Labor Day 2024: Good jobs, changing lives Every day is Labor Day at the Labor Department, where we’re building a worker-centric economy from the bottom up and the middle out by leveraging federal investments to create good jobs, while protecting workers’ rights, wages, health and safety, and supporting workers’ rights to organize for better conditions.
| Visit our Labor Day website to learn how we’re delivering for workers under the Biden-Harris administration. |
| Good union jobs are electric in Ohio Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su visited Ultium Cells in Ohio to celebrate the historic first contract between union autoworkers and an electric vehicle battery plant. The June 2024 agreement with the United Auto Workers secured important victories for workplace safety and health, and supports an equitable transition to a clean energy future. Acting Secretary Su met workers building electric vehicle batteries for General Motors and reflected on the Biden-Harris administration’s pro-union, pro-worker accomplishments. |
| Celebrating paid leave, minimum wage increases in Michigan In Detroit this week, Acting Secretary Su celebrated paid sick leave and minimum wage increases with grassroots advocates. She spoke at an event co-hosted by Mothering Justice and the Michigan chapter of the Paid Leave for All Coalition, applauding their successes and underscoring the department’s commitment to connect people, especially those historically left behind, with skills training and good jobs opportunities. |
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| Health, safety, the environment and good union jobs Acting Secretary Su joined the United Steelworkers earlier this week at their Health, Safety, and Environment conference in Pittsburgh, where she met with some of their new members from Blue Bird Buses and talked about how worker power has been growing under the Biden-Harris administration. |
| A call to modernize America’s unemployment insurance system Acting Secretary Su called on Congress to modernize the nation’s unemployment insurance system in an op-ed published by The American Prospect this week. In addition to recognizing the Biden-Harris administration’s success in promoting a strong job market, she argues federal legislators must take the necessary steps to modernize our unemployment insurance system before the next crisis. “Under President Biden’s leadership, the United States has added nearly 16 million jobs, and average unemployment has been lower than during any administration in 50 years. We must make the repairs before the next storm, to build a UI system that will serve the American people when it is most needed,” she said. |
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| Funds awarded for hurricane recovery in Florida and Texas We’ve awarded more than $8 million to support disaster-relief employment and workforce training this week, including: $6.6 million to help Florida recover from Hurricane Idalia $2 million to help Texas recover from Hurricane Beryl |
