs EO builds on this momentum and will ensure that these investments continue to improve opportunity for millions of Americans.”

The crowd of workers cheered and chanted at Biden on Friday: “Thank you, Joe! Thank you, Joe!”

Several local, state and federal officials were in attendance, including Dingell, who called Biden “the most pro-worker president of our lifetime.” AU President Mark McManus also praised Biden, giving his administration credit for new laws like the bipartisan infrastructure bill that puts people to work.

Biden reiterated that the work he and Harris have done in office over the past four years has helped grow manufacturing jobs in America while modernizing the country’s infrastructure and building a clean-energy economy.

This includes creating a Made in America office to ensure that infrastructure projects use American-made building materials, establishing the first-ever White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, requiring labor contracts for nearly all major federal construction projects over $35 million, and introducing minimum wage and internship bonus relief for clean energy projects.

Biden is also touting an investment of nearly $730 million in registered apprenticeships, which will result in more than a million registered apprentices receiving “earn-while-you-learn” training for in-demand jobs, while the CHIPS Act earmarked $200 million for workforce training and development.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg also spoke at Friday’s event after visiting Lansing earlier in the day as part of the Biden-Harris administration’s “Investing in America” ​​tour, highlighting federal investments in transportation infrastructure that he says are helping union workers find more jobs.

“I have the best job in the federal government because I have the privilege of being there every day and seeing the good work being done to improve and modernize America’s infrastructure under President Joe Biden’s leadership,” he said. “And we’re thrilled that union workers are building it.”

Buttigieg said America sees a difference between those who say and do what Biden supports.

The Federal Aviation Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, announced Friday more than 500 grants worth nearly $2 billion to modernize airports across the country, including nearly $16 million for Willow Run Airport in the Ypsilanti area.

U.S. Labor Secretary Julie Su, who also spoke at Friday’s event, said the current administration has created more jobs than any other in U.S. history, and more money is going to communities through investments in improving roads, bridges and airports.

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