Those orders represent a victory for unions, particularly the labor federation Change to Win, which has been organizing workers at federally contracted businesses through the campaign Good Jobs Nation. Low-wage workers affiliated with Good Jobs Nation — including food service and janitorial workers in federal buildings — have spent the past two years engaging in protests and other labor actions to pressure the federal government to improve contractor standards.
A 2014 report from the left-leaning think tank Demos estimated that roughly 8 million workers “rely on low-wage jobs in the federally-supported economy, that is, jobs with firms that receive a significant portion of their revenue from federal funds.”