Corporate Crackdown Project: Protecting Workers From Corporate Crime

By Aidan Smith

Nowhere is the government’s failure to hold corporate crime accountable more evident to voters than in the realm of workers rights. In the United States, corporations routinely get away with stealing employee wages, ignoring workplace safety, and discriminating against marginalized people.

As President, Donald Trump sabotaged the functions of the Department of Labor (DOL) and associated agencies — accelerating a harmful, longstanding trend of weaker workplace regulations in the process. Trump appointed anti-worker idealogues to key roles, and as a result labor law enforcement was rolled back even further. This came at the expense of working families and union organizers.

In contrast, Joe Biden has pledged to be the “most pro-union President leading the most pro-union administration in American history.” While congressional gridlock presents a challenge to his administration’s labor agenda, meaningful progress can still be made through the strong enforcement of existing laws. In doing so, the Biden administration will be able to prove its commitment to workers’ welfare, and win support from the public in the process.

The following report is the first installment of Data for Progress and the Revolving Door Project’s collaborative Corporate Crackdown Project. In this report, we critically assess the record of the Biden administration in a number of vital agencies. The report concludes with a number of recommendations for the administration going forward.

Survey Methodology
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