Kim Miller, Assistant to the USW International President Tom Conway, appeared on the Leslie Marshall show this week to discuss the historic victories Democrats have notched in favor of working families in the two years since President Joe Biden took office – despite having just a slim majority in Congress. 

These include major advancements for working people like the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act, in addition to the appointment of a pro-worker National Labor Relations Board and a newly established Made in America office. 

The USW also helped to push Congress to shore up the multi-employer pension plans of millions of American families, saving roughly 120,000 active and retired Steelworkers whose pensions plans were at risk of going bankrupt. 

“Really the only turn for this was a legislative solution, and fortunately a lot of our allies in Congress agreed,” said Miller. “This win was massive for everyone involved and for people in the future to know the whole system isn’t going to go bankrupt.”

Affordable health care and prescription drug costs are also important to union members, said Miller, which is why the union advocated for the Inflation Reduction Act – passed solely by Democrats in Congress – which lowers health care and drug costs for working people.

The Biden administration also made steps to tip the scales for workers by appointing pro-worker members of the National Labor Relations Board, appointing a card-carrying union member, Marty Walsh, as secretary of labor, and issuing executive orders in favor of American manufacturing. 

Miller emphasized there is still work to do and how vital the outcome of the midterm election will be in continuing to implement a pro-worker agenda. “We need to get out there, we need to make it big and we need to support the people who’ve been supporting us,” Miller said. 

To find out more about voting in your state, visit USWVoices.org.

Despite Slim Majority Democrats Notched Major Achievements For Workers And Their Families

Tamara Lefcowitz, coordinator for the USW’s Health Care Workers Council, appeared on the Leslie Marshall Show last week to discuss how health care workers are taking safety into their own hands, organizing and collectively bargaining for better working conditions and protections on the job.

USW New Media