Biden meets labor organizers from Starbucks, Minor League Baseball

By Nandita Bose

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders met with young labor organizers from Starbucks (NASDAQ:) and Minor League Baseball among others at the White House on Monday as a growing number of worker strikes grip the country.

After decades of declining union membership, organized labor is witnessing a resurgence in the U.S., as sky-high costs of living, housing shortages and technological disruptions have bred unusual levels of solidarity among workers in disparate industries, from dockworkers to Hollywood screenwriters.

Employees seeking better working conditions and higher pay have recently organized unions at companies such as Starbucks, Amazon.com (NASDAQ:), and Apple (NASDAQ:) even as businesses have become more aggressive in pushing back against union activity.

Biden and Senator Sanders, who chairs a committee on labor issues, was expected to congratulate organizers for the work they have done and discuss the president’s “belief that worker power is essential to growing the economy from the middle out and bottom up,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

In a tweet on Monday night, Biden said he and Sanders met with young labor leaders to discuss their fight for better pay and benefits.

“The presence of a union means there is democracy. And organizing or joining a union – that’s democracy in action,” Biden tweeted.

Administration officials in Monday’s meeting included Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su, White House National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard, and White House Director of Governmental Affairs Tom Perez, the official said. 

Biden, who is often referred to as the most pro-union president in U.S. history by labor leaders, had a similar meeting with union activists from Amazon and Starbucks at the White House last year.