Making the Government Work for Workers

Progressive Policymaking, from Process to Practice

Confronted with challenges as daunting as climate change and concentrated corporate power, policymakers in the 2020s have arrived at a crucial understanding: Delivering for people and rebalancing power in society will require all of the tools they have. This week, two new Roosevelt briefs explain how to embed this ethos into public service and make government work for working people. 

Law Professor and Roosevelt Institute Board Member K. Sabeel Rahman argues that the conceptual shift “to orient progressive economic policy more explicitly around structural inequities” and embrace “the affirmative role of government in proactively shaping markets and economic systems” can only be successful with “a parallel shift in intra-agency protocols and procedures to convert these broad principles into actionable policies.” Rahman, who formerly served in the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), highlights the necessary features of a regulatory state that can deliver on a bold progressive agenda: (1) operating with efficacy by prioritizing both speed and inclusion in policy design; (2) focusing on racial, gendered, economic, and other inequities; and (3) using new approaches to data, evidence, and analysis.   

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has been a shining example of these principles in action in the past few years. Diana Reddy, Roosevelt fellow and assistant law professor at UC Berkeley, writes about how existing legal authority and regulatory frameworks can effectively support workers—whether unionized or not—as long as the state has the political will to do so. Reddy says of the 2021–24 NLRB: “With greater political power—in the form of overwhelming public support for unions and a presidential administration receptive to that sentiment—labor law has become significantly more responsive to the contemporary needs of workers, employers, and the public, without legislative action.” 

As the NLRB shows, effective progressive governance doesn’t need to wait for new laws; policymakers can improve lives now through innovative and affirmative use of the power that agencies already have. “Whatever the vagaries of the political maelstrom, the NLRB should continue to walk its current path,” Reddy argues. “It should continue to do its job.”

Read more:

• “Rewiring Regulation: Regulatory Review for a New Political Economy” by K. Sabeel Rahman
• “Labor Law Breaks Free: Reviving State Capacity to Protect Workers Under the NLRA” by Diana Reddy

What We’re Talking About

Macro indicators continue to make the case that investing in America can deliver growth, full employment and low inflation. Policymakers must stay the course and build on this success. https://t.co/gCDLLqdmxz

— Alí R. Bustamante, Ph.D. (@DrAliBustamante) October 30, 2024

What We’re Reading

Better Together: Worker Rights and Workforce Development – feat. Roosevelt’s Alí R. Bustamante – New America

Increasing Child Care Teacher Pay Doesn’t Have to Mean Charging Parents More – Vox

The Fed’s Favorite Inflation Index Just Cooled Again – CNN