Where JD Vance and Tim Walz stand on 3 key career issues

With the Democratic and Republican presidential tickets finally confirmed, the economic plans of both campaigns are starting to take shape.

For HR professionals looking to predict what a Harris or Trump presidency will mean for employment and labor issues, the profiles of their respective vice presidential candidates can provide a crystal ball. Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’s partner, has championed policies such as paid leave and workers’ rights while serving as governor of Minnesota. Trump’s running mate nominee, Ohio Senator JD Vance, has expressed interest in policies that encourage family building—whether parents choose to work or not—as well as some support for formal employment.

Here’s where the veep candidates stand on three issues related to HR pros.

Work. When it comes to organized labor, Vance and Walz have one thing in common: Both joined the picket lines of the United Auto Workers in the fall when union members were on strike.

As a junior senator, Vance has sometimes taken pro-labor positions at odds with many of his Republican colleagues. He was one of three Republicans who signed a letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy in January expressing concern over reports of “persistent mistreatment” of workers in the retailer’s sales service program. .

Although Vance voted for at least two bills considered “pro-worker” during his time in Congress, he opposes the Pro Act, which seeks to strengthen federal labor law and enable workers to organize. Vance also voted to kill Biden’s defunct joint-venture law, which some lawmakers oppose on the grounds that it could disrupt the way small businesses — especially franchise owners — operate. with it.

Walz, who was a union member while working as a public school teacher, signed a comprehensive labor bill last year that gives Minnesota workers six days of paid sick leave. and safe every year. The law also banned mandatory audience meetings, and prohibited employers from enforcing non-compete agreements. Minnesota’s governor also sponsored and signed a bipartisan bill that seeks to combat wage theft in 2019.

Paid family leave. Walz signed a bill that gives Minnesota workers paid family and medical leave by May 2023. The law, which will take effect in 2026, requires employers to give workers up to 20 weeks of leave each year because of medicine, bonding with a new baby, or caring for a sick family member. If Democrats take control of the White House and Congress next year, Walz said he believes paid and medical leave should be the first priority for the party.

Vance expressed concern about the declining birth rate in America, and proposed policies to boost family building.

Last October, an Ohio senator introduced a bill that would amend the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to prevent employers from reimbursing health benefits paid to employees who take leave under the program. federal, even if they decide not to return to work. . The laws should not “punish new parents who choose to stay home to care for their newborns,” Vance told the Washington Examiner, adding that he believes the law will “move Washington down a pro-family path. “

Child care. In May, Walz announced that Minnesota would provide $6.2 million in grants to help community organizations create new or existing child care businesses, and address issues such as training of employees and to maintain, or to grant permission. In a statement, the governor linked child care to families’ economic well-being: “These grants will increase access to child care and help more Minnesotans enter the workforce, grow our workforce and our economy.” he said so.

Vance has previously criticized universal child care in 2021, tweeting that such proposals are “a bigger boon to the choices of the rich than to the choices of the middle and working class.” When pressed about his views on child care in an interview with Face the Nation’s Margaret Brennan, the vice president declined to give specifics, but said he wants the US to have a child care policy that good for all families, not just a specific model. of the family.”