Pro-Worker Provisions Trimmed From Semiconductor Incentive Bill

Several pro-worker proposals included in a US House-passed version of a sweeping China competition bill didn’t make the cut into the new, slimmer version of the semiconductor manufacturing package now teed up for final passage in the Senate.

Labor unions and House Democrats pushed for “union neutrality” requirements, extensive prevailing wage mandates, and expanded apprenticeship programs in the wider-reaching package the House passed in February. While workforce training is prioritized in the pared-back bill, and some construction projects will still have to meet prevailing wage obligations, those provisions don’t get anywhere close to moving the Biden administration’s labor agenda forward ...