Biden Targets $100 Billion in Plan to Aid Downturn-Hit Workers

摘要

President Joe Biden is aiming to boost popular support for his infrastructure plan by including proposals to help workers and protect unions. Biden's $2.25 trillion plan calls for $100 billion for workforce training programs, including services for dislocated workers-the first proposal that spends serious money on such programs since the pandemic-linked economic downturn. The White House is also seeking to double the number of registered apprenticeships. The plan released Wednesday - dubbed the American Jobs Plan - would also require businesses benefiting from an infusion of infrastructure funds to pay prevailing wages and stay neutral in union organizing efforts. And it called on lawmakers to incorporate a bill (H.R. 842) that would strengthen workers' ability to form unions and win contracts. "I support unions," Biden said Wednesday at an appearance in Pittsburgh, the same city where he kicked off his presidential run at a union hall in 2019. "They built the middle class and it's about time they got a piece of the action."